▲ The founder's $0 stack
Launch your SaaS on $0/month.
You don't need $500/month in tools to start. You need the right eleven — and the nerve to ship.
The stack below is the one your business can run on from day one — auth, database, payments, email, hosting, caching, analytics. Real companies run on it. You only start paying when you start winning.Take the whole list. It's yours.
Eleven tools · zero base cost · scroll ↓
▲ Your base camp
The $0 stack.
Eleven tools. Production-grade free tiers. Everything your first version needs — pick it up and build.
Cloudflare Pages + Workers
Hosting + serverless functions
Free: Unlimited bandwidth, 100K requests/day
Where it tips: $5/mo Workers Paid when you exceed 100K requests/day
Clerk
Auth + SSO
Free: 50,000 monthly active users
Where it tips: Usage-based after 50K MAU
Airtable
Database / CRM / ops
Free: 1,000 records free, up to 5 bases
Where it tips: $20/mo Pro for bigger bases
Cloudinary
Image + PDF hosting
Free: 25GB storage, 25GB bandwidth/month
Where it tips: $89/mo at scale
GitHub
Code storage + CI
Free: Unlimited public + private repos
Where it tips: Only when you need Enterprise features
Resend
Transactional email
Free: 3,000 emails/month
Where it tips: $20/mo for 50K emails
Upstash
Redis / caching / queues
Free: 10,000 requests/day, 256MB
Where it tips: Usage-based
Turso
SQL database (libSQL/SQLite-edge)
Free: 9GB storage, 500M row reads/month
Where it tips: $29/mo at scale
Stripe
Payments
Free: No monthly fee
Where it tips: 2.9% + 30¢ per transaction
Google Analytics 4
Analytics
Free: Unlimited
Where it tips: Never (unless you want 360 at $150K/yr)
Plausible (Community Edition)
Privacy-first analytics
Free: Self-hosted, completely free
Where it tips: $9/mo if you want them to host it
The free tiers only break when you're winning.
— the bill you'll be glad to pay
▲ Your good problem · higher altitude
▲ Where the air thins
Where it gets real.
The day a free tier tips into paid is the day your business has real traction. Here's exactly when that hits — so nothing surprises you.
Founder —
Now you have the stack. That was the part everyone hoards. It's yours, free, no email gate, no catch.
But knowing the tools isn't the same as shipping the thing — and that gap is where most founders stall out. You don't need more tabs. You need a route up.
So take this next step: a free 90-day roadmap, built around your business, with an AI clone roped in to build alongside you. The climb is yours. We just know the way.
— Italo
▲ You've got the stack. Now ship it.
Step one was the stack.
Step two is your roadmap.
Get a free 90-day roadmap built around your business — plus an AI clone to build the thing with you. When you're ready for the full route, Pro unlocks the entire SaaS course library and the Founding Circle adds Atlas + every marketplace skill, forever — only 10 seats.
▲ The adventure is the climb