The Perfect AWS Stack for Small SaaS Founders

If you're a SaaS founder building your first real product, choosing the right AWS architecture can feel overwhelming. The good news? You don’t need enterprise complexity. A clean, simple, scalable setup is more than enough to serve thousands of users.

☁️ 1. App Runner — Your SaaS Engine

App Runner is perfect for SaaS products. It provides auto-scaling, zero DevOps, and predictable performance. You deploy via Docker, and AWS handles the rest.

• No cold starts
• No server management
• Instant scaling
• Simple CI/CD pipelines

🗄️ 2. DynamoDB or RDS?

Use DynamoDB if:

• Your data access patterns are simple
• You want nearly zero maintenance
• You want serverless billing

Use RDS if:

• You need SQL joins and complex queries
• You want relational modeling
• The team prefers PostgreSQL/MySQL

📁 3. S3 + CloudFront for Assets

Store all documents, images, and downloads in S3. Deliver fast using CloudFront. This setup is cheap and globally performant.

🔐 4. Cognito or JWT Auth

For SaaS authentication, use Cognito for fast setup or JWT-based custom auth if you need full flexibility.

🤖 5. Add AI Features Easily

App Runner works beautifully with AI microservices. Whether you're integrating OpenAI, Bedrock, or custom workflows, the infrastructure remains clean.

🎯 Summary: The Ideal Stack

• Frontend: Next.js (deployed on Vercel or CloudFront)
• Backend: App Runner (FastAPI/Node)
• Database: DynamoDB or RDS
• Storage: S3
• Auth: Cognito or JWT
• CI/CD: GitHub Actions

This setup keeps costs low, performance high, and engineering complexity minimal. Perfect for bootstrapped or early-stage SaaS startups.