Marketplace — 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.
Domain and DNS
Your human-readable address on the web plus the DNS records that point it at your servers. Skipping this is not an option — users need a domain to reach you.Pricing & free-tier limitsCloudflare Pro $20/mo - 20 domains, WAF, 20 page rules, image res / Free $0 - 1 domain unmetered / Namecheap PremiumDNS $4.88/yr/domain + $13/yr domain / Route53 $0.50/zone/mo + $0.40/M queries / Business $200/mo 50 custom certs, 100% uptime, PCI
SSL/TLS
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 limitsLet's Encrypt Free $0 + Cloudflare Pro SSL $20/mo incl Universal + 1 custom edge / Free $0 / ZeroSSL Free 3x 90-day, $10/mo Basic unlimited certs / DigiCert OV $400/yr wildcard $600/yr, $0 after
Web Hosting / Backend Hosting
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 limitsVercel Pro $20/seat/mo + $40/100GB bw over + $0.18/build hr - 1TB bw, 1000GB-hr, 10k exec hrs / Render Std $7/mo 512MB 100GB bw $10/100GB over / DO App $12/mo 1GB $0.10/GB bw over / ECS EB $0.10/hr+EC2 $15/mo min + ALB $16/mo + $0.115/GB storage
Cloud Platform
The underlying cloud account (AWS, GCP, Azure, or an all-in-one like Vercel+Supabase) that everything else is built on. Choose early — it is hard to change later.Pricing & free-tier limitsVercel Pro $20/seat + Supabase Pro $25/mo - 8GB DB, 100GB storage, 100GB egress $0.09/GB over / Hobby $0 / Railway Pro $20/mo 8GB RAM $0.000231/GB-sec over / Lightsail $5/mo + RDS t3.micro $12.5/mo + $0.115/GB storage
Database (multi-vendor: buyers/sellers)
Persistent storage for your app’s data — users, products, orders. The single most important architectural decision for most projects.Pricing & free-tier limitsSupabase Pro $25/mo - 8GB DB, 100k MAU $0.00325 over, 100GB egress $0.09/GB over, 100GB storage $0.021/GB over / Neon Free $0 / DO Managed PG $15/mo 1GB RAM 10GB $0.15/GB over / RDS Multi-AZ t3.small $0.034/hr ~$50/mo + $0.115/GB
File and Object Storage / Image and Media Storage
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 Standard $0.023/GB-mo + $0.09/GB egress, 50GB $1.15 storage $4.5 egress seller uploads / Supabase Free 1GB / B2 $0.005/GB-mo 100GB $0.50 + $1/100GB egress / R2 $0.015/GB after free 10GB zero egress, $0.36/M Class A $4.5/M Class B
Authentication and Identity (buyer/seller roles)
How users sign up, log in, and are authorized. Getting roles and access control right early prevents painful rewrites.Pricing & free-tier limitsClerk Pro $25/mo + $0.02/MAU over 10k RBAC 10k incl, 50k MAU $825/mo / Supabase Auth Free / Auth0 Dev $35/mo 1k MAU $0.07/MAU over 10k ~$630/mo / Professional $240/mo 1k MAU + $0.07 over
Split Payout / Marketplace Payments API
Moves money — charges, payouts to sellers, taxes, fraud checks. Highest-stakes integration: get it wrong and you break compliance or lose revenue.Pricing & free-tier limitsStripe Connect Standard $0 acct 2.9%+30c +0.25% payout +$2/active acct/mo + PayPal Commerce 3.49%+49c / Test $0 / PayPal Std 3.49%+49c / Express+Mangopay Sandbox: Express $5/acct/mo $0.25/payout Mangopay sandbox $0
Transactional Email API / Email Delivery
Where you keep files users upload or you serve — images, videos, documents — and how fast they reach visitors around the world.Pricing & free-tier limitsResend Pro $20/mo 50k incl $0.0004 over (100k=$40/mo) + SendGrid Essentials $19.95/mo 50k incl $0.0004 over / Free 3k/mo / Free 100/day / SES $0.10/1k=$10/100k + $0.12/GB attach + Resend $20/mo bundle
Source-code Repository
