How to Build a $0/Month Startup Stack Using Free Credits (Real Example)

How to Build a $0/Month Startup Stack Using Free Credits (Real Example)

Eleven months. Four hundred and twelve paying customers. $14,800 in monthly recurring revenue. Zero dollars per month spent on software.

That is the current state of PlanBoard — a project management tool for construction teams built by two founders in Portland. Their entire production infrastructure, development tools, analytics platform, customer support system, and team communication stack runs on free startup credits and free-tier plans. Not $10/month. Not $50/month. Literally $0/month.

This is not a hypothetical exercise in stitching together the worst free tools available. PlanBoard runs on AWS (real infrastructure), uses Mixpanel (real analytics), communicates via Slack (real team chat), designs in Figma (real design tool), and manages code on GitHub (real version control). The same tools that funded startups pay $3,000–$8,000/month for — at zero cost, because the founders spent one afternoon claiming startup credits before deploying a single service.

This article walks through every layer of PlanBoard''s stack: which tools, which free programs, how much each saves per month, and the exact claiming sequence that produces a $0/month software bill for a production SaaS company in 2026.

Quick Answer: A production-ready startup stack costing $0/month is achievable in 2026 by combining free startup credits (AWS Activate $5,000, Mixpanel $50,000, Chargebee $100,000) with permanently free tools (Linear, HubSpot CRM, Supabase free tier, Vercel free tier, Cloudflare free). The credits cover 6–18 months of infrastructure; the free tiers last indefinitely. Claim everything through SaaSOffers in a single afternoon.

Table of Contents

1. 1The PlanBoard Story — From $4,200/Month to $0/Month
2. 2The Complete $0/Month Stack — Every Tool Listed
3. 3Layer 1: Infrastructure ($0 via Credits)
4. 4Layer 2: Database and Backend ($0 via Free Tier)
5. 5Layer 3: Frontend and Hosting ($0 via Free Tier)
6. 6Layer 4: Development Tools ($0 via Free Tier)
7. 7Layer 5: Analytics ($0 via Credits)
8. 8Layer 6: Communication and Productivity ($0 via Credits + Free Tiers)
9. 9Layer 7: Customer Support and CRM ($0 via Free Tiers)
10. 10Layer 8: Billing ($0 via Credits)
11. 11Layer 9: Security and DNS ($0 via Free Tier)
12. 12The Claiming Sequence — Do It in This Order
13. 13What Happens When Credits Expire — The Transition Plan
14. 14The Costs That Are NOT Zero (Honest Accounting)
15. 15Frequently Asked Questions
16. 16The Bottom Line

The PlanBoard Story — From $4,200/Month to $0/Month

Jake and Sofia incorporated PlanBoard in May 2025. Jake is a backend engineer. Sofia handles product and sales. No other employees. No funding. $30,000 in personal savings as their entire runway.

Their first month, they did what most founders do: signed up for tools as they needed them. AWS on Jake''s personal credit card. Slack Pro because the free tier felt limiting. Figma Professional because Sofia wanted the full feature set. Mixpanel because they needed analytics. By month two, their combined SaaS bill was $4,200/month — projected $50,400/year — consuming 14% of their $30,000 runway every single month.

At that rate, their runway was 7 months. Not enough to reach product-market fit.

A friend forwarded them a link to SaaSOffers. Over the following weekend, they audited every tool, claimed every available startup credit, and rebuilt their stack on free programs. The result:

Before: $4,200/month in SaaS costs

After: $0/month in SaaS costs

Runway extended: From 7 months to 18+ months (savings reinvested into the business)

Here is exactly what they built.

The Complete $0/Month Stack — Every Tool Listed

The actual total savings depends on how the founders would have priced each tool without credits. PlanBoard''s pre-optimization bill was $4,200/month because they were also paying for tools they did not need (DataDog, Zoom Pro, Loom Business). The optimized stack costs $0/month for software plus $14/month for Google Workspace — the one cost they could not eliminate.

