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Cost consolidation guide

Run several small apps on one VPS without creating a server mess

VercelVPSSupabase

Short answer

One production VPS with separate apps, domains, env vars, persistent data, logs, backups, monitoring, and a simple upgrade path when traffic grows.

Why this matters

Every app has a separate hosting bill, database bill, analytics bill, and dashboard, but none of them is large enough to justify that complexity.

Walkthrough

  1. 01

    Decide what belongs on the VPS

    Do not consolidate everything. Keep specialized external services when they are safer or simpler.

    • Good VPS candidates: small apps, APIs, Postgres, analytics, queues, storage, admin tools.
    • Usually keep external: payments, transactional email, DNS, and anything compliance-heavy.
    • Move one app first, then repeat the pattern.
  2. 02

    Create one isolated unit per product

    Keep apps separated so a broken side project does not make the whole server impossible to reason about.

    • Create separate apps, Compose projects, or services for each product.
    • Use separate domains/subdomains and separate env vars.
    • Use named volumes for databases and data that must survive deploys.
  3. 03

    Add the boring safety rails

    A cheap VPS becomes expensive if nobody knows how to recover it.

    • Keep routing visible in your deploy panel or reverse proxy config.
    • Monitor memory, disk, CPU, and logs after each new app.
    • Write a one-page server map: apps, domains, ports, volumes, backups, and restart steps.

Where RepoAssistant fits

RepoAssistant consolidates small app infrastructure when one clean VPS is enough.

Primary sources