Skip to content

Cost model thinking

Cost buckets

  1. Subscription fees — SaaS seats, modules
  2. Payment processing — Stripe etc. (usually % + fixed)
  3. Infrastructure — VPS, storage, email SMTP, domains
  4. Implementation — partner/consultant time
  5. Maintenance — hours/month of skilled attention
  6. Risk — downtime, data loss, lock-in exit cost

Heuristic

If nobody on staff can restore the system, you are renting hope. Either buy a managed product with a support contract or budget training/time for self-host.