Layer 1: Infrastructure ($0 via Credits)

AWS Activate — $5,000 in Credits

PlanBoard''s production infrastructure runs entirely on AWS:

• ECS Fargate — 2 containerized services (API + background worker) running on Fargate. No EC2 instances to manage. Auto-scales to zero during low-traffic hours (3am–7am), reducing credit burn.
• RDS PostgreSQL — db.t3.micro for the primary database. $15/month at on-demand pricing. Sufficient for 500 concurrent users at PlanBoard''s query patterns.
• S3 — File uploads (construction blueprints, site photos). Currently 40GB stored. Costs approximately $1/month.
• CloudFront — CDN for static assets and API caching. Approximately $5/month at current traffic levels.
• SQS — Message queue for background jobs (report generation, email sending). Costs under $1/month at current volume.
• Lambda — Cron jobs for daily report emails and database maintenance. Costs under $1/month.

Total monthly AWS burn: approximately $520. The $5,000 Activate credit covers approximately 9.5 months at this rate. PlanBoard is currently in month 8 — they have approximately 6 weeks of credits remaining and are already executing their transition plan.

Why Fargate instead of EC2: Fargate bills per vCPU-second. During off-peak hours (60% of the day), PlanBoard''s services scale to minimum capacity — consuming 70% less compute than an always-on EC2 instance. This single architecture decision extended their AWS credits from 6.5 months to 9.5 months.

Claiming process: Applied through SaaSOffers for the Portfolio tier. Approved in 7 business days. Credits appeared in the Billing console the same day as the approval email.

Layer 2: Database and Backend ($0 via Free Tier)

Supabase — Free Tier

PlanBoard uses Supabase for authentication and real-time features — not as their primary database (that runs on RDS). Supabase''s free tier provides:

• Authentication — email/password and Google OAuth for PlanBoard''s user login. 50,000 monthly active users on the free tier — well beyond PlanBoard''s current 412 customers with approximately 1,800 total users.
• Real-time subscriptions — project board updates push to connected clients in real time via Supabase''s real-time channels. No WebSocket server to maintain.
• Edge Functions — lightweight serverless functions for webhook processing (Stripe payment events, email inbound).

Monthly cost: $0. Supabase''s free tier covers PlanBoard''s authentication, real-time, and edge function needs with significant headroom. The 500MB database limit is not a constraint because PlanBoard''s primary data lives on RDS.

Why split between RDS and Supabase: RDS handles the relational data that needs complex queries (project timelines, resource allocation, reporting). Supabase handles the real-time and auth layers that it was purpose-built for. Each tool does what it is best at. Combined cost: $15/month (RDS, covered by AWS credits) + $0 (Supabase free tier).

Layer 3: Frontend and Hosting ($0 via Free Tier)

Vercel — Free Hobby Plan

PlanBoard''s Next.js frontend deploys to Vercel''s free Hobby plan:

• Unlimited deployments from the main Git branch
• 100GB bandwidth/month — PlanBoard uses approximately 30GB
• Serverless functions — API routes that handle form submissions and lightweight server logic
• Edge functions — geolocation-based redirects and A/B test routing
• Automatic preview deployments for every pull request

Monthly cost: $0. Vercel''s free plan covers PlanBoard''s frontend hosting with 70% bandwidth headroom. The limitation: Hobby plan does not support team collaboration features (multiple users deploying). Since Jake is the only one deploying, this is not a constraint.

The Vercel + AWS split: The Next.js frontend (SSR pages, static assets, API routes for frontend logic) runs on Vercel. The backend API (business logic, database queries, background jobs) runs on AWS. Vercel handles what it is optimized for (frontend hosting). AWS handles what it is optimized for (backend compute). Neither incurs cost — Vercel is free, AWS is credit-funded.

Layer 4: Development Tools ($0 via Free Tier)

GitHub — Free Plan

Unlimited private repositories, unlimited collaborators, 2,000 CI/CD minutes/month via GitHub Actions, and 500MB package storage. PlanBoard''s two-person team uses approximately 400 CI/CD minutes per month for automated testing and deployment.

Monthly cost: $0. GitHub''s free plan covers all of PlanBoard''s code hosting and CI/CD needs.

