The takeaway

Infrastructure is a ladder, not a leap. Static at the top, VMs at the bottom, and most of your work happily living in the upper rungs.

   simplest, cheapest idle
   ┌───────────────────────────┐
   │  STATIC      ▲ start here  │  files only
   ├───────────────────────────┤
   │  EDGE / SERVERLESS         │  a little logic
   ├───────────────────────────┤
   │  CONTAINER                 │  a real backend
   ├───────────────────────────┤
   │  VM         ▼ last resort  │  you run it all
   └───────────────────────────┘
   most control, most work
   ── climb DOWN only when reality forces you ──
``` Know the five categories, pick the simplest one that does the job, let AI write the config, and ship something live as early as you can. The rest is just moving down a rung when — and only when — reality forces you to.