I'm working on a basic presentation site for a local clothing brand, and I need a simple backend to support a form where customers can sign up for their VIP program. The expected traffic is quite low, likely just a few hundred registrations each month. I'm aiming to keep database costs near zero. I looked into Supabase, but their free tier pauses inactive projects, which means I'd need to set up a cron job to keep it active—along with automated backups, which is additional overhead. I'm wondering if there are any database services that are completely free or inexpensive for low traffic, without added complexity. Would options like Firebase, MongoDB Atlas, Cloudflare D1, or even Google Sheets with some automation be suitable?
6 Answers
I ended up solving a similar issue by setting up an EC2 instance with a decent database for the price of a small instance. If you're comfortable with a bit of setup, this can be a cost-effective solution.
Cloudflare D1 would be a solid choice. It has a storage limit of 10GB, but for your needs, that’s likely an amount you won’t even come close to. At your scale, it should almost be free forever.
I’m in the same boat as you, looking for affordable options for this kind of project. I'm keen to see what other suggestions come up!
A basic cPanel hosting plan with a MySQL database can be as low as $5 a month. I’d lean towards a managed WordPress host that offers free plugins for managing signups and reviewing them. Don’t forget to look into anti-spam solutions like CloudFlare or Akismet!
For a few hundred signups a month, you could keep it really simple with Google Sheets paired with a small API or tools like Zapier. It’ll handle backups easily too. If you prefer an actual database, both Firebase and Cloudflare D1 are very low maintenance. Honestly, any of those options should work fine for your traffic level.
You might want to consider just using Google Forms. It's a great way to quickly implement a basic version of what you’re thinking about, and it integrates seamlessly with Google Sheets, which is my go-to plan for something like this.
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