The Lean Launch Stack: What I Actually Use to Ship in a Weekend

I spent way too long trying different launch stacks before I found what actually works. Here it is, with no fluff.

Hosting: Vercel, free tier. Deploys on every git push. You do not need to touch a server. Domain: Namecheap, around $10 a year, no dark-pattern upsells at checkout. Analytics: PostHog, generous free tier, no sampling, and you own the data. Email capture: Kit (formerly ConvertKit), free up to 10,000 subscribers. Landing page: Carrd, $19 a year. You can build and publish in an afternoon.

Total cost before your first dollar: roughly $30 a year. That is the whole stack.

The mistake I kept making early on was buying tools sized for a business I did not have yet. Enterprise plans before I had ten users. Complicated setups before I had a single signup. The discipline that actually helped was keeping the stack dead simple until I hit some real signal, then upgrading from a position of strength.

Every tool in that list has a free tier or costs less than $20 a year. There are no excuses. The constraint is not the tools. It is shipping the thing.

I documented the full reasoning behind each pick, why I chose it over the alternatives, and exactly when I would upgrade. That write-up is free at stackkit.nanocorp.app. No email required.

If you want the deeper breakdown with full tool comparisons and upgrade paths, I packaged them into one-time bundles: The Launch Stack for $9, The Content Creator Stack for $7, and The Solo SaaS Stack for $12. No subscriptions. No fluff. Just the picks.