How non-technical founders get their app live without touching DevOps
You built something — with an AI builder, a freelancer, or a co-founder. Now it has to run on the internet, and every guide starts with a terminal. Cheaploy does the server part for you and hands back a working URL.
The gap nobody warns you about
Building the product is now the easy part. AI builders write the code, templates cover the design, and a freelancer can fill the gaps. Then you reach the last mile — putting it on the internet — and the instructions change language entirely: SSH keys, Docker images, reverse proxies, ARM architecture, TLS certificates, firewall rules.
That last mile is DevOps, and it's a different job from making the product. Founders solve it by hiring someone at a few thousand a month, paying a platform that bills per usage, or quietly not launching. Cheaploy exists so you don't have to pick one of those three.
What Cheaploy actually does for you
- Reads your project. Point it at a GitHub repository and it detects the framework, language, and database your app needs.
- Writes the server config. It generates the Dockerfile and build steps automatically, including the ARM-compatible build Oracle's free machines require.
- Creates the machine. It provisions the server, network, and storage inside your own free cloud account.
- Turns on HTTPS. Certificates are issued and renewed for you — the padlock just appears.
- Watches it after launch. Uptime checks, CPU and memory alerts by email, and automatic rollback when a new version fails.
Everything above is the work a DevOps engineer would do in your first month. You see a progress log and, at the end, a live link.
The five steps, in plain English
- Create a free Oracle Cloud account. A card is used for identity verification only; the Always Free resources never charge it. Our signup walkthrough has screenshots for every field.
- Connect it to Cheaploy once. You paste a set of access details generated in Oracle's console. They're encrypted and used only to build your servers.
- Add your project. Paste the GitHub URL. Cheaploy analyses it and shows you, in readable terms, what it plans to run.
- Press deploy. Watch the log. Roughly five to eight minutes later you get a URL that works on any device.
- Add your domain when ready. One DNS record, and Cheaploy handles the certificate.
What this replaces
| The usual route | Cost / effort | With Cheaploy |
|---|---|---|
| Hire a DevOps contractor | $2,000–$8,000 per month | Included in the workflow |
| Learn Docker, Linux, and cloud networking | Weeks of your time | Not required |
| Usage-billed hosting platform | $20–$200+ per month, grows with traffic | $0 on your own free tier |
| Manual uptime babysitting | Ongoing | Alerts and auto-rollback |
Why the hosting is genuinely free
Oracle Cloud's Always Free tier is unusually generous and, unlike most free tiers, has no expiry date: 2 ARM CPU cores, 12GB of RAM, 200GB of storage, and 10TB of monthly bandwidth. That's enough to run a real SaaS with its database and background jobs on a single machine. Cheaploy deploys into that allowance instead of reselling you capacity — see the Oracle vs AWS free tier comparison or the is it really free breakdown.
You stay in control
The server is in your account, under your name. Nothing about the deployment is proprietary — it's a standard Linux machine running standard containers, so any engineer you hire later can take it over without a migration project. If you outgrow the free tier, you scale the same machine up inside the same account.
Built for people who didn't sign up to be sysadmins
The same workflow serves anyone who can build but doesn't run infrastructure: solo founders shipping a first paid product, designers launching a side project, data scientists putting a model behind a URL, and frontend engineers who've never owned a production server. If you built it with an AI tool, the guide for AI-builder projects covers the specifics of exporting and deploying that code. If you'd rather have your AI tool do the migration work, the two Always Free migration prompts are copy-paste ready.
Frequently asked
Do I need to know how to code to use Cheaploy?+
No. You need code that exists — from an AI builder like Lovable, a freelancer, or a template — in a GitHub repository. Cheaploy reads the repo, works out how the app should run, builds it, and puts it online. You click through a form; you never open a terminal.
What is DevOps, and why am I being asked to do it?+
DevOps is the work of getting code from a laptop onto a server and keeping it running: provisioning a machine, installing dependencies, containerising the app, setting up HTTPS, monitoring, and restarting things when they break. It's a separate skill from building the product, which is why founders get stuck at exactly this step. Cheaploy automates that layer.
How much does hosting cost?+
$0 for most small apps. Cheaploy deploys into your own Oracle Cloud Always Free account, which permanently includes 2 ARM CPUs, 12GB of RAM, 200GB of storage, and 10TB of monthly bandwidth. There's no expiry date and no usage bill as long as you stay inside those allowances.
Whose account does the app run in?+
Yours. Cheaploy never resells hosting — the server lives in your own Oracle Cloud tenancy, so you own the infrastructure, the data, and the billing account. If you stop using Cheaploy, the app keeps running.
How long does the first deployment take?+
Usually under 10 minutes end to end: create the free Oracle account, connect it once, paste your repository URL, and wait for the build. Later deployments of the same project take a couple of minutes.
What happens when something breaks at 2am?+
Cheaploy health-checks your app continuously, emails you when CPU, memory, or uptime crosses a threshold, and can automatically roll back to the last working version if a deployment fails its health check. You don't need to be watching.
Do I need a domain name?+
Not to launch. Every deployment gets a working address immediately. When you're ready, you point your own domain at it and Cheaploy issues the HTTPS certificate for you.
Is this only for founders, or also for non-DevOps engineers?+
Both. Frontend developers, data scientists, designers who code, and backend engineers who've never run infrastructure use Cheaploy for the same reason: shipping the app shouldn't require learning Terraform, Kubernetes, and cloud networking first.
Deploy your project for $0
No credit card. No Oracle sales call. Ship to your own cloud in under 10 minutes.
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