LaunchPad vs Render
Render-style push-to-deploy on a Hetzner server you own. The same git-driven workflow, self-hosted PostgreSQL instead of a per-instance database bill — priced honestly in Rand.
What a small production app costs
| Line item | Render | Hetzner + LaunchPad |
|---|---|---|
| Web service | Starter ($7) ~R119 | CX22 server (€4.49) ~R85 runs web + worker + Postgres |
| Background worker | Starter ($7) ~R119 | |
| PostgreSQL | Basic instance ($6) ~R102 | Self-hosted — included |
| Database backups | Included in the database plan | Backblaze B2 (<$1) ~R15 |
| Platform fee | — | LaunchPad Solo R149 (ex VAT) |
| Typical monthly bill | ~R340 | ~R249 (save ~27%) |
Converted at roughly R17.0/$ and R18.9/€, excluding 15% South African VAT. Render plan names and list prices checked June 2026 (render.com/pricing) — check their site for current rates. Your real bill depends on app size, traffic, and add-ons; larger Render setups commonly save up to 70–90%.
Feature by feature
| Capability | Render | LaunchPad |
|---|---|---|
| Deploys | git push, buildpacks or Dockerfile | Kamal zero-downtime deploys from GitHub (Dockerfile) |
| Live deploy logs | Yes | Yes — streamed live to the Releases tab |
| Health-checked releases | Yes | Yes — cutover gated on readiness, auto-rollback on failure |
| PostgreSQL | Managed instance, per-plan pricing | Self-hosted on your server, no separate bill |
| Backups | Managed, plan-dependent | Scheduled pg_dump to Backblaze B2, encrypted client-side, plus restore drills |
| Point-in-time recovery | On managed plans | Continuous WAL archiving — restore to a chosen second (Beta; validate with a drill) |
| Scheduled tasks | Cron jobs | Managed cron entries per app |
| Server ownership | Abstracted away | Your Hetzner account — provisioned and secured for you (Docker, UFW, fail2ban) |
| Autoscaling | Yes | No — you resize or add Hetzner servers |
| Managed add-ons (Redis, etc.) | Yes | No — extra services run as resources on your servers |
Switching questions
How is LaunchPad different from Render?
Render is a managed cloud that runs your services and databases on infrastructure it operates and bills for. LaunchPad runs your app on a Hetzner Cloud server you own: it provisions and hardens the server, deploys your Dockerized app with Kamal, and manages self-hosted PostgreSQL — so there's no separate managed-database bill and no platform lock-in.
Is LaunchPad cheaper than Render?
For a typical small app this basket works out around 27% cheaper, because self-hosted PostgreSQL on your own Hetzner server replaces Render's per-instance database charge. Larger setups — more services, bigger databases — commonly save more. Hetzner and Backblaze bill you directly; LaunchPad adds no infrastructure markup.
What replaces Render's managed PostgreSQL?
LaunchPad provisions PostgreSQL on your own server and automates the operational work: scheduled pg_dump backups encrypted client-side and shipped to Backblaze B2, restores verified by a drill into a temporary database, and WAL-based point-in-time recovery (Beta — validate with a recovery drill before relying on it).
What does Render still do that LaunchPad doesn't?
Render autoscales services across its fleet, offers managed Redis and other services out of the box, and abstracts servers away entirely. With LaunchPad you run on servers you own — scaling means resizing or adding Hetzner servers, and services like Redis run as resources on your own machines.
Ready to own your infrastructure?
Read the step-by-step Kamal on Hetzner guide, or start with the free tier.
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