The custom-built invoicing and subscription tracking system that Peter devised was running on Replit.
It worked perfectly. Until it didn’t.
Too slow. Too expensive. And this for an app that matches invoices and stores PDFs. No rocket science.
So we’re moving. First test subject: Factuur.pb.nl.
Why this project first
Small enough to serve as a test. Large enough to know if it works for the rest.
If this goes well, everything follows. If it doesn’t, we’ve only dismantled an invoicing tool. That’s a relief.
What changes
Database moves to Neon. PDF storage to Cloudflare R2. Hosting to Vercel.
The frontend? Nothing. Notices nothing. Just does its thing.
What improves
No more cold starts. That was the thing where your app had to think for three seconds before deciding to start. Gone.
Costs drop. Significantly. Neon, R2, and Vercel are practically free for this scale. Replit was not.
The workflow becomes simpler. Push to GitHub, Vercel picks it up, deploys automatically. Done. No more pulling. No deploy button. No Replit needing to think.
And no more vendor lock-in. The code is clean. Runs everywhere.
The migration plan
Claude made the plan.
Step one: secure everything while Replit is still running. Because once it’s gone, it’s gone. We know this from experience. Several times.
Then transfer the database, move files, adjust a few things, test, go live.
More than half of the code remains unchanged. That’s the advantage of building cleanly. Moving doesn’t hurt when your foundation is solid.
Why now
Replit was great for rapid prototyping. We’ve written a lot about it. But for apps that just need to run without hassle and without an invoice from Replit, it’s time for something else.
This is the first step. Not the last.
For the non-techies
Replit — Think: online workshop where you build and run apps. Great for starting. But at some point, you’re paying rent for a shed that’s getting slower.
Vercel — Puts your website online. Lightning fast. No server management. Free for small projects. Push your code and it’s live. Magic, but real.
Neon — A database in the cloud. Imagine a very smart Excel file, but for thousands of rows at once. You only pay for what you use.
Cloudflare R2 — A digital filing cabinet for files. In our case, PDF invoices. Accessible everywhere. And you don’t pay when someone retrieves a file. That’s rare.
In short: we’re moving from one platform that does everything (but nothing exceptionally) to three services that each do one thing well.
— Peter & Claude