What happens to self-hosted software if the vendor goes out of business?

If the vendor goes out of business, software you host yourself keeps running, because it runs on a server in your own account with your data on its disk. What stops is the vendor's part: updates, fixes and support. Before you buy, check that it does not need the vendor's servers to start, and that your data exports in full.

What happens to SaaS when the vendor shuts down?

Rented software lives on the vendor's servers, so when the company goes, the software goes with it. The usual pattern is a shutdown notice, a window to export what you can, and a date after which the service is gone.

Your data does not always go away with it. In an acquisition or a sale of assets, customer data usually transfers to whoever buys the company, which is a party you never chose. Your customer data is your SaaS vendor's most valuable asset, and it gets sold like one.

What keeps running when you host it yourself?

Self-hosted software runs on a server you control. If the vendor disappears, that server does not notice:

• The software keeps running, on the same machine, the next morning.
• Your data stays where it was, on your disk, in your account.
• Your people keep working, with the same logins and the same records.

What stops working?

Owning the software does not make it independent of everything. When the vendor is gone:

• Updates and security fixes stop. Keeping the machine patched becomes your job, or a support provider's.
• Anything that needed the vendor's own servers stops, such as a licence check, a feature that ran in their cloud, or a login that went through them.
• Support stops. Nobody at the vendor answers questions any more.

Outside services the software reads through, like a social platform's API or an AI provider, keep working as long as those services do, and on your own accounts with them.

How to check before you buy

Five questions sort out self-hosted software that survives its vendor from software that only looks like it:

1. Does it run on a server in your account, or in theirs?
2. Does it need to reach the vendor's servers to start, or to keep running?
3. Does your data export in full, in a format you can read without them?
4. Are the AI and other paid services on your accounts, or billed through the vendor?
5. Who runs backups, and where do they go?

What happens to an Ownbox?

Your box keeps running, and your code and data were never ours to lose. The AI signs in on your own account, and every box takes daily backups. Everything on it exports in full, and the machine is yours: it does not stop working because we do.

Updates and support come through Managed Support Services. If you ever stop them, your box keeps running exactly as it is.