I think making is the easiest part, would be really cool if you also reveal how you distribute what you are making for $20/mo.
I run multiple $10K MRR companies on a $20/month tech stack
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Re: I run multiple $10K MRR companies on a $20/month tech stack
#132I want to know how he’s identifying and monetizing businesses
Re: I run multiple $10K MRR companies on a $20/month tech stack
#133If this sounds like basic advice, consider there are a lot of people out there that believe they have to start with serverless, kubernetes, fleets of servers, planet-scale databases, multi-zone high-availability setups, and many other "best practices". Saying "you can just run things on a cheap VPS" sounds amateurish: people are immediately out with "Yeah but scaling", "Yeah but high availability", "Yeah but backups"…
I don't know what to say. People keep saying these engineers exist and here I am not having seen a single, and I follow many indie hackers communities.
Re: I run multiple $10K MRR companies on a $20/month tech stack
#134> The enterprise mindset dictates that you need an out-of-process database server. But the truth is, a local SQLite file communicating over the C-interface or memory is orders of magnitude faster than making a TCP network hop to a remote Postgres server. I don't want to diss SQLite because it is awesome and more than adequate for many/most web apps but you can connect to Postgres (or any DB really) on localhost over…
Looks like the overhead is not insignificant: Running 100,000 `SELECT 1` queries: PostgreSQL (localhost): 2.77 seconds SQLite (in-memory): 0.07 seconds ( https://gist.github.com/leifkb/1ad16a741fd061216f074aedf1eca... )
What a useful "my hello-world script is faster than your hello-world script" example.
Re: I run multiple $10K MRR companies on a $20/month tech stack
#135> The enterprise mindset dictates that you need an out-of-process database server. But the truth is, a local SQLite file communicating over the C-interface or memory is orders of magnitude faster than making a TCP network hop to a remote Postgres server. I don't want to diss SQLite because it is awesome and more than adequate for many/most web apps but you can connect to Postgres (or any DB really) on localhost over…
Sqlite smokes postgres on the same machine even with domain sockets [1]. This is before you get into using multiple sqlite database.
What features postgres offers over sqlite in the context of running on a single machine with a monolithic app? Application functions [2] means you can extend it however you need with the same language you use to build your application. It also has a much better backup and replication story thanks to litestream [3].
- [1] https://andersmurphy.com/2025/12/02/100000-tps-over-a-billio...
- [2] https://sqlite.org/appfunc.html
- [3] https://litestream.io/
The main problem with sqlite is the defaults are not great and you should really use it with separate read and write connections where the application manages the write queue rather than letting sqlite handle it.
Re: I run multiple $10K MRR companies on a $20/month tech stack
#136There are zero reasons to limit yourself to 1GB of RAM. By paying $20 instead of $5 you can get at least 8gb of RAM. You can use it for caches or a database that supports concurrent writes. The $15 difference won’t make any financial difference if you are trying to run a small business. Thinking about on how to fit everything on a $5 VPS does not help your business.
Or better yet, go with a euro provider like Hetzner and get 8GB of RAM for $10 or so. :)
Even their $5 plan gives 4GB.
Re: I run multiple $10K MRR companies on a $20/month tech stack
#137Earlier quoted context omitted.
Why are you comparing PostgreSQL to an in-memory SQLite instead of a file-based one? Wow, memory is faster than disk, who would have thought?
Because it doesn't make a difference, because `SELECT 1` doesn't need to touch the database: Running 100,000 `SELECT 1` queries: PostgreSQL (localhost): 2.71 seconds SQLite (in-memory): 0.07 seconds SQLite (tempfile): 0.07 seconds ( https://gist.github.com/leifkb/d8778422d450d9a3f103ed43258cc... )
Why are you doing meaningless microbenchmarks?
Re: I run multiple $10K MRR companies on a $20/month tech stack
#138Earlier quoted context omitted.
I try to limit it to just 1-2 comments after my 4am ice facial and then no more than 4 comments while I am having my 3pm youth blood infusion. Consistency is key for the grindset.
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Nothing some Ayahuasca and a trip to Joshua tree (make sure you do it in that order) wont fix.
Re: I run multiple $10K MRR companies on a $20/month tech stack
#139Nice list! I'd say the SQLite with WAL is the biggest money saver mentioned. One note: you can absolutely use Python or Node just as well as Go. There's Hetzner that offers 4GB RAM, 10TB network (then 1$/TB egress), 2CPUs machines for 5$. Two disclaimers for VPS: If you're using a dedicated server instead of a cloud server, just don't forget to backup DB to a Storage box often (3$ /mo for 1TB, use rsync). It's a good…
Does WAL really offer multiple concurrent writers? I know little about DBs and I've done a couple of Google searches and people say it allows concurrent reads while a write is happening, but no concurrent writers?
Not everybody says so... So, can anyone explain what's the right way to think about WAL?
Re: I run multiple $10K MRR companies on a $20/month tech stack
#140It always make me both roll my eyes and smile a little when i see someone daft enough to think they need some obscene setup - you dont. You never have. You are not Amazon, Microsoft, Google, etc. If you get to the point where you need that kind of setup you're already employing a dev ops team thats telling you that.
Stick whatever you're working on onto a ~$5/mo cheapo vps from someone like Hetzner, Digitalocean, etc and just get on with building your thing.