Self-hosted alternatives to Heroku
Want push-to-deploy app platform (PaaS) without handing your data to Heroku? These 3 self-hosted apps run on your own server. Cheapest estimated hosting starts at about $5/month.
About Heroku: Salesforce-owned platform-as-a-service for deploying apps.
| App | Health | Stars | License | Docker | RAM (est.) | From |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Websoft9 | Active | 2.1k | LGPL-3.0 | – | 1 GB | $5/mo |
| HomelabOS | Active | 1.3k | MIT | ✓ | 1 GB | $5/mo |
| Dropserver | Maintained | 93 | Apache-2.0 | – | 1 GB | $5/mo |
The options in detail
1. Websoft9
GitOps-driven, multi-application hosting for cloud servers and home servers, one-click deployment of 200+ apps.
Active Last commit 2026-10-27. Latest release 2.4.4 (2026-10-30). Needs roughly 1 GB RAM. How to run it →
2. HomelabOS
Offline privacy-centric data-center. Deploy over 100 services with a few commands.
Active Last commit 2026-09-04. Latest release v1.0 (2024-05-08). Needs roughly 1 GB RAM. How to run it →
3. Dropserver
Application platform for your personal web services.
Maintained Last commit 2026-07-08. Latest release v0.14.5 (2026-07-09). Needs roughly 1 GB RAM. How to run it →
Why self-host instead of Heroku?
- Own your data — it lives on a server you control, with backups you decide on.
- Predictable cost — a small VPS often replaces per-seat pricing for a whole team or family.
- No lock-in — open-source licenses let you keep running the software even if a vendor disappears.
The trade-off: you are responsible for updates, backups and security. Pick an app marked Active (a commit in the last 90 days) and with Docker support for the easiest ride.
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