Keep it stupid simple.

Use tech that you understand and minimize the layers of complexity between deploying, starting and troubleshooting an instance.

For me, I like digital ocean droplet(s). Stupid simple IAM. SSH scripts for CI deployments. Everything sits behind a Cloudflare cache.

The backend sends key events like restarts and fatal errors into a dedicated Slack channel. Its my confirmation a deployment worked and first alert if something crashed.

My business partner and I are currently running a $1m/arr business with this setup on a single digital ocean instance, Python3 and Nuxtjs.