I Built a Profitable SaaS in 24 Hours with $0. Here is The Exact Stack.

Built a Profitable SaaS in 24 Hours with $0. Here is The Exact Stack.

Let’s address the elephant in the room immediately: You have a million-dollar idea locked in the back of your mind.

Maybe it’s a tool to automate your boring office tasks. Maybe it’s a niche platform for dog walkers. Or perhaps it’s something revolutionary that solves a problem you didn’t even know existed until yesterday.

But you haven’t built it yet.

Why? The excuses are always the same. "I don’t have the funding." "I need to hire a CTO." "It will take six months to develop." "I’m waiting for the perfect time."

I am here to tell you that the perfect time was yesterday. The second best time is right now.

The landscape of software development has shifted tectonically in 2025. The barriers to entry haven't just been lowered; they’ve been obliterated. To prove this, I set myself a challenge that sounds borderline impossible: Build a fully functional, payment-ready Micro-SaaS (Software as a Service) product in 24 hours without spending a single penny.

No credit cards. No expensive server costs. No outsourcing to expensive agencies.

I did it. It’s live. It works. And in this post, I am going to give you the keys to the castle. I will break down the exact tech stack, the hourly process, and the mindset you need to replicate this success.

But be warned: Once you read this, you will have no more excuses left.

 

The Philosophy: Why "Micro-SaaS" Changes Everything

Before we dive into the code and tools, we need to recalibrate your expectations. When people hear "SaaS," they think of Salesforce, Slack, or Zoom. Stop thinking like that. You aren't trying to build the next Silicon Valley unicorn in 24 hours.

You are building a Micro-SaaS.

A Micro-SaaS solves one specific problem for one specific group of people extremely well. It doesn’t need 50 features. It needs one feature that works.

• The Goal: Speed to market.
• The Budget: $0.
• The Timeline: 24 Hours.

This approach allows you to validate your idea immediately. If people pay for it, you build more. If they don’t, you kill it and move to the next idea without losing your life savings.

 

The "Zero-Dollar" Tech Stack (The Secret Sauce)

 

This is the part you came for. How do you build a robust application for free? The secret lies in the "Free Tiers" of modern development platforms. These companies are so desperate for developers that they give away incredible amounts of computing power for free, hoping you'll pay when you scale.

We are going to take them up on that offer.

1. The Brains (Frontend & Framework): Next.js 14

Forget plain HTML or clunky old PHP frameworks. We are using Next.js. It is the industry standard for a reason. It is fast, SEO-friendly out of the box, and allows us to build both the frontend (what the user sees) and the backend (the logic) in a single project.

• Cost: $0 (Open Source).
• Why: It handles routing and optimization automatically.

2. The Beauty (Styling): Tailwind CSS & Shadcn/ui

I am not a designer, and you probably aren't either. In the past, this meant your app would look like a ugly relic from 1999. Not anymore.
Tailwind CSS allows you to style things rapidly. But the real cheat code is Shadcn/ui. It provides pre-built, beautifully designed components (buttons, inputs, dashboards) that you can copy and paste into your project.

• Cost: $0.
• Why: It makes your MVP (Minimum Viable Product) look like a million-dollar product instantly.

3. The Memory (Database & Auth): Supabase

Setting up a secure database used to take days. With Supabase, it takes 15 minutes. It is an open-source alternative to Firebase. It handles:

• Database: Storing user data.
• Authentication: Letting users sign up with Google, Email, or GitHub.
• Real-time: Updating data instantly.
  Their free tier is incredibly generous, allowing for thousands of users before you pay a dime.
• Cost: $0.

4. The Wallet (Payments): Stripe

You aren't running a charity; you're running a business. You need to get paid. Stripe is the gold standard. They have a hosted checkout page, so you don’t even need to code a payment form securely. You just redirect the user to Stripe, they pay, and Stripe sends them back to your app.

• Cost: $0 setup fee (They only take a small % when you actually make a sale).

