[HN Gopher] Show HN: StaticBackend - A web and mobile back end w...
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Show HN: StaticBackend - A web and mobile back end without lock-in
Author : dstpierre
Score : 22 points
Date : 2021-01-14 11:43 UTC (11 hours ago)
(HTM) web link (staticbackend.com)
(TXT) w3m dump (staticbackend.com)
| ourcat wrote:
| Probably too many pricing options.
|
| And they could do with more explanation about what the options
| contain.
|
| And the last 'tab' of the pricing options reveals the $10k and
| upwards cost of 'unlocking'. Maybe be a bit more upfront about
| that.
| dstpierre wrote:
| thanks for the feedback:
|
| - pricing: yes, seems like a recurring comments, but I want to
| make the leap between tier friendly, like Digital Ocean droplet
| for instance.
|
| - the option to buy the source code is what makes this
| appealing compared to Firebase, where if you reach scale you
| have the option of paying 10k which is not huge if you're
| making 85k in MRR to get peace of mind and have full control.
| dstpierre wrote:
| They changed my title, it was: StaticBackend a web & mobile
| backend w/o lock-in
| dang wrote:
| Sorry, the software really did a number on that one. I've fixed
| it now. In the future, you can always correct such mistakes by
| clicking 'edit' after you post.
| shinycode wrote:
| Is it really far away from strapi.io ?
| dstpierre wrote:
| I did not knew strapi.io, but I don't think it's close no.
|
| My product is a database and websocket backend you can use from
| client-side, being web or mobile. It's a pieces of scalable
| infrastructure needed to build a SaaS or web application.
|
| I realize that it's not very clear at this moment what it does,
| even to me to be frank. It's the infrastructure I need to build
| SaaS that compliment a Netlify app.
| dstpierre wrote:
| Hi there,
|
| I'd like to request feedback on my product. I started building in
| last January with great momentum, but the pandemic made things a
| bit complicated.
|
| As someone that built a dozen of SaaS in the last decades, there
| were some aspects of the backend I was bored of rewriting. User
| management is probably the major one.
|
| I've tried Firebase and admit I found it interesting for 4-5
| days, but as a Go backend developer, it did not suit my
| need/taste.
|
| Why not try something just for me. At first, I called it
| "ezbackend" and built a dirty prototype in Node. I played with
| rewriting it in Go and started to like where it was headed. In
| January 2020, I thought that it might interest others, so I
| renamed the project, made it more rebust, and kept adding the
| minimal feature sets I personally wanted.
|
| I'm now near the v1 / official launch, and I'd like to get some
| thoughts. I know it's not for everyone. To be perfectly honest,
| I'm not 100% clear who might be interested, but I'm excited
| enough to build side projects on top of it, it's enough for me to
| build it.
|
| Any feedback is greatly appreciated.
| nicoburns wrote:
| It seems like a decent concept. I think the main problem is
| that you have two competitors (nhost and superbase) that are
| doing the same thing but better. In particular:
|
| 1. Their stacks are mostly open source, so you can truly self
| host with no cost at all if and when you need to.
|
| 2. They're building on top of Postgres so you get the full
| power of a SQL database. Plus they both have realtime solutions
| ready to go.
| dstpierre wrote:
| Yes, I discover nhost a couple of months ago when the founder
| replied on a post I made in IndieHackers. I was not aware of
| both before.
|
| My goal with StaticBackend is to go more in dept in features
| like sending emails, Stripe payments. Features that a SaaS /
| web app typically need in the backend.
|
| I'll not stop at Database and WebSocket. I'd like to go
| further based on demand. I'm building more a backend teamate
| for frontend developers.
|
| I recognize that my choice of using a Document database
| instead of an RDBMS can be argued. But one as to make
| choices.
|
| Thanks for your comment.
| slow_donkey wrote:
| Conversely, renewed competition may also be a good sign that
| there's a market for such products. You do need a place to
| differentiate, fortunately the surface area of the problem is
| fairly broad.
|
| As an example, look at low-code for inspiration to determine
| what features people need which aren't being filled by
| existing solutions. Hopefully that reduces the need to
| compete via feature checklist.
