The $5/Month Stack: Running Multiple SaaS Projects Solo

The Side Project Math

The solo developer dilemma: You have three ideas you want to build. Traditional advice says each needs hosting, database, auth, email, monitoring. That's $85-115/month per project.

Most side projects don't survive long enough to justify that.

The Minimal Viable Stack

Frontend/Hosting: $0

Use Vercel/Netlify free tiers for all projects. Upgrade only when you need to.

Database: $0-5

Use Supabase, PlanetScale, or Turso free tiers. Use different providers for different projects.

Auth: $0

Supabase Auth or Clerk free tier. 50,000+ monthly active users covered.

Email: $0

Resend free tier: 100 emails/day. Enough for transactional emails.

Monitoring: $0-5

SlyDuck: First project free, additional projects $5/month each.

The Realistic Monthly Bill

Project 1: $0 (all free tiers)

Project 2: $5 (monitoring)

Project 3: $0 (minimal monitoring)

Total: $5/month

When to Upgrade

• You have real users (100+ daily active)
• Users are paying you money
• You're hitting limits

Don't upgrade when you're just "being professional" or want to "be ready for scale."

The Real Secret

Low stakes per project = more experiments = faster learning.

Build cheap. Validate fast. Scale what works.

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SlyDuck keeps your infrastructure costs low: first project free, additional projects $5/month. Start building.