Quick answer up front: selfhosting as a service is open-source software on your own infrastructure, with a service provider handling the operations — servers, updates, backups, monitoring. You keep control of your data and tools without administering servers yourself. The data stays in the EU, and there’s no lock-in because the software stays open.
Open source is tempting, and for good reason: Nextcloud instead of Dropbox, Mailcow instead of Microsoft 365, Gitea instead of GitHub, Vaultwarden instead of pricey password SaaS — no per-head license, no data in someone else’s hands, no lock-in. The catch only shows up after you install it: that part was easy, running it long-term is the real work.
The catch is operations
Getting software to run is something almost anyone can do. Running it securely and reliably for years is the actual job. Updates and security patches have to keep coming, without breaking anything in the process. Backups have to run — and the uncomfortable question isn’t whether they run, but whether you can actually restore something from them. You need monitoring so you hear about problems before your customers call. And eventually the classic happens: it’s Friday evening, the mail server is down, and you’re “the IT person.”
At that point most people bail and end up back on the convenient US cloud — landing right back in the lock-in they were trying to escape. And if Nextcloud got labeled “slow” along the way, it was almost never Nextcloud’s fault — it was exactly this operations problem.
It doesn’t have to be all or nothing
It’s not really an either-or question, though. You can use open source and keep control of your data without carrying the operations yourself. Someone else takes over servers, backups, monitoring, updates and scaling; your applications run on servers in the EU, GDPR-compliant. And if you want out again, you get out — your data isn’t held hostage. Some call this selfhosting as a service; the name doesn’t matter to me, the principle does. That’s exactly what cloudsourced is for.
The three models at a glance:
| Self-hosted | US SaaS (per user) | Managed open source (ANDERS IT) | |
|---|---|---|---|
| Who operates it | your team | the provider | we do |
| Cost model | staff & time | per head, with annual price hikes | no per-head model |
| Lock-in | none, but effort | high | none |
| Data location | wherever you choose | often the US | EU |
This pays off especially for teams that don’t want to hand over their data but can’t build their own IT department. For anyone who wants out of per-seat licenses and annual price increases. And for anyone who takes digital sovereignty seriously while staying pragmatic.
The freedom is already there with open source. What’s usually missing is someone who takes over operations without immediately taking your control away again.
Thinking about using open-source tools but don’t want to deal with servers? Get in touch — or take a look at Hosting & operations.