Desktop Native Application — 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.
Code Signing Certificate - Windows (OV/EV, SmartScreen Reputation)
Encrypts traffic between your users and your servers. Without it browsers flag your site as insecure and you lose trust and search ranking.Pricing & free-tier limitsFree: $0 self-signed (SmartScreen warning, no trust) / OV: $129-250/yr, 1 cert, unlimited signatures / EV: $399-699/yr includes HSM token ($99 value), renewal yearly, $0 overage but time-stamp $0.01/sig after 10k via DigiCert
Code Signing Certificate - Apple Developer ID (macOS Outside App Store)
Encrypts traffic between your users and your servers. Without it browsers flag your site as insecure and you lose trust and search ranking.Pricing & free-tier limitsFree: $0 Apple ID (7-day ad-hoc cert, no notarization) / Paid: $99/yr - unlimited Developer ID certs (2 active), unlimited app signing, includes notary service, TestFlight for Mac, no overage
Notarization Service - Apple Notary (Gatekeeper Stapling)
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 limitsFree with $99 dev program: ~unlimited notarizations (fair use ~1000/day), 30-120 sec avg, $0 overage / Standalone Apple ID: not allowed / Third-party wrapper: Gon $0 OSS, $0 cost
Installer Hosting & CDN Distribution (MSIX, MSI, DMG, PKG, AppImage)
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 limitsFree: GitHub Releases $0 2GB/file, 500 API calls/hr / R2: 10GB storage free, 10M Class A ops free / S3: $0.023/GB storage, $0.09/GB egress, CloudFront $0.085/GB / Paid CDN: $50-500/mo base + $0.01-0.08/GB overage
Auto-Update Service / Release Server (Sparkle, Squirrel.Windows, Electron autoUpdater, MSIX App Installer)
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 limitsFree: OSS Sparkle/Squirrel/Velopack $0 self-hosted, S3 hosting costs only / Hazel self-hosted $0 / Paid hosted: Update.rocks $29/mo 10k checks/mo free then $0.50/1k checks, Electron Release Server $0 self-host
Crash Reporting & Native Symbolication (Sentry Native, Crashpad, Breakpad)
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 limitsFree: Sentry Dev $0 5k errors, 10k transactions, 1GB attachments / Bugsnag: 7.5k sessions free / Paid: Sentry Team $29/mo 50k errors $0.00036/overage, 100k replays, Business $99/mo 100k errors, symbol storage $0.023/GB
Artifact Storage & Versioned Binaries (PDB, dSYM, MSI, DMG archive)
Where you keep files users upload or you serve — images, videos, documents — and how fast they reach visitors around the world.Pricing & free-tier limitsFree: GH Artifacts 500MB storage 30-day retention free / R2 10GB free / Artifactory Cloud Free: 2GB storage 2GB transfer / Paid: S3 $0.023/GB-mo + $0.09/GB egress, JFrog Pro $37/mo 10k GiB-minutes included, overage $0.08/GB
Build CI/CD - Windows/macOS/Linux Runners (Native Build Matrix)
Automates testing and deploying your code. Saves enormous time and prevents “works on my machine” releases.Pricing & free-tier limitsFree: GH Free 2000 Linux mins, Windows 2x factor, macOS 10x factor (200 effective macOS mins) / Team $4/u/mo + overage $0.008/min Linux, $0.016/min Windows, $0.08/min macOS / Self-hosted runners $0 but infra $5-99/mo
OS Compatibility Testing VMs / Device Lab (Win 10/11, macOS 12-15, Ubuntu/Fedora)
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 limitsFree: Local VMs $0 hardware cost only / Parallels Pro $99.99/yr includes 3 macOS + 1 Win11 VM / AWS EC2 Mac: $1.083/hr $26/day + EBS $0.08/GB-mo / Azure Win11: $0.084-0.188/hr per vCPU, overage $0
Symbol Server / Debug Symbols (PDB, dSYM, Breakpad SYM, Source Indexing)
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 limitsFree: Sentry free tier 5k PDB/dSYM files ~1GB free / MS Public Symbols $0 read-only / Self-hosted S3 $0.023/GB storage, $0.09/GB transfer / Paid: Sentry Business unlimited symbols in plan, Artifactory Pro $37/mo 5GB artifact storage then $0.08/GB
