Prompt

What's the cheapest option for a side project?

Technology / Api platforms1 observationLast seen Sep 23, 2026

Latest observation

Sep 23, 2026OpenAI APIWeb search: off

The cheapest option for a side project is usually:

  1. Use free tiers

    • Frontend: Vercel, Netlify, Cloudflare Pages
    • Backend/API: Cloudflare Workers, Supabase free tier, Firebase free tier
    • Database: Supabase/Postgres free tier, Neon free tier, MongoDB Atlas free tier
  2. Start with the simplest stack

    • If it’s just a small app: static site + serverless functions
    • If you need auth/db quickly: Next.js + Supabase
    • If you want ultra-low cost: plain HTML/CSS/JS + Cloudflare Pages
  3. Avoid paid services early

    • Skip custom domains at first
    • Skip managed Kubernetes, VPSs, and overbuilt backend setups
    • Don’t pay for email/SMS until you actually need them
  4. Use open-source tools

    • Auth: Supabase/Auth.js
    • Forms: Formspree free tier or serverless endpoints
    • Analytics: Plausible alternative? Often self-hosted or skip initially

If you mean cheapest in money, the winner is often:

  • Static site on Cloudflare Pages
  • Free serverless backend if needed
  • Free DB only if necessary

If you mean cheapest in time, it’s often:

  • Next.js + Vercel + Supabase

If you want, I can recommend the cheapest stack based on what you’re building.

Observation history

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Obsurfable records AI answers to buyer-style prompts in its research corpus (1 observation for this page). Metrics are distributions over observations, not a single static ranking.

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