PaaS comparison for indie devs
Where should you deploy? Compare the major platforms across the things you actually need to ship — hosting, serverless, databases, cron, email, and domains. Check what you need and the grid ranks who covers it.
Compute
Data
Domains & email
Growth & ops
13 platforms · cells reflect the free tier
| Compute | Data | Domains & email | Growth & ops | |||||||||||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Provider | Web hosting | Serverless | Always-on server | SQL database | Object storage | KV / cache | Cron jobs | Domain + DNS | Buy domains | Email | SSL / TLS | Analytics | Auth | CI/CD | Logs | CDN / edge |
Tap any provider for its full per-tier pricing. Pricing verified June 2026 from official sources — always confirm on the provider’s site.
Popular head-to-heads
How to choose a platform for a new project
There’s no single “best” PaaS — it depends on what you’re building. A marketing site needs hosting, a domain, and SSL; a SaaS app adds a database, auth, background jobs, and transactional email; an API might want an always-on container and object storage. The fastest way to decide is to list what you actually need and see which platform covers it on the tier you can afford. That’s what the checkboxes above do: pick your needs and every provider is scored on how well it covers them, with free-tier limits shown inline.
One thing that trips up first-time founders: most compute hosts don’t sell domains or send email. You’ll typically pair a host like Vercel, Render, or Fly.io with a registrar such as Dynadot for the domain, DNS, and email forwarding. Already have a name in mind? Check if it’s available first.
PaaS comparison FAQ
- What's the best free hosting for a side project in 2026?
- For a static site or frontend, Cloudflare Pages, Vercel Hobby, and Netlify all have genuine free tiers. If you need an always-on backend or a database for free, Cloudflare (Workers + D1) and Supabase go furthest — Render and Railway can run a small service but spin down or burn a one-time credit. Note that Heroku and Fly.io no longer offer a standing free tier.
- Do I need a separate domain registrar?
- Usually yes. Most compute hosts (Render, Railway, Fly.io, Heroku, DigitalOcean) don't sell domains at all — you register the name elsewhere and point DNS at them. Vercel, Netlify, and Cloudflare do sell domains; Cloudflare and Dynadot are the cheapest because they sell near cost. A common setup is one compute host plus Dynadot for the domain, DNS, and email forwarding.
- What's the difference between serverless and an always-on server?
- Serverless functions spin up on each request and you pay per invocation — great for APIs and bursty work, but they can't hold a long-lived connection. An always-on server (a container or VM) runs continuously, so it suits WebSockets, background workers, and frameworks that expect a persistent process. Vercel, Netlify, and Cloudflare are serverless-first; Render, Railway, Fly.io, and Heroku run always-on containers.
- Which platforms are best if I want everything in one place?
- Cloudflare and the AWS Amplify stack cover the widest set of capabilities natively (hosting, functions, database, storage, KV, cron, DNS, even domains on Cloudflare). BaaS platforms like Supabase and Firebase bundle database, auth, storage, and functions but don't host your frontend's always-on server. Use the checkboxes above to see exactly which provider covers your specific needs.
- How current is this pricing data?
- Every provider was checked against its official pricing pages and carries a 'verified' date (open any provider to see it). Cloud pricing changes often — Netlify moved to credit-based plans and Render reworked its tiers in 2026 — so always confirm the live price on the provider's own site before committing.