What are the benefits and risks of self-hosting email infrastructure?

Self-hosting email infrastructure involves significant tradeoffs. Understand both sides before committing.

Benefits:

Full control: Every configuration decision is yours

No per-message costs: Infrastructure cost instead of usage pricing

Customization: Build exactly what you need

Data ownership: Everything stays on your systems

No platform risk: Can't be deplatformed or affected by ESP changes

Deep visibility: Complete logs and metrics access

Risks and challenges:

Expertise required: Need staff who understand email protocols, deliverability, security

Ongoing maintenance: Security patches, monitoring, incident response

Reputation management: You handle IP warming, blocklist issues, provider relationships

Infrastructure costs: Servers, network, redundancy, disaster recovery

Compliance burden: You ensure regulatory compliance, not a vendor

No support: Problems are your problems to solve

When self-hosting makes sense:

Sufficient volume to justify investment

Engineering team with email expertise

Requirements ESPs can't meet

Long-term commitment to maintaining the infrastructure

Owning a ship means maintaining it, staffing it, and navigating it yourself. Freedom comes with responsibility.