Ask HN: What do you use to host side projects?

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.

A suitably specc'ed VPS from any provider with a good enough reputation. You can start small and upgrade if/when needed. I used to be a fan of Linode, also Hetzner but their recent price hike was unfortunate. Any provider that's been around for a while will probably have similar services.

I've built a tool: https://www.findhost.app/use-cases/side-project/

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.

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

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

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

Cloudflare mostly because workers and durable objects are so cheap.

Hetzner + Coolify. Pretty fun, while low maintenance and great UX.

Digital Ocean for backend, Vercel for frontend

Colocation.