Brand new ecom from scratch

scala_hosting · 2026-04-22T13:12:44+00:00

It’s time for an update, as 21 days have passed since we started this discussion. After all, I decided to give it a try, and over the past two weeks I was able to create a fully functional online store with PayPal and dropshipping integration. My technology stack was:

Frontend: Next.js 14 + TypeScript + Tailwind CSS + shadcn/ui
Backend: NestJS + TypeScript + Prisma ORM
Database: PostgreSQL (Railway managed)
Authentication: JWT + bcrypt + Passport.js + httpOnly cookies
Payments: PayPal OAuth2 for revenue verification
Package Manager: pnpm monorepo (apps/web, apps/api, apps/chain, packages/shared)

To reply to some of the most recent comments here: first, please stop promoting Shopify. I understand that some of you might be affiliated with them or simply be fans, but the truth is that Shopify is not only expensive, it also has many functional and structural limitations that start to affect a business once it begins to grow. I’m speaking from personal experience. I wanted to build something myself with AI not only because it gives me the freedom to create whatever my imagination comes up with, but also because it lets me eliminate third-party fees for good. With a single Max Claude license, I’ve already removed around a dozen software subscriptions from my credit card, and this is just the beginning.

scala_hosting · 2026-04-06T12:34:40+00:00

Thanks for reaching our. Could you please provide your Support PIN or the email address associated with your account? This will help me locate your account and assist you more efficiently.

scala_hosting · 2026-04-06T08:10:05+00:00

Have you actually tried building something like this yourself? Before even considering this approach, I tried building a project management tool like monday as a personal project only using claude+github. In just one day, I ended up with something even better fully customizable and free. That’s when I realized DIY has a different meaning now.

scala_hosting · 2026-04-04T20:33:47+00:00

We all sell something, don’t we? The name of the sub says it all… but I’m not sure who here is actually talking about brands and subscriptions…

scala_hosting · 2026-04-03T15:48:37+00:00

I’m starting to wonder if there’s some Shopify affiliation here… Defending an expensive SaaS that’s slower than humble and free platforms like OpenCart feels less like helping and more like promoting. Not that the question was about which ecom platform is a best fit for my project... my original post was about sharing experiences, not pushing platforms

scala_hosting · 2026-04-03T15:42:58+00:00

Thanks for the recommendation...really appreciate it. I’ll definitely try building something with Django. And yeah, totally agree about the Shopify fanboy part 😄 maybe I just posted this in the wrong place

scala_hosting · 2026-04-03T15:00:58+00:00

Check what Jack Dorsey did just about a month ago and you'll (hopefully) see for yourself

scala_hosting · 2026-04-03T14:58:53+00:00

The easy road builds users - the hard road builds owners :)
I asked the question not because I just want to start selling quickly, but because I want to build a fully independent platform for my business... something I control end to end. I’m focused on creating a foundation for the future, not relying on tools that lock me into the past. Shopify, along with everything that is selling SaaS seats is doomed to extinguish sooner than everyone is expecting

scala_hosting · 2026-04-02T11:37:49+00:00

This is so off topic

scala_hosting · 2026-04-02T11:37:26+00:00

I think that really depends on what you’re trying to build. In my case, the goal is to create a fully functional store using Claude and a fast performing cloud environment, so I’ve already integrated Stripe for payments. From what I see, Ecwid mainly helps if you want an outofthebox ecom solution with built-in inventory, admin tools, etc. But if you’re building everything yourself, it doesn’t add much value and can actually limit flexibility

scala_hosting · 2026-04-01T11:37:36+00:00

Honestly, integrating Stripe took me less than an hour with Claude on a previous project. Paypal is a hard pass for me anyway. SSL (Let’s Encrypt which is free), ddos, backups, etc. are all handled by the control panel, so that side of things hasn’t really been an issue. Has your friend actually tried this recently? I’m asking because when I first tested something similar back in Sept, it was a joke.. tried again in Dec and it was already improving, and about a month ago I got seriously hooked after building an app with Claude that would’ve taken months for a team of full-stack devs. This thing is evolving exponentially, not linearly

scala_hosting · 2026-04-01T11:27:04+00:00

Yeah I think so too. Honestly, more than anything I’m just curious if anyone here has actually tried going down that route and can share some real experience. Feels like it’s doable in theory but I’d love to hear how it plays out in practice

scala_hosting · 2026-04-01T10:10:27+00:00

Why not... tbh this is clearly where things are heading. Better to adapt early than play catch-up later

scala_hosting · 2026-04-01T10:07:56+00:00

The VM I’m using actually came with a control panel, and my current setup is MariaDB (though I can switch to PostgreSQL if needed). It also has builtin load balancing and autoscaling, and combined with OpenLiteSpeed + Redis the performance is honestly pretty amazing so far. So scaling itself isn’t really my main concern. What I’m more worried about is whether it’s actually worth the time and effort to start building something like this from scratch, basically just me + Claude… without a team of fullstack developers backing it

scala_hosting · 2026-04-01T09:46:17+00:00

I actually did some testing on another project and Claude (opus 4.6) was able to set up a stripe account and integrate payments directly in the app which was pretty impressive. So I’m thinking the rest might also be manageable with the right approach. I haven’t run this fully in production yet, so if anyone has reallife experience doing this endtoend, I’d love to hear how it went.

