Open Source vs SaaS: A 5-Year Cost for a 50-Person Team
·OSSAlt Team
saasopen-sourcecost-analysiscomparison2026
Open Source vs SaaS: A 5-Year Cost Comparison for a 50-Person Team
SaaS pricing looks reasonable per user per month. But multiply by 50 users, 12 months, and 5 years — it's a different story.
The Full Stack Comparison
We're comparing 12 categories that most 50-person teams need:
| Category | SaaS Choice | Open Source Choice |
|---|---|---|
| Team chat | Slack Pro | Mattermost |
| Project management | Jira Standard | Plane |
| Documentation | Notion Plus | Outline |
| Analytics | Google Analytics + CMP | Plausible |
| CRM | HubSpot Starter | Twenty |
| Email marketing | Mailchimp Standard | Listmonk |
| Customer support | Intercom Starter | Chatwoot |
| Scheduling | Calendly Teams | Cal.com |
| Password manager | 1Password Teams | Vaultwarden |
| Monitoring | Better Stack | Uptime Kuma + Grafana |
| Automation | Zapier Pro | n8n |
| Authentication | Auth0 Essentials | Keycloak |
Annual SaaS Costs (50 Users)
| Tool | Per User/Month | Annual Cost |
|---|---|---|
| Slack Pro | $8.75 | $5,250 |
| Jira Standard | $8.15 | $4,890 |
| Notion Plus | $12 | $7,200 |
| GA4 + CMP | — | $1,200 |
| HubSpot Starter | $20 | $12,000 |
| Mailchimp Standard | — | $3,600 |
| Intercom Starter | — | $9,480 |
| Calendly Teams | $12 | $7,200 |
| 1Password Teams | $4 | $2,400 |
| Better Stack | — | $1,800 |
| Zapier Pro | — | $3,588 |
| Auth0 Essentials | — | $2,760 |
| Total | $61,368/year |
SaaS Price Increases
SaaS companies raise prices regularly. Historical average: 5-10% annually.
| Year | At 0% increase | At 5% increase | At 10% increase |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | $61,368 | $61,368 | $61,368 |
| 2 | $61,368 | $64,436 | $67,505 |
| 3 | $61,368 | $67,658 | $74,255 |
| 4 | $61,368 | $71,041 | $81,681 |
| 5 | $61,368 | $74,593 | $89,849 |
| 5-Year Total | $306,840 | $339,097 | $374,658 |
Annual Open Source Costs
Infrastructure
| Component | Monthly | Annual |
|---|---|---|
| 2× VPS (Hetzner, 8 GB each) | $14 | $168 |
| 1× VPS (Hetzner, 4 GB — monitoring) | $4.50 | $54 |
| Backups (Backblaze B2) | $5 | $60 |
| Domains (3) | $3 | $36 |
| SMTP relay (SES) | $5 | $60 |
| Total infrastructure | $31.50 | $378 |
Time Investment
| Activity | Year 1 | Year 2+ |
|---|---|---|
| Initial setup (30 hours × $100/hr) | $3,000 | — |
| Monthly maintenance (4 hours × $100/hr × 12) | $4,800 | $4,800 |
| Incident response (~10 hours/year × $100/hr) | $1,000 | $1,000 |
| Total time cost | $8,800 | $5,800 |
Total Open Source Cost
| Year | Infrastructure | Time | Total |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | $378 | $8,800 | $9,178 |
| 2 | $378 | $5,800 | $6,178 |
| 3 | $378 | $5,800 | $6,178 |
| 4 | $378 | $5,800 | $6,178 |
| 5 | $378 | $5,800 | $6,178 |
| 5-Year Total | $1,890 | $31,800 | $33,890 |
The 5-Year Comparison
| Metric | SaaS (0% increase) | SaaS (5% increase) | Open Source |
|---|---|---|---|
| 5-Year Total | $306,840 | $339,097 | $33,890 |
| Average Annual | $61,368 | $67,819 | $6,778 |
| 5-Year Savings | — | — | $272,950 – $305,207 |
| Savings % | — | — | 89-90% |
What Changes as You Scale
Growing from 50 to 100 Users
| Stack | At 50 Users/Year | At 100 Users/Year | Cost Increase |
|---|---|---|---|
| SaaS | $61,368 | $122,736 | +100% (linear) |
| Open Source | $6,178 | $6,578 | +6% (server upgrade) |
SaaS scales linearly with headcount. Self-hosted scales with load (sublinear).
At 200 Users
| Stack | Annual Cost | Difference |
|---|---|---|
| SaaS | $245,472 | — |
| Open Source | $7,378 | $238,094 savings (97%) |
Risk-Adjusted Analysis
Risks of Self-Hosting
| Risk | Probability | Impact | Mitigation |
|---|---|---|---|
| Extended downtime | Low | Medium | Monitoring + alerting + documented recovery |
| Data loss | Very low | High | 3-2-1 backups + tested restores |
| Security breach | Low | High | Security checklist + updates + firewalls |
| Key person dependency | Medium | Medium | Documentation + automation scripts |
Risks of SaaS
| Risk | Probability | Medium | Mitigation |
|---|---|---|---|
| Price increase | High | Medium | Annual contracts, negotiation |
| Vendor lock-in | High | High | Export data regularly |
| Service discontinuation | Low | High | Hard to mitigate |
| Data breach (vendor side) | Low | High | Vendor security audits |
| Feature removal | Medium | Medium | Accept or find alternatives |
Hybrid Approach (Best of Both)
Not everything needs to be self-hosted. Optimize by category:
| Category | Recommendation | Why |
|---|---|---|
| Chat | Self-host | Highest per-seat cost, easy to host |
| Project management | Self-host | High per-seat, Plane is excellent |
| Analytics | Self-host | Privacy benefits, simple to host |
| Password manager | Self-host | Security benefit, ultra-light |
| Email marketing | Self-host | Massive savings at scale |
| CRM | Evaluate | Complex, depends on needs |
| Design | Keep SaaS | Figma's collaboration is hard to match |
| Authentication | Self-host or managed | Keycloak is mature but complex |
Hybrid estimated cost: $15,000-25,000/year (vs $61,000 full SaaS)
The Bottom Line
Over 5 years, a 50-person team spends:
- Full SaaS: $306,000-340,000
- Full self-hosted: $34,000
- Hybrid: $75,000-125,000
Self-hosting saves $270,000+ over 5 years. Even the hybrid approach saves $180,000+.
The math gets more dramatic as you scale — at 100 users, 5-year savings exceed $550,000.
Find the best open source alternative for every SaaS tool at OSSAlt.