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A Render alternative for web apps and static sites

Stackap is an alternative to Render for web services, static sites and scheduled jobs on a server you own, but it has no background workers, no previews and no managed multi-region hosting.

The short answer

Render is a hosted platform with a few clear service types: web services, static sites, background workers, cron jobs and managed Postgres. That vocabulary makes a comparison easy, because Stackap covers some of those types and not others.

Web services and static sites map across directly. Cron jobs map across with a different mechanism. Background workers do not map at all today, and that is the thing to check first.

One difference is invisible until it matters: where builds run. On Render a build happens on its infrastructure and does not touch your running service. On Stackap a build runs on the same machine as your live apps, so a heavy build for one project can briefly slow another.

Side by side

Render service type	On Stackap	Note
Web service	Yes	A container that listens on PORT, built from your Dockerfile or a recognized project
Static site	Yes	Built and served from nginx, real 404s
Background worker	Not included	Needs an HTTP port to pass a health check
Cron job	Yes, differently	A scheduled HTTP call to your app, not a separate command
Managed Postgres	Yes	One private database per project on your server
Pull request previews	Not included	Use a staging project
Blueprint-style infrastructure file	Not included	Projects are created by command or API
Persistent disk	Not included	Use the database or object storage

Choose Render if

You run background workers or cron jobs that execute a command, not an HTTP call.
You rely on a persistent disk attached to a service.
You want previews for every pull request.

Choose Stackap if

Your services are web apps, APIs and static sites.
You would rather pay for a server than for each service.
You want backups you can restore and verify, going to a bucket you own.

What the money looks like

Render prices each service and database by plan, and those prices change, so read its pricing page. On Stackap every project on the machine shares one server price, so the more small services you run, the better the arithmetic looks.

That advantage reverses if one service needs more than the machine has. Check your heaviest service against four cores and eight gigabytes first.

Early-access scope

No background workers and no command-style cron jobs.
No persistent disk and no previews.
Everything shares one machine, so a busy project can slow its neighbours.
Stackap is early access, invite-only.

Questions

How do I turn a cron job into something Stackap can run?

Expose its work as an endpoint on your app, protected by a secret, and schedule a call to that path. The schedule is in UTC.

Can I keep Render for the database only?

Yes, and move the app. The app would then reach its database across the internet from Germany, which adds latency to every query, so measure before committing to that split.

Does a static site cost extra?

No. It runs as a tiny nginx container on the same server.

Facts about other products on this page were last checked on 2026-10-03. Check their own pages before you decide.

Stackap is in early access. Tell us what you run and we will reply with a straight answer about whether it fits.

Ask for an invitation

Last updated 2026-10-03.