[bmilleare]

Exactly this. If sticker cost is your leading factor then these kinds of services can seem crazy, but when you factor in the real cost of self-hosting then it quickly becomes a no-brainer.

We're more interested in what happens when things break (and who's responsibility it is) than minor cost savings in calm waters.

[acdha]

One other area which tends to get ignored is opportunity cost: if it's the only thing you do there are many things which aren't that hard to operate but if they're not a primary function the cost of having to pull someone off of other projects to handle problems, security updates, etc. is more than the direct service costs.