NFT And Digital Ownership Platforms — small scale 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
Image & Metadata Rendering / Thumbnail Service
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 Images Free 100k stored $5/mo + $1/1k delivered $0.50/1k transform over; Cloudinary Free 25GB credits $89/mo Plus 100GB $0.15/GB over; Imgix Free 1k masters $10/mo Starter 10k $0.08/1k over
Wallet Auth & Connect (SIWE)
How users sign up, log in, and are authorized. Getting roles and access control right early prevents painful rewrites.Pricing & free-tier limitsThirdweb Auth Free OSS self-host $0 1000 MAU; Dynamic Free 1k MAU $150/mo Growth 10k MAU $0.10/MAU over; Privy Free 1k MAU $200/mo Growth 10k MAU $0.07/MAU over
Allowlist / Merkle Tree 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 limitsGuild.xyz Free 10k members $49/mo Pro unlimited $0.01/member over; Thirdweb Free 1k MAU $99/mo Pro 10k MAU $0.05/MAU over; Merkle tree generation OSS $0 + gas ~$10-30 deploy
Gasless Minting / Relayer
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 limitsBiconomy Free 100 tx/day $99/mo Pro 5k tx/day $0.02/tx over; OpenZeppelin Defender Free 100 relay tx $99/mo Pro 5k tx $0.03/tx over; Gelato Free 100k relay $199/mo Pro 1M relay $0.15/1k over
Search & Discovery API for NFTs
Lets users find things fast. A slow or missing search directly costs engagement and conversions.Pricing & free-tier limitsTypesense Free 500k docs 50k searches $40/mo Starter 5M docs $0.50/100k search over; Meilisearch Free 10k docs $30/mo Starter 100k docs $0.40/100k over; Algolia Free 10k records 10k search $36/mo Growth 100k records $0.40/1k over
Price Oracle for Floor Prices
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 $49/mo Growth floor included $0.15/1M CU over; Reservoir Free 100k req/mo $199/mo Pro 1M req/mo $0.10/1k over; Chainlink Price Feeds Free + gas $0, Data Streams $0.20/100k data points over
Webhook / Transfer Notification
Reaches users on their phone via SMS or push. Useful for verification codes and re-engagement; watch the per-message cost.Pricing & free-tier limitsAlchemy Notify Free 100 webhooks 10k events/mo $49/mo Growth 1k webhooks $0.10/1k events over; QuickNode Streams Free 100 events $49/mo Growth 100k events $0.12/1k over; Tenderly Free 100 alerts $35/mo Pro 1k alerts $0.15/1k over
Analytics for NFT Collections
Understands your users and supports them. Drives product decisions and retention.Pricing & free-tier limitsDune Free 10 queries private $349/mo Pro unlimited dashboards $0, 500MB file upload; SimpleHash Free 10k req/mo $99/mo Growth 100k $0.10/1k over; Reservoir Analytics Free 100k req/mo $199/mo Pro 1M $0.10/1k over
How this small scale nft and digital ownership platforms checklist works.
Each requirement below is something a small scale 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.