30% Cloud Cost Savings: How E-commerce Giants Use Hardal Self-Hosted
Discover how a major e-commerce company reduced cloud infrastructure costs by 30% using Hardal's self-hosted solution instead of building their own server-side analytics stack.
When e-commerce companies grow, they often face the challenge of managing their own analytics infrastructure. This can be a costly and time-consuming endeavor, as it requires a team of engineers to manage the infrastructure and the data.
In this case study, we will look at how a major e-commerce company reduced cloud infrastructure costs by 30% using Hardal's self-hosted solution instead of building their own server-side analytics stack.
The Challenge: The True Cost of DIY Stack
E-commerce platform processing 50 million events monthly, faced a classic dilemma. Their cloud analytics costs were spiraling out of control at $45,000 per month, with projections reaching $80,000 as traffic doubled.
Their engineering team was tasked with building an in-house solution to reduce costs. The initial plan seemed straightforward:
- 6 months of development time with 3 senior engineers diverted from core e-commerce features
- $180,000 in engineering costs just for the initial setup
- Ongoing maintenance burden requiring dedicated DevOps resources
- Security vulnerabilities from custom implementations
- No analytics during the 6-month build period - losing critical insights during peak shopping seasons
The total cost of ownership was actually higher than their original cloud solution, with significantly more risk and operational complexity.
Hardal Self-Hosted Solution
Instead of continuing down the DIY path, the e-commerce company discovered Hardal's self-hosted solution. Within just 1-2 weeks, they had:
- Complete analytics infrastructure deployed on their own servers
- Same powerful features as cloud analytics platforms
- Full data ownership within their secure environment
- Professional-grade ClickHouse backed database optimized for e-commerce workloads
- Automatic scaling and load balancing handled by Hardal's proven architecture
The Results: Meaningful Cost Savings
The e-commerce company's transformation delivered immediate and sustained benefits:
Direct Cost Savings
- Previous cloud costs: $45,000/month ($540,000/year)
- Hardal self-hosted: $31,500/month ($378,000/year)
- Annual savings: $162,000 (30% reduction)
Avoided Development Costs
- Engineering time saved: 6 months × 3 engineers = $180,000
- Ongoing maintenance costs avoided: $5,000/month in DevOps overhead
- Risk mitigation: No security incidents from custom implementations
Total First-Year Impact
- Direct savings: $162,000
- Development costs avoided: $180,000
- Operational overhead savings: $60,000
- Total value: $402,000 in the first year alone
Why Hardal Self-Hosted Wins
Building your own analytics infrastructure might seem cost-effective, but the reality tells a different story:
| DIY Approach | Hardal Self-Hosted |
|---|---|
| 6+ months to deploy | 2 weeks deployment |
| Requires specialized team | Managed solution |
| Custom security risks | Enterprise-grade security |
| Ongoing maintenance burden | Professional support |
| Unknown scaling issues | Proven scalability |
Perfect for e-commerce companies spending $20,000+ monthly on cloud analytics who want enterprise capabilities with predictable costs.
Contact our team to learn how Hardal self-hosted can transform your e-commerce analytics costs while improving capabilities and reducing operational complexity.