Ask HN: What do you run on a $5 VPS that's worth keeping online 24/7?

mariocesar

4 hours ago

11points

DHH's "AI shed" idea got me thinking about getting a small $5–10/month VPS.

I'm a Linux guy and have on many points of my life have a personal server. So I like the idea of having something always on, but I’m not sure the maintenance is worth it when most things can just run on my laptop.

That said, I tend to do things myself and only later realize I could have automated or delegated them, so I may have a blind spot here.

If you have a cheap VPS or mini PC, what actually ended up being useful long-term? Anything that saved enough time or replaced enough subscriptions to justify keeping it around?

4 comments

Comments

sebnun•1 hour ago

I run a language learning app* on a single VPS, for free. I'm not sure if you can still get it, but Oracle used to offer very generous VPS for free. I have a 4 CPUs, 24 GB memory VPS that I'm using for several things, including running the backend and the marketing site for that app.

I installed Plex but ended up not using it, so I removed it.

* https://www.langturbo.com

dare944•1 hour ago

Mail / IMAP server for my family domain. Small web server with a few static content sites. Trillium notes server.

Pretty low maintenance overall - I can go months without even thinking about it.

Sha1rholder•2 hours ago

Deploy a vpn

Computer0•3 hours ago

I'm fairly certain that DHH fella is Nazi adjacent.

If you don't have a use maybe you do not have a use?