I too love how simple the infrastructure can get using Go’s tools. At the same time, I prefer Node.js for the libraries & bigger community. So I developed a tool called caxa which brings the best of both worlds, packaging any Node.js into a single binary. Check it out at https://github.com/leafac/caxa
In terms of server costs, it all runs smoothly on a $6/month DigialOcean droplet. Even when I end up on the front-page of HN (it’s the second time this happens). And there’s also the ~$10/year for the domain.
There’s actually a fun story behind this: The biggest constraint is bandwidth (~500GB/month). I was using S3 and at some point that’d amount to $50/month. But DigitalOcean droplets give you 1TB/month, so to save money I rearchitected the whole thing to just use the filesystem. It turned out to be simpler and nicer to maintain, too. Fewer moving parts.