Cost profiles
The free single-node profile is a first-class product feature, not a demo mode — the same binary, the same protocol engine, the same tests. Pick the profile that matches your volume and availability needs; you can migrate between them by changing configuration only.
| Profile | Infrastructure | Typical monthly infra cost |
|---|---|---|
| Single node | one container, SQLite + local disk | $0 beyond the VM/host you already have |
| Kubernetes, single replica | Helm chart, storage.kind=local, one PVC | $0 beyond cluster compute |
| Kubernetes, scale-out | Helm chart + in-cluster Postgres container | $0 beyond cluster compute |
| Kubernetes, managed DB | Helm chart + managed PostgreSQL | free tier (Neon/Supabase) → ~$15 for small managed instances |
| Azure serverless | Container Apps consumption plan, minReplicas=0, free-tier Postgres | ≈ $0 at idle; pay per request-second |
Guidance:
- Availability: single-replica profiles restart in seconds and the durable queue means nothing is lost — for most EDI volumes that is plenty. Choose scale-out when you need zero-downtime deploys or more than one node’s throughput.
- Async MDNs at scale-to-zero: keep one replica warm
(
minReplicas=1) if partners rely on asynchronous receipts, since queued deliveries only progress while an instance is running. - Free-tier databases (Neon, Supabase) are genuinely workable for low
volumes; TLS is honored via the connection string’s
sslmode. Move to a paid tier when your retention or throughput outgrows them — it is a connection-string change.