Everyone loves showing off their tech stack. Most of those lists cost $500+/month and include tools the person barely uses.
Here's the opposite: every tool I actually use daily to run a profitable side business, for less than the cost of a gym membership.
The Core Stack
Claude Pro $20/mo
My AI workhorse. Writing, coding, research, analysis, brainstorming. If I could only keep one subscription, it's this one. The 200K context window means I can paste entire codebases or documents and get useful output.
Cursor Pro $20/mo
VS Code + Claude Code, integrated perfectly. Tab autocomplete that actually works, AI chat that understands my codebase, and Composer mode for multi-file edits. Doubled my coding speed.
Vercel (Hobby) $0
Free hosting for all my projects. Automatic deploys from GitHub, preview URLs for every PR, and edge functions. The free tier is absurdly generous.
GitHub (Free) $0
Code storage, version control, project management with Issues. Private repos are free now. No reason to pay unless you need advanced team features.
Supabase (Free) $0
PostgreSQL database with auth and storage built in. The free tier includes 500MB database, 1GB storage, and 50K monthly active users. More than enough to validate any side project.
Beehiiv (Free) $0
Newsletter platform with 2,500 subscribers free. Built-in growth tools, clean analytics, and the best free tier in the newsletter space. No brainer for building an audience.
Gumroad ~$5/mo avg
Sell digital products with no monthly fee—just a 10% cut of sales. When you're making money, it takes a small piece. When you're not, it costs nothing. Perfect alignment.
Namecheap Domain ~$1/mo
$12/year for a .com domain. That's a dollar a month. If you're not investing $12/year in a proper domain, you're not serious about your project.
Total: ~$46/month
Everything you need to build, launch, and sell digital products
What I Don't Pay For (And Why)
Email Marketing ($30-100/mo saved)
Beehiiv's free tier beats paid ConvertKit for my needs. When I hit 2,500 subscribers, I'll happily pay—but that's a good problem to have.
Project Management ($10-25/mo saved)
GitHub Issues + a Notion database (free) handles everything. Don't need Asana or Monday for a solo operation.
Analytics ($0-50/mo saved)
Vercel Analytics (free), Plausible's free trial when needed, or just... checking revenue directly. Fancy dashboards don't make money.
Design Tools ($15-50/mo saved)
Figma free tier for mockups, Excalidraw for diagrams, and AI image generation when I need graphics. Canva free for social media.
💡 The rule: Don't pay for tools until the free tier is actively limiting your growth. Most people pay for features they'll never use.
The "If I Had More Money" Upgrades
These are tools I'd add if my side business scaled to $5K+/month:
- Stripe Atlas ($500 one-time) — Proper LLC formation for serious revenue
- Linear ($8/mo) — Better project management than GitHub Issues
- Beehiiv Scale ($49/mo) — Advanced growth features and automations
- Plausible ($9/mo) — Privacy-friendly analytics I actually check
But notice: even the upgraded stack is under $100/month. The tools aren't the bottleneck—the work is.
What Actually Matters
I've tried expensive stacks. I've tried enterprise tools. Here's the truth:
- Your tools don't make money. Your products do. A $500/month stack won't compensate for not shipping.
- Free tiers are genuinely good now. The 2020s have been incredible for indie builders. Stop paying until you need to.
- AI is the only tool worth splurging on. That $40/month for Claude + Cursor saves me 20+ hours of work. Everything else is incremental.
Start Here
If you're starting from zero:
- Get Claude Pro ($20/mo) — this is your unfair advantage
- Set up GitHub + Vercel (free) — ship your first project this weekend
- Start a Beehiiv newsletter (free) — begin building audience immediately
- Buy one domain ($12/year) — make it real
Total cost to start: $21 for the first month. That's less than two fancy coffees.
The tools are not your excuse anymore.
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