If you cannot afford to buy a USB programmer for AVR, don’t worry, you can make one by yourself. This programmer uses a Atmega8 microcontroller with a few external passive components. The good thing is you don’t need any USB controller because it is implemented in the firmware inside Atmega8. Yes, you are right, you need an AVR programmer once to load the firmware inside Atmega8. You figure out how you gonna manage that.
Read more: Open Source USB AVR Programmer for Students and Hobbyists using Atmega8 microcontroller