Self-hosting and PaaS, what each option actually means
Before comparing the two, it is worth defining them clearly, since they are frequently confused.
Self-hosting means renting a bare server, a VPS from a provider such as Hetzner, OVH or Contabo, and installing everything your site needs to run on it yourself, from the operating system and database to the web server, SSL certificates and deployment tools. You hold the keys to the machine.
A PaaS, or Platform as a Service, works the other way round. You connect your Git repository, and the platform (Vercel, Railway, DigitalOcean App Platform) takes care of building, deploying and running your application. You never see the underlying server.
Cost, predictable versus usage-based
What a PaaS costs
The three most widely used platforms in 2026 all work on a model that combines a subscription with usage-based billing.
- Vercel's Pro plan starts at $20 per developer seat per month, with an included usage credit. Beyond that credit, bandwidth and requests are billed on top and can push the bill up quickly, especially on a high-traffic site
- Railway bills on usage, with a Hobby tier at $5 and a Pro tier at $20 that includes a usage credit. One point worth knowing is that a container running continuously costs money even without traffic, unlike a serverless model
- DigitalOcean App Platform bills per component, starting at $5 per web service, with managed databases charged separately. The price stays predictable but rises with the number of components
What self-hosting costs
A VPS from Hetzner starts at around €5 to €10 per month for a small instance, which can often host your entire site, database included. The price is fixed, so whether you have 100 or 10,000 visitors this month, the bill does not change as long as the server can handle the load.
The hidden costs of self-hosting
The price of the VPS is only part of the total. Before comparing it with a PaaS subscription, you also need to account for the following.
- The initial setup time, which covers provisioning the server, securing access, installing a deployment tool and configuring SSL certificates, and takes anywhere from a few hours to several days depending on the complexity of the project
- Ongoing maintenance, including operating system security updates, tracking known vulnerabilities and monitoring uptime, none of which happens automatically as it would on a PaaS
- Backups, which you have to set up and test yourself, with separate storage costs if you want to keep them off the server
- Manual scaling, since a sharp rise in traffic means stepping in yourself to change instance size or add capacity, whereas a PaaS scales automatically
- Key-person risk, because if only one person knows how the server is configured, their departure or unavailability becomes a real risk for the project
On a small, well-understood project these costs remain modest. On a project that grows or changes hands, however, they can weigh more heavily than expected if nobody planned for them.
Speed of launch and simplicity
On this point the PaaS has a clear advantage. You connect a Git repository and your site is online within minutes, with automatic HTTPS, preview deployments for every pull request, and scaling handled for you. This is the main argument for Vercel, Railway and DigitalOcean App Platform.
Self-hosting, by contrast, requires some setup work, from configuring the server and installing a deployment tool such as Dokploy or Coolify to managing SSL certificates and securing access. Once this is done, day-to-day deployment becomes straightforward, but getting started takes longer than a simple git push.
Control and flexibility
A PaaS imposes a framework, with execution time limits on serverless functions, constraints on certain runtimes, and sometimes a specific architecture to follow in order to make full use of the platform. This suits the vast majority of websites and web applications well, but it can become a hard limit if your project has specific requirements, long-running processes or particular system dependencies.
A self-hosted server imposes nothing of the kind. You install and configure whatever you need, and you are never held back by the limits of a third-party platform.
Maintenance and operational workload
This is the other side of control. With a PaaS, security updates, scalability and infrastructure management are handled by the provider. With self-hosting, it falls to you, or to your technical provider, to monitor the server, apply patches and manage backups. None of this is insurmountable, but it does require skills or support that not every business has in-house.
Data location and choice of provider
This is where the question of digital sovereignty, much discussed in Europe, carries real weight, whereas in other areas it is more of a secondary concern. Vercel and Railway are American companies whose infrastructure runs largely on American cloud providers. DigitalOcean offers European regions but remains an American company. A VPS from Hetzner or OVH, on the other hand, means a European company and European infrastructure, with data that physically stays in Europe.
For many projects this makes no difference. For others, such as those in regulated sectors, those serving B2B clients who raise the question explicitly, or those whose founder holds a clear personal conviction on the matter, it becomes a selection criterion in its own right rather than a technical detail.
When a PaaS makes sense
- You have no in-house technical resource dedicated to infrastructure
- Your traffic is unpredictable or subject to spikes, and you want automatic scaling without having to think about it
- You want to iterate quickly, with automatic previews for every update
- A variable monthly budget is not a problem for you to manage
When self-hosting makes sense
- You want a fixed, predictable cost regardless of traffic
- Keeping data in Europe matters for your business or your clients
- Your project has specific technical requirements that fall outside what a standard PaaS allows
- You have access to technical skills, in-house or through a provider, to take on the maintenance described above
At Nualt, the choice is made case by case
This comparison is not meant to name a winner. PaaS and self-hosting answer different constraints, which is precisely why we do not apply a single technical preference to every project.
When we scope a project, we look at your budget, how predictable your traffic is, the technical skills available in-house, your data location requirements and the time horizon of the project. The right hosting is the one that fits those criteria, rather than the one we happen to be used to installing.
Self-hosting vs PaaS, your questions
The questions we are asked most often when a client is weighing a managed platform against a self-hosted server.
What is the difference between self-hosting and PaaS?
Self-hosting means renting a server and configuring it yourself from start to finish. A PaaS is a platform that manages the infrastructure for you, so you deploy your code and it takes care of the rest.
Is a PaaS more expensive than self-hosting over time?
Generally yes, especially as traffic grows. A self-hosted VPS stays at a fixed price whatever the number of visitors, whereas the usage-based billing of a PaaS follows the growth of traffic and of the number of services. This holds provided you have accounted for the maintenance time that self-hosting requires; without it, the real cost gap is smaller than it appears.
Do you need DevOps skills to self-host?
Yes, at least a solid grounding in server administration, or a provider who handles it for you. Without that, maintenance, security and backups become a risk rather than a saving.
Do Vercel and DigitalOcean host our data in Europe?
Vercel and DigitalOcean are American companies whose infrastructure runs mostly through American clouds, even though some region options exist. For strictly European data location, a VPS from a provider such as Hetzner or OVH is the most direct solution.
Can you move from a PaaS to self-hosting later?
Yes, and it is a common scenario, particularly when traffic grows and the cost of the PaaS becomes significant. The migration is simpler if the project was designed without dependencies that are too specific to the original platform.