Linear — Free Plan

Issue tracking, sprint planning, and product roadmap. Linear''s free plan supports unlimited issues and members for teams under 250. PlanBoard tracks approximately 200 active issues across their product and engineering boards.

Monthly cost: $0. Permanently free at their team size.

Sentry — Free Tier

Error monitoring and performance tracking. Sentry''s free tier captures 5,000 errors per month with full stack traces, release tracking, and alert notifications. PlanBoard averages 50–100 errors per week — well within the free limit.

Monthly cost: $0.

Layer 5: Analytics ($0 via Credits)

Mixpanel — $50,000 in Credits

Product analytics is not optional for a SaaS startup trying to find product-market fit. PlanBoard tracks 47 distinct events: project creation, task completion, team invitation, file upload, report generation, billing page visit, upgrade button click, and 40 others. Mixpanel''s funnel analysis, retention curves, and cohort segmentation answer the questions that determine PlanBoard''s survival:

• Where do users drop off during onboarding? (Step 3: inviting team members — 40% abandonment)
• Which features correlate with 30-day retention? (File upload within first week: 3.2x higher retention)
• What is the activation event? (Creating a second project within 7 days predicts 80% 90-day retention)

Monthly Mixpanel cost: approximately $340 at PlanBoard''s event volume. The $50,000 credit covers approximately 12 years at current usage. Analytics is effectively free for the lifetime of the company at this rate.

Claiming process: Applied for Mixpanel''s startup program through SaaSOffers. Approved in 11 days. $50,000 in credits activated immediately. No funding verification, no cap table request, no revenue requirement.

💡 Pro Tip: Mixpanel''s $50,000 credit is one of the most disproportionately generous startup programs available. At early-stage event volumes (under 10M events/month), the credits last 5–15 years. Claim this credit even if you are not sure which analytics tool to use — the cost of trying Mixpanel for free is zero, and the data you collect from day one becomes your most valuable product asset.

Layer 6: Communication and Productivity ($0 via Credits + Free Tiers)

Slack — 12 Months Free Pro via SaaSOffers

PlanBoard uses Slack for internal communication (2 people) and customer channels (shared Slack channels with their 5 largest customers). Slack Pro provides unlimited message history, unlimited integrations (GitHub notifications flow to #deployments, Sentry alerts flow to #errors), and guest access for customer channels.

Monthly cost: $0 for 12 months. After credits expire, they will evaluate whether to stay on Pro ($17.50/month for 2 users) or downgrade to free.

Claimed via: SaaSOffers Slack deal

Notion — 6 Months Free Plus via SaaSOffers

Company wiki, product specs, meeting notes, and customer research documentation. Notion Plus provides unlimited pages, databases, and file uploads for the team.

Monthly cost: $0 for 6 months. After credits expire, they switched to Notion''s free plan — which covers most of their needs as a 2-person team. The Plus features they miss (unlimited file uploads, advanced permissions) are not critical at their current size.

Claimed via: SaaSOffers Notion deal

Figma — 6 Months Free Professional via SaaSOffers

Sofia uses Figma for all UI design, prototyping, and design system maintenance. Figma Professional provides unlimited files, shared team libraries, and branching.

Monthly cost: $0 for 6 months. After credits expired, Sofia downgraded to Figma''s free Starter plan (3 Figma files). She consolidated her design system into 2 files and works within the free limit. The constraint is real but manageable for a single designer.

Claimed via: SaaSOffers Figma deal

Layer 7: Customer Support and CRM ($0 via Free Tiers)

HubSpot CRM — Free Forever

PlanBoard tracks every customer interaction — sales calls, support emails, feature requests, renewal conversations — in HubSpot''s free CRM. 412 customer records, 3 deal pipelines (new leads, active trials, renewals), and email tracking for every outbound message.

Monthly cost: $0. HubSpot''s free CRM is permanently free with unlimited contacts. PlanBoard has been on the free plan for 11 months with no plan to upgrade — the free features cover everything a 2-person sales operation needs.

