CLI tool
TechnicalSoftware operated from a terminal through typed commands. A distinct platform with its own distribution channels, discovery patterns and listing requirements.
Technical
Self-hosted
Software you run on infrastructure you control rather than consuming as a vendor-operated service. A deployment model, and on this site a first-class platform.
Also called self hosting, on-premise, on-prem
Self-hosted software runs on infrastructure you control: your server, your VPS, your cluster. You install it, update it, back it up and secure it, in exchange for control over the data, freedom from per-seat pricing, and no dependence on a vendor’s continued existence.
It overlaps with open source but is not the same thing. Plenty of self-hosted software is commercially licensed, and plenty of open source software is consumed as a hosted service.
The trade is genuine in both directions. You get data residency, cost predictability at scale and no lock-in. You take on operations, security patching and the reality that when it breaks at 2am it is yours.
For a launch directory, self-hosted is exactly the case that a single-axis category list handles badly. A self-hosted deployment platform is not a “web app” or an “online tool”, and describing it as either loses the property that people are actually searching for. Here it is one of nine platforms a listing can carry, alongside the license, the repository and the install command.
Coolify is the canonical example in our seed inventory: a self-hosted, Apache-2.0 alternative to Vercel, Heroku and Netlify with no paywalled features.
Last reviewed .
See also
Indie hacker
BusinessA developer who builds and runs small software businesses independently, usually solo or in a pair, funded by revenue rather than investment.
Launch directory
DirectoryA site where makers submit new products for review and publication, usually combining a dated feed of recent launches with permanent, browsable listing pages.