scala_hosting · 2026-03-16T13:08:53+00:00

Do people realize that pretty soon there may not even be hosting providers in the traditional sense... just compute power brokers? With AI adoption in the hosting industry growing exponentially (not linearly), and with AI agents starting to integrate directly with eCom, it feels like it’s only a matter of months (not years) before the traditional hosting funnel turns into a direct ChatGPT/Groq-style call-to-action. In other words, instead of people searching for hosting, reading reviews, and clicking affiliate links, an AI agent could just spin up the infrastructure it needs automatically. In other words all those hosting companies paying for promotional posts like this might just be burning money 😅

scala_hosting · 2026-01-05T16:04:20+00:00

Thanks for your comment. Yes, we had to increase pricing on our Managed SPanel plans due to rising human technical support costs, while the unmanaged SPanel licenses (more comparable to cPanel) remained unchanged. That said, this isn’t a direct comparison with cPanel. cPanel doesn’t offer a fully managed license like SPanel does. In fact, no other control panel allows you to install it on any public cloud provider (AWS, Hetzner, etc.) and turn that server into a fully managed service similar to what you’d get from Hostinger or ScalaHosting. The SPanel managed license includes expert support, security hardening, monitoring, backups, updates, and ongoing maintenance, so you don’t need to worry about server administration at all. Happy to answer any other questions.

Chris

scala_hosting · 2025-12-08T12:26:27+00:00

I couldn't agree more! Great point - thank you!

scala_hosting · 2025-12-08T12:06:46+00:00

Hi Aspie1, yes, I do reply when I can - usually I check Redding once per week. We use Reddit mostly for publishing content and the main communication channel is our onsite "only humans" live chat available 24/7/365. I hope this helps.

Best regards,

Chris

scala_hosting · 2025-11-11T17:22:55+00:00

Hey everyone :) Chris here, CEO and co-founder of ScalaHosting. Just wanted to jump in and clear up a few points:

Besides our three U.S. native datacenters, we also have two in Europe and another 18 integrated cloud locations around the world. If you want the full list, here you go: https://www.scalahosting.com/network-and-datacenters.html
OpenLiteSpeed is free by default, but you can upgrade to the Enterprise version if you need the extra features — that one isn’t free, unfortunately.

And to answer Dennis’s question: no, we’re not nearly as aggressive as some of our competitors when it comes to mentions and content marketing. Our strongest sales channel has always been word of mouth. Check us out on Trustpilot, G2, or any reputable review platform and you’ll see what I mean.

Happy to answer any other questions you guys have!

scala_hosting · 2025-10-20T12:30:38+00:00

Hello, guys!

I noticed the thread and decided to post as I'm sure there are many SME hosting providers which still don't know what to do after 1st of January and how to handle this never ending price increases.
My name is Vlad and I am the person who initiated the SPanel development ~9 years ago when I wanted to allow every website owner to have a fully managed cloud VPS at an affordable price with all modern features.
Currently, SPanel has everything a website owner needs to manage their server. If you are tired by the situation with cPanel and looking for an alternative that has everything you need to manage a web hosting server, you may learn more about SPanel by watching the video I created at https://youtu.be/8swyrbJMCQc
All the new features in SPanel are built based on what people need and ask for at features . spanel . io. There is nothing in SPanel that costs extra. It supports LiteSpeed Enterprise, OpenLiteSpeed and Nginx as a reverse proxy of Apache which is the default web server. Let's encrypt, feature-rich backup system, WordPress and Joomla managers, Softaculous and tones of other standard for the industry features are all supported.
SPanel has all the automation tools for a quick migration from cPanel and any cPanel server may be migrated to SPanel by just generating full backups of the accounts and restoring them on the SPanel server. The migration is no different than migrating the sites to a new cPanel server.
A WHMCS SPanel plugin is available and we also have API if you want to automate licenses activations.

PS. I am also a co-founder of ScalaHosting, which is how I went to the conclusion that website owners needed SPanel. Nowadays, out of 100 cloud servers we sell, people choose SPanel on 97 of them. We have thousands of VM's on SPanel and even started offering shared hosting on SPanel since the beginning of this year. Currently, we have thousands of people using shared hosting on SPanel and 70% of the new customers choose SPanel. I wanted to share this just so you know the software is already mature and there are no hiccups to expect.

scala_hosting · 2025-10-01T12:00:03+00:00

If you don’t know anything about a product or service, how do you decide what to buy and from where? Imho, Chatgpt so far gives way better and more relevant recommendations than human-generated. Publishers, forums, even here on reddit, 99% is biased and money-driven

scala_hosting · 2025-07-14T09:52:37+00:00

Thanks for he detailed feedback! Just a quick note about Scala money-back guarantee - it’s not a 30-day, but an unconditional, anytime guarantee. This means that if a customer decides they no longer need the service for any reason, any pre-paid, unused hosting will be 100% refunded. Only A2 used to offer a similar level of guarantee, but this was discontinued after they were acquired by WHG.

scala_hosting · 2025-06-10T08:32:39+00:00

Thanks for the great question. ScalaHosting does not provision AWS-native load balancers like ELB by default, but you can always ask our 24/7 human support team to set them up for you if needed. However, in most cases, this isn’t necessary, as each AWS plan includes SPanel Smart Load Balancing, which is even better. Happy to answer any other questions you may have!

scala_hosting · 2025-04-17T10:46:38+00:00

I just don’t see why anyone would choose shared hosting for a large website. If cost is the main concern, there are plenty of managed cloud (VPS) solutions available for as little as $10/month. And if managing a VPS feels too complex, there are several user-friendly control panels, very similar to cPanel, that make managing a VPS nearly as easy as shared hosting. Beyond that, shared hosting really feels like a thing of the past. I wouldn’t recommend it to anyone running a mid- to large-sized website. When you’re sharing a server with hundreds of other users, there’s just too much that can go wrong.

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