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$0-500/month Startup Tech Stack (Lean SaaS 2025)

ProductsRelay Team

$0-500/month Startup Tech Stack (Lean SaaS 2025)

The most expensive mistake startups make is overbuilding their tech stack before they have customers.

Founders spend $2,000-5,000/month on tools before shipping their first user. The reality? Most tools don't matter yet.

This is the tech stack I'd use to build a real SaaS today, staying under $500/month for the first 1-2 years.

The Stack at a Glance

Infrastructure:

  • Frontend: Vercel ($0-20/month)
  • Backend: Railway ($0 credit)
  • Database: Supabase ($0-50/month)
  • Total: $0-70

Communication:

  • Email: Resend ($0-50/month)
  • Analytics: Plausible ($0 freemium)
  • Error Tracking: Sentry ($0 freemium)
  • Total: $0-50

Team:

  • Version Control: GitHub ($0)
  • Collaboration: Discord ($0)
  • Docs: Notion ($0)
  • Project Management: Linear ($0)
  • Total: $0

Payments:

  • Payment Processing: Stripe ($0 until revenue)
  • Invoicing: Wave ($0)
  • Total: $0

Design:

  • Design: Penpot ($0)
  • Stock Photos: Unsplash ($0)
  • Total: $0

The Complete Year-1 Budget

Monthly total: $0-64/month Year 1 total: about $100-500

Why This Stack Works

Vercel hosts your frontend for free with unlimited deploys. Railway gives $5 free credits monthly. Supabase provides PostgreSQL at no cost until you hit 500MB (then $25/month).

Resend sends 1,000 emails daily for free. Stripe charges only when you make money. GitHub and Discord are completely free.

This isn't "freemium" with annoying limits—it's genuinely usable free tiers.

Timeline: When to Upgrade

Months 1-3: Stay entirely on free tiers. Budget: $10/month (domain only)

Months 4-12: Database might hit 500MB. Upgrade Supabase to $25/month. Budget: $35-50/month

Year 2: Add team members. Add Slack ($9/person/month). Budget: $200-300/month

Year 3+: Add specialized tools. Budget: $500-1,000/month

Tools You Don't Need Yet

Don't pay for these until you have revenue:

  • Slack: use Discord free
  • Figma: use Penpot free
  • Intercom: use Discord or email free
  • HubSpot CRM: use Notion free

Total waste you'll avoid: $500-1,000/year. Invest it in marketing instead.

How to Pick Tools

Ask three questions:

  1. Do I have users? If no, don't pay.
  2. Am I losing money without it? If no, don't pay.
  3. Does it 10x my velocity? If no, find a cheaper alternative.

Most tools fail all three tests for new startups.

FAQ

Can I really launch a SaaS on $0? Yes. Costs are zero until you have customers. Stripe charges 2.9% only when you make money.

What if I hit free tier limits before profitable? Congratulations—you have customers. Upgrade the specific service ($25-50/month).

Should I use professional infrastructure from day one? No. Your only job is to ship and get users. Free tools do that.

Can a team use this stack? Absolutely. Add teammates to GitHub, Vercel, Supabase. Everyone stays free until you need paid seats.

Summary

This stack costs almost nothing until you're generating revenue. Year 1 investment: about $100-500.

Compare to traditional SaaS startups spending $50k-100k before shipping.

Ship faster. Learn more. Waste less.

Start with this stack. Scale thoughtfully. Spend money only when it unblocks growth.

Explore ProductsRelay's 5,000+ free-tier tools to find exactly what your startup needs.

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