Ask HN: SaaS vs. distributed app

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1 points by undertoad 6381 days ago

Hi, I'm trying to decide between SaaS and a distributed model for a business web app I'm building. Does anybody have recommendations or experiences they can share on this topic?

With SaaS I can use whatever framework I like. However this would basically require me to become a 24/7 systems administrator, something I'm not interested in or really even qualified for. Some of that responsibility could be owned by a hosting company, but if the app goes down in the middle of the night I'll be the one contacted by angry customers.

With a distributed app hosting and support responsibilities are owned primarily by the customer's sysadmins. However this means I'll have to build using technologies they're willing to support, such as .NET, which means I won't enjoy development and ongoing maintenance of the app.

I'm also concerned about whether SMBs prefer owning an app and data or would rather outsource this responsibility in the current market.

Anybody else been down this road? Thanks.

1 comments

answerly 6381 days ago

It will likely depend on the nature of the app, the targeted end user and the type of data that would be stored within the app.

Many businesses of all sizes are very comfortable with SaaS thanks to apps like Saleforce.com. Also, it sounds like you would prefer developing for the web anyway. So, that may be your answer right there.

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undertoad 6380 days ago

Hi, thanks for responding.

Either way the app will be based on web technologies, it's just a matter of who does the hosting. So if customers self-host it should be technologies they're comfortable supporting, which IMO rules out Ruby or Python frameworks since most of my targeted customers would likely be using .NET or Java.

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