Telemetry & Usage Analytics (Desktop privacy-compliant, offline-first)
Keeps you secure and compliant with regulations. Required for enterprise customers and handling sensitive data.Pricing & free-tier limitsFree: PostHog 1M events/mo free, 1M recordings, no CC / Plausible OSS $0 self-host / Paid: PostHog Scale: 1M free then $0.000248/event ($0.248/1k), Mixpanel Growth $28/mo 1M events then $0.28/1k overage
License / Entitlement API for Desktop Licensing (Offline Activation, Floating)
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 limitsFree: Cryptlex free 100 active licenses, $0 / Keygen OSS $0 self-host + $5/mo VM / Paid: Keygen Cloud $29/mo Startup 250 licenses, $99/mo 1000 licenses $0.10/license overage, Cryptlex $29/mo 500 licenses, $99/mo 5000
Dependency & Vulnerability Scanning (Native deps, vcpkg, Conan, CocoaPods, NuGet)
Keeps you secure and compliant with regulations. Required for enterprise customers and handling sensitive data.Pricing & free-tier limitsFree: Dependabot $0 unlimited / Grype/Syft $0 unlimited scans / Snyk Free: 200 tests/mo, 1 project limit / Paid: Snyk Team $25/dev/mo $0.50/test overage, GHAS $49/dev/mo Team $0 overage, 500 API calls/hr
Secrets Management for Signing Keys (EV HSM PIN, Apple API Key, Notary creds)
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 limitsFree: GH Secrets $0 (10 env secrets per repo) / 1Password Connect free tier 250 calls/mo / Doppler Free: 5 users, 500 secrets / Paid: Vault Cloud $22-95/mo cluster $0.03/secret, AWS KMS $1/key/mo + $0.03/10k requests overage, Doppler $8/u/mo
Code Signing - Linux (GPG for DEB/RPM, Snapcraft, Flatpak, AppImage Signing)
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 limitsFree: GPG $0 unlimited signatures, key 4096-bit / Snap Store $0 unlimited snaps, 100GB bandwidth / Flathub $0 unlimited / Paid: Snap Store Proxy private $15k/yr + support, no overage on public store
Installer Builders & Packaging Pipeline (WiX, MSIX, create-dmg, pkgbuild, AppImageKit)
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 limitsFree: WiX $0 unlimited MSI/MSIX / Electron Builder $0 / AppImage $0 / Paid: Advanced Installer Pro $499/yr per user, Architect $979/yr, InstallShield $3k-6.6k/yr per seat, no overage - perpetual
Application Monitoring & Health Dashboard (Startup time, ANR, Hang Reporting)
Tells you when things break and why. You cannot fix what you cannot see — this is how you keep downtime short.Pricing & free-tier limitsFree: Sentry 10k perf tx free, 5k errors / OpenTelemetry B $0 self-hosted / Paid: Sentry Business $99/mo 100k tx then $0.0004/tx overage, Datadog RUM $1.50/1k sessions + $15/mo APM host, Better Stack $24/mo 100 monitors
Feature Flag / Remote Config for Desktop (Kill switch, staged rollout)
Stores API keys and credentials safely, separate from your code. Leaking secrets is one of the most common breaches.Pricing & free-tier limitsFree: Unleash OSS $0 unlimited flags self-host / Flagsmith 10k reqs/day free, $0 / ConfigCat free 10M reqs/mo trial / Paid: LaunchDarkly $10/mo 1k MAU then $0.15/overage / GrowthBook $20/mo 100M reqs then $0.10/1M overage / Unleash Pro $80/mo 15k events
Backup & Disaster Recovery for Build Artifacts & Signing Infrastructure
Automates testing and deploying your code. Saves enormous time and prevents “works on my machine” releases.Pricing & free-tier limitsFree: S3 versioning $0 feature cost + storage $0.023/GB / B2 free 10GB / Wasabi free egress / Paid: S3 CRR storage $0.023/GB destination + $0.02/1k reqs, B2 $0.006/GB-mo + $0.01/GB download over free 1GB/day, Veeam $0 agent
How this small scale desktop native application checklist works.
Each requirement below is something a small scale desktop native application 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.