Cloud is the default answer. It is not always the right one. A practical look at when owning your infrastructure wins, and when it does not.
The cost curve
Cloud is cheap to start and expensive at scale. Egress fees, managed services and per-request pricing add up fast once you have steady traffic. A fixed VPS or dedicated box can be three to five times cheaper at predictable load.
Control and data
Self-hosting keeps your data on hardware you choose, in a jurisdiction you choose. For privacy-sensitive work that is not a nice-to-have, it is the requirement.
The catch
When you self-host, you own uptime, backups and security. That is real, ongoing work, unless you have someone who handles it for you. This is exactly where a single technical partner earns their keep.
A simple rule
Spiky or unknown load, early stage, rapid change: go cloud. Steady, predictable load at scale: self-host or hybrid. Either way, measure your real usage before you migrate, not after.
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