Kefiw

Archived noindex page. Kefiw's public focus is Property decision help.

Archived page

This older Kefiw page is kept for reference, marked noindex, and removed from the primary sitemap. The current Kefiw experience is focused on property decisions: cost, quotes, damage, buying, selling, owning, and packets.

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The Cloud Exit

Compare ongoing cloud bills with buying and running your own equipment.

Cumulative cloud cost vs cumulative self-host cost (hardware amortized + electricity + maintenance hours + uptime risk as a % of cloud). The crossover month is when self-hosting catches up.

Part of: Saving & Spending Calculators

Start below
Fields marked optional can be skipped; results update as you type
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CLOUD_EXIT
Managed vs self-hosted — crossover month for running your own rack
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CUMULATIVE COST — 60 MONTHS
— Cloud— Self-Hosted
CROSSOVER
VERDICT
Month 5 — Self-Host Wins
Past 5 months, cumulative cloud cost overtakes the rack + running expenses. Monthly delta after break-even: $1,515.
Cloud / Month
$2,250
Self / Month (run rate)
$735
HW Amortized
$222
Uptime Risk Cost
$68
▸ METHODOLOGY
Self-hosted monthly = (hardware ÷ depreciation months) + electricity + (maint hours × your rate) + (cloud × uptime risk %). Cumulative cost includes hardware upfront at month 0. Data egress is added to cloud monthly — often the silent killer on streaming or ML workloads. Uptime risk captures the expected downtime cost of self-hosting as a fraction of what cloud buys you.

How to use

  1. Enter Cloud Monthly and Data Egress separately (egress is the silent killer).
  2. Enter Hardware One-Time and Depreciation Months (usually 36).
  3. Enter Electricity, Maint Hours/Month, Your Hourly Rate, and Uptime Risk %.
  4. The Crossover Chart shows when self-hosting wins.

Examples

$2k cloud + $250 egress vs $8k rack
Crossover at month 4–5 — self-hosting wins fast once egress is in the mix.

Before you trust the result

Check the inputs that matter most: dates, rates, units, costs, and any optional fields you skipped. A calculator can only work with the numbers entered here, so use the result as a decision check rather than a final answer when money, health, tax, legal, or safety consequences are involved.

If the result feels surprising, change one input at a time and watch which number moves. That usually shows the real lever behind the decision.

Next up

Exit payback known. Now set the floor for any rebuild.The Value Floor → Leaving cloud? Measure the debt you're dragging along.Tech Debt Interest →

Frequently asked questions

› Why include uptime risk? Troubleshooting

Cloud buys you five-nines; self-hosting has inherent downtime. Treat it as a percentage of cloud spend you are "saving up for" outages.

› Does depreciation match real life?

36 months is conservative for most server hardware. Use 48–60 for low-duty setups, 24 for high-wear or bleeding-edge kit.

Tips & related reading

See the Saving & Spending Calculators hub →

Tips & how-tos

Relevant links

Related tools

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