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>It might surprise you to learn that this site and its newsletter costs about $130 USD a month to run Yes it does. I know you can never criticize someone else'

>It might surprise you to learn that this site and its newsletter costs about $130 USD a month to run Yes it does. I know you can never criticize someone else's infra nowadays without coming across as "I could clone StackOverflow and get it to run on a Raspberry Pi over a weekend," I have no idea what or how much stuff his backend is doing, and I know serverless is an added and often worthwhile expense....but man, that's way more than I'd expect.

Etheryte 6y ago
I think is a very valid criticism, paying $1500 a year for a static site with a like button is odd. Hosting this site on something like Netlify would literally be free while also satisfying every other requirements save for the heart button. Even the Netlify pro tier would only be about $200 a year for a small site.
- silicon2401 6y ago
  how would you compare using Netlify to AWS? could you get started on Netlify once you just buy a domain name?
  - Etheryte 6y ago
    Netlify is absurdly easy to get started on, it supports many static site generators etc out of the box. For my personal site it was a few clicks and no manual config required. Since you mentioned domains, you can even buy domains through them with auto-renew etc. I haven't used it for any large scale projects, but for small things, their batteries included approach is great.
    - silicon2401 6y ago
      that's really helpful to know, I'll make sure to check it out. thanks!
  - sirdavid 6y ago
    AWS has Amplify which is essentially their version of Netlify. It's surprisingly easy to spin up and is pretty cheap (not obviously not free like Netlify is).
1123581321 6y ago
He uses Convertkit to manage email, which costs him most of that figure for the “site and its newsletter” if he has 15k subscribers (about half of his Twitter following.) https://convertkit.com/pricing https://convertkit.com/pricing
bArray 6y ago
Yeah, I saw that figure and thought "damn, that's high". I'm not sure how many hits per day that works out as, but currently I have a server that is 5 euros per month handling 20k hits per day (static and dynamic content on an old dedicated C1 Scaleway). Another server I run for a gaming community costs $1 per month. > I have no idea what or how much stuff his backend is doing, and I know serverless is an added and often worthwhile expense I keep looking at 'serverless' (+) - but it just seems like a way to sell me less for more. The benefit I get currently from a cloud solution is location (spin up an instance close to where the traffic is coming from), maintenance (I move around a lot) and network (dedicated high speed internet that cannot be easily DDoS'd). (+) When I first heard about serverless, I really hoped it was a decentralized content hosting network - a bit like how something like PeerTube can benefit from having multiple users at a time. A person can dream!
AlchemistCamp 6y ago
> ....but man, that's way more than I'd expect. He uses ConvertKit. It's amazing the total is only $130, given the popularity of his site. From 3001 to 5k subs is $79/month on their basic plan and $111/month for the pro plan. No idea about larger lists, but they're not cheap.

Etheryte 6y ago

I think is a very valid criticism, paying $1500 a year for a static site with a like button is odd. Hosting this site on something like Netlify would literally be free while also satisfying every other requirements save for the heart button. Even the Netlify pro tier would only be about $200 a year for a small site.

silicon2401 6y ago
how would you compare using Netlify to AWS? could you get started on Netlify once you just buy a domain name?
- Etheryte 6y ago
  Netlify is absurdly easy to get started on, it supports many static site generators etc out of the box. For my personal site it was a few clicks and no manual config required. Since you mentioned domains, you can even buy domains through them with auto-renew etc. I haven't used it for any large scale projects, but for small things, their batteries included approach is great.
  - silicon2401 6y ago
    that's really helpful to know, I'll make sure to check it out. thanks!
- sirdavid 6y ago
  AWS has Amplify which is essentially their version of Netlify. It's surprisingly easy to spin up and is pretty cheap (not obviously not free like Netlify is).

1123581321 6y ago

He uses Convertkit to manage email, which costs him most of that figure for the “site and its newsletter” if he has 15k subscribers (about half of his Twitter following.) https://convertkit.com/pricing https://convertkit.com/pricing

bArray 6y ago

Yeah, I saw that figure and thought "damn, that's high". I'm not sure how many hits per day that works out as, but currently I have a server that is 5 euros per month handling 20k hits per day (static and dynamic content on an old dedicated C1 Scaleway). Another server I run for a gaming community costs $1 per month. > I have no idea what or how much stuff his backend is doing, and I know serverless is an added and often worthwhile expense I keep looking at 'serverless' (+) - but it just seems like a way to sell me less for more. The benefit I get currently from a cloud solution is location (spin up an instance close to where the traffic is coming from), maintenance (I move around a lot) and network (dedicated high speed internet that cannot be easily DDoS'd). (+) When I first heard about serverless, I really hoped it was a decentralized content hosting network - a bit like how something like PeerTube can benefit from having multiple users at a time. A person can dream!

AlchemistCamp 6y ago

> ....but man, that's way more than I'd expect. He uses ConvertKit. It's amazing the total is only $130, given the popularity of his site. From 3001 to 5k subs is $79/month on their basic plan and $111/month for the pro plan. No idea about larger lists, but they're not cheap.