Buy your own servers: Basecamp's cloud bill fell from $3.2M to $1.3M a year.
Basecamp's cloud bill fell from $3.2M a year to $1.3M after moving onto its own Dell hardware.
We didn’t run this. DHH did. ModelSignal read the published work and checked every number below against it — the sources and the dates we read them are at the end.
Basecamp · own hardware
$2M
saved every year, almost,
by leaving the cloud.
DHH's own numbers, October 2024.
Cloud vs own kit
AWS, before
$3.2M
Per year
What's left (S3)$1.3M
Dell servers
$700K
One-off, paid back
Paid back byend of 2023
Do the math.
The hardware paid for itself in 2023. Five years out, DHH counts well over $10M saved.
DHH · HEY World · 17 Oct 2024
The proof
DHH's post on HEY World, 17 Oct 2024. Read 13 Oct 2026.
The full breakdown
Somebody else paid these bills; we read the receipts. Every number below is quoted from DHH's post, with the date we read it.
The post
David Heinemeier Hansson (37signals), Our cloud-exit savings will now top ten million over five years, HEY World, 17 October 2024.
The numbers
| Cloud bill, original run rate | $3.2 million a year |
| Cloud bill, 2024 | $1.3 million (almost all S3) |
| Dell hardware | about $700,000, "entirely recouped during 2023" |
| Savings | "almost two million dollars per year"; "well over ten million dollars over five years" |
| Still in S3 | almost 10 petabytes; "well over a million dollars to keep all this data there" |
| Replacement | dual-DC Pure Storage, 18 PB combined; "about the same as a year's worth of AWS S3" |
| Expected further saving | "another four million dollars over five years" |
| S3 contract | "doesn't expire until next summer" (i.e. summer 2025) |
Source
The catches
- The figures are the company's own, published by its co-owner; there is no outside audit.
- One company with its own ops team and workloads that fit a fixed fleet; the post gives the cloud bill and the hardware spend, not a full cost accounting.
- The 2024 bill still includes S3; the extra $4M is an expectation, not a result.
Every number, and where it’s quoted from
- cloud bill from a $3.2M/year run rate to $1.3M for 2024“For 2024, we've brought the cloud bill down from the original $3.2 million/year run rate to $1.3 million.”DHH, HEY World, 17 Oct 2024
- Dell hardware about $700,000, recouped during 2023“The expenditure on all that new Dell hardware – about $700,000 in the end – was also entirely recouped during 2023”DHH, HEY World, 17 Oct 2024
- savings ≈$2M a year“That's a saving of almost two million dollars per year for our setup!”DHH, HEY World, 17 Oct 2024
- $10M+ over five years“well over ten million dollars over five years”DHH, HEY World, 17 Oct 2024
- almost 10 petabytes in S3“We store almost 10 petabytes of data in S3 now.”DHH, HEY World, 17 Oct 2024
- S3 still costs well over a million dollars“it's still well over a million dollars to keep all this data there”DHH, HEY World, 17 Oct 2024
- 18 PB dual-DC Pure Storage replacement“dual-DC Pure Storage setup, with a combined 18 petabytes of capacity”DHH, HEY World, 17 Oct 2024
- the array costs about one year of S3“This setup will cost about the same as a year's worth of AWS S3 for the initial hardware”DHH, HEY World, 17 Oct 2024
- another $4M saved over five years, expected“we expect to save another four million dollars over five years”DHH, HEY World, 17 Oct 2024
- S3 contract runs to summer 2025“doesn't expire until next summer”DHH, HEY World, 17 Oct 2024
- company 37signals; post by DHH dated 17 October 2024“world.hey.com/dhh — October 17, 2024 — 37signals”HEY World
