[rkangel]

> For 5 bucks a month I run my own server with almost a dozen folks on it, which requires basically zero maintenance (I can count the number of times I've had to go in and restart it over the past two years on one hand).

Yes, but how much work was it to get set up in the first place? There's a reason that people pay for Wordpress subscriptions, even though you and I can set up static hosting off Gitlab pages (for example) for free. I do think the pricing is slightly steep but you can charge a premium for making it usable by the masses.

[gorgonzolachz]

Anecdotally, it took me about an afternoon. I realize that I'm more technical than the average person, so setting up the certs and installing the python deps was a breeze because I've done it before; the documentation for the synapse homeserver was also quite good.

I see where you're coming from, but is this offering geared towards people like that? Looks like there's a significant push to get people who've had their own servers running to adopt this new service, and Element as a whole is geared towards the techy DIY crowd. I know there have been concerns raised in other threads about its UX problems, and from personal experience most of my friends don't share the same concerns that I do about data security or bootstrapped personal infrastructure.

[imwillofficial]

And if $5 a month is worth the hassle of self hosting, I'm glad you have a way to save it. My time is my most valuable resource, if I can get the benefits of self hosting, and not have to do the work, I'll spend that $5 any day.

[daenney]

> Looks like there's a significant push to get people who've had their own servers running to adopt this new service

How do you mean? I run my own, and there’s zero push to move or migrate to Element Home.

I’d imagine this only targets folks with accounts on matrix.org.