I'm working on a project to create a clinical dashboard for managing appointments, patients, and basic analytics. The issue is that my client has a very tight budget. Initially, I considered using Supabase, but I quickly realized that the costs will escalate too much as it scales, especially with object storage, databases, and service fees.
I'm responsible for handling the backend, database, and managed authentication since I don't want to build my own authentication system. Can anyone suggest the most cost-effective setup that maintains decent security?
Also, I'd love to hear about good options for managed authentication. Thanks in advance!
2 Answers
A solid option is to use Laravel combined with Filament. This duo allows you to build enterprise-worthy applications quickly. It can be an efficient alternative to piecing together multiple services for database management, authentication, and UI libraries.
If you’re willing to set up servers, you can mimic most of Supabase for significantly less. Try this approach:
1. Use Coolify hosted on a $10–$15 VPS for your database and backend. It handles PostgreSQL databases and Docker containers automatically.
2. For managed authentication, consider using Clerk with a free tier—up to 10k users, which is great for clinics. Alternatively, Logto allows self-hosting to give you control over user data without ongoing costs.
3. Switch to Cloudflare R2 for object storage to avoid egress fees; it’s free for the first 10GB.
4. Keep your API simple with Node/Fastify or Go to save on server resources.
That makes sense! I’m not comfortable with cloud setup, but I’ll look into this option. Thanks!