Choosing a CMS isn’t just about features. It’s about how that platform will run, scale, and be maintained over time. Yet hosting is often treated as an afterthought in early conversations.
For those using or looking at Umbraco CMS, Umbraco Cloud has really changed the game. And it’s put that hosting decision front and centre.
Businesses and organisations can now choose from two options:
Umbraco CMS (self-hosted)
Umbraco Cloud (managed platform-as-a-service)
Both use the same core CMS. The difference is how they’re delivered - and that has a direct impact on cost, complexity, and long-term flexibility.
What’s the difference between self-hosted Umbraco and Umbraco Cloud?
The key thing to remember is that both Umbraco CMS and Umbraco Cloud are essentially the same product, with the same features and editorial experience. The only difference is the hosting setup.
Umbraco (self-hosted): Hosted and managed by your team or digital partner
Umbraco Cloud: Fully managed hosting with Umbraco in Microsoft Azure
The decision between the two will depend on a number of factors specific to your business or organisation, which we’ll explore throughout this post.
When should you choose self-hosted Umbraco?
Self-hosting Umbraco is typically the right choice when control and flexibility are critical.
It’s best suited for:
Complex, enterprise-level platforms
Multiple integrations or bespoke architecture
Platforms that need multi-region high availability
Organisations with internal development capability
Projects with specific hosting or compliance requirements
When should you choose Umbraco Cloud?
Umbraco Cloud is ideal when speed, simplicity and turn-key maintainability are priorities.
It’s best suited for:
Marketing-led websites and digital platforms
Teams that want to minimise infrastructure management
Faster time-to-market projects
Teams without dedicated development resource
Organisations looking for a low/controlled cost solution
Core considerations when considering self-hosted Umbraco vs. Umbraco Cloud
Maintenance and upgrades
Self-hosted: You’re responsible for updates, patches, and platform health
Cloud: Automated upgrades, managed environments, built-in backups
Ownership and in-house expertise are key. Enterprise-level businesses with dedicated InfoSec teams may well require a self-hosted arrangement to meet compliance and security needs. In contrast, organisations that want to ensure stability while focusing their time and resources elsewhere benefit from the automated, managed approach built into Umbraco Cloud.
Development and deployment
Self-hosted: Fully flexible CI/CD and environment setup
Cloud: Pre-configured dev, staging, and live environments
Again, internal resource, capability, and the complexity of the required (and planned) development will heavily influence this decision. While Cloud supports accelerated delivery, self-hosting enables more bespoke engineering approaches.
What are the drawbacks of self-hosted Umbraco vs. Umbraco Cloud
Understanding trade-offs is key to making the right decision.
Umbraco Cloud drawbacks
Deployment pipeline constraints
Umbraco Cloud uses a structured deployment flow (dev → staging → live). While this brings consistency, it can introduce challenges on larger projects.
For example:
Features may be sitting in staging but not ready for release
A hotfix is required on live
Teams need to roll changes back, apply the fix, then reapply updates
The impact is that this can add complexity when managing parallel workstreams or urgent releases.
No provision for multi-region high availability
Umbraco Cloud runs your site from a single geographic region, rather than spreading it across multiple locations. And what does that mean in the real world? Well if you need always-on availability, Umbraco Cloud might not be the product for you. While performance for global users can be improved with tools like CDNs, organisations with strict high-availability requirements should be aware that true multi-region resilience isn’t included by default
Self-hosted Umbraco drawbacks
Ongoing maintenance responsibility
With a self-hosted platform, you are responsible for security patches, upgrades, monitoring, and ongoing maintenance. If not actively managed, platforms can fall behind - increasing the risk of security vulnerabilities and technical debt. See our blog on the value of a managed service for more information.
Higher operational overhead
If starting from scratch or migrating, more work is required upfront to configure infrastructure. With no out-of-the-box pipelines, additional effort is needed to manage environments and deployments.
Real-world examples from Shout Digital
We’ve supported many clients in selecting the right CMS and hosting approach, both within and beyond Umbraco. Each time, the goal is the same - align platform choice with business needs.
From enterprise solutions requiring complex architecture, to cloud-hosted platforms that reduce technical overhead, we use our experience to match clients with the right solution.
Read on for two examples in practice…
Self-hosted Umbraco CMS: Novuna
For Novuna, we delivered a self-hosted Umbraco solution to support a complex, enterprise-scale platform.
Why self-hosting Umbraco was the right fit:
Novuna’s multi-site digital estate required deep integration with internal systems to support business-critical operations
Near-100% availability at all times, meaning a multi-region approach was needed
Full control required over infrastructure and architecture to support the migration, and future evolution of the solution
Demanded a highly tailored solution, with the capacity to support an ongoing roadmap and CI streams
The result:
A scalable, future-proof platform
Multi-region active-active hosting for high availability
Seamless integration across services
A solution built around long-term business needs
Read the full Novuna case study>
Umbraco Cloud: Burness Paull
For Burness Paull, Umbraco Cloud enabled a streamlined, low-overhead platform.
Why Umbraco Cloud was the right fit:
A predominantly content and lead-gen based web experience, acting as a platform to promote expertise and services, with only a small number of functional journeys
With an IT team focused on wider business needs, the website infrastructure needed to minimise maintenance overhead
A cost-effective solution, with hosting and CMS combined into a single, managed platform
The result:
Reliable speed and performance
Easier ongoing management
Greater autonomy for internal teams
Read the full Burness Paull case study here>
So… self-hosted Umbraco vs Umbraco Cloud - which should you choose?
There’s no universal answer, only what’s right for your organisation.
Choose Umbraco Cloud if you want speed, simplicity, and low/controlled overhead
Choose self-hosted Umbraco if you need control, flexibility, high availability and enterprise capability
At Shout, we work with both approaches. The key is aligning the platform to your needs and long-term goals, and not forcing a one-size-fits-all solution.
Need help choosing the right Umbraco hosting approach?
If you’re weighing up self-hosted Umbraco vs Umbraco Cloud, we can help you make the right call.
