About SelfHostCost

SelfHostCost answers one question, tool by tool and team size by team size: is running an open-source alternative yourself actually cheaper than paying for the software, once the server, the backups and your own hours are counted?

Why it exists

Most "self-hosted alternative" lists stop at the licence price, which makes self-hosting look free. Most vendor comparison pages stop at features, which makes the subscription look inevitable. Neither prices the thing that decides it: a server has a high floor and almost no slope, a seat has no floor and a steep one. This site computes where those two lines cross, and publishes the answer even when it is "keep paying".

Who runs it

SelfHostCost is an independent project, launched on 2026-09-14. It is not owned or funded by any software vendor, hosting provider or open-source project that appears on it, and nobody pays to be listed, ranked or described in a particular way.

The only financial relationship this site has with anyone it mentions is DigitalOcean's standard referral link, which earns hosting account credit when someone signs up through it and pays their first $25. It is marked on every page that carries it and described in full on the disclosure page.

How it is built, in the open

Every page is generated from a dataset and a cost model that are both public. You can read the code, the sizing figures and the dated price records in the source repository on GitHub, and the reasoning behind every assumption on the methodology page.

Today that means 65 published comparisons, built on 30 vendor prices read directly from vendors' own pricing pages. Comparisons that would depend on a price we have not checked are withheld rather than estimated.

Corrections

Prices change and we will sometimes be behind. If a figure is wrong or stale, email the page address and a link to the vendor page showing the current price. We re-read the vendor's page, update the record with the new date, and rebuild. Corrections are never made on the strength of a claim alone, in either direction.

Contact

For corrections, suggestions for tools to add, or anything else: selfhostcost.contact@gmail.com. Every message is read.

We do not accept paid placements, sponsored reviews or requests to change a conclusion, so there is no need to ask.