The cost of writing code collapsed.
The cost of running it didn't notice.
I have four side projects running right now. Two are making money. Not quit-your-job money, but real money — enough that I renew their servers without thinking. Two are on free tiers. Technically alive. Getting users every week. I know they could be something.
The two that earn? $9 and $14 a month to host. Less than a dinner. I pay it without thinking.
The two that are sleeping? Free tier. Throttled. Slow cold starts. I keep telling myself I'll upgrade them when they earn it. They never get the chance to earn it because I never upgrade them.
I spend $13/month on Spotify.
I hesitate on $7/month for a server.
I know how that sounds. But it's different in your head. Spotify is a sunk cost. Already decided. Doesn't ask questions. The server is a bet. Every month it renews, it asks: does this deserve another $7?
Netflix: $17. Gym membership I use twice a month: $35. iCloud storage I've needed exactly once: $3. None of them ask that question. They just happen.
But a $7 server for a project with 40 weekly active users? That one I think about. That one I cancel when it doesn't grow fast enough. That one I come back to six months later wondering what would have happened if I'd just left it running.
It's not the money. It's the question the invoice forces every month. And for an early project, the honest answer is always "I don't know" -- which defaults to "probably not" -- which becomes "cancel."
AI made this worse. Building is nearly free now. A weekend, a good prompt, a working product. I shipped three projects last year in the time it used to take me to spec one. More bets, same monthly drag.
$23/month. Fine. What's not fine is the invisible bar I've set for the two sleeping ones. The bar is $7/month -- what it costs to take them off the free tier. That's the invoice that makes me ask the question. That's the question that defaults to "not yet." That's how projects die without dying.
What if you paid once -- less than one month of Spotify -- and that question never came up again? Every project you ever spin up, already covered. No bar to clear. No invoice. No "not yet."
Less than two coffees. Less than one month of Spotify. Less than the gym membership you're not using.
My two sleeping projects are still sleeping. Not because they failed. Because I keep asking if they deserve another $7.
That's a question you should never have to ask.