Edge Architecture vs. Traditional Cloud (AWS/DigitalOcean)
| Feature | DigitalOcean (Droplets) / AWS (EC2) | Cloudflare (Hono + Workers + D1) |
|---|---|---|
| Pricing Model | Fixed Hourly Rate. You pay $5 - $20/mo even if traffic is zero. | Usage-Based. You pay $0 if there is no traffic (Generous Free Tier). |
| Scaling | Vertical/Horizontal. You must manually add RAM or more servers. | Automatic. Scales from 1 to 1 million users instantly at the Edge. |
| Latency | Dependent on the region (e.g., us-east-1). Far users see lag. | Global. Code runs in 300+ cities simultaneously. |
| Maintenance | High. You must manage Linux updates, SSL, and security patches. | Zero. Serverless means the platform handles the OS. |
Why I chose the Edge over AWS/DigitalOcean:
1. Avoiding the Cold Start and Idle Costs
On AWS Lambda, if no one visits your site for a while, the next visitor waits 2 seconds for the Cold Start. On DigitalOcean, you pay for a Linux box that sits idle 90% of the time. With Hono on Workers, the startup time is effectively zero, and the cost is proportional to my actual success.
2. The Database Bottleneck (D1 vs. RDS)
In traditional systems like AWS RDS, connecting to a database is expensive in terms of CPU. By using Cloudflare D1 with Drizzle, I am using a database designed specifically for the edge. It lives close to the user, meaning my SELECT queries do not have to travel across the Atlantic Ocean.
3. Complexity vs. Velocity
AWS has 200+ services. It takes a week just to configure the network (VPC). With the Hono/Astro/Cloudflare stack, I can go from an idea to a globally distributed API in 10 minutes. For a founder, velocity is the most important metric.
