The SAAS (software as a service) model allows users to access the software online without downloading. It is a rent-based model where you have to pay as you use and you can stop using it whenever you want.

In this article, we will see the 11 top-paid SaaS product alternatives that you can use. You just need a server running on the cloud where you can host your SaaS product.

I hope you already have one; if you still need to, you can host it with AWS, GCP, or DigitalOcean. You can follow the tutorial below to set up the EC2 instance in AWS

Once the setup is completed you can connect to you instance vis ssh and install the softwares you want to.

Let’s see the alternatives for popular saas products —

1. Supabase — The open source Firebase alternative

You can start using the supabase instead of firebase, it is providing the everything which firebase provides. you can opt to self hosted model or there cloud services if don’t want to host it.

For more info refer to the github — https://github.com/supabase/supabase

How to install supabase with docker —

Get the code

git clone --depth 1 https://github.com/supabase/supabase  

Go to the docker folder

cd supabase/docker  

Copy the fake env vars

cp .env.example .env  

Pull the latest images

docker compose pull  

Start the services (in detached mode)

docker compose up -d

2. Grafana — Open Source Alternative to Datadog, NewRelic

A platform for visualizing data, Grafana allows users to see metrics, logs, and traces from many different sources, including Prometheus, Loki, Elasticsearch, InfluxDB, Postgres, and many more.

Github

How to install Grafana with docker —

docker run -d -p 3000:3000 --name=grafana grafana/grafana-enterprise

For more details refer here

3. Uptime Kuma — Open Source Alternative to Uptime Robot

Uptime kuma is great alternative to uptime robot, which is paid software to monitor your site’s uptime. We can host uptime kuma on our server and start using its amazing features without any limitations.

Github

How to install uptime kuma with docker —

docker run -d --restart=always -p 3001:3001 -v uptime-kuma:/app/data --name uptime-kuma louislam/uptime-kuma:1

Demo link

4. NocoDB — Open Source Alternative to Airtable

NocoDb is a great alternative to start using your database without coding. It uses your database as spreadsheets, where you can add, edit the records.

Install NocoDB with docker —

with PostgreSQL

docker run -d --name nocodb-postgres \  
-v "$(pwd)"/nocodb:/usr/app/data/ \  
-p 8080:8080 \  
-e NC_DB="pg://host.docker.internal:5432?u=root&p=password&d=d1" \  
-e NC_AUTH_JWT_SECRET="569a1821-0a93-45e8-87ab-eb857f20a010" \  
nocodb/nocodb:latest  

with SQLite : mounting volume /usr/app/data/ is crucial to avoid data loss.

docker run -d --name nocodb \  
-v "$(pwd)"/nocodb:/usr/app/data/ \  
-p 8080:8080 \  
nocodb/nocodb:latest

5. Dokku — Open Source Alternative to Heroku, Render

Dokku is docker based PaaS product used as aletrnative to Heroku, Render to deploy add on your promises. It is automatically detect the technology from the app code and provide the ci/cd with github.

Github

Installation: official guide

for debian systems, installs Dokku via apt-get

wget -NP . https://dokku.com/install/v0.34.8/bootstrap.sh  
sudo DOKKU_TAG=v0.34.8 bash bootstrap.sh

6. Appwrite — Open Source Alternative to Firebase

Appwrite is another good option of firebase, It is provides sdk and apis to start connect your app to backend in minuts. It has self hosted and cloud based model.

Github

Install Appwrite with docker —

docker run -it --rm \  
    --volume /var/run/docker.sock:/var/run/docker.sock \  
    --volume "$(pwd)"/appwrite:/usr/src/code/appwrite:rw \  
    --entrypoint="install" \  
    appwrite/appwrite:1.5.10

7. n8n — Open Source Alternative to Zapier, Make

Workflow automation solution with fair-code licensing that is free and open source. Automate tasks across many services with ease.

Github

Install N8N with docker —

docker volume create n8n_data  
  
docker run -it --rm --name n8n -p 5678:5678 -v n8n_data:/home/node/.n8n docker.n8n.io/n8nio/n8n

8. Redash: Open Source Alternative to Power BI, tableau, MicroStrategy, Qlik

Organize Your Business Using Data. Create a dashboard, share your data, and connect to any data source with ease.

Github

Install redash with docker —

git clone https://github.com/getredash/redash.git  
cd redash  
cp .env.example .env  

docker-compose -f docker-compose.production.yml up -d

9: Jitsi — Open Source Alternative to Zoom, Skype

You may use Jitsi Meet — a secure, user-friendly, and scalable video conference app — as a stand-alone program or integrate it into your website.

Github

Install Jitsi with docker —

// Download  
wget $(curl -s https://api.github.com/repos/jitsi/docker-jitsi-meet/releases/latest | grep 'zip' | cut -d\" -f4)  
  
// Unzip the package  
unzip <filename>  
  
// Create a .env file by copying and adjusting env.example  
cp env.example .env  
  
// Set strong passwords in the security section options of .env file by running the following bash script  
./gen-passwords.sh  
  
// Create required CONFIG directories  
mkdir -p ~/.jitsi-meet-cfg/{web,transcripts,prosody/config,prosody/prosody-plugins-custom,jicofo,jvb,jigasi,jibri}  
  
// run docker  
docker compose up -d  
  
//Access the web UI at https://localhost:8443 (or a different port, in case you edited the .env file).  

Follow the official documentation for more details

10. Plausible Analytics — Open Source Alternative to Google Analytics

A no-fuss, open-source, small (< 1 KB), and private online analytics substitute for Google Analytics.

Github

Install Plausible Analytics with docker —

git clone https://github.com/plausible/community-edition  
  
cd community-edition

edit plausible-conf.env

BASE_URL=replace-me  
SECRET_KEY_BASE=replace-me  
TOTP_VAULT_KEY=replace-me

Run docker compose

docker compose up -d

11. NextCloud — Open Source Alternative to Google Drive

Nextcloud is opensource alternative to google drive, used to store and share the data between users.

Github

Install Nextcloud with docker —

$ docker run -d \  
-v nextcloud:/var/www/html \  
nextcloud

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