¿Indie Cloud alternatives?

Hey, I'm starting to build a web app for the first time and I'm looking for a real indie solution for the backend. I mean:

  • NOT a venture capital backed product/service
  • Don't use services of a mega corporation (AWS, Google, Microsoft)

My product:

  • Will be small on purpose (no scale or growth)
  • Will have a simple Stack (Mongo or some flavor of SQL, Express, VanillaJS, Node)

I explored and discarded some (Vercel, Netlify, Cloudfare, Heroku, Digital Ocean, DreamHost, Render, Supabase, Glitch, etc.) but I still can't decide.

Any experience / recommendation?

Huge thanks!

  1. 3

    put it on raspberry pi 4 ?

    1. 1

      I'm open to every proposal. Maybe right now I can't do that (I'm a noob on backend side) but I really want to go indie on this things.

      1. 1

        My advice would be deploy in docker containers. You can deploy them now temporarily on your own hardweare, but later on you can throw them in the cloud or what ever with minimum effort.

        1. 1

          Sounds very interesting, I really want to try a Raspberry PI and have my own server, but it's too much to learn now to be able to launch a simple web application. Thanks for the tip and encourage me to do it :)

          1. 1

            you would be surprised how easy it is ;)

            1. 1

              Yeah, I'd love to have one right now

  2. 2

    Hey everyone, this was my first post on IH and I really felt accompanied by you, thank you all for your answers, they have helped me a lot!

  3. 2

    You can put it all on a single virtual or dedicated server (virtual for the pricepoint).

    Why did you discarded DO? They have cheap enough virtual servers, you don't need to use any other managed services.

    Virtual servers can handle a lot and I like how simple they can be. I would choose between DO (very nice admin area) and Hetzner (cheaper, European).

    If you don't have experience setting up a Linux box, I would still appreciate beta readers for Deployment from Scratch. Write me a DM on Twitter if you are interested.

    1. 0

      DO is a VC backed company, I just don't want to work with that type of business. They try to break the markets everywhere they are.
      I still need to explore the VPS options. My first option right now is Linode, it's a big one but seems to be an independent company.
      I'm really interested in your book, I'll DM you in some minutes.
      Thank you!

      1. 1

        I've used Linode, pretty cheap to give them a try (similar prices to DO)

        1. 1

          I'll try Linode very soon :)

  4. 1

    I am using scaleway.com, they are EU based and have their own datacenters. As far as I know, they are not VC backend.

    1. 1

      It doesn't seem so. I'll keep it in mind.

  5. 1

    Have a look at https://www.clever-cloud.com/ They are European Heroku alternative and have their own datacenter. Not sure about funding though.

  6. 1

    Well, you could host your own Para server - it's 100% open source and indie-certified software :)
    It works with most of the popular databases and has clients for JS, PHP, Python, Java, C# and Swift.
    Alternatives include, Parse server, Loopback, Usergrid, etc.

    1. 1

      Your proposal sounds great but I explicitly said that I don't want to work with AWS: "Don't use services of a mega corporation (AWS, Google, Microsoft)".
      Maybe if you don't use AWS we can talk.

      1. 1

        Para is a free backend server with a simple JSON API which you host yourself. It is not related to any of the big hosting providers. You can host it on any VPS of your choice.

        1. 1

          Oh, sorry. Your first link pointed to your product here at IH so I thought that's what you meant. Then I realized that you also offer the product as open source...
          It's also interesting to use a VPS for an indie, but since I have so much to learn (I'm really noob in backend), I prefer to look for something simpler.
          That's why I was interested in BaaS, but not with AWS.
          Thanks Alex!

  7. 1

    @rmamba isn't so far off. This really sounds like a simple and straight forward setup that I would personally just put on some cheap VPS somewhere. Keep it as simple as possible with everything running on a single machine.

    If you happen to change your mind and start to scale, not much is lost.

    1. 1

      I still need to explore VPS to be honest

      1. 1

        Fair enough. On the other hand: Is there anything wrt hosting that you are familiar with? Than go with this.

        1. 1

          I'm a noob in backend. I only built a PWA on Netlify and two blogs on Vercel. But I know that both are VC backed too.
          I want to fight for a descentralized web.

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