Self-Hosted
ELI5 — The Vibe Check
Self-hosted means you run the software on your own servers instead of using someone else's managed cloud version. You install it, configure it, update it, back it up — everything is your job. More control, more responsibility, usually cheaper. Hacker types love self-hosting everything.
Real Talk
Self-hosted refers to deploying and operating software on infrastructure you control — your own servers, VPS, or bare metal. Unlike managed services, you are responsible for installation, configuration, updates, security, backups, and availability. Common for open-source software: Gitea, Plausible, Mattermost, Supabase.
When You'll Hear This
"We self-host Plausible Analytics instead of paying for the cloud version." / "Self-hosting Postgres means we own our data but we're also on the hook for backups."
Related Terms
DigitalOcean
DigitalOcean is the developer-friendly cloud that says 'we know AWS is confusing, here are cheap Linux servers with clean docs.
Docker
Docker is like a lunchbox for your app.
IaaS (Infrastructure as a Service)
IaaS is when you rent the raw computer hardware in someone else's data center.
Managed Service
A managed service is when the cloud provider runs the thing for you — you don't patch it, back it up, or fix it when it crashes.
On-Premise
On-premise (or 'on-prem') means your servers physically live in YOUR building — not in Amazon's warehouse.