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David Heinemeier Hansson

What David Heinemeier Hansson thinks about the cloud

@dhh · 154 positions · 10 changes of mind

Creator of Ruby on Rails, CTO of 37signals, and creator of Omarchy.

Everything they publish, on ppll ↗

David Heinemeier Hansson did not write this page.

We collected these quotes from things they published elsewhere, and every quote links to where it was said. They have no account here and have not endorsed this site. Quotes are word for word; the short line under each one is our own restatement, not their wording. Their own site. Is this you? Claim it or ask us to remove it. Or tell us what is wrong here.

5 dated positions, 2022 to 2026, in their own words. Our reading of what David Heinemeier Hansson has said — not written or endorsed by them.

  1. Our readingRevenue is outside your control and costs are inside it, which is why cutting a recurring expense is the lever a business owner should love.

    Their wordsBut ultimately, I don't get to choose whether they put in their credit card or not. They do. I do get to choose how much money we spend on servers. I do get to choose whether we squander that revenue on needless cloud services rather than just owning our own hardware, right?

    ↗DHH: How to Build a Profitable Company Without Losing Controlyoutube.com 14th of 15 in this recording

    Interesting
  2. 12 months earlier

  3. Our readingThe cloud pitch of easier, cheaper, faster is false on two counts: it is not easier and not cheaper, and the speed that is real is overvalued.

    Their wordsIt's not easier to use AWS than it is to run your own machines, which we learned when we pulled out the cloud and didn't hire a single extra person. Even though we operate all our own hardware, the team stayed exactly the same.

    ↗DHH: Future of Programming, AI, Ruby on Rails, Productivity & Parenting | Lex Fridman Podcast #474youtube.com 27th of 36 in this recording

    Interesting

  5. Our readingAfter the cloud exit, the next step is out of the data centre: home servers and multi-gigabit home connections make the garage startup literal again.

    Their wordsNow my next kind of tingle is that if you could move out of the cloud, can you also move out of the data center? Personal servers have gotten really scarily quick and efficient and personal internet connections rival what we connected data centers with just a decade or two ago.

    ↗DHH: Future of Programming, AI, Ruby on Rails, Productivity & Parenting | Lex Fridman Podcast #474youtube.com 28th of 36 in this recording

    data centersstartups

    Interesting
  6. 9 months earlier

  7. Our readingLeaving the cloud for owned hardware cut 37signals' annual infrastructure bill from $3.2M to $1.3M without growing the operations team.

    Their wordsFor 2024, we've brought the cloud bill down from the original $3.2 million/year run rate to $1.3 million. That's a saving of almost two million dollars per year for our setup!

    ↗Our cloud-exit savings will now top ten million over five yearsworld.hey.com

    infrastructure

    Interesting
  8. 24 months earlier

  9. Our readingRenting computers from a cloud provider is mostly a bad deal for medium-sized companies with stable growth.

    Their wordsIt's finally time to conclude: Renting computers is (mostly) a bad deal for medium-sized companies like ours with stable growth.

    ↗Why we're leaving the cloudworld.hey.com

    Interesting