What if i told you that for less than the price of coffee, i build a fully functional tech product “a dynamic link service”.
For those who want to know more on dynamic links please go through your search engine you will find tons of references.
The concept was simple yet ambitious: a service that creates intelligent deep links that work across all platforms and handle edge cases automatically with a cross platform support like android, ios and pc.
In a world where tech products often come with hefty price tags, I set out to prove that innovation doesn’t have to break the bank. My goal? Build a functional tech product for just $2.
The challenge was on.
What is Dynamic link
A dynamic link is a replacement link, similar to a URL shorter for another link. But it behaves differently based on the platform it is opened on. The behavior can be programmed by you.
With Dynamic Links, your users get the best available experience for the platform they open your link on. If a user opens a Dynamic Link on iOS or Android, they can be taken directly to the linked content in your native app. If a user opens the same Dynamic Link in a desktop browser, they can be taken to the equivalent content on your website.
In addition, Dynamic Links work across app installs: if a user opens a Dynamic Link on iOS or Android and doesn't have your app installed, the user can be prompted to install it; then, after installation, your app starts and can access the link [source].
Challenges
- Cheapest Domain
- Free/Cheapest Tier DNS management system
- Choosing the tech stacks
- Application Architecture
- Free/Cheapest Hosting
Finding the cheapest domain
I wasn’t about to blow my budget on a fancy “.com” domain. Instead, I set out on a mission to find the cheapest yet reasonable domain name across various providers like GoDaddy and Namecheap. The challenge? It had to be both affordable and practical.
After extensive research, I found dynamc.link on Spaceship for just $2—a perfect fit for my budget!
The Payment Struggle
Reserving the domain was easy, but making the payment? Not so much. My biggest hurdle was that Nepali bank-issued dollar cards weren’t recognized by international payment gateways. I reached out to friends who had dollar cards, but every attempt failed.
In the end, I turned to a friend in Australia, who kindly made the payment on my behalf. And that’s how I finally secured dynamc.link—the foundation of my tech product, built on just $2!
Cheapest DNS Manager
DNS might sound boring—until you realize it’s the backbone of your app. I wasn’t about to spend extra, so I went with Cloudflare’s free tier. It’s fast, reliable, and does the job without sneaky upsells.
The best part? It takes care of SSL for all my subdomains effortlessly. A huge shoutout to Cloudflare for making this easy—especially since it played a key role in my hosting trick later.
Cost: $0
Choosing the Tech Stacks
When building a product on a tight budget, choosing the right tech stack is crucial. I needed something scalable, widely used, and backed by a strong community and should be free—so I went with:
- Frontend: React with Material Design – A powerful combination for creating modern, responsive UIs with minimal effort.
- Backend: Django – A battle-tested framework that provides rapid development, built-in security, and a structured approach.
- Database: PostgreSQL – A highly scalable and reliable database, perfect for handling growing data needs.
- Containerization: Docker – Ensures a smooth deployment process, making the app easy to scale and manage across different environments.
These technologies weren’t just picked at random; they are popular, well-documented, and widely supported—making development smoother while ensuring long-term scalability.
Cost: $0 (Thanks to open-source!) 🚀
Application Architecture
To ensure scalability and maintainability, I adopted a microservices architecture, splitting the backend into two independent services:
- Dynamic Link Resolver – This service is responsible for resolving shortened links and redirecting users to the appropriate destination. It ensures fast and efficient link resolution.
- API Service – This handles all business logic, user requests, and interactions with the database, ensuring smooth communication between the frontend and backend.
Both services are built using Django, containerized with Docker, and communicate seamlessly with PostgreSQL as the central database. This separation allows for better scalability, fault isolation, and easier updates.
On the frontend, React with Material Design ensures a sleek and responsive user experience, while Cloudflare provides DNS management and free SSL to secure all requests.
This architecture ensures that each component can scale independently, making it efficient and future-proof. 🚀
Hosting
Hosting is often the biggest challenge when building a product on a budget. Popular cloud platforms like AWS, GCP, and Azure offer powerful infrastructure, but their pricing can quickly become expensive—even for small-scale projects.
Home Server with Cloudflare Zero Trust
To cut costs, I found a creative solution: Cloudflare Zero Trust. Instead of paying for traditional hosting, I used it to tunnel TCP requests to my old PC, which had an Intel i3 processor and 4GB RAM—a machine that had been collecting dust.
I installed Ubuntu Server OS and turned it into a home server, where I hosted:
- The web frontend (React)
- The backend API (Django)
- The PostgreSQL database
This setup worked well, but due to the limited resources of my old PC, I couldn't accommodate one critical service—the Dynamic Link Resolver.
Finding a Free VPS for the Link Resolver
I started looking for free-tier VPS providers and discovered that AWS offers a 12-month free EC2 instance for new users. While it's minimal, it was perfect for handling the Dynamic Link Resolver, which required low resources but needed to be accessible with low latency.
By strategically splitting services between my home lab and a free AWS instance, I managed to get hosting at zero cost—proving that with the right tools, you don’t need deep pockets to launch a tech product! 🚀
The Finish Line
Building a tech product with just $2 seemed impossible at first, but with the right strategy, open-source tools, and creative problem-solving, this made it happen.
From finding the cheapest domain to setting up free hosting, I carefully picked every component to ensure scalability, reliability, and cost-efficiency. With React, Django, PostgreSQL, Docker, and Cloudflare Zero Trust, I built a fully functional system while keeping costs near zero.
This journey proved that budget constraints shouldn’t stop innovation. With resourcefulness and the right tech stack, anyone can launch their own product—even with just a couple of dollars! 🚀
This is just the beginning. Now, it’s time to scale and take it to the next level!
