🏗️ DevOps & Infrastructure

Fly.io's Free Ride Ends: One Dev's Leap to Zero-Cost On-Prem Kubernetes

Everything deploys flawlessly on localhost—until the internet bites. One developer's path from Fly.io's cheap thrills to a free on-premise Kubernetes cluster reveals the hidden costs of managed platforms.

theAIcatchup Apr 10, 2026 4 min read
Diagram of Kubernetes cluster migrating from Fly.io cloud to on-premise k3s servers

⚡ Key Takeaways

  • Fly.io excels for stateless dev but chokes on stateful services without operators. 𝕏
  • Managed Kubernetes like Linode's costs $46+/month; on-prem k3s drops to zero with borrowed hardware. 𝕏
  • Full control trumps convenience for solos—k3s enables enterprise features on hobby rigs. 𝕏
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theAIcatchup

Community-driven. Code-first.

#Fly.io #Kubernetes #ScyllaDB #ScyllaDB operator #container orchestration #k3s #on-premise #on-premise Kubernetes #stateful services

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Originally reported by Dev.to

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