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Atlas Whoff
Atlas Whoff

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Coolify: Deploy Full-Stack Apps on a $6 VPS Without the Vercel Bill

#webdev #typescript #javascript #devops

Vercel's free tier is generous until you run background jobs, need persistent file storage, want WebSocket support, or your traffic crosses their soft limits. Then you're looking at $20/month minimums that scale uncomfortably fast.

Coolify is an open-source Heroku/Netlify/Vercel alternative you self-host on any VPS. One $6/month Hetzner CAX11 has run 8 full-stack apps in my production setup for 4 months without hitting resource limits.

What Coolify Does

  • Git-push deployments (GitHub, GitLab, Gitea)
  • Docker-based or Nixpacks buildpacks (auto-detects Next.js, Astro, Bun, etc.)
  • PostgreSQL, MySQL, Redis, MongoDB with one-click provisioning
  • SSL via Let's Encrypt (auto-renews)
  • Environment variable management per app
  • Preview deployments on pull requests
  • Cron jobs
  • SSH key management
  • Resource monitoring (CPU, RAM, disk per service)

Server Setup (5 Minutes) 

# On a fresh Ubuntu 22.04 VPS (Hetzner, DigitalOcean, Vultr, etc.)
curl -fsSL https://cdn.coollabs.io/coolify/install.sh | bash
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This installs Docker, Docker Compose, and the Coolify stack. Open http://your-ip:8000 to complete setup.

Minimum spec: 2 CPU, 2GB RAM. The $6 Hetzner CAX11 (2 ARM cores, 4GB RAM) handles this fine.

Deploying a Next.js App

  1. Connect your GitHub account in Coolify
  2. New Resource → Application → Select repo
  3. Coolify detects Next.js and configures Nixpacks automatically
  4. Set environment variables
  5. Set your custom domain
  6. Deploy

Deploy logs stream in the UI. Typical Next.js cold build: 90-120 seconds.

Environment Variables

Coolify handles secrets securely — they're encrypted at rest and injected at build time or runtime depending on your config.

# Set in Coolify dashboard, not in your repo
NEXT_PUBLIC_APP_URL=https://myapp.com
DATABASE_URL=postgresql://...
STRIPE_SECRET_KEY=sk_live_...
ANTHROPIC_API_KEY=sk-ant-...
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Sensitive keys never touch your git history.

One-Click Postgres + Redis

In the Coolify dashboard:

  • New Resource → Database → PostgreSQL 16
  • Coolify provisions a containerized Postgres with a generated password
  • Connection string injected as DATABASE_URL into any app you link it to

Same for Redis. No manual Docker network configuration.

Preview Deployments 

# In your GitHub repo: .github/workflows/coolify-pr.yml
# Not needed — Coolify handles this natively via webhook
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In Coolify settings, enable "Preview Deployments" on your app. Every PR gets its own subdomain: pr-42.myapp.coolify.yourdomain.com with its own environment.

This is the feature that makes Coolify genuinely compete with Vercel for team workflows.

Deploying a Bun + Elysia Backend

Coolify doesn't have a native Elysia buildpack, but Nixpacks detects Bun automatically:

# Or use a Dockerfile for full control
FROM oven/bun:1
WORKDIR /app
COPY package.json bun.lockb ./
RUN bun install --frozen-lockfile
COPY . .
EXPOSE 3000
CMD ["bun", "run", "src/index.ts"]
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Coolify builds and runs the container, handles reverse proxying via Traefik, and provides the SSL cert.

Cron Jobs 

New Resource → Cron Job
Schedule: 0 9 * * *
Command: cd /app && node scripts/send-digest.js
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No separate cron server needed. Runs inside a container on your VPS.

Cost Comparison

Setup Cost Apps Limitations
Vercel Pro $20/mo Unlimited 60s functions, no persistent FS
Railway ~$10-40/mo Usage-based Per-service billing
Coolify on Hetzner CAX11 $6/mo ~8 full-stack You manage the VPS
Coolify on Hetzner CX32 $14/mo ~20+ apps More RAM/CPU

The tradeoff is ops responsibility. You handle VPS security patches and backups. Coolify's automated backups to S3 cover the database side.

What Coolify Doesn't Replace

  • Edge functions — Coolify runs in one region. Use Cloudflare Workers for true edge.
  • Vercel's image optimization — next/image optimization works but you're responsible for the compute.
  • Managed databases at scale — Neon or PlanetScale are better choices beyond 10GB.
  • DDoS mitigation — Put Cloudflare in front.

The Setup That Works

My current stack:

  • Coolify on Hetzner CX32 ($14/mo) — all apps
  • Cloudflare in front (free plan) — CDN + DDoS
  • Neon for production Postgres — branch-per-PR
  • Backblaze B2 for S3-compatible storage ($0.006/GB)

All-in cost for 6 apps: ~$25/month.

Deploying a SaaS without Vercel bills? The AI SaaS Starter Kit includes a Coolify-ready Dockerfile and deployment guide — ship to your own VPS with full Stripe + Claude integration on day one.

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