I'm unhappy with Netlify because my app is more than a static site

That makes sense — Netlify is great for static sites and some Jamstack-style apps, but it can feel limiting once your app needs more backend, long-running processes, server-side state, websockets, queues, or custom infrastructure.

A few better directions depending on what your app needs:

If you want a modern app platform

• Vercel — great for frontend + serverless/API routes, especially Next.js
• Render — easy deploys for web apps, background workers, cron jobs, managed Postgres, Redis
• Railway — very developer-friendly for apps, databases, and services
• Fly.io — good if you want to run full apps close to users with more control

If you need a real backend

• Render / Railway / Fly.io are usually better than Netlify
• DigitalOcean App Platform if you want simpler PaaS-style hosting
• AWS / GCP / Azure if you need maximum flexibility and scale

If your app has:

• WebSockets / realtime → Fly.io, Render, Railway, or a VPS/cloud VM
• Background jobs / queues → Render, Railway, cloud providers, or Kubernetes
• Custom backend services → any container-friendly platform
• Database-heavy app → a platform with built-in managed Postgres/Redis is usually easier

Practical recommendation

If you want the least painful move from Netlify:

1. Render if you want straightforward full-stack hosting
2. Railway if you want fast developer experience
3. Fly.io if you want more control and global deployment

If you want, I can recommend the best replacement based on what your app actually uses:

• frontend framework
• backend language
• database
• realtime/websockets?
• background jobs?
• expected traffic