Where your source code lives and is collaborated on. Non-negotiable for any team or serious project.Pricing & free-tier limitsGitHub Team $4/user/mo 3k mins 2GB LFS / Free $0 / GitLab Free $0 / Enterprise Cloud $21/user/mo SAML 50k mins 50GB storage $0 after
CI/CD and Deployment Automation
Automates testing and deploying your code. Saves enormous time and prevents “works on my machine” releases.Pricing & free-tier limitsGitHub Actions + Vercel Pro Deploys: Actions $0 2000 mins +$0.008/min over Vercel Pro $20/seat $0.18/hr / Free $0 / GitLab CI Free 400 mins/mo / CircleCI Perf $15/mo 25k credits +$6/25k over (~$0.0006/min)
Database Backups
Persistent storage for your app’s data — users, products, orders. The single most important architectural decision for most projects.Pricing & free-tier limitsSupabase Daily Backups incl in Pro $25/mo PITR daily free + pg_dump to S3 $0.023/GB-mo / Manual $0 pg_dump local $0 / Neon PITR 7 days Free $0 / RDS Automated 7 days free snapshot storage $0.021/GB-mo 50GB $1.05/mo
CDN and Edge Delivery
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 Pro CDN $20/mo unmetered DDoS 20 page rules WAF HTTP/3 / Free $0 unmetered 3 rules / BunnyCDN $1/mo min $0.01/GB 500GB $5/mo / CloudFront $0.085/GB first 10TB + Business $200/mo 100 page rules PCI image res
Image Optimization 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 $5/mo 100k stored +$1/100k delivered / Vercel Image Opt Hobby 1k free then $10/5k Pro 5k incl $10/5k over seller images / Cloudinary Free 25k trans 25GB bw / Plus $89/mo 100k trans + Imgix $25/mo 200GB bw
Secrets Management / Environment Management (basic)
Stores API keys and credentials safely, separate from your code. Leaking secrets is one of the most common breaches.Pricing & free-tier limitsDoppler Free 5 users 250 secrets 100 API calls/mo / Vercel Env Vars $0 incl / Infisical Cloud Free 3 projects $0 / Team $10/user/mo 1000 secrets unlimited API HIPAA $0 after
Staging Environment / Preview Deploys
Stores API keys and credentials safely, separate from your code. Leaking secrets is one of the most common breaches.Pricing & free-tier limitsVercel Preview Deploys Free 1 concurrent Hobby $0 / Hobby $0 / Netlify Previews $0 1 concurrent / Pro Previews+Render: Pro $20/seat/mo unlimited + Render $19/mo preview envs 5 envs $19/mo
Monitoring / Error Tracking / Log Management
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 1 seat Developer $26/mo 50k $0.0006/error over Team $26/mo / Dev $0 5k / Better Stack Free 3 monitors 10GB logs 3 days / Team $26/mo+Logtail Free 1GB $24/mo 10GB
KYC / Identity Verification API + Seller Onboarding
How users sign up, log in, and are authorized. Getting roles and access control right early prevents painful rewrites.Pricing & free-tier limitsStripe Identity Test $0 + Persona Free 100 verifs/mo then $1.50/verif over / Test $0 / Free 100/mo / Growth $150/mo 500 verifs + Onfido Starter $100/mo $2/verif Scale $1.50/verif onboarding free
Search Infrastructure (marketplace product search) + Content Moderation
Lets users find things fast. A slow or missing search directly costs engagement and conversions.Pricing & free-tier limitsAlgolia Free 10k records/10k searches / Typesense OSS self-host $0 Cloud free 100k docs / Meilisearch Cloud Free 10k docs 10k searches $0 / Growth $1/mo per 1k records $0.50/1k searches 100k rec+100k search $150/mo+Hive Free 2k req/mo $50/mo 50k req $0.001 over
How this small scale marketplace checklist works.
Each requirement below is something a small scale marketplace 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.