HostingGuru
Deploy Expressin minutes.
Push your Express.js API or web server to GitHub and HostingGuru deploys it automatically. We detect Express in your dependencies, install packages, and start your server — no PM2, no reverse proxy config, no infrastructure to manage.
Steps
1. Connect your GitHub
Sign up and install the HostingGuru GitHub App. We'll list all your repositories — pick the one with your Express project.
2. We detect Express
HostingGuru reads your package.json and identifies express in your dependencies. We determine your start command from the scripts.start field and detect whether you're using TypeScript (via ts-node or a build step). The Node.js version is matched from your engines field or .nvmrc. If you have a build script, we run it before starting your server.
3. Your app is live
Your Express server binds to the PORT environment variable and starts accepting requests over HTTPS immediately. REST endpoints, middleware stacks, WebSocket upgrades, and static file serving all work as expected. Your API responds to traffic with proper keep-alive connections, and process monitoring ensures your server restarts cleanly if it encounters an unhandled exception.
Express on HostingGuru, no DevOps detour
Auto-detected entry point
We look at package.json main, the start script, and common filenames (server.js, app.js, index.js) to find your entry point. Override with the start script if your project structure is unusual.
$PORT binding, no code change
Express apps that listen(process.env.PORT || 3000) work unchanged. Bind to 0.0.0.0 if your code does something custom — we wire the port through automatically. Health checks hit / by default, configurable per service.
Middleware ecosystem intact
helmet, cors, compression, express-rate-limit, passport, multer — all work as-is. X-Forwarded-For headers are set correctly for your rate limiter; trust proxy should be enabled in your Express config to pick them up.
Sticky-session-free WebSockets
If you're upgrading HTTP to WebSockets via ws or socket.io, our load balancer terminates HTTP/2 and forwards the connection cleanly. Long-running connections stay open. Use Redis as a pub/sub layer if you scale to multiple replicas.
Background workers as separate services
Don't run BullMQ workers in your web service. Add a second service in the same workspace pointing at node worker.js — same env, same Redis, separate process. The web stays snappy and the worker scales independently.
Free Express service forever
A webhook receiver, a Telegram bot, a Discord integration — all run great on the Starter plan free, 24/7. No spin-down. The first request after midnight isn't slower than the request at noon.
Ready to deploy your Express app?
From GitHub to production in under 5 minutes. No credit card needed.
Key facts and common questions
Express hosting on HostingGuru is a managed Platform-as-a-Service that builds and runs your Express application directly from a GitHub repository, without you operating servers, container registries, or build pipelines.
What is the fastest way to deploy a Express app on HostingGuru?
Install the HostingGuru GitHub App on the repository, pick the branch, and click Deploy. HostingGuru detects express in package.json dependencies, installs your dependencies, runs an optional build, and starts the server on process.env.PORT. The first deploy of a standard Express project finishes in about 2–4 minutes.
How long does a Express deployment take on HostingGuru?
A typical Express API with 20 dependencies deploys in 60–90 seconds cold, and 30–45 seconds on subsequent deploys thanks to the dependency cache.
Which Express versions does HostingGuru support?
HostingGuru supports Express 4.x and Express 5.x on Node.js 18, 20, 22, and 24. Your engines.node field is honored, otherwise the latest LTS is used.
How much does it cost to deploy a Express app on HostingGuru?
The Starter plan is free for one always-on Express service. Hobby is $19/month for 3 services on shared infrastructure. Pro is $35/month for 10 services on a dedicated CX22 server. See pricing for the full plan matrix.