Tau: A Self-Hosted, Open Source Alternative to Vercel and Netlify

If you've ever wished for a self-hosted version of Vercel, Netlify, or Cloudflare Pages—one that gives you full control without vendor lock-in—Tau might be exactly what you're looking for. This open-source, distributed Platform as a Service (PaaS) lets you deploy and manage applications on your own infrastructure while keeping the developer-friendly workflows you love.

With over 4.2k GitHub stars and a BSD-3-Clause license, Tau is gaining traction as a serious contender for teams that want flexibility, scalability, and privacy without sacrificing ease of use.

What It Does

Tau is a self-hosted PaaS designed to handle modern web apps, serverless functions, and edge deployments—just like Vercel or Netlify, but running on your own servers (or even a home lab). It provides:

• Git-based deployments (push to deploy)
• Serverless functions (Wasm & native execution)
• Edge networking (distributed P2P architecture)
• Built-in DNS & CDN (self-managed)

Unlike managed services, Tau runs wherever you want—whether that’s a cloud provider, a Raspberry Pi cluster, or a bare-metal server.

Why It’s Cool

1. No Vendor Lock-In – Deploy anywhere, from a single node to a global fleet.
2. P2P-Powered – Uses libp2p for decentralized networking, making it resilient and scalable.
3. Wasm Support – Run serverless functions in WebAssembly for portability and security.
4. Open Core – No hidden SaaS pricing; everything runs on your terms.

It’s especially appealing for privacy-focused projects, homelab enthusiasts, or teams that need custom infrastructure without reinventing the wheel.

How to Try It

1. Check the docs: tau.how
2. Clone & deploy:

   git clone https://github.com/taubyte/tau
   cd tau
   make setup  # Follow the prompts
   

3. Run a demo app: The repo includes examples for functions, static sites, and more.

For quick testing, you can also use their CLI (tau) to spin up a local instance.

Final Thoughts

Tau isn’t just another PaaS—it’s a developer-first, self-hosted alternative that gives you the best parts of Vercel/Netlify without the constraints. If you’ve ever been frustrated by cloud platform limits or just want more control over your deployments, Tau is worth a look.

It’s still evolving, but the active development (175+ commits, frequent updates) suggests a promising future.

Follow @githubprojects for more cool open-source finds.