The site you are reading is the deliverable. It started as an oversized cloud deployment costing $117 per month and now runs on Azure Static Web Apps at zero cost, with better performance, automated deployments, and managed SSL. This page documents how.
The first version ran on an App Service Standard plan with container instances, a SQL database, Service Bus, multiple storage accounts, and a full monitoring suite. Great learning exercise, wrong tool for a static portfolio.
~$117 per monthDeleted container instances and the container registry, downgraded the App Service plan, moved monitoring to free tiers, and consolidated storage. A 93% reduction from disciplined resource auditing with the Azure CLI.
~$19 per monthRecognized that a static site belongs on a static hosting service. Created a Static Web App on the Free tier, repointed DNS, migrated both custom domains with managed SSL, and deleted the entire legacy stack: App Services, plans, Application Insights, Service Bus, storage accounts, Key Vault, CDN profile, and log analytics.
$0 per monthEvery push to the main branch triggers a GitHub Actions workflow that builds and deploys the site globally in minutes. SSL certificates renew automatically. There is nothing left to patch, monitor, or pay for.
Zero maintenanceResource auditing, right-sizing, and tier selection. Knowing what each Azure service costs, what it is for, and when a cheaper service does the same job better.
Choosing purpose-built services over general-purpose ones. A static site on Static Web Apps beats the same site on an App Service plan in cost, speed, and simplicity.
Custom domain migration across hosting platforms, TXT record domain validation, managed SSL certificates, apex and subdomain DNS records, and HTTPS enforcement.
GitHub Actions CI/CD with automated builds, deployment health checks, and cache management. Push to main, live globally in minutes, no manual steps.