Open-source software stack for indie software founders
For founders shipping a software product with a small team, who would rather run their own backend, analytics and support tools than add another monthly subscription.
11 tools · saves about $4,992/yr for a team of 10 · picks reviewed Oct 2026
Backend, database & auth
Replaces Firebase · Blaze · not counted · Pay as you go · checked Oct 2026
Postgres, auth, storage and realtime in one self-hostable backend.
Hosting & deploys
Replaces Vercel · Pro · $20/user/mo · 5 seats · checked Oct 2026
Push-to-deploy on your own VPS with previews, databases and backups.
Also good: Dokploy
Subscription & usage billing
Replaces Stripe Billing · not counted · 0.7% of billing volume · checked Oct 2026
Usage-based and subscription billing on top of your payment provider; Kill Bill is the mature JVM option.
Also good: Kill Bill
Product analytics
Replaces Amplitude · Plus · not counted · Usage-based after 2M free events a month · checked Oct 2026
Product analytics, session replay, feature flags and experiments in one tool.
Also good: Umami
Error tracking
Replaces Sentry · Team (billed yearly) · $26/mo · checked Oct 2026
Source-available. The Sentry you know, self-hosted; needs a large server.
Uptime & status page
Replaces Better Stack · One responder (billed yearly) · $29/mo · checked Oct 2026
The most-starred self-hosted monitor, with built-in public status pages.
Support inbox
Replaces Intercom · Essential (billed yearly) · $29/user/mo · 3 seats · checked Oct 2026
Shared inbox for chat, email and social with a help centre included.
Newsletters & product updates
Replaces Kit · Creator, 1,000 subscribers · $39/mo · checked Oct 2026
One fast binary that sends to large lists cheaply through your own SMTP provider.
Also good: Mautic
Issues & roadmap
Replaces Linear · Basic (billed yearly) · $10/user/mo · 10 seats · checked Oct 2026
Linear-style issues and cycles with a public roadmap view.
Docs & knowledge base
Replaces Notion · Plus (billed yearly) · $10/user/mo · 10 seats · checked Oct 2026
Notion-like wiki with real-time editing and permissions.
AI coding agent
Replaces Cursor · Pro · $20/user/mo · 6 seats · checked Oct 2026
Terminal coding agent that works with any model, including local ones.
How we calculate
For each paid tool you tick, we take its public list price for the plan shown and multiply it by the seats your team would need. Some tools are only used by part of a team, so a row may count a share of your team or a fixed number of seats; the row says how many. Prices that depend on sales or usage are shown but not counted.
From that we subtract an estimate for running the open-source stack yourself: $165/month plus $2 per person per month (Two 8 vCPU / 16 GB cloud servers, plus storage per person), and any extra running cost a row lists, such as a GPU. The time it takes to set up and maintain the tools is not included.