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

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