Cloud infrastructure vs custom infrastructure
Date Published
Managed cloud is a default, not a requirement. Custom hosts are a choice with costs.
What “cloud” usually means
Managed compute, networks, and databases you rent. Faster to start. The bill and the limits are theirs.
When custom infrastructure is justified
Specific networks, data residency, hardware, or a deployment path a platform will not give you. Or a workload that is cheaper to run yourself once you can operate it.
Containers do not pick the host
Docker and CI/CD work on AWS and on a server you own. The image is portable. The surrounding network and secrets are not automatic.
You still need the unglamorous parts
DNS, TLS, backups, monitoring, and who gets paged. Those exist in both models. Skipping them is not a strategy.
Choose the constraint, then the vendor
Write down latency, data, budget, and who operates it at 2am. Then pick AWS, a hybrid, or a custom host. We have done each.