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Ask HN: Should a solo developer use AWS for his public side project?

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Ask HN: Should a solo developer use AWS for his public side project?

#1

Post by ciaoben »

I am working on a side project that I intend to launch soon and I am starting to thinking about the "sys" part of the project.

I need pretty basic setup (a db server, a redis one, one for the rails app and a CDN). I am not a sys ops expert but with some work I can set these servers up.

I don't want to use highly managed solutions like heroku, they are too expensive and knowing that I can set up on myself, I want to avoid this high expense.

On the other hand, something in the middle, like AWS has my attention. It would give more flexibility for sure, and I would like to learn it, but their opaque pricing it scares me a bit.

I would like to receive advice for people who can understand my position as a solo developer (with a basic European wage) and who can't afford to spend 100/more euros/month for a project until it pays for itself alone.

Re: Ask HN: Should a solo developer use AWS for his public side project?

#3

Post by kevinsimper »

I can really follow your question as it is a really tough one and it all depends on what is your interest, because:

- You can use AWS but you will no doubt spend a lot of time figuring out stuff, BUT if you think it is fun and if you can use it to further your career then it makes total sense!

- If your focus is on the development and not a side project you should really go with something hosted like Heroku because you will be able to spend much more time on development instead of configuration and be spending time worrying if you have done it correctly. Heroku is pretty cheap for what you get in terms of hours saved but you are giving up some flexibility, no doubt!

Re: Ask HN: Should a solo developer use AWS for his public side project?

#4

Post by howlett »

I was in the same position as you a couple of months ago and I went for Linode - the $5 plan. You're probably conscious not to spend a lot of money from the start as - let's face it - you don't know if your project will be as popular as you hope it will be (mine wasn't!). On Linode you can easily upgrade by adding ram/disk etc and the pricing is straight forward.

If your project lifts off and Linode doesn't cover you, you can look at AWS then.

Re: Ask HN: Should a solo developer use AWS for his public side project?

#8

Post by le-mark »

borplk wrote: post #5

I have done the AWS path in the past (and I'm pretty good with AWS mind you). In hindsight I would absolutely go with a $5 DigitalOcean droplet in the beginning. Focus on the product.

I used a aws t2.micro 3 year reserve for a side project. It works out to about $5 a month. I also had a few different services, I just put them all on one machine.

I've been looking at DO and something that strikes me is the 20% backup fee, with ebs, the thought backups never even occurred to me. Maybe they should've.

Aws pricing, I found this useful: https://calculator.s3.amazonaws.com/index.html

Re: Ask HN: Should a solo developer use AWS for his public side project?

#9

Post by tedmiston »

borplk wrote: post #5

I have done the AWS path in the past (and I'm pretty good with AWS mind you). In hindsight I would absolutely go with a $5 DigitalOcean droplet in the beginning. Focus on the product.

+1 to the DO droplet. You can start with one of their pre-built images in no time and don't have to deal with things you don't care about for this project like IAM, VPC, regions, etc. You can run Redis and your db locally on the box for a small app.

Re: Ask HN: Should a solo developer use AWS for his public side project?

#10

Post by charlie-r »

Use a simpler hosting provider if you're not already familiar with AWS. Power brings complexity, and your product likely won't benefit from solving infrastructure problems you don't have (yet).

That said, once your product outgrows simpler infrastructure I'd wholeheartedly recommend AWS. For the past few years I've been using AWS for my day job and side projects. Prices are competitive, and once you're past the learning curve, you'll have a great deal of flexibility.

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