Websites and hosting
Render alternatives
2 open-source projects that already do this job. Free to use - not free to run, which is what the numbers on the right are for.
The projects
appwrite/appwrite★56,795 GitHub starsBSD-3-Clause licenceSelf-hostable backend platform providing auth, databases, storage, functions, hosting, and realtime services.Open on GitHub ↗sandstorm-io/sandstorm★7,066 GitHub starslicence unclearSecurity-hardened, self-hostable app platform that packages and runs web apps with multi-tenant isolation.Open on GitHub ↗
What you give up either way
- Autoscaling that handles 100x traffic bursts
- Managed compliance and enterprise controls (SOC2/HIPAA/ISO)
- Full-stack preview environments for pull requests
- Built-in DDoS mitigation and platform-level protections
- Integrated workspace/team controls, audit logs, and support SLAs
An open-source project doing the core job proves a replacement is possible. It does not prove it matches Render, and it does not prove anyone has run it for a month. How we decide.