PoyoWeb is a small, community-driven web hosting platform created by Poyo, a teen coder from Spain. Unlike traditional hosting providers, it runs on personal servers instead of the cloud. I spoke with Poyo about his journey, the challenges of running PoyoWeb, and where he hopes to take it next.
Getting Started
Poyo’s journey into coding started early.
“Hi there! I’m Poyo. I am a coder teen from Spain who loves making cool stuff. I got into tech at the age of 10 when my parents gifted me a Raspberry Pi 4 kit. I got into Python (Flask primarily), and since then, I’ve been learning and coding more and more projects.”
His introduction to the indie web came in 2023 when he built a retro-style website on Neocities. That’s where the idea for PoyoWeb first formed.
“I started off using Neocities, where I made my very first ‘retro’ website. Then, I joined the r/Neocities Discord channel, where I made a few (a lot) of friends and started wondering: ‘What if I create a web host that is like Neocities, but free for everybody and better overall?’”
At first, he wasn’t able to build it, he lacked the experience and resources.
“At that point of my life, I was just incapable of starting my own web host – I didn’t have the means. But my friends and I kept talking about it, fantasizing about how it would look and be.”
An early attempt using PHP stalled out, but once he picked up JavaScript, he found a way forward.
“A few months later, I had picked up JavaScript, and after finding out that Nekoweb.org ran on JS, I decided it was time to do something.”
How PoyoWeb Runs
Unlike big hosting providers, PoyoWeb doesn’t use big cloud services for the backend.
“We chose to run our project outside of any cloud provider because we have no funds, hahaha. And also because the dependency on big companies doesn’t excite me much.”
The platform works using a server-client structure, where the backend serves an API, and the frontend renders and forwards requests.
“Currently, it works following a server-client structure. There’s a server which runs an API and the client which forwards requests to it and also renders the frontend.”
Poyo and his team are working on a major rewrite, the fourth iteration, which will use SvelteKit for the frontend and Bun with Elysia and TypeScript for the backend.
“In the current rewrite, we’re going to do the same, but properly.”
Right now, PoyoWeb is hosted on noxity.io, a friend’s server, but that will change soon.
“We host on noxity.io atm, which is run by a friend of mine. But soon we will switch to another friend of mine’s server – it’s a dedicated!”
Challenges and Growth
Building a web hosting service as a teenager hasn’t been easy.
“The biggest challenge was getting the thing to work. It has always been full of bugs. From the first to the third iteration. But, a bug at a time, we’ve been fixing them all. PoyoWeb! Fix ’em all!”
Despite the technical struggles, one of the most rewarding aspects has been seeing a community form around the project.
“I love seeing my fellas interact with each other. They have fun, they yap, they say things they shouldn’t, but meh! Who cares!! Building a community wasn’t so difficult after all. I was very active in many Discord servers, which attracted and sparked attention towards my small quirky project.”
What started as a solo effort has now grown into a four-person dev team.
“I started as a solo dev, and now I’ve got four people in the dev team! I’m so proud of my creation and my friends.”
What’s Next?
PoyoWeb isn’t a for-profit project, but it has received some outside support.
“Future Computing gave me a $30 grant to get stickers! Originally, I was going to sell them, but due to personal reasons, I might not be able to. I still plan on handing out a few to every nice person I meet on the streets!”
His immediate goal is to get 100 active users.
“I hope it becomes big; big as in 100 users. We’ve reached that already, but most aren’t active.”
Looking further ahead, Poyo hopes to legally register PoyoWeb as a business when he turns 16.
“In two years, I’ll be sixteen, and thus I will be able to legally register an enterprise for PoyoWeb. I plan on also offering PHP support for my users.”
And at the core of it all, he just wants to provide a place for people to build freely.
“All I want is to make them happy! And I also believe that the internet should be free for everyone.”
Final Thoughts
PoyoWeb is a passion project, not a major tech startup, but a personal effort by a teen coder who wanted to build something for the indie web. Along the way, he’s learned not just about hosting and security, but about community and collaboration.
“Creating a web host is surprisingly easy, yet tedious! The basics are easy to set up, but there are lots of headaches: SSL, custom domains, SQL injections, XSS…”
But in the end, the friendships and community matter more than the technology.
“Perhaps the best thing about creating a web host isn’t the final product. Perhaps it’s the small community and friends we made along the way.”
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