F
I don't think you need to pay that much for a single user instance on managed hosting unless you have hundreds of thousands of followers.
I'm not sure exactly what Rogers was doing but it's rare you would need that on here, at least not when you're starting out.
Going by mastohost's estimates that kind of price would be the equivalent of 500 active users: https://masto.host/pricing
If you use a managed hosting service, the hosting company will do all the techy stuff for you behind the scenes. Typical prices on managed hosting are 5-10 euros per month for a small instance including all the actual hosting costs too.
Running a private instance (i.e. not open for signups) is very easy because you don't have to moderate anything.
Running a public instance (where strangers can sign up) is a much bigger commitment because you have to moderate content.