NFT And Digital Ownership Platforms — hobby stack.
For each requirement below, pick the option that fits your build — recommended first, then free and cheaper alternatives — or skip what your project doesn't need. Tap the info icon next to any requirement to see why it matters.
NFT Minting API
A piece of your stack you may or may not need, depending on scope. Pick the option that fits — or skip it if your project doesn’t require this capability yet.Pricing & free-tier limitsThirdweb Free 1000 MAU $99/mo Pro 10k MAU $0.05/MAU over; Alchemy Free 300M CU $49/mo Growth $0.15/1M CU over; Moralis Free 10k req/mo $49/mo Pro 100k req/mo $0.10/1k req over
IPFS Storage for NFT Metadata
Where you keep files users upload or you serve — images, videos, documents — and how fast they reach visitors around the world.Pricing & free-tier limitsPinata Free 1GB $20/mo Starter 100GB $0.15/GB over; NFT.Storage Free unlimited via Filecoin (31 GiB practical soft cap) $0; Filebase Free 5GB $10/mo 100GB $0.10/GB over; Fleek Free 5GB $25/mo 100GB $0.15/GB over
IPFS Pinning Service
A piece of your stack you may or may not need, depending on scope. Pick the option that fits — or skip it if your project doesn’t require this capability yet.Pricing & free-tier limitsPinata Free 1GB $20/mo 100GB $0.15/GB over; NFT.Storage Free unlimited best-effort $0; Lighthouse Free 5GB $9/mo 100GB $0.08/GB over; Infura Free 5GB $21/mo 200GB $0.10/GB over
Permanent File Storage (Arweave / Filecoin)
Where you keep files users upload or you serve — images, videos, documents — and how fast they reach visitors around the world.Pricing & free-tier limitsLighthouse Free 5GB $9/mo 1TB $0.06/GB over; Arweave $8-12/GB one-time permanent $0.01/MB; Filebase Free 5GB $10/mo 100GB $0.10/GB over; Bundlr $0.15/GB over + 10% fee
Marketplace API / Aggregator
A piece of your stack you may or may not need, depending on scope. Pick the option that fits — or skip it if your project doesn’t require this capability yet.Pricing & free-tier limitsReservoir Free 100k req/mo $199/mo Pro 1M req/mo $0.10/1k req over; Rarible Free 10k req/mo $100/mo Pro 250k $0.12/1k over; OpenSea API Free 5 calls/sec $199/mo Pro 20 calls/sec $0.01/call over
Royalty Enforcement / Creator Fees
A piece of your stack you may or may not need, depending on scope. Pick the option that fits — or skip it if your project doesn’t require this capability yet.Pricing & free-tier limitsManifold Free OSS + gas $0; Limit Break Free OSS ERC-721C $0 + gas; OpenSea Royalties Free standard 2.5% marketplace fee separate; All require on-chain deploy ~$20-80 gas one-time
NFT Indexing & Subgraphs
Lets users find things fast. A slow or missing search directly costs engagement and conversions.Pricing & free-tier limitsThe Graph Free 100k queries/mo $49/mo Pro 1M queries $0.10/1k over $4/100k extra; Alchemy Subgraphs Free 100k queries $49/mo Pro $0.15/1M CU over; Goldsky Free 1M queries $49/mo Pro 10M $0.08/1k over
CDN for NFT Images & Assets
Where you keep files users upload or you serve — images, videos, documents — and how fast they reach visitors around the world.Pricing & free-tier limitsCloudflare Free unlimited bandwidth Pro $20/mo Business $200/mo +$5/100k Images; R2 Free 10GB storage $0.015/GB after zero egress; BunnyCDN $1/mo + $0.01/GB NA/EU $0.03/GB Asia over
Off-Chain Metadata Database
Persistent storage for your app’s data — users, products, orders. The single most important architectural decision for most projects.Pricing & free-tier limitsSupabase Free 500MB DB 1GB file $25/mo Pro 8GB $0.125/GB over 100k MAU; Neon Free 0.5GB storage 100 CU $19/mo Pro 3GB $0.12/GB over; PlanetScale Free 5GB $39/mo Scaler 50GB $0.15/GB over
Blockchain Node / RPC for NFT Chains
A piece of your stack you may or may not need, depending on scope. Pick the option that fits — or skip it if your project doesn’t require this capability yet.Pricing & free-tier limitsAlchemy Free 300M CU/mo $49/mo Growth 100M CU/day $0.15/1M CU over; Infura Free 100k req/day $50/mo Growth 1M req/day $0.10/1k over; QuickNode Free 10M credits $49/mo Growth 20M credits $0.10/1M over
Smart Contract Deployment (ERC-721/1155 Factory)
Automates testing and deploying your code. Saves enormous time and prevents “works on my machine” releases.Pricing & free-tier limitsManifold Free OSS + gas $0 one-time $30-80 gas/deploy; Thirdweb Free 1000 MAU $84/mo Starter 10k MAU $0.05/MAU over; OpenZeppelin Defender Free 100 relayer tx $99/mo Pro 5k tx $0.02/tx over
How this hobby nft and digital ownership platforms checklist works.
Each requirement below is something a hobby nft and digital ownership platforms build typically needs. Pick one of the four researched options — recommended, free, cheaper or paid — add your own with "Other", or skip the requirement if your project doesn't need it. Nothing is mandatory; the plan on the right tracks what you've decided so nothing gets forgotten.
Your picks are saved in this browser automatically, so you can come back anytime. Options are researched per build level and refreshed as vendors change their plans — always verify details on the provider's page before committing.