Serverless And Function As A Service — 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.
FaaS Platform / Compute Runtime
Where your code actually runs and serves requests. Picking the right host affects speed, scaling, and how much ops work you do.Pricing & free-tier limitsLambda Free: 1M req + 400k GB-sec/mo forever, $0.20/1M req + $0.0000166667/GB-sec after, Prov Conc $0.0000041667/GB-sec. CF Workers Free 100k req/day, Paid $5/mo includes 10M req + $0.50/M after, $0.02/GB-sec wall-clock. Vercel Free 100GB-hrs/mo, Pro $20/mo + $40/100GB-hrs overage, 1000GB-hrs $0.18/GB-hr. Netlify Free 125k req/mo + 100hrs runtime, Pro $19/mo 2M req.
Event Source / Queue
Runs slow work (emails, exports, payouts) in the background so users don’t wait. Keeps your app snappy.Pricing & free-tier limitsSQS Free 1M req/mo forever, $0.40/M req Standard after ($0.50/M FIFO), first 1GB transfer free $0.09/GB after. CF Queues Free 1M ops/mo, $5/mo includes 10M ops $0.40/M after. QStash Free 500 msgs/day, $10/mo 75k msgs $0.50/M over. Upstash Queue Free 10k msg/day.
Event Bus / Orchestration
Lets external services notify you of events in real time. Core to integrating payments, KYC, and third-party workflows.Pricing & free-tier limitsEventBridge Free 100k custom events/mo same bus (14M Scheduler free 12mo), $1.00/M events custom after, $0.10/M AWS events, Archive Replay $0.10/100k events, Schema $0.10/M discovered. Inngest Free 100k step runs/mo, $20/mo 500k $0.30/1k over. Cloudflare Event Notifications $5/mo 1M events.
API Gateway for FaaS
Controls and protects your APIs — quotas, abuse prevention, and firewalls. Important once you have real traffic or many clients.Pricing & free-tier limitsAPI GW REST $3.50/M req + $0.09/GB data out, first 1M free 12mo, WebSocket $1.00/M + $0.25/M connection-min. HTTP API $1.00/M req + $0.09/GB out, Free 1M 12mo. Cloudflare API Gateway Free with Workers, Enterprise $20/mo 1M calls incl + $1/M over, rate limiting included. Kong OSS free self-host, Konnect $250/mo.
Object Storage for FaaS Artifacts & State
Where you keep files users upload or you serve — images, videos, documents — and how fast they reach visitors around the world.Pricing & free-tier limitsS3 $0.023/GB-mo first 50TB, $0.0225 next 450TB, PUT $0.005/1k, GET $0.0004/1k, Free 5GB 12mo. R2 Free 10GB storage + 10M Class A + 10M Class B ops/mo forever, $0.015/GB-mo + $4.50/M Class A + $0.36/M Class B after, egress free. B2 $0.006/GB-mo storage $0.005/1k download, free egress via CF.
Secrets Management for FaaS
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 limitsAWS Secrets $0.40/secret/mo + $0.05/10k API calls, rotation Lambda free, 30-day trial. Doppler Free 5 users, 100 secrets, 100 config syncs, Starter $8/user/mo unlimited secrets $0.50/secret over 1000. Infisical Free 3 env, $20/mo Starter $0.20/secret over. Vault HCP $0.095/hr dev cluster ~$69/mo + Standard $0.30/hr ~$219/mo.
Log Management & Aggregation for FaaS
Tells you when things break and why. You cannot fix what you cannot see — this is how you keep downtime short.Pricing & free-tier limitsCloudWatch $0.50/GB ingested (first 5GB free forever), $0.03/GB-mo archive, Insights $0.005/GB scanned, 3-day free Live Tail. Better Stack Free 1GB/mo 3-day retain, $24/mo 10GB 7-day, $0.45/GB over. Axiom Free 500MB/day 30-day, $25/mo 10GB. Datadog $0.10/GB ingested + $1.70/M indexed events + $0.10/GB 15mo rehydrate.
Monitoring & Distributed Tracing for FaaS
Tells you when things break and why. You cannot fix what you cannot see — this is how you keep downtime short.Pricing & free-tier limitsX-Ray Free 100k traces/mo recorded + 1M retrieved/mo forever, $5/M traces recorded after + $0.50/M scanned. Lambda Insights $0.02/GB-hr. Grafana Cloud Free 10k metrics series, 50GB logs, 50GB traces, $8/user/mo Pro. Datadog APM $31/host/mo $0.10/GB ingest, Infra $15/host/mo, Serverless $1.70/M invocations enhanced metrics.
Error Tracking for Functions
Tells you when things break and why. You cannot fix what you cannot see — this is how you keep downtime short.Pricing & free-tier limitsSentry Free 5k errors/mo, 10k transactions, 50 replays, 1 user. Team $26/mo includes 50k errors $0.00026/error over, 100k transactions. Business $80/mo 100k errors. GlitchTip OSS free self-host or Cloud $12/mo 10k events. Highlight Free 500 errors/mo, $50/mo 10k $0.02/error over.
CI/CD for Function Deployment
Automates testing and deploying your code. Saves enormous time and prevents “works on my machine” releases.Pricing & free-tier limitsGitHub Actions Free 2000 min Linux + 500MB packages + Actions Cache, Pro $4/mo 3000 min $0.008/min after, $0.25/GB storage over. GitLab Free 400 min/mo $0.008/min over shared. AWS CodeBuild $0.005/min Linux 2vCPU, $0.30/GB cache, CodePipeline $1/active pipeline/mo free 1. Depot $50/mo 2x faster.
Infrastructure as Code for FaaS
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 limitsTerraform CLI OSS free, Terraform Cloud Free 500 resources, Team $20/user/mo + $0.00014/RUM, Plus $35/user. Pulumi OSS free, Team $75/mo 3 members + $10/user over + $0.50/100 credits, Enterprise custom. SAM/CDK free - pay deployed resources only.
How this hobby serverless and function as a service checklist works.
Each requirement below is something a hobby serverless and function as a service 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.