Small businesses waste thousands on SaaS. Here's every tool you need to run a business — all open source, all self-hosted, all for under $30/month.
| Need | Tool | What It Does |
|---|
| Team chat | Mattermost | Channels, threads, file sharing, mobile apps |
| Video calls | Jitsi Meet | Instant video meetings, no accounts needed |
| Email | Google Workspace (keep SaaS) | Email is better managed |
| File sharing | Nextcloud | Files, calendar, contacts, office docs |
| Need | Tool | What It Does |
|---|
| Website | Next.js on Coolify | Professional website |
| CRM | Twenty | Contact management, sales pipeline |
| Customer support | Chatwoot | Live chat, email support, WhatsApp |
| Scheduling | Cal.com | Book meetings with clients |
| Forms | Formbricks | Contact forms, surveys, feedback |
| Need | Tool | What It Does |
|---|
| Project management | Plane | Tasks, sprints, roadmaps |
| Documentation | Outline | Internal wiki, SOPs, knowledge base |
| Passwords | Vaultwarden | Shared passwords for team |
| Automation | n8n | Connect tools, automate workflows |
| Need | Tool | What It Does |
|---|
| Analytics | Plausible | Website traffic, referrers, conversions |
| Email marketing | Listmonk | Newsletters, drip campaigns |
| Link management | Dub | Branded short links with analytics |
| SEO | Plausible + GSC | Track organic traffic |
| Need | Tool | What It Does |
|---|
| Invoicing | Invoice Ninja | Create, send, track invoices |
| E-signatures | Documenso | Digital contract signing |
| Expense tracking | Invoice Ninja | Track business expenses |
| Need | Tool | What It Does |
|---|
| Monitoring | Uptime Kuma | Monitor all services |
| Observability | Grafana | Server metrics and alerts |
| Authentication | Keycloak | SSO for all tools |
| Backups | Restic + Backblaze | Automated encrypted backups |
| Server | Specs | Monthly Cost | Tools |
|---|
| App Server 1 | 4 vCPU, 8 GB | $7 | Mattermost, Plane, Outline, Cal.com, Vaultwarden |
| App Server 2 | 4 vCPU, 8 GB | $7 | Chatwoot, Twenty, Invoice Ninja, Listmonk, n8n |
| Web + Monitoring | 2 vCPU, 4 GB | $4.50 | Website, Plausible, Uptime Kuma, Grafana |
| Database | 2 vCPU, 4 GB | $4.50 | PostgreSQL, Redis (shared) |
| Additional Costs | Monthly |
|---|
| Backblaze B2 backups | $3 |
| Amazon SES (email sending) | $3 |
| Domains (2-3) | $3 |
| Total | $32/month |
| Category | SaaS Tools | Monthly Cost |
|---|
| Slack Pro | $8.75 × 15 | $131 |
| Zoom Business | $13.33 × 15 | $200 |
| Google Workspace | $14 × 15 | $210 |
| Notion Business | $18 × 15 | $270 |
| HubSpot CRM | $20 × 10 | $200 |
| Intercom | $39 × 5 agents | $195 |
| Calendly Teams | $12 × 15 | $180 |
| Jira Standard | $8.15 × 15 | $122 |
| 1Password Business | $8 × 15 | $120 |
| Mailchimp Standard | — | $100 |
| FreshBooks Plus | — | $60 |
| Plausible Cloud | — | $19 |
| DocuSign Standard | — | $45 |
| Total | | $1,852/month |
Self-hosted: $32/month vs SaaS: $1,852/month
Annual savings: $21,840 (98% reduction)
Goal: Basic communication and operations
- Set up 4 servers on Hetzner
- Install Coolify on App Server 1
- Deploy PostgreSQL + Redis on Database server
- Deploy Caddy reverse proxy on all servers
- Deploy Mattermost (team communication)
- Deploy Vaultwarden (password management)
- Deploy Uptime Kuma (monitoring)
Goal: Tools for serving customers
- Deploy Cal.com (client scheduling)
- Deploy Chatwoot (customer support)
- Deploy Twenty (CRM)
- Deploy Formbricks (forms)
- Deploy website via Coolify
Goal: Internal efficiency tools
- Deploy Plane (project management)
- Deploy Outline (documentation)
- Deploy Nextcloud (file sharing)
- Deploy n8n (automation)
Goal: Growth and financial tools
- Deploy Plausible (analytics)
- Deploy Listmonk (email marketing)
- Deploy Dub (link management)
- Deploy Invoice Ninja (invoicing)
- Deploy Documenso (contracts)
- Set up Keycloak (SSO for all tools)
- Configure automated backups
| Cost | Amount |
|---|
| Infrastructure (12 months) | $384 |
| Setup time (40 hours × $75/hr) | $3,000 |
| Maintenance (3 hours/month × $75) | $2,700 |
| Google Workspace (kept) | $2,520 |
| Total Year 1 | $8,604 |
| Comparison | Year 1 Cost |
|---|
| Full SaaS stack | $22,224 |
| Self-hosted + Google | $8,604 |
| Savings | $13,620 (61%) |
| Comparison | Annual Cost |
|---|
| Full SaaS stack | $22,224 |
| Self-hosted + Google | $5,604 |
| Savings | $16,620 (75%) |
| Approach | 5-Year Cost |
|---|
| Full SaaS (5% annual increase) | $123,000+ |
| Self-hosted | $31,020 |
| 5-Year Savings | $91,980 |
A 15-person small business can run its entire operation on open source for $32/month instead of $1,852/month on SaaS. That's $21,840/year in savings — enough to hire a part-time employee or invest in growth.
The setup takes about a month of gradual rollout. After that, maintenance is 3 hours/month. The ROI is overwhelming.
Build your complete small business stack at OSSAlt.
