Comparison
Platform vs Traditional VPS
A virtual server is cheap until you count the hours spent keeping it alive. Here is what changes when you hand that work over.
TL;DR
- No servers to patch: the OS, runtimes, and TLS are kept up to date for you.
- Zero-downtime deploys and rollbacks instead of SSH and hand-written scripts.
- Scale out under load, then back down, without resizing a machine.
Side by side
The work behind a running server
Who does what, once the service is live.
| Capability | Platform | Traditional VPS |
|---|---|---|
| Deploys | ||
| Deploy on push | Included | Scripts or manual |
| Zero-downtime deploys | Included | Not included |
| One-click rollback | Included | Not included |
| Preview environments | Included | Not included |
| Maintenance | ||
| OS and security patches | Automatic | Your team |
| TLS certificates | Issued and renewed | Cron job to maintain |
| Database backups | Daily, point-in-time | Your scripts |
| Monitoring and alerts | Built in | Install and configure |
| Scale and cost | ||
| Autoscaling | Included | Not included |
| Load balancing | Built in | Set up yourself |
| Pricing | Per instance, per second | Fixed per machine |
| Root access to the machine | Not included | Included |
Why teams switch
What teams stop doing after they leave their servers behind.
No more patch nights
Operating system and runtime updates roll out without a maintenance window.
Deploys without SSH
Push to a branch and the platform builds, health-checks, and swaps instances.
Backups you can restore
Daily backups and point-in-time recovery for every managed database.
Room to grow
Add instances when traffic spikes instead of migrating to a bigger machine.
From server to service in three steps
Move one app at a time and keep the server running until you are sure.
- Web service
- Worker
- Cron job
- Postgres
- Cache
- Static site
- 01Cloning repository from main
- 02Detected Python runtime
- 03Installing dependencies
- 04Build completed in 38s
- 05Health check passed
- 06Deploy is live
- Database restored from a dump
- Cron jobs recreated
- Custom domain verified
- TLS certificate issued
- Final server snapshot saved
- Server switched off
“We had four servers and a folder of shell scripts. Now we have services that deploy themselves, and nobody logs in at midnight to renew a certificate.”
01Is it more expensive than a VPS?
The machine alone can be cheaper. Once you add backups, monitoring, load balancing, and the hours spent on patches, most small teams pay less overall.
02Can I still run background jobs and cron jobs?
Yes. Workers run continuously, and cron jobs run on any schedule you define. Both share the private network with your web services.
03What if I need a package that is not installed?
Add it to your Dockerfile, or list it in your build settings. Every deploy builds a fresh image with exactly what you need.
04Do I lose root access?
You do not get a shell on the host, but you can open a shell into any running instance for debugging.