Self-Hosting and Managed Service FAQs.

The difference between a one-time self-hosted build and ongoing operational responsibility.

Question 01

What does free for self-hosting mean at Brownsmith?

Brownsmith Dynamics does not add a recurring licence charge to an open-source product foundation. The customer pays for the agreed discovery, configuration, integration, deployment, testing, and documentation, then runs the completed system on infrastructure and provider accounts it controls.

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Question 02

Which running costs does the customer pay directly?

We keep VPS hosting, domains, storage, email delivery, model API usage, monitoring, and connected third-party services visible in the customer's own accounts wherever practical. These costs continue because the deployed system consumes infrastructure, even when the underlying software carries no licence fee.

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Question 03

What happens after a self-hosted system is handed over?

Brownsmith Dynamics provides the agreed deployment and operating documentation, confirms the access and ownership arrangement, and leaves day-to-day control with the customer. Further feature work, troubleshooting, upgrades, or operational help begins only when it is requested and approved.

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Question 04

How is Brownsmith's managed service different from a one-time build?

We treat management as a separate operational commitment rather than implying that it is included forever. A managed agreement can cover monitoring, backups, updates, incidents, recovery, workflow tuning, new integrations, or a defined support window, with responsibility and response expectations stated in the scope.

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Question 05

How does Brownsmith choose an open-source foundation?

Brownsmith Dynamics reviews whether the software fits the workflow, licence, deployment environment, data model, export needs, maintenance capacity, security expectations, and integration path. Popularity alone is not enough; the chosen foundation must remain understandable and operable after implementation.

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Question 06

Is self-hosting suitable for every business?

We recommend self-hosting when control, portability, privacy, integration freedom, or predictable infrastructure costs justify the added responsibility. Brownsmith may recommend a managed platform instead when the workload is critical and the customer does not want to own updates, backups, monitoring, and recovery.

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