Pocketbase

https://pocketbase.io is a simple to use SQLite database server with an authentication server built in.

It can be self-hosted, or you can use a Pocketbase provider such as Pockethost.io.

It is written in golang, but zero knowledge of Go is required. It is open source.

Pocketbase Clientside API

Pocketbase provides 2 client side APIs for Javascript and Dart. There is also a well documented REST API.

Examples of how straightforward it is.
To authenticate...

let res = await locals.pb.collection('users').authWithPassword(email, password);

To search for records...

let opts = {
    filter:'blogName="'+blogname+'" && bCurrent=true', 
    fields:'id,meta,bPublished,slug',
    sort: '-updated'
};
const records = await locals.pb.collection('blogItem').getFullList( opts );

Pocketbase installation

Installation is simple. It's a single executable file that runs on Linux are others. The SQLite database is built in, so there's no installation of a seperate database.

There are no Docker containers to configure and no database to install. It has a very low surface area of things that need configuring with potential to need maintenance.

It also provides an authentication server, so there's no need to use a third party one.

It has low hardware requirements - a 1GB, single core server with 20GB of disk will easily get a POC started.

It really is a one-stop low effort solution to getting a project started.

Pockethost.io

https://pockethost.io/ is a provider of Pockethost servers. You can sign up and spin up an instance within minutes. It's currently (in early 2024) free for smaller users with a fair use policy. It too is open source.

It is currently well supported with 4000+ users.