I don't self-host, with a few exceptions. Generally speaking, my value proposition is app feature development, not managing the operational complexity of self-h

I don't self-host, with a few exceptions. Generally speaking, my value proposition is app feature development, not managing the operational complexity of self-hosted software. For personal projects, I either try to leverage a free tier (if available) or just not use that software, because very few of my projects make any money, and most of what I do is just for fun/learning, anyway. For projects that make me money, I would absolutely pay $5 or whatever for the basic tier, and as traffic/revenue goes up, I'd happily pay for more. That hasn't happened yet for me, but I would if I made any money ;)