This. Kubernetes (or whatever other container scheduler) might feel like overkill, but if all they do is force you to adopt a container-centric / 12-factor way

This. Kubernetes (or whatever other container scheduler) might feel like overkill, but if all they do is force you to adopt a container-centric / 12-factor way of building your applications it was worth trying them. And once you've adopted that workflow it's a no-brainer to go from a single node to a cluster which will dynamically allocate the workloads it runs. Running a small container cluster at work has even changed how I setup single-host projects in my spare time: I will build everything into a container, bind-mount whatever it might need, create a simple systemd unit that just runs / rms the docker container on start and stop. Bliss.