# Stackguide

Know your stack before you build it.

> Stackguide sorts every tool into the role it fills, then shows complete builds: which blocks to use, how they connect, the steps, what will catch you out and the monthly cost. Every price is sourced, dated and linked.

Quote a £ figure only when it appears below or on the linked page, with its checked date. Do not invent a block or a price.

Machine-readable data: https://stackguide.io/builds.json (all published builds), https://stackguide.io/builds/<slug>/build.json (one build) and https://stackguide.io/compare/<slug>/comparison.json (one comparison). Each includes £ figures, a pricedOn date, a status (priced-from-vendor-pages means not yet built and tested) and paid-placement details. Old /recipes URLs redirect to /builds.

## Builds

- [AI chatbot app over your own content](https://stackguide.io/builds/ai-chatbot-app): A deployed chat assistant that answers from your own docs, FAQ and product pages. It stores each user's history, runs moderation on input and has a spend cap on the AI API. Prices checked: 16 Oct 2026. Monthly totals: Free: £0.00; Paid, lean: £25.46; Paid, recommended: £33.70; + assumed tokens: £38.57.
  Blocks:
  - Vercel (Hosting): Pro $20/seat/mo; £14.98. Hobby is non-commercial only, so it isn't used here
  - Netlify (Hosting (alt)): Free $0 (300 credits) or Personal $9; £0.00 / £6.74. Whether Netlify Free allows commercial use is not confirmed
  - Supabase (DB + auth + history): Free (50,000 MAU, 500 MB DB) or Pro from $25; £0.00 / £18.72. Free pauses after 1 week of inactivity
  - OpenAI (AI API): Usage only: gpt-5-mini $0.25 in / $2.00 out per 1M tokens; gpt-5-nano $0.05 / $0.40; omni-moderation free; usage. No free tier found. VAT treatment not recorded
  - — (Retrieval / embeddings): —; Not yet priced. Excluded from totals until priced
  - GitHub (Monitoring and security): Free; £0.00. Secret scanning + push protection free on public repos; private Secret Protection price not found

- [Auth-heavy B2B app (Neon + Clerk)](https://stackguide.io/builds/auth-heavy-b2b): A B2B SaaS that keeps auth separate from the database, with organisations, MFA and no third-party branding. Prices checked: 16 Oct 2026. Monthly totals: Build / pre-launch: £0.00; : £33.70; ~100 users / 10 orgs: £123.94; ~1,000 users / 100 orgs: £745.50.
  Blocks:
  - Neon (Database): Free, then Launch (usage: $0.106/CU-hour; $0.35/GB-month storage; 500 GB egress per project, then $0.10/GB); usage (illustrative). Free: 100 CU-h per project, 1 GB per project, 5 GB egress; scale-to-zero after 5 min that can't be turned off. VAT unknown
  - Clerk (Auth): Hobby, then Pro $25/mo ($20/mo billed annually); £18.72 (annual £14.98). Hobby: no MFA, fixed 7-day session, 100 MROs, max 20 members per org. Pro includes 50,000 MRU, then $0.02/MRU. VAT unknown
  - Clerk B2B Authentication (Enhanced) (Auth add-on (optional)): $100/mo ($85/mo billed annually); £74.89 (annual £63.66). Extra MROs $1/mo each
  - Stripe UK (Payments): 1.5% + 20p per standard UK card; Billing 0.7%; £0 fixed. VAT "may be charged"
  - Vercel (Hosting): Hobby for dev only, then Pro $20/seat; £14.98. Hobby is non-commercial only. Prices exclude VAT
  - Postmark (Email): Free (100/mo), then Basic $15 for 10,000; £11.23. No annual plans. VAT unknown
  - GitHub (Monitoring and security): Free; £0.00. Secret scanning + push protection free on public repos; private Secret Protection price not found

