Building a Complete Business Stack Under $50/Month with OSS
·OSSAlt Team
open-sourcebusinessself-hostingcost-analysis2026
Building a Complete Business Stack Under $50/Month with OSS
Every tool a business needs — communication, project management, CRM, marketing, analytics, support, and more — for less than a single SaaS subscription.
The $50/Month Stack
Infrastructure: $30/month
| Component | Provider | Monthly Cost |
|---|---|---|
| Main server (8 GB RAM) | Hetzner CX32 | $7 |
| App server (8 GB RAM) | Hetzner CX32 | $7 |
| Database server (4 GB) | Hetzner CX22 | $4.50 |
| Object storage (100 GB) | Hetzner | $1 |
| Backups (Backblaze B2) | Backblaze | $3 |
| SMTP (Amazon SES) | AWS | $5 |
| Domains (3) | Various | $2.50 |
| Total | $30 |
Tools: $0/month (all open source)
| Category | Tool | Server | RAM |
|---|---|---|---|
| Communication | Mattermost | Main | 512 MB |
| Video calls | Jitsi Meet | App | 1 GB |
| Project management | Plane | Main | 512 MB |
| Documentation | Outline | Main | 256 MB |
| CRM | Twenty | App | 512 MB |
| Customer support | Chatwoot | App | 512 MB |
| Email marketing | Listmonk | Main | 128 MB |
| Analytics | Plausible | Main | 256 MB |
| Scheduling | Cal.com | App | 512 MB |
| Automation | n8n | App | 256 MB |
| Forms | Formbricks | Main | 128 MB |
| Link management | Dub | Main | 128 MB |
| Password manager | Vaultwarden | Main | 50 MB |
| Monitoring | Uptime Kuma | Main | 128 MB |
| Observability | Grafana + Prometheus | App | 512 MB |
| Search | Meilisearch | App | 256 MB |
| Authentication | Keycloak | Main | 512 MB |
| File storage | Nextcloud | App | 512 MB |
| E-signatures | Documenso | App | 256 MB |
| Reverse proxy | Caddy | Both | 50 MB each |
Shared Services
| Service | Server | RAM | Used By |
|---|---|---|---|
| PostgreSQL | DB | 2 GB | All tools that need SQL |
| Redis | DB | 512 MB | Mattermost, Chatwoot, Plane, etc. |
Total RAM usage: ~9 GB across 3 servers (16 GB available)
Budget Remaining: $20/month
Use for:
- Scaling servers when needed
- Additional storage
- Premium SMTP if sending volume increases
- Domain purchases for clients
What This Stack Replaces
| Category | SaaS Equivalent | SaaS Cost (25 users) |
|---|---|---|
| Slack Business+ | Mattermost | $4,500/year |
| Zoom Business | Jitsi Meet | $4,000/year |
| Jira Premium | Plane | $4,800/year |
| Notion Business | Outline | $5,400/year |
| HubSpot CRM | Twenty | $6,000/year |
| Intercom | Chatwoot | $11,700/year |
| Mailchimp | Listmonk | $2,400/year |
| Google Analytics | Plausible | $0* |
| Calendly Teams | Cal.com | $3,600/year |
| Zapier Pro | n8n | $3,588/year |
| Typeform | Formbricks | $1,740/year |
| Bitly | Dub | $420/year |
| 1Password Teams | Vaultwarden | $1,200/year |
| Better Stack | Uptime Kuma | $300/year |
| Datadog | Grafana + Prometheus | $3,960/year |
| Algolia | Meilisearch | $1,200/year |
| Auth0 | Keycloak | $2,760/year |
| Dropbox Business | Nextcloud | $4,500/year |
| DocuSign | Documenso | $3,000/year |
| Total SaaS | $65,068/year |
Your cost: $360/year ($30/month × 12)
Annual savings: $64,708 (99.4%)
Setup Order (Priority)
Deploy in this order to get value immediately:
Day 1: Foundation
- Caddy (reverse proxy + auto-SSL)
- PostgreSQL + Redis (shared databases)
- Vaultwarden (secure passwords from the start)
- Uptime Kuma (monitor everything you deploy)
Day 2: Communication
- Mattermost (team chat)
- Cal.com (scheduling)
- Jitsi Meet (video calls)
Day 3: Work Management
- Plane (project management)
- Outline (documentation)
- Plausible (analytics)
Week 2: Business Operations
- Chatwoot (customer support)
- Twenty (CRM)
- Listmonk (email marketing)
- n8n (automation)
Week 3: Advanced
- Keycloak (SSO for all tools)
- Formbricks (forms and surveys)
- Dub (link management)
- Grafana + Prometheus (observability)
- Meilisearch (search)
- Nextcloud (file storage)
- Documenso (e-signatures)
Maintenance Budget
| Task | Weekly Time | Monthly Total |
|---|---|---|
| Docker updates | 30 min | 2 hours |
| Backup verification | 15 min | 1 hour |
| Monitoring review | 15 min | 1 hour |
| Issue troubleshooting | As needed | 0-2 hours |
| Total | 4-6 hours/month |
Scaling Guide
When to Add Resources
| Signal | Action | Cost Impact |
|---|---|---|
| RAM consistently >80% | Upgrade server or add another | +$4-7/month |
| Database slow queries | Upgrade DB server | +$4/month |
| >50 users on chat | Dedicated Mattermost server | +$7/month |
| >100K email sends/month | Upgrade SMTP or add dedicated | +$10/month |
| Need HA/redundancy | Add replica servers | +$20-40/month |
Budget at Scale
| Team Size | Infrastructure | Monthly Total |
|---|---|---|
| 1-10 | 2 servers | $15 |
| 10-25 | 3 servers | $30 |
| 25-50 | 4 servers | $45 |
| 50-100 | 5-6 servers | $70 |
| 100-250 | 8-10 servers | $120 |
Even at 250 users, you're under $150/month. The SaaS equivalent at 250 users: $650,000+/year.
The Bottom Line
A complete 20-tool business stack for $30-50/month vs $65,000+/year on SaaS. That's a 99%+ cost reduction.
For a growing business, the compounding savings are transformational:
- Year 1: Save $64,000
- Year 3: Save $200,000+
- Year 5: Save $350,000+
The setup takes a week of focused work. The savings last as long as your business does.
Find the best open source tool for every business need at OSSAlt.