Coolify vs. Heroku: The Real Cost of Self-Hosted PaaS

Coolify is an open-source self-hosted PaaS that automates deployments via git push, positioning itself as a cheaper alternative to Vercel, Heroku, and Netlify. For a typical Next.js app with Postgres and Redis, self-hosting with Coolify costs ~€145/year versus ~$1,200/year on Heroku. However, users must handle scaling, availability, and security patching themselves, as Coolify automates deployment but not operations.