TL;DR: This month, the total cost of running the platform amounted to $162.14. Thanks to patron support totaling $84, half of this expense was covered by you. Your support truly makes a difference. Thank you!
Below is a detailed financial report for the operation of https://vernissage.photos during the month of July. The report is broken down by individual service providers whose services are essential to the functioning of the application.
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: 407.3 GB
- Total number of files: 1,206,024
- Total cost: $13.28
The number of photos is slowly approaching one and a half million. In the coming days, I will gradually reduce the number of days we retain remote photos that do not receive any interactions (likes, etc.). Currently, this period is six months; the target is three months.
Fly.io
This month, the resources allocated to the database have been increased. This was due to the API frequently having to wait for database resources to be granted, which resulted in reduced performance. Currently, the databases have 8x CPU and 4 GB of RAM. It’s important to note that these are shared resources, and 8x CPU does not mean we have full access to even a single core. According to the fly.io documentation: "Quotas are shared between a Machine’s vCPUs. For example, a shared-cpu-2x Machine is allowed to run for 10ms per 80ms period, regardless of which vCPU is using that time."
- Total cost: $147.75
Here’s a breakdown of the services currently in use:
| Name | Type | RAM | Amount |
|---|---|---|---|
| push | shared-cpu-1x | 512MB | 2 machines |
| web | shared-cpu-2x | 1024MB | 2 machines |
| api | shared-cpu-2x | 2048MB | 2 machines |
| jobs | shared-cpu-2x | 2048MB | 2 machines |
| proxy | shared-cpu-2x | 512MB | 2 machines |
| redis | shared-cpu-2x | 1024MB | 1 machine |
| database | shared-cpu-8x | 4096MB | 2 machines |
In the next few months, it would be advisable to migrate to the new type of managed databases provided by fly.io, as well as to switch to "performance" resources instead of "shared". Unfortunately, this would involve significantly higher costs.
OpenAI
The use of OpenAI for generating photo descriptions and suggesting relevant tags has remained at a consistent level.
- Total tokens used: 366,301
- Total requests: 423
- Total cost: $1.11
Patreon
A heartfelt thank you goes out to all the patrons who support the continued operation of the platform - and whose numbers grew last month. We wouldn’t be where we are today without your help. Thank you so much.
- Total contributions: $84
This month, total expenses amounted to $162.14 - almost $30 more than last month. The amount has increased mainly due to the additional resources allocated to the database. Unfortunately, in order to maintain optimal performance and continue receiving support from fly.io, it will be necessary to migrate to a managed database. This will result in an even greater increase in costs.
Once again, thank you all so much for your support and help.
— Marcin Czachurski