How to Replace $200/Month in SaaS with One Docker Stack
If you're a small business owner, you probably have a spreadsheet somewhere (or should have one) tracking all your monthly software subscriptions. The total is almost certainly higher than you think.
Here's the good news: most of those tools have self-hosted equivalents that are just as good — or better — and they can all run together on a single server.
The SaaS Stack vs. The Self-Hosted Stack
| What You Need | SaaS Cost/Month | Self-Hosted Alternative |
|---|---|---|
| Document management | Dropbox Business $20 | Paperless-ngx (free) |
| CRM | HubSpot Starter $45 | SuiteCRM (free) |
| Email campaigns | Mailchimp $30 | BillionMail (free) |
| Website + chatbot | Squarespace $33 + Intercom $74 | Next.js + AI Chatbot (free) |
| Password manager | 1Password $8/user | Vaultwarden (free) |
| Monitoring | UptimeRobot Pro $7 | Uptime Kuma (free) |
| Accounting | QuickBooks Online $30 | QuickBooks API integration (free) |
| AI assistant | ChatGPT Plus $20 | Ollama + local models (free) |
| **Total** | **$267/month** | **$25/month** (server cost) |
That's a savings of $2,904 per year. Over 5 years, you've saved $14,520.
How Docker Makes This Possible
Docker is a technology that lets you run software in isolated containers. Think of each container as a mini-computer running one application. A Docker Compose file describes all 30+ containers and how they connect to each other.
To start the whole stack: one command. To update: one command. To back up: one command.
You don't need to understand how Docker works internally — just like you don't need to understand how a car engine works to drive.
What About Maintenance?
This is where AI changes the game. Traditional self-hosted setups required a system administrator. Modern AI-powered stacks can monitor themselves, restart crashed services, and even diagnose problems.
With Nimbus Online, your WhatsApp AI assistant monitors every service 24/7. If something goes down, it restarts it. If it can't fix it, it tells you exactly what's wrong in plain English.
Getting Started
The fastest path is a pre-configured stack like Nimbus Online. You get everything listed above (and 20+ more services) in a single download with a setup wizard that walks you through everything in 15 minutes.
If you prefer the done-for-you approach, the platform can be automatically deployed to a cloud server on your behalf — you just provide your API keys and domain name.
Either way, your first month of self-hosting pays for itself compared to what you were spending on SaaS.