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.
Run this stack
Two files, one command. Pinned image tags, named volumes, env vars in
.env.example. Read the compose comments to see which picks
are inlined vs which have heavier official composes linked.
curl -O https://code-rho-dun.vercel.app/stack/indie-hacker/compose.yml
curl -O https://code-rho-dun.vercel.app/stack/indie-hacker/.env.example && mv .env.example .env
docker compose up -d
Raw files:
compose.yml
·
.env.example
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 platform that wraps the rest: git-push deploy onto a single $10 VPS via its own installer (`curl -fsSL https://cdn.coollabs.io/coolify/install.sh | bash`), then the four apps above plus your actual product 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 compose.yml on this page ships n8n + Listmonk inline; Plausible (postgres + clickhouse) and Cal.com (long env) have their own official composes linked from inside the file.
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 |
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