I struggle to beat a Django/Rails site with a few libraries and server side rendered templates. Not as straightforward to host as a static site, but much more straightforward than a static site plus a bunch of micro service APIs, plus I can render content on a fast server rather than a slow phone.

I’m all for SPAs for products that reach a certain level of complexity. They are 10x more capable, but take 10x the work.

How does it take 10x longer? The guide clearly says you can hand code your HTML, if that's your jam ;)