How much would you save self-hosting your stack?
Plug in your current SaaS bills. See real savings against an honest VPS cost — not a fantasy of zero. Then see the self-hosted alternative for each tool you're paying for.
Your current SaaS spend
Pick what you're on (or leave a category blank if you don't use it). Defaults are common 2026 plan pricing — override any field with your actual bill.
Where your savings could come from
Every line you entered has a self-hosted version. This isn't a checklist to work through in order — it's just where the money is hiding. Start with whatever feels easy, or whatever's bleeding you the most. Up to you.
When self-hosting is exactly right for you
Saving money is the obvious win. But for the right builder, self-hosting unlocks something more valuable: freedom to experiment, ship faster, and own your stack forever.
Want to try a self-hosted analytics tool, a Discord alternative, a niche password manager? With Coolify on your VPS, deploy it in one click. No new card, no new trial. Self-hosting drops the cost of curiosity to zero.
A $12/mo VPS can run 10+ small projects side by side. Client demos, throwaway prototypes, weekend builds. None of them adds a separate bill. Your monthly cost stops scaling with how much you ship.
Every SaaS abstracts something away. Self-hosting puts you face-to-face with databases, queues, DNS, SSL, networking. That knowledge compounds across every project you build.
No signup forms, no payment approvals, no waiting. Need a database? Container's already running. Need email sending? Postal's right there. Friction is the silent killer of side projects — self-hosting kills the friction.
The side project you built three years ago and forgot about? Still running. No subscription to reactivate, no plan that got deprecated, no forced migration to a new tier. You own the data, the config, all of it.
The first self-hosted tool takes a weekend. The second takes an evening. The fifth takes 20 minutes. Each one teaches patterns you reuse in the next. SaaS skills don't transfer like this.
The honest test: if you're the kind of builder who reads release notes for fun, likes understanding what's under the hood, and wants to ship more without scaling your monthly bills, self-hosting is one of the highest-leverage skills you can pick up.
When you should NOT self-host
Self-hosting saves money, but it costs time, attention, and a willingness to be the one who fixes things. Here's when paying for SaaS is the right call.
Nothing wrong with this. Some people love the infrastructure layer; others want to stay focused on product, marketing, or design. Know which one you are.
Linux, Docker, DNS, SSL certificates, backups. You don't need to be an expert, but you need to be willing to learn. If you can't carve out the time right now, the SaaS bill is worth it.
If your total SaaS spend is under $40/month, self-hosting probably costs more time than it saves money. The math works at scale, not at small.
The honest part: this list is shorter than it used to be. With AI and step-by-step guides, building and maintaining self-hosted tools like Coolify is easier than ever. Plenty of times you'll fix a problem yourself faster than you'd get an answer out of a managed host's support queue. The real tradeoff isn't difficulty anymore, it's ownership: when something breaks, you're the one who handles it. If that sounds fine to you, you're ready.
Frequently asked questions
Honest answers to the questions builders ask before they commit to the swap.
