senn-tech
StrategySelf-Hosting as a Strategy: Data Sovereignty Instead of Cloud Dependence
"Into the Cloud" was long the standard answer. We see it more differentiated: For predictable, permanent workloads, own hardware is often cheaper, faster, and legally cleaner.
The Three Arguments
1. Data Sovereignty. Customer data, contracts, internal documents — and increasingly AI inference over exactly this data. On own hardware, they do not leave the premises. This greatly simplifies GDPR questions.
2. Cost Structure. The cloud pays off for elastic peaks. For permanently running VMs, storage, and especially GPU inference, the calculation quickly tips in favor of own hardware — the monthly cloud GPU bill buys the card in a few months.
3. Control. No surprising price or license changes (see our VMware migration), no API limits, no vendor lock-in.
What Self-Hosting Really Costs
Being honest: Own hardware means own responsibility.
- High availability must be built — Proxmox cluster, DRBD/LINSTOR storage, backups.
- Security & Operations: Firewalling, CrowdSec, monitoring with Graylog, patch management.
- Know-how: This is the real cost item — and exactly here we set our focus.
Where the Cloud Still Wins
Self-hosting is no dogma. For irregular load spikes, global delivery (CDN), cold archive storage, and short-lived experiments, the cloud remains the better tool. The honest calculation is a total-cost-of-ownership analysis over three to five years — including electricity, hardware depreciation, and personnel time — not a list price comparison.
Our Approach
We operate a hybrid but on-prem-centered stack: Proxmox virtualization, HA storage, own LLM inference on GPUs, mail and monitoring — all under our own control. Self-hosting is for us not an end in itself, but the foundation for sovereignty and calculable costs.
When does the cloud still beat own hardware?+
Self-hosting is no dogma. For irregular load spikes, global delivery via CDN, cold-archive storage, and short-lived experiments, the cloud remains the better tool. Own hardware pays off mainly for predictable, permanent workloads. The honest decision is a total-cost-of-ownership analysis over three to five years, not a dogma in either direction.
Is self-hosting really cheaper than the cloud?+
For predictable, permanently running workloads often yes — especially for VMs, storage, and GPU inference, where the monthly cloud GPU bill buys the card in a few months. But the honest calculation is a total-cost-of-ownership analysis over three to five years, including electricity, hardware depreciation, and personnel time, not a pure list-price comparison.
What hidden costs does self-hosting bring?+
Own hardware means own responsibility. High availability must be built yourself — Proxmox cluster, DRBD/LINSTOR storage, and backups. On top come security and operations: firewalling, CrowdSec, monitoring, and patch management. The real cost item, though, is know-how. Without that expertise in-house or via a partner, the calculation quickly tips back toward the cloud.