The Showdown

Ranchervserda

Why pay monthly fees for Rancher when you can self-host erda for free? Let's look at the facts.

Rancher

The Expensive Option

  • Closed Source (Black box)
  • Expensive monthly fees per user
  • Data stored on their servers
WINNER

erda

The Freedom Choice

  • 100% Open Source Code
  • Free forever (Self-hosted)
  • You own your data completely
Interactive Calculator

Calculate Your "SaaS Tax"

SaaS pricing is designed to scale with your success. See how much wealth transfers from your bank account to Rancher's shareholders.

10 people
150100200+
$

*Estimated standard pricing for Rancher. Adjust if needed.

Estimated Annual Waste
$1,440
Monthly Burn Rate$120
5-Year Projection$7,200
Cost with Self-Hosted$0
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Calculations based on 10 users at $12/mo.

Detailed Breakdown

0
Focuses primarily on cluster management
Full lifecycle from code to observability
1
Often requires third-party add-ons
Built-in service mesh and API gateway
2
Managed SaaS or complex licensing
Self-hosted on private K8s clusters