What it is
"Software as a service" โ a product you use by subscription in the browser, with no installation and no server of your own (Zapier, Notion, most CRMs).
How we use it
We often offer a self-hosted alternative to a SaaS product when a client wants to stop depending on someone else's platform and pricing.
Where SaaS suits a business
- You need to start working today, with no server and no setup.
- Several people use the service, and nobody is there to administer it.
- The task is standard, and a ready-made service covers it fully.
What it looks like in our practice
We often suggest a self-hosted replacement for a cloud service, not on principle but because of specific cases:
- Access gone overnight. An IT company lost Canva, Notion, Jira and AI tools because of regional restrictions. Work stopped, and public workarounds broke the security policy. The fix was a gateway on the company's own servers.
- Paying for every step. Cloud Zapier and Make charge by the number of operations. n8n on your own server for lead automation has no execution limit.
- Communication that does not depend on a messenger. Peregovorka is voice and chat on your own server instead of a cloud service.
We move teams from cloud services to their own servers under Infrastructure.
Common SaaS problems
- The service decides for you. It can drop a feature, raise the price or leave the country.
- Your data is with another company. Leads, correspondence and customers sit on its servers.
- Plan limits. Business growth runs into the next pricing tier.
When SaaS is the right choice
For testing an idea, a temporary task and anything not critical to operations, a cloud service is cheaper and simpler than your own server. Your own server pays off when the service becomes a long-term part of the business.