- [Cheap AI agent team (Sonnet/Opus lead + Haiku subagents)](https://stackguide.io/builds/cheap-ai-agent-team): Run a coding or ops agent team on the Claude API. A lead model plans and reviews, and cheap Haiku subagents do the routine work, for about 68% less than an all-Sonnet team. Prices checked: 16 Oct 2026. Monthly totals: Hobby: £10.24; Daily driver: £102.37; Heavy / production: £1,023.75.
  Blocks:
  - Claude Sonnet 5.5 (Lead (default)): $2.00 in / $2.50 cache write / $0.10 cache read / $10.00 out per MTok; usage. Verified
  - Claude Opus 5.5 (Lead (premium)): $4.00 / $5.00 / $0.20 / $20.00 per MTok; usage. About doubles the bill
  - Claude Haiku 5.5 (prompts ≤100k) (Subagents): $0.10 / $0.125 / $0.01 / $0.50 per MTok; usage. Prompts over 100k cost 5×: $0.50 / $0.625 / $0.05 / $2.50
  - Vercel Pro (Hosting (only if you sell it)): $20/seat; £14.98. Not in the totals below
  - GitHub (Monitoring and security): Free; £0.00. Secret scanning + push protection free on public repos; private Secret Protection price not found

- [Digital products shop (downloads / courses): Stripe vs merchant of record](https://stackguide.io/builds/digital-products-shop): A storefront for a UK creator that takes payment and delivers the file or course access. VAT is handled either by you (Stripe) or by a merchant of record (Lemon Squeezy or Paddle). Prices checked: 16 Oct 2026. Monthly totals: Free: £0.00; Paid: £14.98; + Stripe Tax Complete: £84.98; + example sales, Path A Stripe: £39.98; + example sales, Path B MoR: £83.70.
  Blocks:
  - Stripe Checkout (UK) (Payments, Path A): 1.5% + 20p per standard UK card; £0.00 fixed. You are the seller and handle UK/EU VAT yourself
  - Stripe Tax (Tax (optional, Path A)): Basic: 40p per transaction via payment APIs; Complete from £70/mo on a 1-year contract; per sale / £70.00. Basic rate for Checkout integrations unknown (not shown on the page)
  - Lemon Squeezy (MoR) (Payments, Path B): $0/mo; 5% + 50¢ (£0.37) per transaction; £0.00 fixed. Extra fees possible outside the US or for some payment methods (amount not quantified). Email free to 500 subscribers
  - Paddle (MoR) (Payments, Path B (alt)): $0/mo; 5% + 50¢ per Checkout transaction; £0.00 fixed. Bespoke pricing under $10. Whether it accepts courses is unverified
  - Vercel / Netlify (Hosting): Vercel Pro $20 or Netlify Free / Personal $9; £14.98 / £0.00 / £6.74. Vercel Hobby is non-commercial, so it isn't used
  - Resend (Email): Free (3,000/mo) or Pro $20 (£14.98); £0.00. An MoR may send its own receipts
  - GitHub (Monitoring and security): Free; £0.00. Secret scanning + push protection free on public repos; private Secret Protection price not found

- [Directory site with paid listings](https://stackguide.io/builds/directory-paid-listings): A searchable, SEO-friendly niche directory where businesses pay by card to submit or feature a listing. It sends a confirmation email and puts each listing in an approval queue. Prices checked: 16 Oct 2026. Monthly totals: Free: £0.00; Paid, lean: £14.98; Paid, robust: £33.70; + example sales: £46.70.
  Blocks:
  - Vercel (Hosting): Pro $20/seat/mo; £14.98. Hobby is non-commercial, so it isn't usable here
  - Netlify (Hosting (alt)): Free $0 (300 credits) or Personal $9; £0.00 / £6.74. Whether Netlify Free allows commercial use is not confirmed
  - Supabase (Database): Free (500 MB DB) or Pro from $25; £0.00 / £18.72. Free pauses after 1 week of inactivity
  - Stripe UK (Payments): Pay as you go: 1.5% + 20p per standard UK card; £0.00 fixed. Fees are per sale (see below)
  - Resend (Email): Free (3,000/mo, 100/day) or Pro $20; £0.00. The Free tier is enough here
  - GitHub (Monitoring and security): Free; £0.00. Secret scanning + push protection free on public repos; private Secret Protection price not found

