If you're like me, you've spent more late nights than you’d care to admit wrestling with infrastructure. The cloud is great, don't get me wrong. But between the endless YAML files, the surprise billing, and the creeping dread of vendor lock-in, it can feel like you're spending more time being a cloud janitor than actually building cool stuff. It’s a grind. And now, with the whole AI gold rush, deploying and managing LLMs and vector databases has added a whole new layer of complexity to the mix.
So when I stumbled upon a platform called Batteries Included, the name alone made me chuckle. It’s got that perfect developer-centric, no-nonsense vibe. Their big claim? To be “the easiest to use self-hosted AI platform.” That’s a bold statement. My inner skeptic, honed by years of chasing down obscure config errors at 2 AM, immediately raised an eyebrow. But my inner optimist, the one that still gets excited about genuinely useful tech, leaned in a little closer. Could this actually be it? A way to get the power of a massive cloud provider's AI stack, but on our own terms? I had to check it out.
So What Is Batteries Included, Exactly?
Think of it less as another cloud provider and more like a complete, pre-configured workshop for your AI projects. You know how you can buy those awesome all-in-one toolkits that have every screwdriver bit and wrench you could possibly need? That’s the feeling I get here. Batteries Included is a DevOps platform that gives you the tools—one-click deployments for things like Postgres, serverless functions, and even complex RAG stacks—without you having to build the workshop from scratch. It’s designed to run on your own infrastructure, which is a massive plus in my book.
The entire thing is built on an open-source stack. This isn't some proprietary black box. That means no vendor lock-in. You're not tied to their ecosystem forever. You can pack up your bags and move if you want to. For anyone who's ever had to migrate a complex application off a proprietary service, you know how huge this is. It's freedom.
Visit Batteries Included
The Allure of One-Click Deployment
The homepage hits you with a simple `curl` command. That’s it. That’s how you start. My heart did a little flutter. The idea of deploying production-ready AI models, web services, and vector databases with a single command seems like pure science fiction. We're talking about getting a complete MLOps and AI development stack running with security, scaling, and monitoring baked right in from the start.
This isn't just about making things easy; it's about making them right. How many junior devs (or even senior ones, let’s be honest) have deployed something with default, insecure settings just to get it working? I’ve seen it happen. Batteries Included seems to front-load all that best-practice stuff—the security, the monitoring, the scaling logic—so you can focus on your application code. It’s like having a seasoned SRE looking over your shoulder, but without the awkward small talk.
Why Going Self-Hosted is a Power Move
For a while, the trend was to push everything to a managed service. And for good reason! It took a lot of headaches off the table. But we're starting to see a swing back in the other direction, and for good reasons too. Control, cost, and portability.
With a self-hosted platform like this, you control your data. You control your environment. You're not subject to the sudden price hikes or service deprecations of a giant corporation. You can run it on your own servers, in your own VPC, wherever you want. They claim to provide the same kind of infrastructure that hyperscalers and top AI companies use, and that's a powerful proposition. It democratizes access to top-tier tech without the top-tier price tag or the golden handcuffs.
Breaking Down the Big Wins
After poking around, a few things really stand out. It’s not just one feature, but how they all fit together.
Finally, An Escape from YAML Hell
I have a love-hate relationship with Kubernetes. Mostly hate. The power is undeniable, but the complexity is soul-crushing. Batteries Included abstracts away a lot of that pain. The promise of deploying complex stacks without hand-writing pages of configuration is, frankly, what most developers actually want. We want to define what we need, not spend a week figuring out how to tell the machine to build it.
Security That's Actually Built-In
Security is often treated as a final-step checklist item, which is a recipe for disaster. This platform bakes it in from the get-go. With features like industry-leading security and easy private networking for your services, it feels like they’ve thought through the real-world problems that keep CTOs up at night. This is a far cry from just spinning up a random Docker container and hoping for the best.
