[AndrewDucker]

Oh yes - if you are operating at the middle to high end it's a great system.

But if you want "Read a tiny table once an hour, carry out a simple action in the circumstances are right" then paying for a database to be taking up a core 24/7 is not going to work for you.

So I wish it scaled down as well as up.

[phonon]

True...something like Amazon Lightsail might be better for that (starts at $3.50/month if you roll your own, and $15/m for a managed DB). Or you can do some sort of hybrid model...