5. The Home (Hosting): Vercel

This is where your code lives on the internet. Vercel is the company behind Next.js. You connect your GitHub repository, and every time you save your code, Vercel automatically deploys it to the web worldwide.

• Cost: $0 (Hobby Plan).

 

The 24-Hour Blueprint: Hour by Hour

 

You have the tools. Now, how do you execute? Here is the schedule I followed.

Phase 1: The Setup (Hours 0-4)

I started at 8:00 AM. I spent the first hour refining the idea. I decided on a simple "AI-Generated Cover Letter Writer." The problem? Writing cover letters sucks. The solution? Enter a job URL, get a PDF.

I set up the Next.js project and installed Tailwind. By noon, I had the landing page skeleton ready using Shadcn components. It didn’t do anything yet, but it looked professional.

Phase 2: The Logic (Hours 5-10)

This was the heavy lifting. I connected the app to Supabase. I set up the "Login with Google" button. It feels like magic when you see your own profile picture appear in the corner of a site you just built.

I then wrote the API logic. I used the OpenAI API (okay, this isn't strictly free, but you get $5 free credits upon sign-up, which covers the first 24 hours easily) to generate the text.

Phase 3: The Money (Hours 11-14)

I integrated Stripe. I created a product called "Premium Plan - $9/month." I set up a "Webhook" so that when someone pays, Supabase automatically updates their account to "Premium Status."

Crucial Note: Test this extensively. There is nothing worse than a customer trying to give you money and failing.

Phase 4: The Polish & Launch (Hours 15-24)

The functionality was there. Now, I had to sell it. I wrote the copy for the landing page. I focused on the pain point: "Stop wasting hours writing cover letters."

I added a simple FAQ section and a footer. I ran the lighthouse test to check speed. Green lights everywhere.

At the 23rd hour, I pushed the final code to Vercel. One minute later, I had a live URL. I posted it on Reddit and IndieHackers.

I went to sleep. When I woke up? Three sales. That’s $27 of pure profit. It’s not a fortune, but it’s proof.

 

The Trap of the "One-Man Army"

Now, I know what you’re thinking.

"Wow, this sounds amazing. I’m going to go do this right now!"

And you should. But I need to be real with you.

Building an MVP in 24 hours is an adrenaline rush. It’s exciting. But turning that MVP into a sustainable, scalable business that replaces your full-time income? That is a different beast entirely.

While the tools are free, your time is not.

I spent years learning how to stitch these tools together seamlessly. I know how to handle database migrations, how to secure API keys, how to optimize images for SEO, and how to structure code so it doesn't break when you reach 1,000 users.

When you try to do this alone, you will hit walls.

• You’ll spend 4 hours debugging a CORS error.
• You’ll struggle with mobile responsiveness.
• You’ll realize your database structure is wrong and have to rebuild it.

The "Zero Dollar" approach is great for a hobby. But if you are serious about business, speed and quality are the only currencies that matter.

 

Do You Have a Vision? Let Us Build the Reality.

You are an entrepreneur. You are a visionary. Your job is to dream up the solution, market the product, and grow the business.

Your job is not to fight with CSS grids at 3:00 AM.

This is where we come in.

We have mastered the stack I just described. We don’t just build software; we build revenue-generating assets. We take your napkin sketch and turn it into a fully functional, scalable, and secure SaaS product faster than you can imagine.

Why risk getting stuck in "tutorial hell" for months when you could be launching next week?

We offer:

1. Rapid MVP Development: We use this exact stack to get you to market fast.
2. Scalable Architecture: We build it right the first time, so you don't have to rewrite it when you grow.
3. SEO & Marketing Ready: We don’t just code; we build for Google and for conversion.

Ready to Launch Your Empire?

The market waits for no one. While you are reading this, someone else might be building your idea.

Don't let technical hurdles kill your dream. Let’s partner up. You bring the vision, we bring the firepower.

[Click Here to Schedule Your Free Consultation]

Let’s build something profitable together. Today.