I think it's really worth considering self-hosting these days. Doesn't take much of a machine to run a web app, for instance.

I do a little of that, but for anything public I put it on a VPS.

I use one of the big providers; they're all the same. Empty linux virtual machine with an IP. That's all you need. They start at $4/month or so, maybe cheaper if you shop around.

Used Heroku until they got rid of free

Used Vercel until they banned img tags

Used AWS until they suspended my account (they always do this, new account -> week later suspended, can’t pay them, they don’t want me)

Used GCP until I got the first bill

Every option was a headache, so now I just self host. Forward router ports, install an SSL, npm start

Problem solved. For free

Back in the day I used an old laptop sitting in my house running with its lid closed and free dynamic-DNS :)

I use Hetzner - reasonable prices, EU based and one of the best benefits of AI is that running a pet server is no longer a real burden.

Cloudflare. Free tier, and prices bound to wall time, which is nice for side projects.

I'm building thebay.cloud, so I'm biased - asking cause I want to hear what people actually use

Colocation.

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