Vercel
Replaces managed next.js / frontend hosting
The default host for Next.js. Trivial to leave if your app is a standard Node server — Vercel's value is DX, not anything proprietary.
The verdict weighs direct cost against maintenance, reliability, migration risk, and founder time.
- Verdict
- easy Straightforward swap
- Estimated annual saving
- $240 against the typical bill
- Open-source options
- 3 reviewed alternatives
List price is not the bill.
No founder on RealCost has published a Vercel cost line yet. When they do, the real bills appear here beside the list price — no estimates, no filler. Add your numbers.
Start with one command
A Teploy-style starting point for a small VPS. Review the generated configuration, then replace the example host and domain with your own.
teploy deploy --image my-app --host hetzner --caddy --domain app.example.comPrice the operational work alongside the server bill. Most indie apps outgrow the Vercel hobby tier the moment they hit a cron job, a WebSocket, or a function over 10s. A $7 VPS covers all of those.