How are you different from Vercel, Heroku, Railway, or Render?
Vercel, Heroku, Railway, and Render run your apps on their infrastructure. DollarDeploy runs your apps on your servers. That single difference changes everything.
The core difference
With platforms like Vercel or Render, you deploy to shared infrastructure. You pay per request, per function, per seat—and costs can spike unpredictably.
DollarDeploy is a control plane, not a hosting platform. We build and deploy your apps to servers you own. You get fixed monthly costs, full SSH access, and zero vendor lock-in.
What we handle for you
Server configuration done right
When you connect a server, we configure it properly:
- Systemd services — Your app runs as a native process with automatic restarts, not inside containers
- Security hardening — Firewall (UFW), fail2ban, proper file permissions
- Security headers — XSS protection, content security policies, HSTS configured out of the box
- Log rotation — 14 days of compressed logs, automatic cleanup
- Resource limits — Memory and file descriptor limits to prevent runaway processes
Nginx reverse proxy configured correctly
We set up Nginx with best practices you'd otherwise spend hours researching:
- Automatic HTTPS — Let's Encrypt certificates, auto-renewal
- HTTP/2 — Enabled by default for better performance
- Gzip compression — Smaller payloads, faster loads
- Proper timeouts — Tuned for real-world traffic patterns
- WebSocket support — Works out of the box for real-time apps
- Custom domains — Add as many as you need, SSL included
Managed services in one click
Need a database? Don't set up a separate managed database service. We install and configure it directly on your server:
- PostgreSQL — World's most popular SQL database, connection string auto-injected
- Redis — In-memory caching and queues
- MongoDB — Document database for flexible schemas
- MariaDB — MySQL-compatible database
One click. No separate billing. No external latency. Your data stays on your server.
Backups that actually work
One-click backups to any S3-compatible storage. We back up your databases, app files, and Docker volumes. Restore with a single click.
What you escape
Vercel limitations
- $20+/seat/month and rising
- Serverless function timeouts (10-60 seconds)
- No persistent file storage
- Cold starts on every request
- No background jobs without external services
Heroku limitations
- Expensive dynos ($25+/month for always-on)
- No SSH access
- 30-second request timeout
- Ephemeral filesystem
- Sleep after 30 minutes of inactivity (free tier gone)
Railway/Render limitations
- Pay-per-usage can spike unexpectedly
- Limited control over infrastructure
- Vendor lock-in on their platform
What you keep
- Full SSH access — Debug, inspect, modify anything
- Your server — Move to any provider anytime
- Your data — No platform lock-in, export everything
- Fixed costs — Server + DollarDeploy subscription, predictable monthly bill
The bottom line
Vercel and friends are convenient but expensive and limiting. Running your own server is powerful but complex. DollarDeploy gives you both: the simplicity of a managed platform with the power and cost-effectiveness of your own infrastructure.