TL;DR: This month, Vernissage's operational costs came to $119.92 - including storage (Amazon S3), app hosting (Fly.io), and AI-powered features (OpenAI). Thanks to your generous support on Patreon, over half of these expenses - $69 - are already covered. Your contributions truly make a difference and help keep the platform running smoothly. Thank you for being part of this journey!

Another month has passed for https://vernissage.photos, and as always, I’d like to share a quick overview of the recurring monthly expenses associated with running the platform. Each section below outlines a different service that requires ongoing payment.

Amazon (S3 + CloudFront)

Let's start with storage. Vernissage uses Amazon S3 to store all user files and relies on Amazon CloudFront - a content delivery network (CDN) - to distribute those files quickly and reliably across the internet.

• Total storage used: 281.5 GB
• Total number of files: 834,172
• Total cost: $9.12

We've noticed that data growth has slowed down. New files continue to be uploaded, but older ones are being removed - primarily those that are no longer relevant or accessed. As a result, the majority of stored files now come from the past six months, along with some older files that were either added locally or have been liked or commented on within the local instance. Even after this cleanup, the total number of files remains substantial - over 800,000.

Fly.io

Last month, for the first time, our total hosting costs for all applications and the database exceeded $100. During the month, two services - api and jobs - were modified. Both had their RAM capacity increased, and each server hosting these applications now uses 2 GiB of RAM. This upgrade was necessary due to the significantly higher memory requirements when working with high-resolution files.

• Total cost: $109.32

Here’s a breakdown of the services currently in use:

It appears that in June, we will also need to increase both the RAM and CPU resources allocated to the database. At certain times, we’ve observed that these resources become critically limited, which often results in slower response times from the API.

OpenAI

OpenAI technology is integrated into Vernissage in two important areas: generating image descriptions (which plays a key role in making the platform accessible to visually impaired users) and suggesting relevant tags to help categorize and discover photos more easily.

While AI-generated content can be a helpful tool, especially for users who find it difficult to describe their images or who are unsure about their English, it’s essential to review and verify the generated text before publishing. The descriptions must accurately reflect what is shown in the photo, and human oversight is necessary to ensure they are meaningful, inclusive, and appropriate.

I strongly encourage everyone to add ALT text when sharing their work. Thoughtful descriptions not only improve accessibility but also enrich the overall experience for all viewers.

• Total tokens used: 469,210
• Total requests: 610
• Total cost: $1.48

As you can see, these AI tools have been actively used throughout the system.

Patreon

A heartfelt thank-you to all the patrons who continue to support this project (and this specific instance of Vernissage) through your generous contributions. Your support helps cover the essential infrastructure costs mentioned above and plays a key role in enabling future growth and improvements to make the platform better for everyone.

• Total contributions: $69

This month, total expenses came to $119.92. The platform is growing, handling more and more requests - and unfortunately, that also means rising costs. They're not astronomical just yet, but every bit of your support helps. It allows me to continue developing new features and gives me greater peace of mind when thinking about the platform’s future. Thank you for being part of this journey.

— Marcin Czachurski