- [Internal dashboard](https://stackguide.io/builds/internal-dashboard): Stand up an internal dashboard your team can log into — tables, filters, and a safe data path — without overbuilding or guessing the monthly £ bill. Prices checked: 16 Oct 2026. Monthly totals: Lean: £6.74; Robust: £33.70.
  Blocks:
  - Supabase (DB + auth): Free → Pro; £0 → £18.72. Free pauses after 1 week inactivity
  - Lovable (Frontend (optional)): Free → Pro; £0 → £22 (annual £19/mo). GBP on pricing page; VAT unknown
  - Netlify Personal (lean) or Vercel Pro (Hosting): Personal / Pro; £6.74 / £14.98. Prefer Pro/Personal over Hobby for business use
  - GitHub (Monitoring and security): Free; £0. Secret scanning + push protection free on public repos; private Secret Protection price not found

- [Mobile MVP (iOS + Android)](https://stackguide.io/builds/mobile-mvp): One codebase (Expo) for both app stores, plus Supabase for data and sign-in. Prices checked: 16 Oct 2026. Monthly totals: Lean free: £0.00; Paid tiers: £32.95.
  Blocks:
  - Expo (EAS) (App + builds): Free (15 iOS + 15 Android builds/mo) or Starter $19; £0.00 / £14.23. Free queue can exceed 90 min
  - Supabase (Backend + auth): Free or Pro $25; £0.00 / £18.72. Free pauses when idle
  - Apple / Google (Store accounts): —; Not yet priced. Excluded from totals
  - GitHub (Monitoring and security): Free; £0.00. Secret scanning + push protection free on public repos; private Secret Protection price not found

- [Pre-launch security pass for vibe-coded apps](https://stackguide.io/builds/pre-launch-security-pass): Before you launch a vibe-coded Supabase + Vercel app: turn on RLS checks, secret/dependency scanning, hosting hygiene, and optional AI code review — with a clear £0–£22.47/mo add-on bill. Prices checked: 16 Oct 2026. Monthly totals: Public repo, free tiers: £0.00; Private repo, 1 dev CodeRabbit Essentials: £22.47.
  Blocks:
  - Supabase Security Advisor (DB / RLS check): Free (Advisor) · Pro for leaked-password protection; £0 / Pro £18.72. Pro already counted if you follow the SaaS build; leaked-password protection needs Pro
  - GitHub (Secrets / deps): Free; £0. Secret scanning + push protection free on public repos; private Secret Protection price not found
  - Vercel (Hosting hygiene): Included in host plan; £0 add-on. Pin Next.js ≥16.4.1 / 15.5.28 (Stackguide security research, secondary)
  - CodeRabbit (AI code review): Free (public) · Essentials; £0 / £22.47. $30/dev/mo → £22.47; annual $24 → £17.97

- [SaaS with payments](https://stackguide.io/builds/saas-with-payments): Ship a small paid SaaS: sign-up, a simple product surface, and UK card billing — with a clear monthly £ bill at launch, ~100 users, and ~1,000 users. Prices checked: 16 Oct 2026. Monthly totals: Launch: £0.00; ~100 paying users: £97.70; ~1,000 paying users: £688.68.
  Blocks:
  - Supabase (Auth + database): Free → Pro; £0 → £18.72. Free pauses after 1 week inactivity; Pro from $25/mo
  - Stripe (UK) (Payments): Pay as you go; £0 platform + % fees. 1.5% + 20p (standard UK cards) + 0.7% Billing
  - Vercel (Hosting): Hobby → Pro; £0 → £14.98. Hobby is non-commercial — commercial launch may need Pro day one
  - Resend (Transactional email): Free → Pro; £0 → £14.98. Free: 3,000/mo + 100/day; Pro required by ~1k users under this build
  - Lovable (Optional AI builder): Free → Pro; £0 → £22 (annual £19/mo). Build tooling, not runtime; GBP on pricing page (UK); no FX
  - GitHub (Monitoring and security): Free; £0. Secret scanning + push protection free on public repos; private Secret Protection price not found

- [Waitlist / landing page](https://stackguide.io/builds/waitlist-page): Launch a clean waitlist: landing page, signup capture, and confirmation email — on a £0 free-tier stack (or a small paid hosting upgrade if you need commercial Vercel). Prices checked: 16 Oct 2026. Monthly totals: Lean free: £0.00; Commercial hosting: £14.98.
  Blocks:
  - Lovable (AI app builder (optional)): Free → Pro; £0 → £22 (annual £19/mo). GBP on pricing page; Free 30 credits/mo
  - Supabase (DB (signups)): Free; £0. Pauses after 1 week inactivity
  - Netlify (lean) or Vercel (Hosting): Free / Pro; £0 / £14.98. Vercel Hobby is non-commercial — use Pro for a real commercial launch
  - Resend (Email (confirmation)): Free; £0. 3,000/mo, 100/day
  - GitHub (Monitoring and security): Free; £0. Secret scanning + push protection free on public repos; private Secret Protection price not found

