Trying to figure out the best combo of tools for hosting side projects (authentication, DBs, site hosting, backend etc). What tools would you recommend? Any help would be appreciated!!
Because there are no specifics in your question, I have no idea what your projects might be. So I will pretend this question is about future side projects and not current side projects.
Conveniently, this allows me to suggest the simplest thing that might work:
Do the simplest thing that might work.
The easiest way to handle authentication is to choose a project that doesn't require.
Text files are the simplest databases.
Github pages is a simple way to host a site.
HTML, CSS, and Javscript don't require a backend, just a web server.
A sideproject doesn't need to look like the thing that you work on all day at a workplace. When there's money on the line, relational databases and robust authentication can have economic rationales. IF there's no money involved, and maybe no users, why bother? Unless you want the practice doing what you already know and want to avoid doing harder things like getting users (and maybe making money).
Self hosting? Not once you have more than just you and some friends using what you've built, but until then you can just take your time to experiment without taking any cost.
Conveniently, this allows me to suggest the simplest thing that might work:
The easiest way to handle authentication is to choose a project that doesn't require.Text files are the simplest databases.
Github pages is a simple way to host a site.
HTML, CSS, and Javscript don't require a backend, just a web server.
A sideproject doesn't need to look like the thing that you work on all day at a workplace. When there's money on the line, relational databases and robust authentication can have economic rationales. IF there's no money involved, and maybe no users, why bother? Unless you want the practice doing what you already know and want to avoid doing harder things like getting users (and maybe making money).
Good luck.