Based on personal experience, I found that paying for the setup, tuning and 24/7 maintenance of a dedicated is way more expensive than using those service. But

Based on personal experience, I found that paying for the setup, tuning and 24/7 maintenance of a dedicated is way more expensive than using those service. But I'm one of those crazy people who considers their time and that worth something. Excuse the snark, but these arguments just keep repeating themselves. There's a reason they're called "services". It's like saying "it's cheaper to slaughter your own cow than to eat at a restaurant".