In general, you should rent as long as possible. This allows you to focus on your product, unless, your product is web hosting. There are however, three reaso

In general, you should rent as long as possible. This allows you to focus on your product, unless, your product is web hosting. There are however, three reasons, why you might consider buying over renting. 1. Cost -- Renting is more expensive than buying. At some point it probably make sense to buy. You can buy the individual machine and co-lo or you can buy the datacenter. Depends on your needs. 2. Control -- For whatever reason, you need more control. Maybe it's specialized hardware or something that you can't easily do on a rented machine. 3.Pride -- This is one that basically is asking to shoot your self in the foot. A lot of guys want to have the server closet. Once you are established, maybe it's worth it. Not from a cost or control standpoint, but maybe its worth it.