My Take on Serverless Hosting

Not too long ago, I was browsing YouTube when I stumbled upon a video that caught my attention. The video was from FireShip, about a recent change in the pricing of a popular serverless hosting platform, Vercel. That got my attention, and I decided to watch the video to see what the fuss was about. It was about a Vercel customer was surprised to get a $96K serverless bill after their app went viral. The video was quite interesting, and it got me thinking about serverless hosting. I have been using Vercel for a while now, and I have been quite happy with it. A few weeks later it turned out that Cloudflare Pages also had similar drama.

Now, can we still trust serverless hosting? And more importantly - free tiers?

Serverless Hosting ​

Serverless hosting is a great way to host your website or web app without having to worry about server management. It allows you to focus on building your app and leave the server management to the hosting provider. Serverless hosting is also scalable, meaning that your app can handle a large number of users without any issues. This makes it a great choice for apps that are expected to go viral. There are many serverless hosting providers out there, such as Vercel, Netlify, and Cloudflare Pages.

Free Tiers ​

Many serverless hosting providers offer free tiers, which allow you to host your app for free up to a certain limit. This is great for small projects or personal websites that don't get a lot of traffic. However, the free tiers usually have limitations, such as limited bandwidth or limited build minutes. Once you exceed these limitations, you will have to pay for the hosting. This is where things can get tricky, as you might end up with a large bill if your app suddenly goes viral.

The issue is, if overnight your app goes viral, you might end up with a large bill. This is what happened to the Vercel customer mentioned earlier. This is a nightmare scenario for any developer, and it raises questions about the reliability of serverless hosting providers. How will the mantainer of the app pay for the bill?

My Take ​

In my opinion, serverless hosting is still a great choice for hosting your app, it just comes down to who you trust, and how you manage your app. For example, Codeberg Pages is trustworty for a simple and clean service to host, as it is a non-profit organization. And if you want something more advanced, you can always check Coolify, a self-hosted serverless hosting platform, an alternative to Vercel, Netlify, and Cloudflare Pages.

I am not saying that you should avoid products like Vercel or Cloudflare Pages, but you should be aware of the limitations of the free tiers and be prepared to pay for the hosting if your app goes viral. It's always a good idea to have a backup plan in case things go wrong. And remember, if you are not sure about something, you can always ask for help from the community. They are always there to help you out.