The $0 $500/month startup stack: what to use at every stage

One of the most common mistakes early founders make is picking tools for the scale they hope to reach — not the stage they're actually at. You don't need Kubernetes when you have 3 users. You don't need a $200/month Postgres cluster when Supabase's free tier handles 500MB just fine. This is a practical breakdown of what actually works at each budget stage, based on patterns from hundreds of indie projects. Stage 0 — $0/month: Validate Before You Build Your only job here is proving the idea. Do not write infrastructure code yet. Category Tool Why Frontend Next.js + Vercel Free hobby tier, instant deploys Database Supabase 500MB free, auth included Auth Supabase Auth Already in your DB, zero extra cost Payments Stripe No monthly fee, pay per transaction Email Resend 3,000 emails/month free Analytics Plausible / Umami Lightweight, privacy-friendly Goal: Get something in front of real users in under a week. If nobody wants it, you've lost nothing. Stage 1 — $50/month: You Have Paying Users