I'm trying to find a good hosting solution for my side projects, mainly running Spring Boot applications, but I might also add a React frontend later on. I have some specific requirements: I'm looking for something with a reasonable free tier or a low fixed cost (no pay-as-you-go plans), support for custom domains, CI/CD integration from GitHub, a PostgreSQL database (but MySQL could work too), SSL, and always-on availability. I've tested Render, but I'm not a fan of the fact that the app goes to sleep after 15 minutes of inactivity, forcing users to wait and watch an ad. I want a solution that offers fixed pricing so I don't end up with surprise costs. So far, I've looked at a couple of options: Render ($5 app plan and $6 for PostgreSQL) and DigitalOcean ($5 app plan and $15 for PostgreSQL). I've rejected others like AWS, Coolify, Google Cloud, Heroku, Netlify, Railway, and Vercel due to various concerns about pricing and management overhead.
4 Answers
If you're okay with setting up a VPS, DigitalOcean has great fixed monthly rates for personal projects. It's a bit more hands-on, but you can make it work for your needs.
You can get an e2 micro instance on Google Cloud for free, which is always on. You can run your database in a Docker container there. Plus, the Google Cloud Run functions are super cheap, and you can deploy them easily with GitHub actions.
For the cheapest VPS options, definitely consider services like Coolify, though be ready for some extra management tasks. It can be worth it if you want to keep costs low!
You might want to check out Sherpa.sh. They support Spring Boot via Docker, have always-on hosting without any sleeping or cold starts, and offer GitHub CI/CD, SSL, and custom domains all for a flat rate of about $13. They don’t provide managed databases, but if that’s not a deal breaker, this could be a solid option for your projects.
That's great to know! I am dockerized, but having the database in the same service would simplify things. $13 flat is appealing, but Render's plans are cheaper at $11 combined. I'm really trying to keep costs in the $10-20 range monthly.