For my ICT171 assignment, I compared the financial and technical trade‑offs between running a self‑managed cloud server (IaaS) and using an all‑in‑one website builder (SaaS). The goal was to choose the best solution for hosting a personal blog.
TCO includes not only the initial purchase price but also long‑term costs such as maintenance, electricity, upgrades, and labour. For cloud services, it also factors in scalability, control, and learning value.
With EC2, I pay nothing for the first 12 months (free tier: t3.micro, 30GB EBS). After that, estimated cost is ~$5‑$10 per month. However, I must manually update the OS, secure the server, and troubleshoot any issues. The learning value is enormous – I now understand Linux, Nginx, SSL, cron, and bash scripting.
These platforms charge around $15‑$30 per month. They handle hosting, security, and backups automatically. You get drag‑and‑drop design and customer support. But you cannot SSH into a server, install custom software, or learn system administration. The monthly subscription never ends.
| Factor | AWS EC2 (IaaS) | Wix/Squarespace (SaaS) |
|---|---|---|
| Initial cost | $0 (free tier) | $0 (trial) / then monthly |
| Monthly cost (after free tier) | $5–10 | $15–30 |
| Maintenance | Manual (updates, security) | Automatic |
| Control | Full root access | Restricted to platform features |
| Learning value | High – real cloud skills | Low – drag and drop |
| Long‑term cost (5 years) | $300–600 | $900–1800 |
For this assignment, AWS EC2 was the clear winner. The assignment explicitly required manual configuration, infrastructure as a service, and scripting – impossible with SaaS. For a non‑technical person who just wants a blog, SaaS would be easier. But for a cloud computing student, IaaS is the only correct choice.
I learned more in one month of managing my own server than I ever would from a website builder. That experience is worth more than the nominal cost difference.