I think #1 has been outdated for a long time. FTP or copying files through CPanel hasn't been more convenient than workflows like `fly deploy` where you don't even need to know about a remote file system nor about a server that's already running. And php-fpm being called by nginx is also more complicated than just "node script.js" or running a compiled Go binary.
While I never actually wanted it, #2 was kinda cool spiritually. Same with CGI or a Cloudflare edge worker.
People who manually copy files are not going to use anything more sophisticated. It was not what I had in mind and I do not think its a fair comparison, nor is a pricey and proprietary platform.
These days I imagine people are more likely to be using git pull or rsync anyway.
> And php-fpm being called by nginx is also more complicated than just "node script.js" or running a compiled Go binary.
Apache with mod_php is still an option AFAIK. It is also definitely easy to find everything pre-configured on share hosting. Then there is FrankenPHP.
Might not be the easiest option for everyone, but it is going to be for some people.