Claimed via: SaaSOffers HubSpot deal

Customer Support — Built-In + Email

PlanBoard does not use a dedicated support tool. With 412 customers, support volume is approximately 15–20 emails per week — handled through a shared support@planboard.io inbox in Google Workspace. Jake and Sofia split the queue. Response time: under 4 hours during business hours.

Monthly cost: $0 (beyond the Google Workspace cost). They plan to add Intercom ($1,000 in credits via SaaSOffers Premium) or Zendesk (6 months free) when support volume exceeds 50 emails per week.

Layer 8: Billing ($0 via Credits)

Chargebee — $100,000 in Credits

PlanBoard''s subscription billing runs on Chargebee: plan management, recurring charges, invoice generation, dunning (failed payment recovery), and revenue analytics. At $14,800 MRR across 412 customers, Chargebee processes approximately $15,000 in monthly recurring transactions.

Monthly Chargebee cost: approximately $300 based on transaction volume. The $100,000 credit covers approximately 27 years at current usage. Like Mixpanel, Chargebee''s startup credit is disproportionately generous at early-stage volumes.

Claimed via: SaaSOffers Chargebee deal (free tier, no Premium required)

Stripe — Pay Per Transaction

Stripe charges 2.9% + $0.30 per successful charge. This is a variable cost, not a SaaS subscription — PlanBoard pays Stripe fees only when they earn revenue. At $14,800 MRR, Stripe fees are approximately $460/month. This is not included in the "$0/month stack" because it scales with revenue, not with infrastructure.

Layer 9: Security and DNS ($0 via Free Tier)

Cloudflare — Free Plan

DNS management, CDN, DDoS protection, and SSL for planboard.io. Cloudflare''s free plan covers:

• DNS with fast global propagation
• CDN caching for static assets (reduces Vercel bandwidth consumption)
• DDoS protection at the network edge
• Free SSL certificate auto-renewal
• Basic Web Application Firewall rules

Monthly cost: $0. Cloudflare''s free plan is sufficient for virtually every startup''s security and DNS needs in the first 2 years.

The Claiming Sequence — Do It in This Order

PlanBoard claimed their entire stack in a single weekend. Here is the optimized order — each step builds on the previous one.

Saturday Morning (2 Hours)

1. 1Create a SaaSOffers account — 2 minutes. This unlocks all deal links.

1. 1Claim free-tier tools that need no application — 30 minutes total:

- GitHub → create account, create first repository

- Linear → create workspace, invite co-founder

- HubSpot CRM → create account, import existing contacts

- Vercel → connect GitHub, deploy first project

- Supabase → create project, configure auth

- Cloudflare → add domain, configure DNS

- Sentry → create project, install SDK

1. 1Submit credit applications — 45 minutes total (batch all at once):

- AWS Activate → company details + product description

- Mixpanel → startup program application

- Chargebee → startup program application

1. 1Claim time-limited free plans — 15 minutes:

- Slack → startup program application (12 months free)

- Notion → startup plan activation (6 months free)

- Figma → startup plan activation (6 months free)

Saturday Afternoon (1 Hour)

1. 1Set up billing alerts — 15 minutes:

- Create a credit tracker spreadsheet (tool, credit amount, activation date, expiration date)

- Set calendar reminders at 60 and 14 days before each credit expiration

1. 1Configure integrations — 45 minutes:

- Connect GitHub to Slack (#deployments channel)

- Connect Sentry to Slack (#errors channel)

- Install Mixpanel SDK in your application

- Connect Stripe to Chargebee

- Install Supabase auth in your application

Total time: 3 hours. Total monthly software cost after this weekend: $0 (plus $14 for Google Workspace).

The Following 1–3 Weeks

Credit applications (AWS, Mixpanel, Chargebee) process in 1–3 weeks. During this period, use free tiers for infrastructure:

• Supabase free tier handles database + auth
• Vercel free tier handles hosting
• Deploy to AWS only after Activate credits are confirmed

⚠️ Watch Out: Do not deploy production workloads on AWS before your Activate credits are confirmed. The 1–3 week approval period is the window where deploying early costs real money. Use Supabase + Vercel free tiers as your production environment until AWS credits arrive — then migrate compute-heavy workloads to AWS.

