Every web application needs infrastructure. The question is who manages it: you or a platform? Here is how to decide.
Managed Platforms
Services that handle server management, scaling, monitoring, and deployments. You deploy code. They handle everything else.
Examples: Vercel, Netlify, Railway, Render, Heroku, AWS Amplify.
What Managed Platforms Handle
- Server provisioning and maintenance
- Operating system updates and security patches
- SSL certificate management
- CDN and edge caching
- Auto-scaling for traffic
- Monitoring and alerting
- CI/CD pipeline integration
- Backup and recovery
- DDoS protection
Managed Platform Costs
| Platform | Free tier | Pro tier | Typical monthly |
|---|---|---|---|
| Vercel | 100GB bandwidth | $20/team | $20-100 |
| Netlify | 100GB bandwidth | $19/member | $19-95 |
| Railway | $5 credit | Pay-as-you-go | $10-100 |
| Render | Static sites free | $7-85/service | $15-200 |
| Heroku | None (2022) | $7-50/dyno | $50-500 |
Self-Hosted Infrastructure
You rent servers (VPS or bare metal) and manage everything yourself. Full control over every aspect of the infrastructure.
Examples: DigitalOcean Droplets, AWS EC2, Hetzner, Linode/Akamai.
What You Manage
- Server setup and configuration
- Operating system installation and updates
- Firewall and security configuration
- SSL certificate installation and renewal
- Performance tuning and caching
- Monitoring setup (Grafana, Prometheus)
- Backup procedures
- Scaling (manual or configured auto-scaling)
- CI/CD pipeline setup
- Database management
- Log aggregation
Self-Hosted Costs
| Provider | Specifications | Monthly |
|---|---|---|
| DigitalOcean | 2 CPU, 4GB RAM | $24 |
| Hetzner | 4 CPU, 8GB RAM | $7 |
| AWS EC2 (t3.medium) | 2 CPU, 4GB RAM | $34 |
| Linode | 2 CPU, 4GB RAM | $24 |
Raw server costs are lower. But add:
- Your time or a DevOps engineer: 5-20 hours/month
- Monitoring tools: $0-50/month
- Backup storage: $5-20/month
- CDN (Cloudflare): $0-20/month
Total self-hosted cost: $30-300/month + significant time investment.
The Hidden Cost: Your Time
Critical factor most comparisons miss. Managing infrastructure takes time:
| Task | Frequency | Time per occurrence |
|---|---|---|
| Security updates | Weekly | 30 min |
| Monitoring review | Daily | 15 min |
| Troubleshooting issues | Monthly | 2-8 hours |
| Database maintenance | Weekly | 30 min |
| Backup verification | Monthly | 1 hour |
| SSL renewal | Quarterly | 15 min |
| Performance optimization | Quarterly | 4-8 hours |
| Total monthly | 10-25 hours |
At $100-200/hour (developer or DevOps rate), self-hosting costs $1,000-5,000/month in labor. Managed platforms eliminate this entirely.
Performance Comparison
Managed Platforms
- Vercel: Edge network in 100+ cities, <50ms TTFB globally
- Auto-scaling handles traffic spikes
- Built-in CDN and caching
- Optimized for specific frameworks (Vercel for Next.js)
Self-Hosted
- Performance depends on your configuration skills
- Can achieve excellent performance with proper setup
- More control over caching strategies and server configuration
- Single server location unless you configure multi-region
For most applications, managed platforms deliver better performance with zero configuration.
Security Comparison
Managed Platforms
- Platform handles OS patches and security updates
- Built-in DDoS protection
- Automatic SSL
- SOC 2 compliant (most major platforms)
- Limited attack surface
Self-Hosted
- You handle all security
- One missed patch can be catastrophic
- Must configure firewalls, fail2ban, etc.
- More attack surface (SSH, open ports)
- Full audit control
Managed platforms are more secure for most teams. Self-hosted is more secure only if you have dedicated security expertise.
Decision Matrix
| Factor | Managed | Self-Hosted |
|---|---|---|
| Setup time | Minutes | Hours/days |
| Ongoing maintenance | None | 10-25 hrs/month |
| Server cost | Higher | Lower |
| Total cost (with labor) | Lower | Higher |
| Control | Limited | Complete |
| Scaling | Automatic | Manual/configured |
| Compliance | Platform dependent | Full control |
| Vendor lock-in | Some | Minimal |
| Best for team size | 1-20 developers | 20+ with DevOps |
When to Use Managed Platforms
- Team has no dedicated DevOps engineer
- Developer time is better spent on product
- Standard deployment patterns (Next.js, React, Node)
- Budget values productivity over raw server cost
- Auto-scaling is needed for variable traffic
When to Self-Host
- Regulatory requirements mandate infrastructure control
- You have dedicated DevOps staff
- Cost optimization at scale (100+ servers)
- Non-standard infrastructure requirements
- Data residency requirements
- Budget is extremely constrained (and time is abundant)
Our Recommendation
For 95% of business applications, deploy on Vercel (for Next.js) or Railway/Render (for full-stack). The total cost — including developer time saved — is lower than self-hosting, and the reliability is higher.
Contact us for infrastructure guidance and deployment setup.