Conveniently, this allows me to suggest the simplest thing that might work:
Do the simplest thing that might work.
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.
Both are incredibly well-made services :)
AWS ECS Fargate + CloudFront can go a long way for a few cents a month.