> It's a tradeoff: you introduce an external dependency and give up control.
I think this is why self-hostable solutions are becoming more common.
When a solution is self-hostable, both sides win.
The SaaS provider can operate the solution, which offers revenue. Customers like it because they can get going quickly.
Or the customer can host it. This allows them to control where the data goes and minimize costs. I like the way this tweet puts it "The real reason to buy SAAS is for someone else to do the ops work"[0].
In both cases the customer benefits from the continued development of the software (similar to how a library improving benefits all applications which depend on the library).
And the ability to self-host removes a business risk. If the SaaS vendor fails, well, we have to support it ourselves. If it is OSS or we have the code in escrow, all the better.
I think this is why self-hostable solutions are becoming more common.
When a solution is self-hostable, both sides win.
The SaaS provider can operate the solution, which offers revenue. Customers like it because they can get going quickly.
Or the customer can host it. This allows them to control where the data goes and minimize costs. I like the way this tweet puts it "The real reason to buy SAAS is for someone else to do the ops work"[0].
In both cases the customer benefits from the continued development of the software (similar to how a library improving benefits all applications which depend on the library).
And the ability to self-host removes a business risk. If the SaaS vendor fails, well, we have to support it ourselves. If it is OSS or we have the code in escrow, all the better.
[0]: https://twitter.com/rickasaurus/status/1700697140492648454