Well you are not alone as there are many threads complaining about the pricing for Galaxy. Especially when it does not come with MongoDB. You have to go set up a free one at mlab. What if tomorrow mlab decides no free MongoDB? You know where I’m going with the cost.
There is not much benefits over setting up your own on a $5/month on Linode/DO. And definitely, there is no benefit to using a managed service like NodeChef for $9/month. Actually NodeChef offers significant benefits since it includes a database. Another example setting up lets encrypt on Galaxy vs NodeChef? Galaxy has like 15-20 steps process which you repeat when the certificate expires while NodeChef is one command and they renew it for you. https://nodechef.com/deploy
Guide: Setting up LetsEncrypt SSL on Galaxy
MDG does not have much to show for the ~26/month starting price.