Can you just use a Linode? It’s $5/month. I bought a Linode VM and set up a server and database on it.
Main drawback is efficiency, idk how fast a linode works once you have users. But once you have users if you can make money off them, you can migrate to AWS.
Been a very happy user of Linode for years. Didn't get lucky to have many users, but it worked perfectly for intensive backend jobs, never noticed any slowdown as opposed to DO.
I've heard a lot of good things about Linode over the years, they slipped my mind while thinking of the more manual options. I'll have to check them out!
Main drawback is efficiency, idk how fast a linode works once you have users. But once you have users if you can make money off them, you can migrate to AWS.