Pipeline
Recommended pipeline
A solo founder should spend money only where free tiers genuinely run out, and stitch the rest together from generous free plans. The main India decision is billing: if your company is registered in India, an INR-billed gateway like Cashfree is simpler than Stripe, while a global buyer base pushes you toward Stripe despite the setup.
Cost ledger
What this stack costs
You can start this stack largely on free tiers. 6 of 6 stages have a free option. Original estimate from FindThatSoftware's verified pricing.
| Stage | Cheapest option | From |
|---|
| Ship and host the product | GitLab | Free tier |
| Charge customers and manage subscriptions | Cashfree Payments | Free tier |
| Find leads and track your pipeline | Apollo.io | Free tier |
| Onboard and market by email | Brevo | Free tier |
| Support your first users | Tawk.to | Free tier |
| Secure logins and shared secrets | Bitwarden | Free tier |
Starting estimate, not a quote: cheapest paid tier per stage, free tiers counted as Rs.0, usage-based fees excluded. Confirm current pricing on each vendor's site.
Stage 1
Ship and host the product
Version-control your code, run CI, and host the app cheaply while you have no revenue and no ops team.
For a solo founder, the priority is getting a working app online without burning cash or time on infrastructure. A free repo plus CI and an affordable host cover you until real load arrives.
GitLab gives you Git hosting and built-in CI/CD on a free tier, so you get pipelines without wiring up a separate tool; Bitbucket is the equivalent alternative with a free tier if you already use Jira and Atlassian tools. Vercel has a free tier that will carry a pre-revenue B2B SaaS app for a long time and deploys straight from the repo, which is the least ops you can get away with. Hostinger is the INR-billed option if what you are hosting is a marketing site or a straightforward web stack rather than the app itself. Version on GitLab or Bitbucket, ship the app on Vercel's free tier, and put the marketing site wherever is cheapest.
Setup for Ship and host the product
- Put the code in GitLab and add a basic CI pipeline that runs tests on push
- Deploy to an affordable Hostinger plan sized for launch traffic
- Set a billing alert so costs do not creep up unnoticed
Automation for Ship and host the product
Caveats for Ship and host the product
- Hostinger bills in INR and is paid from the start, so pick the smallest plan that runs your app and scale later
- Product analytics matters early too; Google Analytics is free and Mixpanel has a free tier when you are ready to add it
Stage 2
Charge customers and manage subscriptions
Collect recurring subscription payments and issue invoices without building billing from scratch.
Getting paid is the point of a SaaS, and the right gateway depends entirely on where you and your customers are. This choice also decides how easy GST invoicing and reconciliation will be.
Cashfree is India-first, RBI-licensed, INR-billed, and has a free-to-start tier, so it is the default if your company and customers are in India and you want UPI plus cards. Stripe is the pick when you sell to global customers and need its subscription tooling and developer experience; there is no monthly fee, just a percentage of each transaction that rises for international cards and currency conversion. Easebuzz is a developer-friendly Indian alternative worth comparing on fees if you want flexible collections and payouts.
Setup for Charge customers and manage sub...
- Complete KYC with your business registration and bank details
- Set up a subscription or payment-link flow and test it end to end
- Confirm the tool produces GST-compliant invoices if you bill Indian customers
Automation for Charge customers and manage sub...
Caveats for Charge customers and manage sub...
- Stripe's India support for domestic collections is limited, so an India-registered company usually collects better through Cashfree or Easebuzz
- All three charge per-transaction fees; compare MDR, not just the monthly cost
Stage 3
Find leads and track your pipeline
Build a prospect list and manage every conversation in a simple pipeline, without paying for a heavy sales suite.
A solo founder is also the sales team, so you need cheap prospecting data and one place to remember who to follow up. Both jobs have genuinely usable free tiers.
Apollo.io has a free tier with a large B2B contact database, so you can build targeted prospect lists without a data subscription. Bigin by Zoho is an INR-billed, free-tier pipeline CRM that a solo founder can run without setup overhead. Prospect in Apollo, then push contacts into Bigin so follow-ups have a home; upgrade only when free limits actually bite.
Setup for Find leads and track your pipeline
- Define your ideal customer and save that search in Apollo
- Set up a short pipeline in Bigin from first touch to closed
- Log every reply so nothing depends on your memory
Automation for Find leads and track your pipeline
Caveats for Find leads and track your pipeline
- Free-tier data credits and email sends are capped, so plan around limits before paying
- Cold outreach must respect anti-spam and consent rules; personalize rather than blast
Stage 4
Onboard and market by email
Send onboarding sequences, product updates, and a newsletter to nurture signups into paying users.
Email is the cheapest owned channel for turning free signups into customers, and automated onboarding runs while you build. Free tiers cover you comfortably at launch volumes.
Brevo is INR-billed with a free tier and does both broadcast and automated flows, so it is a strong India-friendly default. Zoho Campaigns has a generous free plan and fits neatly if you already picked Bigin or Zoho CRM. Kit is worth it if your growth is content and newsletter-led in creator style, though it bills in USD, so add forex plus GST.
Setup for Onboard and market by email
- Set up a welcome and onboarding sequence triggered on signup
- Warm up your sending domain with authentication records so email lands
- Sync signups from your app so the list stays current
Automation for Onboard and market by email
Caveats for Onboard and market by email
- Free email tiers cap monthly sends and contacts; watch the ceiling as you grow
- Kit's USD pricing makes Brevo or Zoho Campaigns cheaper for an India-billed founder
Stage 5
Support your first users
Answer questions on your site and deflect common ones automatically so support does not eat your build time.
Early users need fast answers, but a solo founder cannot sit in an inbox all day. A free live chat plus a bot that answers repeat questions buys back your time.
Tawk.to is genuinely free live chat with a shared inbox, so you can start talking to users at zero cost. Chaindesk lets you train a no-code AI bot on your docs and deploy it to your site, and has a free tier to deflect repeat questions. Start with Tawk.to, and add Chaindesk once the same questions keep arriving.
Setup for Support your first users
- Drop the Tawk.to chat widget on your site and set away-message hours
- Feed your help docs into Chaindesk and embed the bot for common questions
- Route anything the bot cannot answer to your inbox or chat
Automation for Support your first users
Caveats for Support your first users
- Free live chat means you answer in real time; set clear hours so users are not left waiting
- An AI bot trained on thin docs gives thin answers, so write the docs first
Stage 6
Secure logins and shared secrets
Store passwords, API keys, and shared logins in an encrypted vault instead of a notes file or a spreadsheet.
A B2B SaaS holds customer data, and leaked credentials are an existential risk even for a solo founder. This is one place not to cut corners, and it is nearly free.
Bitwarden is open-source with a genuinely useful free tier for individuals and cheap paid tiers for a small team. It stores passwords and secrets encrypted and generates strong unique credentials, which closes the most common early security hole. It costs almost nothing and takes minutes to set up, so there is no reason to skip it.
Setup for Secure logins and shared secrets
- Create a vault and set a strong, unique master password
- Move every service login and API key out of notes and into the vault
- Turn on two-factor auth on the vault and your critical accounts
Automation for Secure logins and shared secrets
Caveats for Secure logins and shared secrets
- Your master password is the single point of failure, so store a recovery path safely
- The free tier suits a solo founder; move to a paid team plan when you need shared vaults