the time-cost step is the part most “self-host to save money” posts skip, and i like that you say the savings only hold if someone is willing to own the server. one thing i’d add for the client-site part of that list: if some of those are wordpress or php sites, there’s a middle option, a managed layer on top of a vps. you pay more than for a bare server, but backups, ssl and support are handled for you. (cloudways team here, so biased.) it only covers php apps like wordpress, laravel and magento, cloudways now also has managed node.js hosting (velocity), so node apps don’t have to stay on the vps. it’s git-based deploys with backups, ssl and patching handled, on flat monthly pricing, which ties into the cost math in your post. do you count backup restores in the monthly time estimate, or only deploys?