I Built 8 Production SaaS Apps with $0 Infrastructure — Here's My Playbook
Source: Dev.to
TL;DR
A developer built eight production SaaS applications using only free‑tier services and zero‑cost infrastructure, documenting the lessons learned and the stack that made it possible.
Why Zero‑Cost Matters
Running SaaS products without spending on infrastructure reduces financial risk, enables rapid experimentation, and keeps the focus on building value rather than managing servers.
The 8 Projects
OpsFlow — Incident Management Platform
A microservice‑based system with three separate repositories:
- API – Express.js + TypeORM
- Frontend – React + MUI
- Notification Service – Kafka consumer + Resend
What it taught me: multi‑tenant architecture, RBAC, JWT authentication, Kafka event‑driven patterns, Redis caching, and invite flows. This was the “learn everything” project.
KolayAidat — Apartment Dues Tracker
A tool for the Turkish market that lets apartment managers track dues, residents upload receipts, and everyone receive email notifications.
What it taught me: Next.js App Router, Prisma, Server Components, and NextAuth.js. It marked the transition from Express to a full‑stack Next.js approach.
Çerezmatik — Cookie Consent Generator
A KVKK (Turkish GDPR) compliance tool that generates a cookie banner and provides an embed code for sites.
What it taught me: JavaScript snippet generation, embed‑code patterns, and template engines. Demonstrated a “tool‑based” model where users come, use the generator, and leave.
FormJet — Smart Form Builder
Create forms, embed them anywhere, and receive notifications via email, Telegram, or Slack. Automation is handled by N8N.
What it taught me: Supabase ecosystem, N8N workflow automation, and embeddable widgets.
Notera — Note‑Taking App
A OneNote‑style application with rich‑text editing, notebooks, tags, auto‑save, and dark theme.
What it taught me: Tiptap rich‑text editor, real‑time auto‑save patterns, and Supabase realtime features.
MockAPI — Instant Backend Generator
Enter a schema and receive a full REST API, with dynamic PostgreSQL table generation and multi‑tenant isolation.
What it taught me: Dynamic schema generation, raw SQL with Prisma, and building generic CRUD engines.
RivalRadar — AI Competitor Analysis
Input a company name and get a SWOT analysis in 60 seconds via a multi‑agent AI pipeline powered by N8N.
What it taught me: N8N AI agents, LLM orchestration, Groq, webhook workflows, and fallback patterns.
Portfolio MCP Server (npm package)
A Model Context Protocol server that lets AI assistants query the developer’s portfolio. Published on npm as akin-portfolio-mcp.
What it taught me: MCP protocol, npm publishing, and TypeScript SDK development.
The Free‑Tier Stack
- Frontend: React, Next.js, MUI, Tiptap
- Backend: Express.js, TypeScript, Prisma, Supabase, Neon (PostgreSQL)
- Auth: NextAuth.js, Supabase Auth, JWT
- Messaging & Events: Kafka, N8N, Resend, Telegram, Slack
- Hosting: Vercel (frontend), Railway/Render (backend) – all within free tiers
- Database: Supabase, Neon (PostgreSQL) – free tier limits
- AI: Groq, OpenAI (free credits)
The Rules I Follow
- TypeScript strict mode – never use
any. It catches bugs before they reach production. - Keep services stateless where possible to simplify scaling on free tiers.
- Prefer managed services (Supabase, Vercel) to avoid self‑hosting overhead.
- Monitor quota usage closely; set alerts to avoid unexpected throttling.
What Zero‑Cost Taught Me
- Evaluate trade‑offs: Supabase vs. Neon, NextAuth vs. Supabase Auth, Groq vs. OpenAI. Every decision has performance, cost, and feature implications.
- Design for multi‑tenant isolation early to prevent data leakage.
- Leverage server‑less functions and edge runtimes to stay within free limits while maintaining low latency.
Want to Try?
Explore the source code and deploy your own versions of these projects. Find the repositories on GitHub and see the live demos in the portfolio.
GitHub: https://github.com/akinco
Portfolio: https://akinco.dev