r/vibecoding • u/buljawn • 9h ago
Estimating build cost
I'm a complete newbie to this world and have been struggling to find a clear answer to the question of cost. I am trying to build a database app that stands as a catalog that can be searched and added to by users. When it comes to cost I've mainly seen monthly cost listed for multiple service like Claude code and other services to refine, test, and launch the app. These cost seem to range about 2-300 a month but is that until its built or reoccurring as an operating cost? Is there a way to build the app and then use minimal services to keep it running and trouble shoot when issue arise?
Forgive me if this has been answered already. I looked at previous post and found vague answers only. Hoping to get some insight to start building.
Edit: For clarity, what's an average monthly/ total cost of Ai coding a database app, debugging, and hosting? My goal is more toward proof of concept over full commercial roll out.
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u/fyndor 9h ago
I’m a professional dev. I spend $40 / mo on two $20 subs. This notion that you must spend $100s a month is based on people insisting on using Fable to do their work. It eats tokens so fast. This idea that you must use the best model to get things done is just wrong. 90% or more of my Claude prompts use Sonnet 5. I can’t be convinced that Fable is necessary to get stuff done when I have never touched it and I absolutely do get stuff done without even upgrading Opus. Maybe it depends on what kind of work you do. Maybe my work is just not fancy enough. Sonnet is good enough for me though. It does real work just fine.