TL;DR: This month, the total operating cost of the https://vernissage.photos platform was $403.52, of which $307.43 was contributed by patrons. I’m incredibly grateful for this support - especially for one very generous one-time donation that helped a lot in covering this month’s expenses.
Below is a detailed financial report for the operation of https://vernissage.photos during the month of March 2026. The report is broken down by individual service providers whose services are essential to keeping the platform running.
Amazon (S3 + CloudFront)
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: 718.3 GB
- Total number of files: 2,473,206
- Total cost: $23.80
The amount of stored data continues to grow steadily, which is a good sign - it means the community is active and constantly sharing new photos. At the same time, it also means that storage costs gradually increase along with the platform.
Fly.io
In March, the cost of services on Fly.io increased noticeably. This was caused by infrastructure changes required to keep the platform stable under heavier traffic.
The api and jobs services had to be upgraded to shared-cpu-4x@2048MB. With the previous setup, lower resources were often causing database connectivity issues, especially during periods of increased activity. This change was necessary to improve reliability and keep the service responsive.
It’s also possible that these resources will need to be increased even further in the future if usage continues to grow.
- Total cost: $378.52
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-4x | 2048MB | 2 machines |
| jobs ⬆️ | shared-cpu-4x | 2048MB | 2 machines |
| proxy | shared-cpu-2x | 512MB | 2 machines |
| redis | shared-cpu-2x | 1024MB | 1 machine |
| database | performance-2x | 8192MB | 2 machines |
OpenAI
OpenAI is used on Vernissage for generating photo descriptions and suggesting relevant tags.
- Total tokens used: 431,888
- Total requests: 518
- Total cost: $1.20
The cost remains relatively low, while still helping improve accessibility of shared photos across the platform.
Donations
Huge thanks to all the patrons and supporters who help keep Vernissage running. Your support truly makes a difference.
- Patreon contributions: $307.43
- Stripe contributions: $0.00
I would also like to say a very special thank you for a large one-time donation this month. It helped tremendously with covering the operating costs, and I truly appreciate that generosity.
In March, the total cost of maintaining the service was $403.52. Even though community support covered a significant part of that amount this month, running the platform is still a real and ongoing expense. Every contribution helps keep Vernissage online and allows it to continue operating in its current form.
Vernissage remains a fully independent platform. There are no ads, no engagement algorithms, and no artificial pressure to chase visibility. It is built around something much more valuable: a real community of people who simply want to share photography in a calm, meaningful space.
At the moment, vernissage.photos has 498 registered accounts, and 98 users were active during the last month. We are now very close to 100 monthly active users, which is honestly amazing to see.
Thank you again to everyone who supports the project. Thanks to your contributions, the service can continue to operate exactly as it does today.
— Marcin Czachurski