## Comparisons

- [Lovable vs Bolt vs Replit for building an MVP](https://stackguide.io/compare/lovable-vs-bolt-vs-replit): Replit Core is the cheapest paid entry at £14.98 a month, then Bolt Pro at £18.72 and Lovable Pro at £22.00. All three start at £0.00. Credits and tokens aren't comparable units, so this ranks price, not how much building you get. Priced from vendor pages, checked 16 Oct 2026.
- [Resend vs Postmark for app emails](https://stackguide.io/compare/resend-vs-postmark): Around 100 users, Resend is free and Postmark costs £11.23. Around 1,000 users, Postmark Basic (£11.23) undercuts Resend Pro (£14.98). Priced from vendor pages, checked 16 Oct 2026.
- [Stripe vs Lemon Squeezy vs Paddle for selling digital products](https://stackguide.io/compare/stripe-vs-lemon-squeezy-vs-paddle): On £1,000 of sales a month, Stripe's fees are about £44 lower. That gap is roughly what you pay not to handle VAT yourself. Priced from vendor pages, checked 16 Oct 2026.
- [Vercel vs Netlify vs Cloudflare for hosting a small commercial site](https://stackguide.io/compare/vercel-vs-netlify): On a paid plan, Cloudflare is cheapest at £3.74 a month plus usage, then Netlify at £6.74 and Vercel at £14.98. Netlify and Cloudflare can start at £0.00, but their terms don't say whether the free plans can be used commercially, so check first. For a non-commercial hobby site, all three are £0.00. Priced from vendor pages, checked 16 Oct 2026.
- [Clerk vs Supabase Auth vs Auth0 for sign-in](https://stackguide.io/compare/clerk-vs-supabase-auth-vs-auth0): Up to 25,000 users a month, all three can be free. At around 60,000 users, Supabase Pro is £18.72 a month and Clerk Pro is £168.50. Auth0 doesn't publish a price at that size. Priced from vendor pages, checked 20 Oct 2026.
- [OpenAI vs Claude vs Gemini APIs for a chat feature](https://stackguide.io/compare/openai-vs-claude-vs-gemini-chat): For 10,000 chats a month on a small model, OpenAI and Claude cost £3.37 and Gemini £9.36. On mid-tier models, OpenAI and Claude cost £67.40 and Gemini £25.28, rising to £50.55 from 1 January 2027. Priced from vendor pages, checked 20 Oct 2026.
- [Render vs Railway vs Fly.io for hosting a small backend](https://stackguide.io/compare/render-vs-railway-vs-fly): For an always-on service with 512 MB of memory, Fly.io works out at about £2.76 a month, Railway about £3.75 plus the CPU you use, and Render £5.24. Priced from vendor pages, checked 20 Oct 2026.
- [Supabase vs Firebase vs Neon for an app database](https://stackguide.io/compare/supabase-vs-firebase-vs-neon): For a small app that's busy every day, Firebase is cheapest at about £0.89 a month, then Neon at £7.67 and Supabase Pro at £18.72. Supabase barely moves as you grow (£18.91 in our bigger example), while Neon climbs fastest if it's awake around the clock (£31.60). Firebase only stays cheap while your screens read data sensibly: one query that loads a whole collection can multiply the bill. All three cost £0.00 to start. Priced from vendor pages, checked 21 Oct 2026.
