Indie Hacker self-host stack
5 open-source picks · replaces 5 SaaS · self-host on your own VPS
Persona. Solo founder shipping a SaaS side-project who wants integrations, analytics, email, and deploy on one cheap VPS — not five SaaS subscriptions.
Why these together
The indie hacker's stack is the one where you keep monthly burn under your day-job's coffee budget while still shipping weekly. n8n is the glue — webhook from Stripe to enrich and tag, fan out to Plausible (read funnel), Listmonk (drop into onboarding sequence), and Cal.com (auto-book a 'thanks for upgrading' slot). Coolify is the host: git-push deploy onto a single $10 VPS, and the four apps above plus your actual product all coexist on one box until you hit ~5k MAU. Why these together: every tool here exposes a webhook in and a REST endpoint out, so n8n becomes the integration spine and you don't pay Zapier $30/mo to connect five things you already self-host.
The 5 picks
| Pick | Replaces | Cost / setup | Health |
|---|---|---|---|
| n8n-io/n8n · Sustainable Use License | Zapier Workflow automation / iPaaS | $5/mo+ easy · 10min docker-compose | alive |
| plausible/analytics · AGPL-3.0 | Google Analytics Web analytics | $5/mo+ easy · 10min docker-compose | alive |
| knadh/listmonk · AGPL-3.0 | Mailchimp Email marketing / newsletters | $5/mo+ easy · 10min docker-compose | alive |
| calcom/cal.com · AGPL-3.0 | Calendly Scheduling / booking links | $5/mo+ easy · 20min docker-compose | alive |
| coollabsio/coolify · Apache-2.0 | Heroku App platform / git-push deploy | $10/mo+ easy · 10min (single-line bash installer) | alive |
Other stacks
- Remote team self-host stack · 5 picks
- Customer support team self-host stack · 4 picks
- Dev platform self-host stack · 5 picks
- Observability on $5 self-host stack · 5 picks
- Marketing team self-host stack · 5 picks
- Product team self-host stack · 5 picks
- AI builder self-host stack · 4 picks
- Privacy-first self-host stack · 5 picks