The Cost of Vibe Coding: DIY SaaS is Double the Price With 10% Features
kylegawley · x · 2026-08-10
An indie developer shared a candid breakdown of the 'I will build it myself' trope using AI coding tools to create a social media scheduler. Instead of paying $150/year for an existing service, his ongoing costs for the DIY solution ballooned to $294/year.
This included expenses for an Apple developer license ($99), domain ($50), hosting ($85), and X API ($60). Ultimately, his vibe-coded solution cost double the commercial subscription while offering only 10% of the features, serving as a cautionary tale for indie developers.
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