What's the cheapest option for a small SaaS?

The cheapest option for a small SaaS usually depends on what you mean by “cheapest”:

If you mean lowest monthly cost

A very common low-cost stack is:

• Frontend: Next.js on Vercel free tier
• Backend/API: Cloudflare Workers or Vercel serverless
• Database: Supabase free tier or Neon free tier
• Auth: Supabase Auth or Clerk free tier
• Storage: Cloudflare R2 or Supabase storage
• Email: Resend or Mailgun free/low tier
• Domain: about $10–15/year

This can often get you to $0–$20/month early on, depending on usage.

If you mean cheapest to build and maintain

The cheapest option is usually:

• One codebase
• Monolith app
• Managed services only
• Avoid Kubernetes, microservices, custom infra, and self-hosting unless necessary

A simple stack like:

• Next.js + Supabase + Vercel is often the cheapest in dev time and ops.

If you mean cheapest overall for a tiny SaaS MVP

You can often start with:

• Static landing page + Stripe payment link
• Serverless backend
• Managed auth/database
• No custom admin panel at first

That can keep the first version extremely cheap.

Rough “cheapest practical” setup

If I had to pick one:

• Next.js
• Supabase
• Vercel
• Stripe
• Resend
• Cloudflare for DNS/CDN

This is a common low-cost combo for a small SaaS.

If you want, I can also give you:

1. the absolute cheapest stack,
2. the cheapest stack for coding time, or
3. a comparison of 3 options with estimated monthly cost.