Declare your infrastructure once. Own it forever.
You probably don't need Kubernetes. You need your services to run reliably on hardware you control. No orchestration theatre. No YAML sprawl. No vendor lock-in.
"Nix da cloud, just bare metal."
Stress-free infrastructure
Nixda. Stack
Declarative NixOS modules for service hosting. Define once, rebuild anywhere. Caddy, systemd, socket activation, containers — all in one Nix expression.
- Full-stack IaC
-
One language, one source of truth. No Terraform, no Ansible, no Compose files. Just Nix.
- Socket activation
-
Scale to zero, wake on request. Ephemeral containers without orchestration overhead.
- Digital sovereignty
-
Your hardware, your data, your rules. No vendor lock-in, no enshittification.
- Immutable root
-
If the machine burns, the configuration survives. Rebuild in minutes, not days.
- Zone-based networking
-
Location-transparent services at
service.zone.lan. VLAN separation handled automatically. - Blueprint catalog
-
Pre-configured modules for common services. Pick a runtime, declare, rebuild. Done.
How it works
Three steps. No magic.
nixos-rebuild switch https://service.zone.lan Battle-tested
Running in production on modest hardware
Currently powering a single Dell R630. That's enough.
- Configuration files
- 1
- Rebuild time
- ~2 min
- YAML files
- 0
- Kubernetes clusters
- 0
Sweat Equity Calculator
Is your time money — or an investment? #
Your answer determines which path makes sense — and when it pays off.
Cloud rental
Time = money. Minimize setup, maximize speed. But cloud providers charge rent — every month, forever.
€500+/mo rental
Sovereign hosting
Time = investment. Spend it once learning and configuring. Then own your infrastructure outright.
€40/mo after one-time setup
What you're building
Dell PowerEdge R630 (used/refurbished)
- 2× Intel Xeon E5-2680 v4 (14 cores each) — 28 cores / 56 threads
- 128 GB DDR4 ECC RAM
- 2× 4 TB NVMe SSD (ZFS mirror) — 4 TB usable fast storage
- 2× 14 TB Seagate Ironwolf (ZFS mirror) — 14 TB usable bulk storage
Typical acquisition cost: €1,200–1,800 (eBay, IT resellers)
What would you pay in the cloud?
Click a profile that matches your needs:
How do you value your time?
Click what best describes your situation:
Your break-even point
Calculating...
Nixda (sovereign)
€40/mo
after €6,300 initial
Cloud (rental)
€500/mo
after €1,500 initial
You save €5,520/year
That's €460/mo back in your budget
Cost breakdown
€1,500 hardware
+ €4,800 setup (16d × €300)
+ €40/mo power
€1,500 setup (5d × €300)
+ €500/mo rental
How it plays out over 24 months
Assumptions used in this calculation
- Hardware cost: €1,500 (Dell R630 + RAM + storage as described above)
- Power cost: €40/month (~100W average × €0.30/kWh + cooling)
- Nixda setup: 8 working days (3d NixOS base install + 5d service configuration with nixda-stack modules)
- Cloud setup: 11 working days (Terraform, networking, CI/CD, monitoring, security, backups)
- Ongoing maintenance: Not included (roughly equal for both)
- Storage: ZFS mirror (RAID 1) for data integrity — usable: 4TB SSD + 14TB HDD
What the numbers show
Sovereign hosting wins more often than you'd think.
Learning pays immediately
If you're building skills anyway, setup time isn't a cost — it's an investment with compound returns. At €0/day opportunity cost, break-even is instant.
Professionals break even fast
At typical DevOps rates (~€300/day), most scenarios break even within 12 months. Even senior consultants at €800/day see returns — it just takes longer.
Savings compound
After break-even, every month of cloud fees you're not paying adds up. €500/mo × 4 years = €24,000 back in your pocket.
Sovereignty pays for itself.
Own your infrastructure.
Declare once. Rebuild anywhere. No lock-in. No stress.