Built for Indie Hackers
The deployment stack for solo founders
Ship your MVP, side project, or bootstrapped SaaS on a $5 VPS. Better-PaaS gives you push-to-deploy, automatic HTTPS, and managed databases — without the platform tax or the DevOps degree.
Open source. Free forever. You own the server.
The problem
Hosting should not be a second job
Surprise bills
Hosted platforms start free and get expensive once your project grows. A flat VPS cost is easier to budget around.
Platform lock-in
Your app, data, and domain config live inside someone else's dashboard. Moving later is painful.
DevOps complexity
Kubernetes and raw VPS setups steal days you should spend on product. You need a dashboard, not a certification.
Use cases
One server for every project
Solo founders usually run multiple apps at once. Better-PaaS lets you host all of them on a single cheap VPS.
SaaS MVPs
Next.js or React frontend, Node/Python API, Postgres database — all on one server for under $10/month.
Marketing sites
Static or Jamstack landing pages with custom domains, HTTPS, and fast deploys from Git.
APIs and backends
Deploy REST or GraphQL APIs with managed Postgres, Redis, or MySQL and auto-rollback.
Side projects
Run experiments without worrying about per-app platform costs or usage limits.
Internal tools
Self-host dashboards, admin panels, and automation tools privately on your own server.
Bootstrapped products
Keep overhead low while you find product-market fit. Scale up the VPS when revenue grows.
How it works
From server to live app in minutes
Grab a cheap VPS
Hetzner, DigitalOcean, Linode, or any Ubuntu/Debian server. 2 vCPU / 2 GB RAM is plenty to start.
Run one install command
The installer sets up Docker, Caddy, and the dashboard. You get a login token and a browser URL.
Push code, get HTTPS
Connect your Git repo, add env vars, and deploy. Better-PaaS builds the app and issues a free SSL certificate.
Pricing
One flat VPS bill
Better-PaaS is free and open source. You only pay your cloud provider. For most indie projects, that means a single small server.
Hobby VPS
$5–$7
/month
2 vCPU / 2–4 GB RAM
2–4 small apps + 1 database
Growth VPS
$10–$15
/month
4 vCPU / 8 GB RAM
5–10 apps + multiple databases
Better-PaaS
$0
/month
Open source
Unlimited control planes
FAQ
Questions solo founders ask
Do I need to be a Linux expert?
No. The installer handles Docker, Caddy, and the dashboard. You should be comfortable copying a server IP and running SSH commands, but you do not need to hand-configure reverse proxies or containers.
Can I run multiple projects on one server?
Yes. That is the main point. One Better-PaaS control plane can deploy many apps and databases on a single VPS, each with its own domain and environment variables.
What frameworks are supported?
Nixpacks auto-detects Next.js, Node, Python, Go, Ruby, PHP, and more. If auto-detection fails, you can provide a Dockerfile or custom build and start commands.
Is this production-ready?
Better-PaaS is actively developed and used for real projects. As with any self-hosted tool, you own backups, updates, and server security. The dashboard includes one-click backups and safe self-updates to help.
How is this different from Coolify?
Coolify is excellent and has a larger ecosystem. Better-PaaS focuses on a smaller, opinionated workflow for solo founders: install on a cheap VPS, connect Git, and deploy with minimal configuration.
Start building
Ship your next project for $5/month
Install Better-PaaS on a cheap VPS and get back to building your product instead of fighting infrastructure.