Scaling That Won't Bankrupt You
“Cost-effective scaling” is a phrase that gets thrown around a lot. But here, because you're running it on your own infrastructure and the platform is designed for efficiency, it feels more believable. You're not paying a massive premium for the managed service wrapper. You’re paying for the orchestration and tooling, which should, in theory, lead to a much better TCO (Total Cost of Ownership). You can scale your apps without having a heart attack when the monthly bill arrives.
So, How Much Does it Cost?
This is where it gets really interesting. Right now, Batteries Included is in a Limited Time Public Beta, and the base plan is completely free.
Here's a quick look at the plans:
| Plan | Best For | Key Details |
|---|---|---|
| Free Plan | Development and small workloads | Supports Linux/macOS, up to 3 nodes, full capabilities, enterprise-grade open source tech. |
| Premium Plan | Production and larger deployments | Everything in Free, plus scaling beyond 3 nodes. Pricing is usage-based: starting around $30/month + $0.24/hour per pod. |
The free plan is incredibly generous for getting started, developing, and even running small projects. The Premium pricing model is pretty straightforward—a small base fee plus a usage fee per 'pod'. This model is fair and lets you scale your costs predictably with your usage. Getting in on the ground floor during a public beta is always a smart move in my opinion.
Who Is This For? (And Who Should Maybe Wait)
Let's be clear. This platform looks amazing for startups, small-to-mid-sized tech companies, and any team that wants to build and deploy AI applications fast. If you're a developer who wears many hats and doesn't have the luxury of a dedicated DevOps team, this could be your new best friend. It bridges the gap between raw, complex infrastructure and overly-restrictive PaaS solutions.
However, if your company is a massive enterprise with a decade's worth of highly specific, custom-built infrastructure and a team of 50 SREs who live and breathe Terraform, this might be a tougher sell. The “one-click” nature might not suit every single edge case in a deeply entrenched, complex environment. You might need some DevOps knowledge for the really advanced configurations, which is fair. It's not magic, it's just very, very good engineering.
My Final Verdict
I'm genuinely excited about Batteries Included. It's not often a tool comes along that seems to so perfectly understand the real pain points of modern software and AI development. It addresses the need for speed, simplicity, security, and control in one compelling, open-source package.
Is it the answer to every single infrastructure problem on the planet? Of course not. But is it a massive step in the right direction for the vast majority of teams out there building the next generation of applications? Absolutely. The fact that you can try it for free makes it a complete no-brainer. Go on, give that curl command a try. You might just save yourself from the next late-night config crisis.
Frequently Asked Questions
What is Batteries Included in a nutshell?
It's a self-hosted DevOps platform that simplifies deploying and managing infrastructure, especially for AI and MLOps. It provides one-click setups for complex stacks on an open-source foundation, letting you focus on building products instead of managing servers.
Is the Batteries Included platform truly open source?
Yes, one of its core principles is being built on a fully open-source stack. This gives you portability and prevents vendor lock-in, meaning you're not tied to a proprietary ecosystem.
How does the pricing work for the Premium Plan?
The Premium Plan uses a simple usage-based model. There's a small monthly base fee (the example shows $30/month for 6 'battery') plus an hourly rate for your running workloads (e.g., $0.24/hour per 'pod'). This allows your costs to scale predictably with your usage.
How difficult is it to get started?
It's designed to be incredibly simple to start. The primary installation method is a single `curl` command that you run in your terminal. This gets a local development environment up and running in seconds.
What kind of technologies can I deploy with it?
You can deploy a wide range of technologies needed for modern applications. This includes production-ready LLMs, vector databases (critical for RAG and AI search), standard databases like Postgres, and general web services or serverless functions.
Is this platform suitable for large-scale production?
Yes, that's what the Premium Plan is designed for. It allows you to scale beyond the initial 3-node limit of the free plan and is built with cost-effective scaling and industry-leading security to handle production and larger deployment workloads.
