Self-hosted solutions have some advantages over service-provided ones. Some are obvious; others are not. Let's walk through the differences.
Self-hosted solutions can be deployed locally or in the cloud. Most system administrators would prefer using the cloud, as service-provided solutions do. Therefore, presenting cloud-based deployment as an advantage exclusive to service-provided solutions is not accurate.
With self-hosted solutions, you own the data and control how you access it.
Despite the sense of ownership, the reality is that most service providers use proprietary systems, where your data lives. Extracting your data from the system may also mean disrupting your access to it, as well as your ability to work as you normally do.
Self-hosted services are limited only by infrastructure capacity. There are no user licenses and no monthly fees beyond the hosting costs.
Service providers are usually based on user accounts. A larger number of users also means a higher monthly fee.
Self-hosted services are branding-friendly. In most cases, the underlying application is not visually prominent, so your brand remains the focus. Self-hosted services also keep your user accounts under your brand umbrella.
Most service providers do impose their own brand and give your users full control over their accounts.
BaaS is a self-hosted service. It has the advantages of any other self-hosted solution, and it can also be managed.
BaaS also has the ability to work with other services and projects, using them as fully integrated tools. For example, two recent additions to the service are:
Both projects offer full compatibility with your terms of service and local data privacy laws. And both are limited only by storage capacity. The data won't leave your system.
We have seen how some service providers use our data, and we are concerned about it. Despite some providers trying to reassure users that no data is shared, the reality is that, if we do not opt out (and sometimes we can't), our interactions are being recorded for purposes that are unclear to us. So yes, we are enforcing self-hosted services as a matter of protection.