Skip to content

the decision

Do you actually need the complex cloud?

Most apps don't. If you're building an internal tool, a dashboard, a marketing site, or a launch, a read-heavy app, in one region, under roughly 15,000 live realtime connections, a real React app plus one lean PocketBase backend on a single Skena plan runs flat and cheap, and outscales what most teams ever reach. You reach for the complex cloud only when a specific limit forces it.

from $5/mo

Skena Shared, your app + its own backend, one flat plan

15,000

live connections on Skena Dedicated (load-tested)

10–100×

most apps read far more than they write, one writer is plenty

the rule

When to keep it simple, and when not to.

Skena is built for the left column, the vast majority of apps. The right column is where the heavy cloud genuinely earns its complexity. If you're there, use it.

→ When you DON'T need the complex cloud

  • It's an internal tool, dashboard, CRUD app, or marketing site

    These are read-heavy, and SQLite in WAL mode serves unlimited concurrent readers. Skena Dedicated is load-tested at 15,000 live connections with complete event delivery, most apps never come close.

  • You're launching and don't yet know if it will take off

    One flat Skena plan already absorbs a front-page spike, and you can size up later with no rewrite. Provisioning a cluster for traffic you might never get is paying up front for a problem you don't have.

  • You want to own and edit the code

    A lean stack is plain Vite + React + Tailwind plus a standard PocketBase/SQLite file, no proprietary layer and no platform team required to operate it. You can read, edit, and self-host every line.

  • Your write volume is modest

    Real apps read 10–100× more than they write, and a single SQLite writer still handles tens of thousands of record saves per minute, well past what most apps generate.

× When you DO

  • Sustained write throughput exceeds a single writer

    SQLite is single-writer. When writes, not reads, are the bottleneck, graduate the data layer to Postgres. A backend-neutral data client keeps the UI unchanged through that move.

  • You genuinely need more concurrency than one box delivers, today

    If you're already past a single box's connection ceiling, size up to a dedicated box or federate across boxes. Measure first, most apps never reach this point.

  • Traffic is spiky or near-zero between bursts

    Scale-to-zero serverless (e.g. Lambda at roughly $0.20 per million requests) genuinely wins when a box would otherwise sit idle most of the time.

  • You need multi-region active-active or heavy per-tenant compliance

    True multi-service orchestration, cross-node autoscaling, and strict per-tenant isolation are what Kubernetes and the managed cloud are actually for. If that's your requirement, use them.

faq

The questions behind the question.

01Do I need AWS for a small app?+

Usually not. A small app, an internal tool, a dashboard, a launch, runs comfortably as a real React app plus one lean PocketBase backend on a single flat Skena plan. AWS earns its complexity at multi-region, multi-service scale; for one read-heavy app it's mostly cost and operational overhead you don't need yet.

02Do I need Kubernetes to launch a small SaaS?+

No. A modular app on one box launches and scales vertically with far less to operate. Kubernetes is for orchestrating many services with cross-node autoscaling and a platform team, value that arrives later, if at all, for a single product.

03Is PocketBase production-ready?+

Yes, within its shape. Skena Dedicated is load-tested at 15,000 live connections with complete event delivery, and SQLite in WAL mode serves unlimited concurrent readers. Its one hard limit is the single SQLite writer, when sustained write throughput becomes the bottleneck, that's the signal to graduate the data layer to Postgres.

04What's the cheapest way to host a React app with a database?+

Static hosts (Vercel, Netlify, GitHub Pages) cover the frontend for free, but the moment you need auth, a database, or cron the picture fragments into separate paid services. A single Skena plan runs the React app and a full PocketBase backend together, frontend, database, auth, and realtime in one place, at a flat low price.

05When should I use Supabase or the complex cloud instead?+

When a specific limit forces it: sustained writes beyond a single SQLite writer (graduate to Postgres, Supabase is the natural landing spot), concurrency beyond one box right now, genuinely spiky/near-zero traffic where serverless scale-to-zero wins, or multi-region active-active and strict per-tenant compliance.

if the left column is you

Build it as real React. Publish it in one click.

Skena generates a real React app with your own coding agent, lets you drag-fix the design on a live canvas, and publishes it to its own lean backend on Skena Cloud, the stack the 99% actually need.

Download for MacWhat is Skena?

free · apple silicon mac, macOS 13.5+ · nothing else to install · v0.1.27

bring your own coding agent (Claude Code, Codex, OpenCode). publishing needs a Skena Cloud account.