How many times have you seen someone build an MVP stacked with every AWS service imaginable — only to watch it quietly die?
It had Lambda. API Gateway. Cognito. S3. CloudFront. DynamoDB. CloudWatch. IAM policies. The architecture diagram looked like a subway map. But the product? No one touched it.
Here’s the part people don’t say out loud: none of that matters if you’re not building something people actually want.
The Overkill Trap
It’s an easy trap to fall into. You read some articles, see some sleek diagrams, and suddenly you believe your weekend project needs a billion-dollar company’s architecture.
It doesn’t.
Most MVPs don’t fail because they can’t scale — they fail because no one cares. Because they’re clunky, confusing, or don’t solve a real problem.
Overbuilding your stack only leads to burnout and endless delays. Keep it simple. Make it work. Make it matter.
What You Actually Need
If you’re a solo dev or a small team, keep it simple. Chances are, all you need is:
- A $5–20/month VPS from Hetzner, DigitalOcean, etc.
- Docker Compose to run your app and database
- Or a managed platform like Sliplane, Render, Railway, and Fly.io if you want to skip ops entirely
You don’t need Kubernetes or autoscaling. And you definitely don’t need to connect half of AWS just to serve a single page. Most indie projects run perfectly fine on one server — often for years.
When AWS Actually Makes Sense
Let’s be fair — there are legit cases when AWS is the right choice:
- You’re building cloud skills or prepping for job interviews
- You need strict compliance or to be near enterprise clients
- Your project demands a global scale from day one
- You’re already experienced and move fast in AWS
Those are solid reasons. But be honest — most early-stage projects don’t start here.
And if you do outgrow your simple setup? Great. By then, you’ll have users, revenue, and real requirements. Migrating later is a solvable problem. Overengineering too early isn’t.
Remember this: your product is far more likely to fail because of what it does, not where it runs.
How to Get Started Without AWS
Want to ship fast without drowning in cloud setup? Here’s how:
- Use Docker Compose for your app, database, and workers
- Deploy it to a VPS with SSH and docker compose up
- Or skip servers entirely with a platform like Fly.io, Railway, or Render
- Use open-source tools for auth, monitoring, and queues
That’s all you need. You can go from idea to deployed in an afternoon — no certifications, no deep cloud knowledge.
Final Thoughts
You don’t need AWS to build something people want. What you need is focus, working code, and shipping quickly. Big infrastructure won’t save a broken product. Simple infrastructure won’t stop a good one.
Start small. Ship fast. Fix what breaks. Scale when you’re ready.
PS: I like AWS — and I recommend it when you actually need it: global scale, complex integrations, or deep compliance. Just don’t start there by default.
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