Fixed-scope add-on · B2B · monthly

Studio Staging

A locked preview / staging URL on our stack — Cloudflare Tunnel, IP or Access control, keep-alive. For founders who need something live for demos and QA without learning servers or hiring ops. Not a cheap VPS. Not a production SLA.

Tab through the offer — full text stays on the page for search engines.

What you get

Managed preview hosting — same tunnel pattern we run for our own products.

Hostname + tunnel

HTTPS preview URL (your subdomain or ours). Outbound Cloudflare Tunnel — no open inbound ports on the host.

Access lock

IP allowlist and/or Cloudflare Access so strangers can’t browse the staging build. You send the IPs (or emails) we should allow.

Keep-alive + eyes on it

Process stays up with restart on failure. We notice if the preview dies; you get a human reply — not a €5 ticket queue.

How this compares

Same job on paper (“a URL that stays up”). Side-by-side for a small staging / demo app in a calm month.

Cheap VPS

€5–20/mo

Compute only · + your time

Setup: you (hours unpaid)
Fixes: you
Access lock: DIY
Eyes on it: none unless you add it

This offer

Studio Staging

€59/mo

+ €199 setup once

Setup: ~1.5–3 h on our stack
Fixes: us (preview stack)
Access lock: IP / Access
Eyes on it: keep-alive + human

AWS + fixer

€300–700+/mo

All-in · setup months higher

Setup: 8–20+ h once (their AWS)
Fixes: hired human
Access lock: IAM / SG / etc.
Eyes on it: alerts + that human

Calm-month bill (illustrative)

Line	Cheap VPS	Studio Staging	AWS + fixer
Host / cloud	€5–20	in the €59	€20–80
Human who can fix deploys	€0 cash (your hours)	in the €59	€200–600 (~2–6 h)
Typical monthly total	€5–20 + time	€59	€300–700+
First-month setup (extra)	your time	+ €199 (~1.5–3 h)	+ 8–20 h labour

€199 is not 8–20 hours of AWS. Staging setup is wiring a preview onto a stack we already run (tunnel, hostname, Access/IP, keep-alive) — typically ~1.5–3 h for a known app shape. The 8–20 h column is what standing up their AWS account from scratch usually costs. Freelance labour assumed ~€80–100/h EU.

When to pick which

VPS if you like servers. Staging if you need “show this build to five people safely” without an ops hire. AWS + fixer when revenue or compliance needs real cloud.

Who it’s for

Good fit and hard boundaries — so the monthly fee stays honest.

Good fit

Founder / small team who need a demo or QA URL, not a full ops hire
A standard stack (below) — one process, loopback bind, health URL
Low traffic staging — investors, teammates, one client review circle
You’re willing to share allowlisted IPs or Access emails

Stacks we run on the standard SKU (~95% of web apps)

Python — Flask / Django / FastAPI (gunicorn or your run.sh)
Static — HTML/CSS/JS folder or static export
Node — Express / Nest / Next standalone · npm start on one port
PHP — one-port PHP (Laravel/WordPress-shaped preview)
Generic one-process — Rails, Go, .NET minimal, etc., if you ship a working run.sh + health URL

Same envelope for all of them: tunnel · Access/IP · keep-alive. Other app runtimes are negotiable but bespoke — not the €199 default.

Databases, queues, KV — included vs extras

Included: SQLite / files on disk · or your own remote DB/Redis URL (BYO — we don’t operate it)
Extras (we run one local companion): Redis · Postgres · Mongo · extra worker process — see pricing
Bespoke: Compose/k8s data graphs, Kafka/Rabbit clusters, Elasticsearch, managed RDS/Atlas we must run, replicas

Out of scope (standard SKU)

Production / revenue-critical hosting with enterprise SLA
“Cheaper than DigitalOcean” price shopping for raw VMs
Unbounded traffic, scrapers, or public marketing on the staging host
24/7 on-call or midday “drop everything” support — keep-alive covers restarts; humans reply evenings
Bespoke stacks or data planes without a clear start + health command

You provide

What to host (repo / build artifact) and how it starts
Who may access it (IPs and/or emails)
Preferred hostname if you have a domain we can CNAME

Pricing

Setup once · monthly while the preview stays up. Monitor sits above this for shipped products.

