Most of my projects are Rails-based, and I tend to use DO [0], and have just discovered Hatchbox [1] to deploy. Super easy for side-projects to get started and deployed. Taken deploying side projects from days to minutes.
[0] https://digitalocean.uservoice.com/forums/136585-digitalocea...
Contained developer environments, simple command line deploys to VPS, and a free tier that can handle most hobbyist application needs.
I deploy Rails & Elixir / Phoenix apps with Nanobox