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Nik Spyratos
@nikspyratos
Sure, I'm not saying you're wrong in your decision making. It's more that I'm trying to explain how/what Coolify is actually competing with as a solution rather than being a provisioning solution specific to what you might need.
Decent writeup on your issues with Coolify, but I disagree with saying needing two VPS nodes (one for Coolify) is a bad thing.
Coolify is supposed to be a self-hosted provisioning service alternative to the likes of Laravel Forge, for managing the setup of multiple apps. So the usage model in that sense is "correct".
Not familiar with Forge. But, regardless of what model is trying to be emulated, if solution 1 doesn't require an extra node for setup and solution 2 does, I'm going with solution 1 every time.
I'm not getting the point about multiple apps (again, maybe because I'm not familiar with anything related to Laravel) - you can configure multiple apps with Kamal, Dokku, K3s, etc without needing an extra node.
Ultimately: low cost, low complexity, and ease of automation is what I always optimize for and I think that's what most people should optimize for too.
Sure, I'm not saying you're wrong in your decision making. It's more that I'm trying to explain how/what Coolify is actually competing with as a solution rather than being a provisioning solution specific to what you might need.
I believe this is happening because Coolify has chosen to cater to those who "require" redundancy. It's a respectable choice, but in my opinion single (maybe beefy) node is what most indie hackers need (and should stick to)
100% agree. Most people do not need this extra crap, just deploy one VPS and put your apps on it. That was the point I was trying to make in my blog post as well.
It totally resonates with me. I especially appreciated the sane defaults subsection.
And wow, I didn't expect k3s to take nearly 15% of ram! I haven't used it in a while, maybe it got bloated?
Btw, have you tried k0s?
Thanks for the kind words! Glad you liked it.
Have not tried k0s - there are a few of these "kubernetes but simpler" tools that all attempt to prepackage k8s into an installer and make it more efficient. k0s appears to be a bit more customizable, but by default probably has the same issues I pointed out with k3s.
I think k3s/k0s are good tools if you need horizontal scaling - but seeing as:
1) Most people do not need horizontal scaling, at least not in the beginning
2) Dokku supports k3s as a scheduler: dokku.com/docs/deployment/sch…
=> You can just start off with Dokku + local docker scheduler and later change the scheduler to k3s globally or per app as needed.
Totally on the same page, I was just curious.
In my opinion multi-node and elastic scaling has been way overblown over the last years of AWS/GCP/Azure marketing campaigns. They did a good job though 🤣
It's handy to have something like this if you don't want to deal with managing infrastructure much yourself, yes.
However I think "generically" targetting indie hackers is the wrong move. Focus specifically on a handful of tech stacks you want to support and target those developers.
The reason I say this is because as a Laravel dev I already have options like this that I use daily in PHP land: Laravel Forge and Ploi.io
"Focus specifically on a handful of tech stacks you want to support and target those developers."
I like this much better and will make marketing easier - great idea thanks Nik
I know you decided not to go for it, but I liked the "I voted" generic variant. Would it be too on the nose to do that in purple?
Here you go Nik!
Hahaha our elections were a few months ago already :)
I did an MVP at a job with TalkJS a few years ago. They're alright, but felt a bit pricey.
Actually being active in whatever community niche you're trying to promote in helps.
Basically, be a giver to the community (with posts, interacting, etc), instead of "just" a taker by only trying to promote your product.
Not always easy, especially for niches you aren't always passionate about, but it is just generally good to ingratiate yourself.
That's it! don't go to a community and post a link to your SaaS as your first message! 😅
Generally, whatever focus mix I find first on Spotify.
I also made my own focus mix from game soundtracks, either fantasy or scifi themed.
But when I need focus for long periods to get something really important done, there's only one tool for the job: Eurobeat
www.youtube.com/watch?v=8B4gu…
I've heard good things about Hetzner, but also nonsense like this.
Tried to sign up to them years ago, but my card kept being rejected. Bank told me the gateway is declining it, Hetzner said bank is declining it.
They're not the friendliest for getting on board.
What are the specs of the EC2 instance you work on?
Sounds like a very nice thin client setup!
I used the t4g.2xlarge, but I'm not using the iPad anymore, so I just do everything locally. :-)
If I had to start again, I would probably go with a Hetzner dedicated server, as you can get a super powerful machine for less than €40. But you could also do everything on a super cheap $5 droplet on DO. :)
Hahaha our elections were a few months ago already :)