Is Self-Hosting Actually Cheaper? I Built a Calculator to Find Out

#selfhosting #docker #homelab #devops

The question I see most in every self-hosting community: Is it actually cheaper to self-host than pay for cloud services?

The honest answer: it depends. And the math is more nuanced than most people think.

So I built a calculator to show the exact numbers for YOUR situation.

The Hidden Math of Self-Hosting

Most self-hosting ROI discussions miss critical factors:

Electricity costs vary wildly ($0.10-0.40/kWh depending on location)
Hardware depreciation — that $400 mini PC loses value over 5 years
Opportunity cost — your time has value, even if you enjoy tinkering
Cloud price creep — subscriptions increase 5-15% annually

How the Calculator Works

The Self-Hosting Cost Calculator lets you:

Select your current cloud services — 32 services across 6 categories (storage, collaboration, media, security, automation, development)
Choose your hardware tier — from a $200 mini PC to a $10K enterprise server
See your break-even point — the exact month where self-hosting becomes cheaper
Project 5-year savings — with electricity and maintenance factored in
Share your results — get a unique URL to show friends or your team

Real Scenarios

The Cloud Photo Hoarder: Google One (2TB) + iCloud+ + Adobe Creative Cloud = ~$45/month. A $400 mini PC with a $200 NAS drive breaks even in 14 months, saving $2,000+ over 5 years.

The Privacy-Focused Professional: Notion + Dropbox Business + 1Password Teams + Grafana Cloud = ~$80/month. A $1,500 micro server breaks even in 19 months.

The Homelab Enthusiast: Running 15+ services replacing $150+/month in cloud equivalents. Even a $3,000 setup breaks even in 20 months.

Why Client-Side Only

All calculations happen in your browser. No data is sent anywhere. No tracking. No analytics on your selections. This felt important for a tool targeting the privacy-conscious self-hosting community.