I'm cheap. I use Arch Linux, Neovim, and open-source everything. But some tools are worth paying for. Here's my list.

Paid (worth every đồng)

1. DeepSeek API (~$10/month)

My AI coding agent runs on DeepSeek v4 Pro. Cheaper than GitHub Copilot ($10 vs $19/month). Better for Vietnamese context. I use it through Hermes Agent to build boilerplates, write tests, and debug.

DeepSeek Platform — $0.14/M input tokens

2. Railway (~$5/month)

Full-stack hosting that just works. Docker Compose one-click deploy. Built-in MongoDB + Redis. No YAML hell. No Kubernetes.

Railway — free $5 credit

3. Gumroad (free + 10% fee)

I sell my NestJS/Next.js starter kits here. Free to list. They take 10% only on sales. Built-in email marketing to past customers. PayPal + card payments handled automatically.

Gumroad — free to start

4. Namecheap (~$12/year)

Domains. .dev, .app, .com — pick whatever. I use .gumroad.com for now but will switch when there's more revenue.

Namecheap — domains from $1/year

Free (surprisingly good)

5. Hermes Agent (free, open-source)

AI agent that runs in my terminal. Builds projects, manages Obsidian, schedules cron jobs. It wrote 80% of my starter kits while I was AFK. Works with DeepSeek, OpenAI, Anthropic, local models.

Hermes Agent

6. Obsidian (free)

My second brain. PARA method. Everything I know about NestJS/Next.js/Go lives here. Free. Offline. No vendor lock-in.

Obsidian

7. Neovim (free)

0.12 "Stale Earth" with native LSP. No VS Code. No JetBrains. Instant startup. Full control.

Neovim

Not worth it (tried, cancelled)

Total monthly cost

DeepSeek API:  ~$10
Railway:        ~$5
Domain:         ~$1/month (annual)
Gumroad:        free until sale
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Total:         ~$16/month

$16/month to run a full dev setup with AI coding, hosting, and a storefront. Not bad.

Building a NestJS project? Save 7 hours of setup with my pre-configured starter kit.