Open source removes a license fee. It does not remove the work. Before you replace a paid tool with one you run yourself, add up everything you will pay for in money and in hours, and compare it with the bill you are trying to stop. This guide gives you the formula and a worked sample so you can do it with your own numbers.
Move and replace · guide 6 of 7 · Reviewed Oct 25, 2026
Each calculator opens on a made-up sample. Type over it with your own figures; nothing you type leaves this tab.
The honest yearly cost of running open-source software yourself, set against the bill it replaces, with the seat count where it stops paying.
Arithmetic only, not tax, accounting or legal advice. Check the figures against your own order form.
The Nextcloud pages are used as one concrete example of what a documented self-hosted product asks of its operator. Other projects ask for different things; read the documentation of the one you are considering.
Write each input in a sheet with a name beside it, so the person who inherits this in a year knows where the numbers came from. If an input is a guess, mark it as a guess and re-check it after the first three months of real use.
Every number above is an invented sample chosen so you can follow the arithmetic. It is not a price list and it is not what any product costs. The point is the shape: in this sample the hours dominate, and the license fee is the smaller line.
Run the formula the other way to see what would have to be true. The money lines other than time come to $480 + $180 + $120 + $300 = $1,080, which leaves $1,800 − $1,080 = $720 for admin time. At $75 an hour that is 9.6 hours a year. If you cannot honestly run the tool in under about ten hours a year, this sample does not come out ahead.
Self-hosting is a fit when the job is narrow, the data is easy to back up and replace, a named person wants the work, and the arithmetic still holds after you count that person's time. The license rules matter too; read open-source licenses for founders before you modify anything.
Pilot with one team. Keep the old plan running read-only until the replacement has done a real month of work, and keep the notice date for the old contract on the calendar, as described in cancelling without penalties. A saving is counted when the old bill has stopped and the new costs are real, not before. For a full move plan, the Dropbox migration guide shows the order of steps for a file tool.
Send us the export and see which lines are worth a second look. A connected version is planned.
Worked example. Type over it.
Result
| Self-hosting, per year | Amount |
|---|---|
| Hosting, backups, tooling | 720.00 |
| Admin and restore-test time | 2,640.00 |
| Total | 3,360.00 |
| One-off set-up (not in the yearly total) | 1,200.00 |
The saving holds only if the time is real. Price the admin hours at what that person's time costs the company, not at zero.