What You'll Need n8n Cloud or self-hosted n8n for workflow automation Hetzner VPS or Contabo VPS for hosting your self-hosted stack Namecheap if you need a custom domain for your applications DigitalOcean as an alternative hosting option Basic familiarity with Docker and command-line interfaces Around 30 minutes to set up your first stack Table of Contents The Real Cost of SaaS Bloat Where Self-Hosted Wins Building Your First Self-Hosted Stack Migration Strategy: Moving Off Expensive Tools Security and Maintenance Getting Started The Real Cost of SaaS Bloat I used to have 14 active SaaS subscriptions. Slack at $8/user, GitHub at $4/user, Zapier for automation, Make for backup, text-to-speech services, image processing tools, video editing APIs—the list went on. At the end of every month, I'd watch roughly $2,400 disappear from my company's account. The problem isn't that these tools are bad. They're excellent.…