i'll argue for self-hosting observability. but conviction cuts both ways, so: when NOT to.

if you fit grafana cloud's free tier — 10k series, 50GB logs, 50GB traces, 14-day retention, 3 users, $0 — self-hosting buys you nothing. it's a hobby with a pager. use the free tier.

also skip it if nobody will own the upgrades, or if your real problem is compliance retention not cost.

the strongest argument names where it loses.

https://rajesh.medampudi.com/blog/lgtm-for-small-teams/

#selfhosting #observability #grafanacloud #devops