DockerHoster: Self-hosted alternative to Vercel with auto-deployments

Description and use

DockerHoster is a self-hosted alternative to Vercel that allows hosting 20+ websites on a single $12/month VPS. It uses Docker and nginx-proxy for automated deployments via GitHub push, supporting databases, cronjobs, and long-running processes not supported by serverless platforms.

Problem

High per-project hosting fees on platforms like Vercel and limitations of serverless architectures (lack of support for databases, cronjobs, and long-running processes).

Outcome

Successfully hosted 20+ websites on a single $12/month VPS with automated deployments, supporting various languages and frameworks (Next.js, Python, Rails, Go) and full Docker ecosystem access including databases and cronjobs.

Workflow

• Set up a VPS (e.g., DigitalOcean droplet with 2GB RAM).
• Install DockerHoster using a one-command setup.
• Configure nginx-proxy to automatically route traffic to Docker containers based on VIRTUAL_HOST.
• Add a GitHub Actions workflow and docker-compose.yml to the project repository.
• Push code to GitHub to trigger automatic deployment.
• Use Cloudflare for DNS, SSL, DDoS protection, and WAF.

Evidence

Tested running 20+ sites on a 2GB RAM DigitalOcean droplet

Source

host 20+ websites on a single $12/month VPS

Source