| deanebarker wrote:
| Would you call this a headless CMS? Headless infrastructure?
|
| If you had to put a genre/category on it, what would it be?
| dstpierre wrote:
| I still have difficulty knowing what it is.
|
| I'd called this: a SaaS backend API and infrastructure.
|
| It would be a great companion to a Netlify application. Since
| they have hosting and function as a service. I think it would
| be the best fit for the current state.
| rileytg wrote:
| How is there no lock-in?
| dstpierre wrote:
| 1. You can export your entire database (it's a stanrad Mongo
| database). 2. You could use the library and write your own
| backend API using the same routes and your application would
| not need any changes if you decide to stop using StaticBackend.
| 3. You have the option of purchasing the source code. From
| there you may do whatever you want and change direction and
| what not.
|
| I admit that the 2. needs efforts on your part to switch. But
| it's possible to stop using the tool and still have no rewrite
| on your frontend code at all.
| pbiggar wrote:
| Looks really cool, nice job!
| dstpierre wrote:
| thank you
| dvt wrote:
| A few takes:
|
| - Website is riddled with grammatical inconsistencies and errors.
| I can tell you're not a native English speaker, and you may want
| to revisit some of the copy.
|
| - As @ourcat mentioned, there are way too many pricing options,
| not to mention the tiny tabs at the top (which yield even _more_
| pricing options). It 's just confusing/overwhelming.
|
| - You really need to make a case here for why someone would
| choose you over Firebase. I'd personally never use you because
| Firebase is free while I'm building out the MVP (usually a side
| project). It always irks me when passion projects or pre-MVP
| "startups" are hemorrhaging money (even if it's just 10 bucks a
| month).
|
| - I don't think "vendor lock-in" is a pain point for these kinds
| of products. A pain point I _do_ know about is migrating to a
| more robust data layer if the project takes off (post-MVP phase).
| I don 't really see how this very real pain point is easier to
| mitigate on your SaaS rather than Firebase.
| dstpierre wrote:
| thanks for the feedback:
|
| - grammar: thanks, I'm not a native English that's correct,
| I'll try harder.
|
| - pricing: My thought is that offering only 3 tier would be way
| too big of a leap from tier to tier.
|
| - Firebase: I do have a fully disconected and local development
| server that helps during building phase. It's free, but I can
| see your point.
|
| - vendo lock-in: My main objective is exactly that, to have an
| easy way to self-host and even get the source code once a
| product reach scale. Something that not much BaaS offer.
| xupybd wrote:
| >grammar: thanks, I'm not a native English that's correct,
| I'll try harder.
|
| Why not just hire an editor or copy writer. Nothing wrong
| with focusing on your core goals and outsourcing some of the
| tasks you don't need to focus on right now.
| john_mack wrote:
| 'It always irks me when passion projects or pre-MVP
| "startups" are hemorrhaging money (even if it's just 10
| bucks a month)'
| dstpierre wrote:
| yes, absolutely
| pbiggar wrote:
| Disclaimer: I'm founder of DarkLang, a sorta competitor.
|
| While I personally agree that self-hosting is a nightmare, the
| biggest complaint we've heard about Dark has been related to
| vendor lock-in. I think this is a pretty good selling point for
| StaticBackend, for a few reasons: 1) what if you get too big
| for the hosting? 2) what if the company goes go out of
| business! 3) what if the company determines that hosting you is
| against the T&C (see the Parler thing this week, for example,
| although I completely agree with AWS' decision there).
|
| I don't think self-hosting is really a good idea if you can
| avoid it, but a lot of people are soothed by the idea that they
| could, if they really needed to.
| dstpierre wrote:
| thanks, this give me some confidence.
|
| I think differently regarding self-hosting though. By the
| fact that StaticBackend is a Go web server, it's a standalone
| Linux binary and can be hosted very easily on x64 Linux
| server.
|
| But I'll see when the first customer will choose that option.
| I'll be ready to help them deploy for sure.
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(page generated 2021-01-14 23:01 UTC)