DHH was right . maybe
Source: Dev.to
The DHH Moment
If you haven’t read DHH’s article about leaving the cloud, please give it a read. The article hit me like a ton of bricks: DHH runs Basecamp and HEY—profitable companies—and basically says “the cloud is a scam for most of us.” Not in those exact words, but you get the idea.
Then I saw that tweet where the 37signals team is literally celebrating deleting their AWS account. The energy in that room! Those people looked genuinely happy to be free from AWS cloud bills.
The Reality Check
Let me paint a picture of where most of us are:
| Component | Typical Cost (USD) |
|---|---|
| Small backend server | $20‑$40 / month (Fly.io, Linode, etc.) |
| Managed PostgreSQL | $15‑$25 / month |
| Front‑end (static or server) | $20‑$40 / month |
| Redis (caching) | $10‑$15 / month |
| Backups, monitoring, bandwidth overages | variable |
| Total | $80‑$150 / month (careful budgeting) |
| Scale up a bit | $300‑$500 / month |
| Add staging environments | double the cost |
And here’s the kicker—you don’t own any of it. Turn off the payments, and everything’s gone.
My “Screw It” Moment
I was looking at my cloud bills (around $120/month for a barely‑trafficking project) and realized I was paying more per year for servers than a decent computer costs.
Cost comparison
| Item | Cost (RWF) | Approx. USD |
|---|---|---|
| Dell OptiPlex desktop (i5‑10th gen, 512 GB SSD, 16 GB RAM) | 320,000 | $240 |
| UPS (backup power) | 100,000 | $75 |
| Fiber internet (28,000 RWF/month) | 336,000 (12 mo) | $252 |
| Total first‑year cost | ~756,000 | ~$567 |
| Cloud hosting (12 mo @ $120) | — | $1,440 |
Savings: $873 in the first year. Year two? Only internet: $252 vs. $1,440.
What I’m Actually Running
This isn’t a toy setup. I’m running real production services:
- Next.js front‑end websites (2 sites, more coming)
- NestJS backend API
- PostgreSQL (staging, beta, production)
- MySQL (staging, beta, production)
- Redis (caching & queues)
- PM2 (process management for multiple apps)
- Nginx (reverse proxy)
- Docker (containerized back‑ends)
The best part? I control everything and it’s super fast. Need to check logs? SSH in. Need more storage or RAM? Pop open the case and add a drive or memory.
Deployments are as simple as:
git push
# GitHub Actions handles the restThe Downsides
| Issue | Reality (Rwanda) |
|---|---|
| Power outages | Generally stable; UPS gives ~1 hour backup—enough for most outages |
| Internet stability | Fiber is solid; speeds and uptime rival datacenter connections |
| No geographic distribution | Fine for regional African startups; a Kigali server serves local users well |
| You’re the sysadmin | You fix things at 3 AM, but with monitoring and UPS it’s rare. No waiting on support tickets |
The Middle‑Ground Option
If you’re gaining traction or have VC funding but still want to avoid cloud pricing traps, consider colocation or managed hardware providers. DHH and 37signals use this model: you own the servers, but they sit in a proper datacenter with redundant power, fast internet, and 24/7 support.
Providers such as Hetzner, OVH, or local options like AOS can handle the physical infrastructure while you retain full control. It’s the best of both worlds—hardware ownership without the headaches of home internet or power reliability.
The Mental Shift
The hardest part wasn’t the technical setup; it was overcoming the mental hurdle that “this is how it’s supposed be done.” We’ve been conditioned to think cloud = professional, self‑hosted = trouble.
That’s not true. 37signals runs massive applications on their own hardware. Most of us—bootstrapped founders, small teams, side projects—are paying for infrastructure we don’t need, and it’s costly.
TL;DR: A modest desktop, UPS, and reliable fiber can replace a $1,400‑a‑year cloud stack for many early‑stage African startups. If you outgrow it, move to colocation for the same ownership benefits with datacenter reliability.
What This Means for African Tech
This hits different when you’re building in Africa. Cloud services charge in dollars, while our money is in Rwandan francs, Kenyan shillings, Nairas, you name it—making those monthly bills hurt even more.
But a one‑time hardware purchase? That’s doable. It’s an investment you can plan for.
If more African startups owned their infrastructure, we’d be building technical expertise in our communities too. Managing actual servers teaches far more than clicking buttons in a cloud dashboard, and your data stays in your country.
Am I Saying Everyone Should Do This?
No, don’t be ridiculous.
If you’re venture‑backed and have some money lying around, fine—use the cloud or the middle‑ground option. But if you are bootstrapping a startup, building a SaaS with a few hundred to a few thousand users, running multiple small projects, or you are actually concerned about profitability, then seriously, consider this approach.
The Challenge
Look, I know I’m probably wrong about some things here. Maybe there are costs I’m not seeing yet. Maybe I’ll hit a wall in six months and regret everything. Because at the end of the day, DHH might be right: the cloud might be one of the biggest cases of “we’ve always done it this way” in modern tech.
Not just because I’m saving money (though that’s nice), but because I’m in control. I understand every piece of my stack. When something breaks, I can fix it. When I want to try something new, I just do it—no pricing calculator needed.