How to run a startup for free ($6/yr)?

Use this stack.

  1. DynamoDB for database
  2. AWS Lambda for backend
  3. Netlify / Now / Surge for frontend
  4. S3 for file/image hosting
  5. Cloudinary for image hosting
  6. IFTTT to webhook for cron
  7. RedisLabs for queues, cache
  8. Figma for designing and prototyping
  9. Porkbun for $6 .com domains
  10. Cloudflare for DNS

This setup is enough to handle ~1M/requests month, more or less, depending on the application.

If you are getting more traffic than that, your startup will be making money so you won’t mind upgrading. :)