In my article Mix Space + Shiro Full Containerized Deployment Guide, I mentioned "because I prefer self-hosting, I don't really like PaaS." After writing that, I got to thinking—just because I can accept CI tools like GitHub Actions doesn't mean I hate these kinds of services.

Then I turned to ask Gemini, and after chatting for a while, I reached a conclusion. What I dislike is the full-package website hosting type—like Vercel, Cloudflare Workers, GitHub Pages, and various static/dynamic function PaaS that can "host websites."

Gemini gave me an analogy that I thought was great. Various PaaS are like "landlords" in renting—you give them your code, and they provide you with a house (server), utilities (network), and security guards (operations). Self-hosted VPS+CDN is like having your own house (although the server is also rented, it's at the system level, not the application level). In this case, GitHub Actions is like a "renovation crew"—you give them your code, and they help you assemble the furniture (build Docker images). Once assembly is done, they leave, and the furniture is moved back to your own house (VPS) for use.

I probably just lack this sense of "security"—I only feel at ease when things are in my own hands. Maybe it's a bit obsessive though (