Yes, hardware as a service will always be much more expensive than hardware you own. But it may be less expensive than the team you will require to run that hardware at an acceptable service level. It very likely will be less expensive than the opportunity cost of running your own hardware.

As an example of the latter bit, if you are running your own hardware and need to add another host and you do not have a spare lying around, then you need to order one. It has to be shipped. Someone has to unpack it. Someone has to make sure that the data centre has sufficient power. Someone has to install it, its power and its network cables. Each of these steps takes time, but also each step is an opportunity for friction.

By contrast, with a service, you would just add a new host. Five minutes later you are up and running. That gives you an operational nimbleness that you wouldn't otherwise have had.