---
title: "You are paying ~$3-7 per deployment for your AI Apps. How do you do it in <$10 per month?"
slug: hetzner-coolify-self-hosting-ai-apps-under-10-dollars
date_published: 2026-01-24T10:00:00.000Z
original_url: https://www.tigzig.com/post/hetzner-coolify-self-hosting-ai-apps-under-10-dollars
source: fresh
processed_at: 2026-01-24T10:00:00.000Z
feature_image: /images/blog/coolify.png
---

# You are paying ~$3-7 per deployment for your AI Apps. How do you do it in <$10 per month?

You are paying ~$3-7 per deployment for your AI Apps. For 40 tools that is $100-200 PM. How do you do it in <$10 per month?

That's what happened around two years back, when I started deploying my open source tools on tigzig.com and doing client app projects.

Coming from analytics, this was new to me. Started with Render - very easy. Then I had 10 apps on free service and 2-3 on paid plans, paying $7 per service for persistent disk. Free tier ones go to sleep after inactivity. Plus, you only get 512MB RAM and half a CPU. Good for small tools, but larger tools tank.

I realized I needed full flexibility. Adding GBs of data, file hosting, higher RAM etc - without worrying about pay-as-you-go surprises, multiple providers or complex pricing.

Finally decided to self-host everything. There was the fear of the unknown, but over time, and with AI help, turned out to be easier than I had thought.

## Two Major Elements

1. A shared server - basically a machine
2. A deployment tool - to manage multiple apps

## Hetzner for the Server

Decided on Hetzner for pricing, reliability, and simplicity. For Euro 7.69 you get 8GB RAM, 80GB disk, 4 vCPUs, dedicated IP, full SSH access. It seemed like an ocean at that time. Now filling up fast.

Have a big app? 32GB RAM, 640GB disk, 16 vCPUs - Euro 39 p.m. Not bad, right?

All NVMe disks, by the way.

Very clean interface vs some cloud providers that feel like an aeroplane cockpit.

## Coolify for Deployment

For deployment using [Coolify](https://coolify.io) (Free, Open Source). Provides a Render-like interface. Deploy via GitHub repo or Docker. Everything in its own container. You can customize RAM and swap file sizes.

I used this playlist from RJ Reynolds to set up Coolify: [YouTube Playlist](https://youtu.be/Q1Y_g0wMwww?si=p_jMuIO8786ELGMl)

When I set it up nearly two years back, I did it one command at a time with ChatGPT. Now with Claude Code, you can share SSH keys and have it do most of the setup. But still do it in small steps, checking every step.

## More Resources

More on Infra Setup for AI Tool Builders in my [2026 Guide - Part 2](/post/2026-infra-guide-part-2-deployment-hosting)