I'm trying to weigh my options here - I feel like I am one of the few stragglers who hasn't switched over to self-hosting yet, and I'm wondering if I should. What are the real benefits? The majority of reasons listed on this page - http://www.buzztouch.com/BT-server/ - involve app development for clients, which is something I don't currently do. The top reason, "Performance / Availability", is the one I'm curious about. I have a website hosted with HostGator under the "business plan"..the fine print on their unlimited bandwidth reads as follows - "Typically, customers only run into issues if they use their accounts for storage or file sharing, which is not what our services are intended to support. In accordance with our Terms of Services the disk space and bandwidth you use must be integrated into the normal operation of your website." My question is, does "normal operation" include the hosting of an apps config data that is potentially requested by thousands if not tens of thousands of users per day? Or will this possibly result in constraints on my account? I know a lot of you guys use HostGator so hopefully you can provide some insight on this thanks

I like the ability to use custom plugins, anytime, anywhere. I suppose you could still do that when utilizing the Stobe snippet keeper... Cheers! -- Smug

After many months, I just installed mine. Just wanted more flexibility and control. Pretty straight forward install. I have mine working on a shared 1&1 hosting account. -Greg

I've got several client accounts with hostgator, most are the business plan so they can have https ssl certs, it still is a shared hosting plan, just more features. I have my buzztouch self hosted on a hostgator dedicated server, and setup 40+ app accounts on there, with my clients own app landing page and their backend. I don't expect them to do any configurations themselves and only a handful I will customize a login for them to do push notifications.

If you needed a custom plugin, then self-hosting gives hui that flexibility. However, you already know how to hand-code the custom JSON for that custom plugin and keep it in its own JSON file. The lack of a web control panel ain't gonna stop you from using a custom plugin within Xcode. I like using BuzzTouch.com because you have one less thing to worry about. If you app becomes wildly popular, then I think the BuzzTouch Company will appreciate a donation for the increase in bandwidth -- it's only a fair courtesy. Otherwise, if it ain't broke, why fix it? -- Niraj

Yeah I've been considering switching over too! At the moment haven't had a pressing need. As a geeky sort I always have the urge to give myself a few more tech tasks, but then when I settle down to focus on an app and its users there always seems to be a simpler solution. Had a few people ask me to make apps for them and if I do then I'd definitely get self-hosted.