V1 · recommended

Studio Staging

€59/mo

+ €199 setup (first wire-up)

Tunnel + HTTPS hostname
IP allowlist or Cloudflare Access
Keep-alive / restart · automated first line; human follows up evenings
1 deploy assist / month included
Support: async evenings (EU) — not midday interrupt, not overnight pager
Month-to-month after setup · 30-day notice to cancel

When you need more

Staging Care

€99/mo

Same setup fee · more hands-on

Everything in Studio Staging
Up to 4 deploys / month
Priority evening slot before demos (give ≥24h notice)
Still staging — not production Monitor · still no 24/7 pager

Support expectations (honest)

Studio Staging is run alongside other work. Human replies and fixes happen in EU evenings (Bucharest), async — not “drop everything at 11:00,” not nights/weekends on-call. Keep-alive restarts the process when it dies; we review alerts and tickets when we’re at the desk.

Need a guaranteed daytime engineer on Slack? That’s a different retainer (or your own hire) — not this SKU.

Related & data extras

Item	From
Extra deploy beyond plan	€49
Extra hostname on same app	€29/mo
Redis companion (KV / light queue)	+€49 setup · +€29/mo
Postgres companion	+€99 setup · +€39/mo
MongoDB companion	+€99 setup · +€39/mo
Worker process (Celery / Sidekiq / Bull …)	+€49 setup · +€29/mo
Monitor (shipped product smokes)	€129/mo
Care (ops tickets)	€449/mo

SQLite/files and BYO remote DB URLs are included (we don’t operate BYO). Companions are single-instance, loopback, staging-grade — not HA. We invoice B2B from Bucharest (SRL). Domain registrar and Cloudflare account costs stay on your cards when you bring your own domain. Prices exclude VAT where applicable (we are not VAT-registered at present).

FAQ

Is this cheaper than a VPS?

No — and it shouldn’t be. A VPS is raw compute. Studio Staging is managed preview + access lock + someone who knows the stack. If you have an engineer who likes servers, use a VPS.

What stacks do you support?

Standard SKU: Python (Flask/Django/FastAPI), static sites, Node (npm start on one port), PHP (one-port preview), and other one-process apps with a working run.sh + health URL. Bespoke / negotiable: multi-container Compose, Kubernetes, GPU/ML, client AWS — scoped quote or decline, not the €199 default.

Do you include Postgres, Redis, Mongo, queues?

Included: SQLite/files, or your own remote DB/Redis URL (BYO — we don’t run it). Extras: we can run a single local Redis, Postgres, Mongo, or worker process (+ setup / + monthly — see pricing). Staging-grade only, not HA. Bespoke: Kafka, Rabbit clusters, Elasticsearch, managed RDS/Atlas we must operate, full Compose graphs.

Is €199 really 8–20 hours of work?

No. That 8–20 h figure is for standing up someone’s AWS account from scratch. Staging setup is ~1.5–3 h on infrastructure we already operate — hostname, tunnel, Access/IP, keep-alive, first deploy. Odd stacks get scoped or declined before we start.

How is this different from AWS + someone monitoring it?

AWS + monitoring is real cloud plus a human who can fix breakage. Calm-month all-in commonly €300–700+ (AWS ~€20–80 + ~2–6 h labour at freelance rates). Setup months add 8–20+ h. Studio Staging is a fixed preview SKU at €59/mo + €199 setup: hostname, tunnel, access lock, keep-alive — not multi-AZ, not your AWS account. If you already have AWS and a DevOps hire, you don’t need this. If you don’t want to open that account for a demo URL, you do.

When do you reply if staging is down?

Evenings (EU / Bucharest), async — not a daytime interrupt and not overnight pager. Keep-alive restarts the process automatically when it can; we triage alerts and email when we’re at the desk. Staging Care adds a priority evening slot before a demo if you give ≥24h notice. Still no 24/7 SLA.

Can this be my production site?

Not under this SKU. Staging is for demos and QA. Production revenue sites need a clearer SLA — talk to us about Monitor / Care or a proper host after the sprint.

How do you lock access?

Cloudflare IP allowlist and/or Access (email OTP). Home IPs change — Access is often easier for remote founders than chasing IP updates.

Where does it run?

On our managed mini / tunnel stack (same pattern as our own products). Capacity is limited; we decline when the box is full.

Do you need my passwords?

For DNS we prefer a scoped Cloudflare invite (like email setup). App secrets stay in your env files — we don’t need your personal Google password.

How does this relate to Monitor?

Staging = preview URL while you build. Monitor (€129/mo) = health checks after something has shipped. Different jobs.

Request Studio Staging

Email what you’re hosting, roughly when you need the URL, and whether access should be IP allowlist or Cloudflare Access. We’ll confirm fit and send a setup invoice.

Email [email protected]

Also launching? Studio Visibility · Professional email · Full sprint? AEE++ packages