Ship: the self hosted vercel alternative
Push code to GitHub. Ship handles builds, deployments, and SSL. Keep control of your infrastructure. Keep costs predictable. Open-source, no vendor lock-in.
Why Ship is the self-hosted Vercel alternative
Vercel's model is: base fee plus ongoing charges for every byte transferred, every function invocation, every compute minute. Those charges compound. Ship flips the model: pay for infrastructure once, run your apps without surprise bills.
Predictable costs, not usage-based
Vercel Pro starts at $20/month. Add compute charges, function invocations, data transfer, storage—and you're easily at $100+/month for active apps. Ship on your own infrastructure means one monthly hosting cost. No surprise charges when traffic spikes. A $40/month VPS can host multiple Ship apps that would cost $200+ on Vercel.
No lock-in. Pure portability.
Ship uses standard Docker and Docker Compose. Your config files are portable. Switch hosting providers tomorrow, redeploy the same Docker files, and you're running on new infrastructure in minutes. Vercel locks you into their edge runtime and proprietary configuration system. Ship keeps you free.
GDPR and data residency
Vercel is US-based. European teams often need EU data residency for compliance—a complex conversation with Vercel. Ship via Opsily EU infrastructure means your data stays in the EU. Full GDPR support. No workarounds needed. Self-hosted Ship gives you even more control: run on your own servers, your choice of region.
Built for teams who need reliability
Ship vs. Vercel side by side
Vercel pricing as of July 2026. Ship self-hosted cost depends on your infrastructure choice; Opsily managed Ship available at specific plan tiers.
How Ship deployments work
No complex configuration files. No proprietary build systems. Ship detects your app, builds it, deploys it. Every git push is a deployment.
Choose Your App
Select an app to get started.
Connect GitHub
Authorize Ship, select your repository. Ship auto-detects your app type: Node.js, Python, Go, Ruby—any containerizable stack.
Choose your hosting
Deploy to Opsily managed infrastructure (we handle maintenance and scaling) or point to your own servers (full control, your rules).
Push to deploy
Every git push to main triggers a build, automated tests, and deployment. SSL/TLS certificate is provisioned automatically. Same push-to-deploy experience as Vercel, with none of the lock-in.
Scale or migrate anytime
Your Docker configs are standard. Export them, move to another host, redeploy. Vercel ties you in. Ship keeps you free.
Why Vercel's pricing model punishes growth
Vercel's base plan sounds cheap: $20/month. But that includes only $20 in monthly usage credit. Once you exceed that—which happens the moment you deploy an active app—you pay:
- Compute: $0.128/hour per CPU (scales with traffic)
- Functions: $0.60 per 1M invocations
- Data transfer: $0.05–$0.15 per GB
- Storage: $0.023 per GB per month
- Edge middleware: additional charges
A Next.js app with moderate traffic and image optimization easily hits $100–$200/month. A viral app or one serving video can hit $500+. The pricing scales with success—exactly when margins matter most for startups.
Self-hosted infrastructure flips the equation
Ship running on a $40/month VPS can host multiple production apps. A $100/month dedicated server handles enterprise traffic. The cost is fixed, predictable, and independent of your traffic or usage. Your success doesn't surprise you with a $5,000 bill.
Open-source + standard Docker = freedom
Vercel's infrastructure is proprietary. Their edge runtime is locked to Next.js. Their environment variables are Vercel's system. Moving off Vercel means rewriting your app to work on standard infrastructure.
Ship is built on open standards: Docker and Docker Compose. These are industry-standard tools. Your configuration files work on any Docker host—Opsily, AWS, your own hardware, a competitor's platform. Switching infrastructure means copying your Dockerfiles. No rewrite. No reengineering.
GDPR is not a constraint: it's a default
Vercel is US-based. European customers often find themselves in a bind: use Vercel and navigate complex legal frameworks, or build on Heroku/managed PostgreSQL and lose deployment simplicity.
Ship via Opsily EU infrastructure means compliance is solved: data stays in the EU, backups are in the EU, updates happen on EU infrastructure. No data transfer, no complex legal agreements. Just hosting that respects your obligations.
cost difference for high-bandwidth apps
A Next.js app with 50GB monthly data transfer costs ~$180/month on Vercel Pro. The same app on a $50/month VPS via Ship costs $50/month infrastructure + minimal overheads. That's not unusual—it's typical for apps with meaningful traffic.
Trust. Compliance. Control.
Ship is built for teams that need more than a black-box PaaS. Own your data. Own your infrastructure. Own your compliance posture.
GDPR compliant hosting
Opsily managed Ship runs on EU infrastructure with full data residency guarantees. Your data stays in the EU. No US data transfers.
Full data ownership
Self-hosted Ship means you control the servers. Your Dockerfiles, your configs, your backups. No proprietary black-box infrastructure.
Open-source foundation
Ship is open-source. Audit the code. Fork it. Deploy it yourself. No magic, no hidden proprietary systems.
Infrastructure flexibility
Deploy on Opsily, AWS, your data center, or a Raspberry Pi. Your infrastructure, your provider, your terms.
Portable forever
Docker Compose configs are standard. Migrate hosting providers without rewriting deployments. Your apps, your rules.
Complete your stack
Ship pairs perfectly with these open-source tools for a complete self-hosted application platform.
Self-hosted workflow automation with robust PostgreSQL data persistence
Transform any database into a smart spreadsheet interface
Open-source scheduling infrastructure that puts you in control
Your Ship questions answered
Learn why Ship is the self-hosted Vercel alternative and how to switch from Vercel.
Ship is an open-source, Docker-native PaaS that delivers Vercel's core features—git-triggered deployments, automatic SSL, scaling—without proprietary lock-in. Vercel runs apps on a closed, proprietary edge network and charges usage fees on top of the base $20/month plan. Ship uses standard Docker containers, which run on any Docker host: Opsily managed infrastructure, your VPS, your servers. Your configs are portable. Your costs are predictable. That's the difference.
Stop paying for Vercel's success
Ship gives you Vercel's developer experience on your infrastructure, your costs, your terms.