Vercel Alternative: Deploy for $6/mo Instead of $20/mo

Vercel is incredible for DX. But at $20/user/month with bandwidth limits, it gets expensive fast. Here's how to keep the developer experience while cutting costs by 70%.

The Vercel Problem

Vercel's free tier is generous. But the moment you need:

• Team collaboration → $20/user/mo (5 devs = $100/mo)
• More bandwidth → $40/100GB overage
• Longer function execution → Enterprise only
• Self-hosted data → Not possible

A typical startup with 5 developers, moderate traffic, and a database ends up at $200-500/mo on Vercel.

The Bare Metal Alternative

Here's what $6/mo gets you on RAW:

• 2 vCPU ARM, 4 GB RAM, 40 GB NVMe
• 20 TB bandwidth included (Vercel: 100 GB on free)
• Run anything: Next.js, Nuxt, Remix, Astro, plain Docker
• Full root access — install whatever you want
• No per-user pricing — your whole team shares one server

Deploy Next.js on Bare Metal (5 Minutes)

# 1. Get a server
npx rawhq deploy

# 2. SSH in
ssh root@your-ip

# 3. Install Node.js + PM2
curl -fsSL https://deb.nodesource.com/setup_22.x | bash -
apt install -y nodejs
npm i -g pm2

# 4. Clone and run your app
git clone your-repo /app
cd /app && npm install && npm run build
pm2 start npm --name app -- start
pm2 save && pm2 startup

# 5. Add Caddy for HTTPS
apt install -y caddy
echo 'yourdomain.com { reverse_proxy localhost:3000 }' > /etc/caddy/Caddyfile
systemctl restart caddy

Done. Your Next.js app is running on bare metal with automatic HTTPS. Total cost: $6/mo.

What You Lose (And What You Don't)

When to Stay on Vercel

• You're a solo dev who values zero-config above all else
• You need edge functions in 30+ regions
• Your company pays and doesn't care about cost

When to Switch to Bare Metal

• You're cost-conscious (bootstrapped, indie, startup)
• You need more control (databases, cron jobs, background workers)
• You want predictable billing (no surprise bandwidth charges)
• You're comfortable with basic Linux (or willing to learn)

Try It

npx rawhq deploy

Free tier. No credit card. 13 seconds to a running server.