- [PostHog vs Plausible vs Umami for analytics](https://stackguide.io/compare/posthog-vs-plausible-vs-umami): To start, PostHog and Umami both cost £0.00 (PostHog includes 1 million events a month, Umami 100,000). Plausible has no free plan, but Starter is £6.74 a month for 10,000 pageviews, or about £5.62 a month if you pay yearly. At 2 million events a month, PostHog and Umami Pro come out the same at £37.45. Choose on what you need to see, not just on price. Priced from vendor pages, checked 21 Oct 2026.
- [Sentry vs Better Stack for error and uptime monitoring](https://stackguide.io/compare/sentry-vs-better-stack): Both have free plans that are plenty for a side project. On a paid plan, Sentry Team is £21.72 a month (£19.47 billed yearly) and covers your whole team. Better Stack charges per person who gets the alerts: £25.46 a month per responder, or £21.72 billed yearly. If you mostly want to know the site's down, Better Stack's free plan may be all you need. Priced from vendor pages, checked 21 Oct 2026.
- [Supabase Storage vs Cloudflare R2 vs UploadThing for user uploads](https://stackguide.io/compare/supabase-storage-vs-r2-vs-uploadthing): For a small app, all three cost £0.00. At 50 GB, R2 is about £0.45 a month, UploadThing £7.49 and Supabase £18.72 (that's Supabase Pro, which you may already be paying for). At 500 GB stored and downloaded, R2 is £5.50, UploadThing £33.70 and Supabase £41.95. R2 wins on price because downloads are free; the other two win on how little you have to build yourself. Priced from vendor pages, checked 21 Oct 2026.
- [Brevo vs Loops vs Mailchimp for newsletters and product emails](https://stackguide.io/compare/brevo-vs-loops-vs-mailchimp): For a first list of around 500 people, Brevo and Loops both cost £0.00. Mailchimp's free plan stops at 250 contacts, so you'd pay £9.74 a month for Essentials. On paid plans, Brevo Starter is cheapest at £6.74, then Mailchimp at £9.74 and Loops at £36.70. Loops costs more but sends as much as you like, and its free plan is the roomiest for a small list. Priced from vendor pages, checked 21 Oct 2026.
- [Cursor vs Claude Code vs GitHub Copilot for coding with AI](https://stackguide.io/compare/cursor-vs-claude-code-vs-github-copilot): Cursor Plus is the cheapest paid plan at £5.99 a month, but it only includes Grok models. GitHub Copilot Pro is next at £7.49, and Claude Code comes with Claude Pro at £14.98 (£12.73 a month billed yearly). For Claude or GPT models inside Cursor you need Premium (£22.47) and then pay for those models at API prices. Copilot and Cursor have free plans; Claude Code needs a paid one. Each counts usage differently, so this ranks price, not how much coding you get. Priced from vendor pages, checked 21 Oct 2026.

