I think "plugins" is a bukkit term. The only thing you could add to the server without bukkit would be mods; but that would be tricky and require your users to also have those exact same mods.
I would recommend just using bukkit, it's very simple to use
I've started hosting my own server from my computer; it's actually quite easy and basically free for me. RAM is so cheap these days, you can get 16GB of DDr3 for $175 easily.
My internet is not even that great, but it's fine for up to 20 players so far, they're all running it lag free.