When we started out using ERPNext, self-hosting was the obvious choice. We wanted to understand and manipulate everything, wanted to have everything under our control. We used Hetzner, retooled Bench-environments, established SSL-automation, developed Git-based deployment and used Zabbix for monitoring and automated backups.

Every data, every port, every variable – we knew them all. And we were proud of it. 

But with every new project, it became clearer that this freedom turned into a bottle-neck. Having full control, which made sense at the beginning, started to slow us down. We invested more and more time into servicing and patching instead of into what was actually important: The development of real solutions.

Managing our tasks became more difficult with every new instance, custom app and project we had to take care of. Our team was responsible for consulting, development, project management and the daily operations at the same time.

A Redis-error iced an instance, some problem with a certificate cancels a go-live. Security updates ate into our weekends. We had to ask some hard questions. Are we ERP-experts or system-administrators under constant fire? 

Maybe it was finally time to move into the cloud? We already knew of Frappe Cloud, but that was second hand knowledge that we only had because we are interested in everything that Frappe does. But we thought: „Too simple, too standardized, not for professionals.“

Spoiler: We were wrong.

Frappe Cloud was just what we needed. A slim and stable platform that is built for developers first. No lock-in hosting, but an open system that brings technology and productivity together.

We were able to directly implement our own GitHub-repositories in Frappe Cloud, which was a great advantage for our workflow and for the deployment-process. 

The best part: Everything remained open source. No proprietary prison and no hidden dependencies. With Frappe Cloud, we had a system that thinks, but doesn’t presuppose.

Despite it’s usefulness, we did not rush into Frappe Cloud. Instead, we consciously started small. At first, we migrated the system of a single mid-sized customer who has a custom app. The project went well and was thoroughly documented, which gave us the confidence to move on with our plans. 

Bit by bit, we adjusted our hosting strategy, established CI/CD-processes and improved our workflow. Today, we host almost all ERPNext-projects on Frappe Cloud. 

We only use our own servers in rare exceptions, e.g. if a customer has very special compliance-requirements. But Frappe Cloud is for all intents and purposes our new standard. The results are positive: we have almost no downtime, shorter development-cycles, less workload, and we can finally focus on real solutions.

In addition to software-development, we constantly question the underlying structures of the frameworks that we work with. Including ours. To give up hosting did not mean to lose control. Instead, we consciously decided for more transparency, focus and a more effective product. 

Frappe Cloud does not take away. It returns what matters.

Our code remains in our hands. Our processes stay open and transparent. And our developers work with more focus, and our customers feel the difference. We haven’t lost control, but decided not to control the wrong things. 

This decision was more than a change in hosting – it was a change in perspective.

We have learned that freedom does not mean that you have to do everything yourself. Freedom means to know what you want to control – and when to surrender it.

Break the system, rebuild better.