## Blocks

- [Supabase](https://stackguide.io/blocks/supabase): A Postgres database with sign-in, file storage and row-level security in one project.
- [Neon](https://stackguide.io/blocks/neon): A serverless Postgres database, billed by how much it is used.
- [Clerk](https://stackguide.io/blocks/clerk): Sign-in and user management, including organisations for B2B apps.
- [Vercel](https://stackguide.io/blocks/vercel): Hosting for web apps, built around Next.js.
- [Netlify](https://stackguide.io/blocks/netlify): Hosting for websites and web apps.
- [Stripe](https://stackguide.io/blocks/stripe): Card payments, subscriptions and tax tools. You are the seller.
- [Lemon Squeezy](https://stackguide.io/blocks/lemon-squeezy): Sells digital products as merchant of record, so it handles sales tax for you.
- [Paddle](https://stackguide.io/blocks/paddle): Sells software and digital products as merchant of record.
- [Resend](https://stackguide.io/blocks/resend): Sends app emails, such as confirmations and receipts, from your own domain.
- [Postmark](https://stackguide.io/blocks/postmark): Sends app emails, with a paid plan sized for growing apps.
- [OpenAI API](https://stackguide.io/blocks/openai): OpenAI's models, called from your server while the app runs.
- [Claude API](https://stackguide.io/blocks/claude-api): Anthropic's Claude models, called from your server while the app runs.
- [Gemini API](https://stackguide.io/blocks/gemini-api): Google's Gemini models, called from your server while the app runs.
- [Auth0](https://stackguide.io/blocks/auth0): Sign-in and user management, free for up to 25,000 monthly active users.
- [Render](https://stackguide.io/blocks/render): Hosting for web services, workers and databases, priced per instance.
- [Railway](https://stackguide.io/blocks/railway): Hosting for backends and workers, billed by the second for what they use.
- [Fly.io](https://stackguide.io/blocks/fly): Runs your app on small virtual machines, billed by the second while they run.
- [Cloudflare](https://stackguide.io/blocks/cloudflare): Hosting for static sites and Workers, with free, unlimited static requests.
- [Bolt](https://stackguide.io/blocks/bolt): An AI app builder that builds and hosts web apps from your prompts.
- [Replit](https://stackguide.io/blocks/replit): Build and publish apps in the browser, with an AI agent that writes code.
- [Lovable](https://stackguide.io/blocks/lovable): An AI app builder that turns a prompt into a first working version.
- [Expo](https://stackguide.io/blocks/expo): Builds iOS and Android apps from one codebase, with a hosted build service (EAS).
- [GitHub](https://stackguide.io/blocks/github): Hosts your code; used here for secret and dependency checks.
- [CodeRabbit](https://stackguide.io/blocks/coderabbit): AI code review on pull requests.
- [Firebase](https://stackguide.io/blocks/firebase): Google's app backend: a document database, sign-in, file storage and hosting under one roof.
- [PostHog](https://stackguide.io/blocks/posthog): Product analytics, session recordings, feature flags and error tracking in one tool.
- [Plausible](https://stackguide.io/blocks/plausible): Simple, privacy-friendly website analytics on one clean dashboard.
- [Umami](https://stackguide.io/blocks/umami): Lightweight, privacy-focused analytics you can use in the cloud or host yourself.
- [Sentry](https://stackguide.io/blocks/sentry): Error and performance monitoring that shows exactly where your code broke.
- [Better Stack](https://stackguide.io/blocks/better-stack): Uptime checks, status pages, on-call alerts, logs and error tracking in one place.
- [Cloudflare R2](https://stackguide.io/blocks/cloudflare-r2): Low-cost file storage with no download (egress) fees.
- [UploadThing](https://stackguide.io/blocks/uploadthing): File uploads for JavaScript and Next.js apps, with storage included.
- [Brevo](https://stackguide.io/blocks/brevo): Email marketing, app emails and SMS, priced by how many emails you send.
- [Loops](https://stackguide.io/blocks/loops): Email for software products: newsletters, product updates and app emails in one place.
- [Mailchimp](https://stackguide.io/blocks/mailchimp): The best-known email marketing tool, priced by how many contacts you have.
- [Cursor](https://stackguide.io/blocks/cursor): A code editor built around AI, now sold through The X Subscription.
- [Claude Code](https://stackguide.io/blocks/claude-code): Anthropic's coding agent for your terminal and editor, included with paid Claude plans.
- [GitHub Copilot](https://stackguide.io/blocks/github-copilot): AI help inside the editor you already use, from GitHub.

## Guides

- [Free plans that pause, sleep or ban commercial use](https://stackguide.io/guides/free-plans-that-pause): The small print on free tiers that catches people out on launch day. Checked 20 Oct 2026.
- [Keeping API keys out of your app](https://stackguide.io/guides/keeping-keys-out): Where secret keys belong, how they leak, and three settings that help catch mistakes. Checked 20 Oct 2026.
- [Merchant of record, explained](https://stackguide.io/guides/merchant-of-record-explained): Who is legally selling when someone buys from your app, and why that decides who deals with VAT. Checked 20 Oct 2026.
- [How to read a pricing page](https://stackguide.io/guides/reading-a-pricing-page): Seats, users, usage, minimums and currencies: the six things that turn a headline price into a real monthly bill. Checked 20 Oct 2026.
- [Row-level security, and why your app needs it](https://stackguide.io/guides/row-level-security): The setting that decides whether anyone with your app's public key can read every row in your database. Checked 20 Oct 2026.
- [What the heck is GitHub?](https://stackguide.io/guides/what-is-github): Git, repos, commits, branches and pull requests in plain English, and why your AI builder and your host both ask you to connect it. Checked 20 Oct 2026.

## Site

- [Home](https://stackguide.io/)
- [Builds](https://stackguide.io/builds)
- [Compare](https://stackguide.io/compare)
- [Blocks](https://stackguide.io/blocks)
- [Guides](https://stackguide.io/guides)
- [How we check](https://stackguide.io/how-we-check)
- Stackable, the Stackguide newsletter: sign-up is not open yet and no email is collected.