This is the first article in a series related to using your own self-hosted virtual private server (VPS) and ditching the over-hyped serverless infrastructure. In this series, I’ll highlight why you should learn how to set up and manage your own VPS infrastructure, securing them and deploying your apps.
Why Self-Hosted?
Why self-host your indie projects? If you follow any tech Twitter/X accounts, you’ve probably seen the endless promotion of “auto-scaling serverless platforms” promising to handle millions of users. But here’s the truth: most indie hackers don’t need that complexity when starting out. What you actually need is a simple, reliable stack that’s cost-effective and easy to manage.
The Serverless Marketing Trap
The marketing is compelling: “Never worry about scaling!” But let’s be honest – most indie projects aren’t going to need to scale to millions of users overnight. What they don’t emphasize is how quickly costs can spiral even with modest usage.
Real World Cost Comparisons
Let’s break down typical monthly costs for an indie project:
Serverless Setup:
- Basic functions: $20-50
- Database: $30-60
- CDN/Bandwidth: $15-40
- Extra services: $20-50 Total: $85-200/month (and growing)
Simple VPS Stack:
- Basic VPS (2GB RAM): $12
- Cloudflare (Free tier): $0 Total: $12/month (fixed)
The beauty of this setup? You can scale up resources on-demand. Most VPS providers like DigitalOcean or Vultr let you resize your server with a few clicks. No complex infrastructure changes needed.
Growth Path:
When you need more resources, it’s a few clicks, and you’ve got what you need. Here are some examples from the hundreds of VPS options most providers have.
- Start: $12/month (2GB RAM)
- Growing: $20/month (4GB RAM)
- Scaling: $40/month (8GB RAM)
With Cloudflare’s free tier, you get:
- CDN
- DDoS protection
- SSL certificates
- Basic analytics
- DNS management
What Can You Run on a $12 VPS?
More than you might think. A basic 2GB RAM VPS can handle:
- Multiple FastAPI based services
- A Django Application with 1000 users
- Multiple WordPress sites (Great for your marketing site)
- A Node.js application with MongoDB
- A Laravel/PHP application with MySQL
- Basic data processing tasks
- Multiple staging environments
I’ve run production applications serving thousands of daily users on a basic VPS. The key is efficient resource usage and proper caching.
Real-World Success: Keep It Simple
Want proof this approach works at scale? Look no further than Pieter Levels (@levelsio), one of, if not the most successful indie hackers who’s famous for running his entire portfolio of profitable projects on a simple VPS setup. His current monthly recurring revenue (MRR) across projects:
- PhotoAI.com: $123K/month
- fly.pieter.com: $87K/month
- InteriorAI.com: $35K/month
- RemoteOK.com: $32K/month
- Nomads.com: $24K/month
- levelsio.com: $12K/month
That’s over $300K in monthly revenue running on infrastructure that’s surprisingly simple. No Kubernetes clusters, no serverless functions, no microservices – just a well-maintained VPS setup with Cloudflare in front of it.
This isn’t just about being frugal – it’s about choosing the right tool for the job. Pieter has been vocal about how over-engineering and complex infrastructure often causes more problems than it solves. His approach proves that you can build and scale successful products without falling into the trap of unnecessary complexity.
When asked about his infrastructure, he’s consistently advocated for keeping things simple:
- Single VPS
- Basic stack
- Cloudflare for CDN
- Regular backups
The result? Multiple successful businesses generating significant revenue on infrastructure that costs less than a fancy dinner out.
The Setup is Simpler Than You Think
Modern server management has come a long way. First, you don’t need complex infrastructure. In fact, a simple VPS will work perfectly well. Furthermore, it’s significantly cheaper than serverless.. Tools like:
- RunCloud or Ploi for server management ($12/month)
- BuddyWorks or GitHub Actions for automated deployments (free)
- Cloudflare for SSL and CDN (free)
- UpTimeRobot for monitoring (free)
Make it possible to manage production infrastructure without being a DevOps expert. That being said, knowing some basic Linux commands will definitely help. Such as navigating around the file system, inspecting logs or running updates. Thanks to LLMs these days, you can have them create the commands or shell scripts you need to get you up and running.
Real Benefits of This Approach
- Predictable Costs
- Fixed monthly fee
- No surprise bandwidth charges
- Scale up only when needed
- Better Performance
- No cold starts
- Consistent response times
- Full control over optimization
- Learning Opportunity
- Understand basic server management
- Valuable DevOps skills
- Full debugging capability
- No Vendor Lock-in
- Use any technology stack
- Switch providers easily
- Own your infrastructure
Getting Started
In the next article, we’ll set up your first VPS and get it production-ready. You’ll need:
- A VPS provider (DigitalOcean, Vultr, or Hostinger)
- Basic command line knowledge
- About an hour of your time
- $12 for your first month
The Path Forward
Throughout this series, we’ll cover:
- Setting up your first VPS & securing it
- Using Cloudflare effectively
- Deploying applications
- Monitoring and backups
- Scaling when needed
- Deploying open source applications for your business
The goal is to show you how to build a reliable, cost-effective infrastructure that grows with your projects. No overengineering, no unnecessary complexity – just practical solutions that work.
Stay tuned for the next article, where we’ll get hands-on with your first VPS setup.