Quick Comparison
| Option | Monthly Cost | Pros | Cons | Best For |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| VPS (DigitalOcean, Linode) | Low–Medium | Control, predictable pricing | Manual setup/maintenance | Developers comfortable with Linux |
| Cloud (AWS, GCP, Azure) | Medium–High | Scalability, networking, managed DBs | Complex billing, steeper learning curve | Growing/enterprise bots |
| PaaS (Railway, Render, Fly.io) | Low–Medium | Easy deploys, logs, autoscale | Limits on long-running CPU | Small to mid-size bots |
| Managed Bot Hosting | Low–Medium | No devops, fast time-to-value | Less control/flexibility | Non-developers, rapid launch |
Key Requirements for Bot Hosting
- Persistent process (not short-lived serverless requests)
- Stable outbound connectivity to the Discord Gateway
- Ability to store and rotate secrets securely
- Logging and metrics for reliability
Recommendation
Start with an easy PaaS (Railway/Render/Fly.io) for quick iteration. Move to VPS or cloud when you need more control or specialized networking. If you want zero-maintenance AI features, try a managed platform like Friendify.