What Happens When Credits Expire — The Transition Plan

A $0/month stack is not permanent. Credits expire. Here is PlanBoard''s plan for each expiring credit:

Month 9–10: AWS Credits Expire

PlanBoard''s $5,000 in AWS credits run out approximately 9.5 months after activation. Their transition plan:

• Month 7: Right-size all instances. The RDS instance drops from db.t3.small to db.t3.micro (sufficient for current load). ECS task definitions reduce memory allocation to match actual usage. Projected monthly AWS cost drops from $520 to $380.
• Month 8: Purchase a 1-year Reserved Instance for the RDS database using remaining credits ($780 upfront = 12 months at $65/month instead of $95/month on-demand). This converts expiring credits into 12 months of discounted compute.
• Month 9: AWS becomes a paid expense at approximately $300/month post-optimization.

Month 12: Slack Credits Expire

Options: downgrade to Slack free (lose message history beyond 90 days) or pay $17.50/month for Pro. PlanBoard plans to stay on Pro — the customer shared channels require it.

Chargebee and Mixpanel Credits: Effectively Infinite

At PlanBoard''s usage levels, both credits last 10+ years. No transition planning needed.

The Post-Credit Monthly Bill

From $4,200/month to $0/month (during credits) to $331.50/month (post-credits). That is a 92% permanent reduction from the original unoptimized stack — even after credits expire. The $0/month phase bought PlanBoard 11 months of runway. The $331.50/month phase is sustainable indefinitely at their current revenue ($14,800 MRR).

🎯 Key Takeaway: The $0/month phase is temporary — credits expire. But the optimization habits formed during that phase (right-sizing, using free tiers, choosing serverless) produce permanent cost reductions. PlanBoard will never go back to $4,200/month because the architecture decisions made during the $0 phase are inherently cheaper than the original unoptimized stack.

The Costs That Are NOT Zero (Honest Accounting)

A $0/month software stack has some costs that this headline intentionally excludes. Here is the honest accounting:

Google Workspace — $14/Month

Company email (jake@planboard.io, sofia@planboard.io) requires Google Workspace at $7/user/month. There is no free alternative that provides professional email on a custom domain with equivalent reliability. This is the one SaaS cost PlanBoard pays.

Stripe Fees — ~$460/Month (Variable)

Stripe charges 2.9% + $0.30 per successful transaction. This is a revenue cost, not an infrastructure cost — PlanBoard only pays Stripe when customers pay PlanBoard. At $14,800 MRR, Stripe fees are approximately $460/month. Excluded from the "$0/month stack" calculation because it scales with revenue, not with the software stack.

Domain Registration — $12/Year

planboard.io domain registration. Negligible but not zero.

Founder Time

The 3 hours spent claiming credits and the monthly 15-minute credit review represent founder time — the most expensive resource at any startup. At a hypothetical $100/hour founder rate, the initial claiming session cost $300 in time. The monthly reviews cost $25/month. Against $40,000+ in annual savings, the ROI is approximately 100x.

What the "$0/Month" Claim Actually Means

$0/month for SaaS tools that would otherwise cost $1,500–$4,200/month. Not $0 for everything — Google Workspace, Stripe fees, and the domain are real costs. The total actual monthly outflow (excluding Stripe''s revenue-proportional fees) is $14/month. The headline "$0/month" refers specifically to the software stack — infrastructure, analytics, billing, productivity, CRM, design, and development tools.

Frequently Asked Questions

Can any startup actually run at $0/month for software?

Yes — with the right combination of startup credits and free-tier tools. The key is claiming credits before signing up for paid plans. AWS Activate ($5,000+), Mixpanel ($50,000), and Chargebee ($100,000) cover the three most expensive categories (infrastructure, analytics, billing) for 6–24 months. Free tiers cover productivity (Linear, HubSpot), hosting (Vercel), database (Supabase), and security (Cloudflare). The one cost most startups cannot eliminate is professional email ($7–$14/month).

How long does a $0/month stack last before credits expire?

