Show HN: I built a Mac App that brings Vercel UX to my $5 VPS

You're paying $200+/month to Vercel or Railway for a seamless deployment experience while your $5 DigitalOcean droplet sits idle because managing it requires terminals and tribal DevOps knowledge.

Coolify, Dokploy, and CapRover install heavyweight dashboards on your server. Suddenly your lightweight $5 VPS is running someone else's software 24/7 just to deploy your own code.

Server Compass runs on your desktop, not your server. Your VPS stays clean, fast, and focused on your apps. We connect over SSH only when you deploy—no daemons, no overhead, no surprises.

Save $600-700 per year by switching to Server Compass.

vs. Vercel / Railway

• 20x cheaper: $5/month VPS vs. $100-200/month PaaS bills.
• Same great UX: One-click deploys, real-time feedback, instant rollbacks.
• No vendor lock-in: Your servers, your control, your data.
• No usage-based surprises: Deploy as much as you want without metered pricing.

vs. Coolify / Dokploy / CapRover

• Zero server overhead: Nothing runs on your VPS except your apps.
• Better performance: Keep resources for production workloads, not control panels.
• Offline access: Manage deployments even when your server UI is down.
• Native experience: A desktop app designed for fast workflows.

vs. Manual SSH Management

• No terminal required: Every operation has a visual control.
• Best practices baked in: SSL, security, and process management handled for you.
• Deployment history: Roll back confidently with one-click restores.
• Real-time feedback: Know exactly what’s happening during every deploy.

🚀

Indie Hackers

Ship side projects without bleeding cash. Deploy unlimited apps for the cost of one Vercel project.

💼

Small Teams

Give teammates deployment access without sharing root credentials. Manage multiple clients in one place.

🎓

Agencies

Deliver client work on affordable infrastructure while providing a polished, professional deployment workflow.

🧪

Developers Who Want Control

Keep the Vercel UX, but own your stack. No usage limits, no surprise bills, no vendor constraints.

SSH key authentication

Securely connect to servers using your existing SSH keys. Passwords are never required.

Secure credential storage

Credentials stay local, encrypted on your machine. Nothing is ever sent to third-party services.

Automatic SSL

Let’s Encrypt certificates are issued and renewed automatically for every domain you manage.

No data collection

Server Compass does not phone home. Your infrastructure details remain on your machines.

✅ Launch Features (Available Now)

• Next.js deployments with automatic framework detection
• GitHub integration
• Real-time deployment logs
• Domain management with SSL automation
• Environment variable management
• One-click rollbacks
• Resource monitoring

🚧 Coming Soon (Q1 2026)

• GitLab integration
• Supabase auto-deployment
• Database management UI
• Multi-server orchestration
• Team collaboration features
• Remix & Astro support

🔮 Future

• Docker Compose support
• CI/CD pipeline builder
• Backup automation
• Custom deployment scripts
• Expanded framework support

What's included:

• Desktop app for Mac (Windows and Linux coming soon)
• Unlimited VPS connections
• Unlimited app deployments
• All current features
• All future updates
• Email support
• 30-day money-back guarantee

Requirements

• Valid email for license key delivery
• VPS with SSH access