Cloud vs a Server in the Cupboard: The 5-Year Maths
Every few years someone says the server in the cupboard is obsolete, and someone else says the cloud is a rip-off. Both are selling something. Here are the five-year numbers for each — and the situations where the cupboard genuinely still wins.
The short version
- A small-business server is roughly £12,000–£20,000 across five years once you count licences, backup, power and replacement — not the £5,000–£10,000 on the quote
- Microsoft 365 Business Premium at about £17 per person per month lands near £10,000 over five years for ten staff — remarkably close
- Renting a server-shaped thing in the cloud is the expensive path at £120–£400 a month, and it's chosen far more often than it needs to be
- The cupboard still wins for software that only runs locally, a genuinely poor connection, very large files, or hardware you bought eighteen months ago