The shortest-duration credits are typically Notion (6 months) and Figma (6 months). AWS Activate lasts 12 months. Slack lasts 12 months. Mixpanel and Chargebee credits last effectively forever at early-stage volumes. The $0/month phase typically lasts 6–12 months before the first credits expire and some tools transition to paid billing.

Do I need to be a funded startup to build a free stack?

No. Every tool and credit program in PlanBoard''s stack is available to bootstrapped founders. AWS Activate, Mixpanel, Chargebee, Notion, Slack, and Figma all accept bootstrapped companies. See our full guide: Startup Deals Without VC Funding.

What is the most important credit to claim first?

AWS Activate — because cloud infrastructure is typically the largest software expense and the credits have a 12-month expiration. Claim AWS first so the credit clock starts when you are ready to deploy infrastructure. Claim free-tier tools (Linear, HubSpot, Supabase, Vercel) simultaneously since they do not expire.

Can I build a $0/month stack without using AWS?

Yes. Replace AWS with Google Cloud (up to $100,000 credits via SaaSOffers) or Scaleway (€25,000 via SaaSOffers). Or run entirely on free tiers: Supabase (database + auth) + Vercel (hosting + serverless) + Cloudflare (CDN + DNS) covers a production web application at $0/month without any cloud credits. Credits become necessary when you outgrow free tier limits.

What are the limitations of a $0/month stack?

Three main constraints: (1) free tier limits — Supabase caps at 500MB database, Vercel caps at 100GB bandwidth, Sentry caps at 5K errors/month, (2) credit expiration — the $0/month phase is temporary for credit-funded tools, (3) missing enterprise features — team collaboration, advanced permissions, and priority support require paid plans. For a 1–5 person startup serving under 1,000 customers, these constraints are manageable.

How much time does it take to set up a $0/month stack?

Approximately 3 hours for the initial setup: 30 minutes for free-tier tools, 45 minutes for credit applications, 15 minutes for billing alerts, and 45 minutes for integrations. Credit applications take 1–3 weeks to process. Ongoing maintenance (credit balance reviews) takes 15 minutes per month. Total first-year time investment: approximately 6 hours.

What happens to my data if I stop paying after credits expire?

Cloud providers (AWS, Google Cloud) do not delete your data when credits expire — but they do charge for storage. Supabase, Vercel, and other free-tier tools retain your data as long as your account is active. Slack retains all messages but restricts access to history beyond 90 days on the free plan. No major platform deletes data immediately at credit expiry — you have time to export or transition.

Is a $0/month stack reliable enough for production?

Yes. AWS Activate credits run on the same infrastructure as Netflix and Airbnb. Vercel''s free tier uses the same CDN as their enterprise tier. Supabase''s free tier runs on the same PostgreSQL clusters as their paid tier. The "free" designation refers to billing — not to service quality, uptime, or reliability.

Where do I start building a $0/month stack?

Start at SaaSOffers. Create a free account, then follow the claiming sequence in this article: free-tier tools first (30 minutes), credit applications second (45 minutes), billing alerts third (15 minutes). The entire process takes a single morning. Your full startup tech stack can be running at $0/month by the end of the weekend.

The Bottom Line

A $0/month startup stack is not a compromise. PlanBoard runs the same tools — AWS, Mixpanel, Chargebee, Slack, Figma, GitHub — that funded startups pay $3,000–$8,000/month for. The only difference: PlanBoard spent 3 hours claiming startup credits before deploying the first service.

The math is not nuanced. Three hours of claiming credits saves $15,000–$50,000 in the first year. That is $5,000–$16,000 per hour of ROI — the single highest-return activity available to any founder at any stage.

Build your $0/month stack this weekend. Start at SaaSOffers, follow the claiming sequence above, and deploy production on Monday using infrastructure that costs you nothing.

Start saving on your startup stack for free at SaaSOffers →

Written by the SaaSOffers Team — We''ve helped 2,000+ startup founders unlock $50,000+ in SaaS credits and discounts. Every guide we publish is based on real data from our platform and direct feedback from founders.