For years, Heroku’s free plan let you push apps live. Then it ended its free plan in November 2022. Hundreds upon hundreds of hobby apps needed a new home. Some moved to other platforms. Some tried AWS. Others ended up on a server in the closet.
Every platform had a catch. Nothing was truly free anymore. You got per-app fees, surprise bills, and unstable connections. That’s why many developers are putting their side projects on a cloud server instead. So, is it worth it for yours? Here’s what you need to consider.
Per-App Pricing Adds Up Fast
Heroku and Render charge for each app and each database. That works for one project. It gets expensive once you have a few. Say you’re running three small apps with their own databases. You’ll pay for hosting and the database. But you might not fully utilize both.
Side projects rarely get steady traffic. But each plan bills the same whether anyone uses the app or not. A single server lets you pay one monthly price and run everything on it.
Self-hosted deployment tools like Dokku, Coolify, and Kamal still support a git push workflow. If you’re juggling several projects, it helps to pick one of the VPS cloud servers with enough RAM to run them side by side.
Big Cloud Bills Are Easy to Underestimate
A side project on AWS can run up charges before it gets a single user. Many of those charges are services you didn’t even choose. A NAT gateway is a good example. Many AWS templates and setup guides add one by default.
AWS charges $0.045 per hour for it in some regions. That comes to about $33 a month even when no traffic passes through. AWS charges $0.045 per hour for a NAT gateway in some regions. That comes to about $33 a month even when no traffic passes through.
You’ll have to spend extra on public IP addresses. AWS started charging $0.005 per hour for each public IPv4 address in February 2024, which amounts to $44 per year. These charges are easy to miss because AWS bills them hourly.
Home Internet Isn’t Built for Hosting
Many home internet plans make hosting hard. Some ISPs put you behind CGNAT. That stops outside visitors from reaching your server. Others have slow upload speeds or contracts that don’t allow hosting at all.
Home setups also depend on your power and your internet. Your apps go offline when either one drops. That’s not a scenario you want to be in if you already have users for your app. If you want consistent uptime, consider switching to a cloud server.
A cloud server runs in a data center with backup power and redundant connections. Your apps load fast from anywhere. And they keep running through outages at home.
The Catch: You Become the Ops Team
Setting up a server is the easy part. Keeping it running and troubleshooting is where your weekends go. Certificates can expire, updates can break your app, and backlogs pile up fast.
Aside from the maintenance and upkeep, you’re also responsible for backups. Platforms like Heroku handled them for you. With a home server, everything falls on you. So, if you want to go this route, remember to:
- Auto-renew your SSL certificates
- Set up disk space alerts
- Lock down SSH and turn on a firewall on day one
- Copy a nightly database dump off the server, and test a restore
When a Cloud Server Might Not Be Worth It
A cloud server isn’t the right fit for every project. If you’re storing a large photo library, storage costs add up quickly, and a home server may be less expensive. And if your first app doesn’t have users yet, a managed platform is usually the quicker way to get it live.
Key Takeaways
For a handful of side projects, one cloud server often makes more sense than paying per app or running everything from home. You trade a bit of upkeep for a predictable bill and better uptime.
Here’s a quick recap:
- Per-app platforms get expensive once you have a few projects
- Small AWS charges can add up before your app does anything
- Home internet can block hosting or go down when someone needs your app
- Backups, updates, and security become your job
- Storage-heavy projects and first apps may be better off elsewhere
