Stedhold vs. setting it up on AWS yourself
What it takes to host a private app with sign-in on AWS yourself, and what Stedhold does for you instead.
What a DIY setup needs
- A container registry and a way to build images
- A container service (ECS, App Runner or similar) and a network for it
- A load balancer with a TLS certificate and DNS
- Sign-in: Cognito or another identity provider, wired into the load balancer or the app
- Scale to zero, which ECS does not do on its own, plus something to wake the app on the next request
- Monitoring of the bill
All of this is doable. It is a few days of work for someone who knows AWS, and ongoing upkeep.
What Stedhold gives you
Stedhold runs on that same kind of AWS setup and does all of it for you: import, build once, a private link, a sign-in gate, sleep after 15 minutes, and wake on the next visit.
When to do it yourself
- You need your own AWS account for compliance or billing.
- The app needs more than 512 MB, a database next to it, or private networking.
- You need a region other than US East (Ohio).