Finding someone who can setup Postgres wal archiving and replication
Your $50 database doesn't need that. A simple backup works fine for a great many people.
I don't think your argument holds any merit at the level of hosting costs we talk about.
In order to match the performance of a measly $50/mo dedicated server you'll pay in the ballpark of $1300/mo to Heroku (16GB DB + 16 "dynos"). In between these two figures there's a lot of merit to be had.
have you looked at what is involved in upgrading to say Postgres 9.3 from 9.1
Yes, you stop the db, run pg_upgrade, and start the db.
But as you correctly state, most people in this bracket have no reason to upgrade their database software ever.
Your $50 database doesn't need that. A simple backup works fine for a great many people.
I don't think your argument holds any merit at the level of hosting costs we talk about.
In order to match the performance of a measly $50/mo dedicated server you'll pay in the ballpark of $1300/mo to Heroku (16GB DB + 16 "dynos"). In between these two figures there's a lot of merit to be had.
have you looked at what is involved in upgrading to say Postgres 9.3 from 9.1
Yes, you stop the db, run pg_upgrade, and start the db.
But as you correctly state, most people in this bracket have no reason to upgrade their database software ever.