Cloud costs can quickly spiral out of control, especially when infrastructure scaling isn’t optimized. We recently helped a client migrate from Google Cloud to Hetzner in November 2024, reducing their monthly cloud bill from $30,000 to just $3,000—a massive 90% cost savings.
This blog post details why we made the switch, how we executed the migration, and what we learned along the way.
Why Move from Google Cloud?
Our client was running a fairly common stack: VPS, Redis, and PostgreSQL on Google Cloud. However, they faced a big problem—every time their system slowed down, instead of diagnosing the root cause, they simply increased server capacity.
Without an experienced DevOps engineer, their infrastructure costs kept rising, and by the time we stepped in, they were spending nearly $30,000 per month. It was clear that they needed a better approach—one that wouldn’t break the bank.
Why should we be scared of the cloud? It’s Linux, we use it every day.
Why Hetzner? We initially discovered Hetzner years ago, but it wasn’t until DHH introduced Kamal that we took a closer look. This sparked our interest, and we found Hetzner to be an ideal match for our client’s requirements.
Hetzner’s advantages include:
- Substantially lower costs compared to Google Cloud
- Robust dedicated servers for PostgreSQL database hosting
- Versatile cloud VPS and storage for Redis and application servers
- Bad ass performance if needed
- Simple and great dashboards!
The Migration Process Moving from Google Cloud to Hetzner wasn’t just about copying and pasting data—we had to be strategic.
The Biggest Challenge: PostgreSQL Migration The client’s PostgreSQL database was massive—1.8TB of data. Migrating it without major downtime was critical. We used pgsync to sync data efficiently and minimize service interruptions.
Handling DNS and Downtime DNS updates were quick, taking only about 2 minutes. We prioritized database migration over backups due to time constraints, as the next Google Cloud bill was just around the corner. Cost Savings Breakdown Once everything was running smoothly on Hetzner, we were able to downsize infrastructure significantly.
Before (Google Cloud) After (Hetzner) $30,000/month $3,000/month Large VPS & PostgreSQL Smaller, optimized VPS & PostgreSQL No infrastructure expert Efficient, well-planned scaling That’s a 90% cost reduction while maintaining stability.
Lessons Learned & Who Should Consider This Migration Would We Do Anything Differently? Yes, but only to make the process even faster and more efficient. Now that we’ve done this once, we could execute it even quicker for future migrations.
Who Should Consider Moving Away from Google Cloud?
If you’re:
- Running multiple web servers, background workers, Redis, and PostgreSQL
- Paying $1,000+ per month in cloud costs
- Open to a 70%+ cost reduction (even after including migration fees and maintenance)
Then moving to Hetzner (or another provider) could save you thousands—and we’d be happy to help make that happen.
Final Thoughts Cloud migrations can be intimidating, but with the right approach, they can lead to huge cost savings without sacrificing performance. Our client is now saving $27,000 per month while running a stable, efficient system.
If you’re interested in cutting your cloud costs, feel free to reach out—we’d love to help.
This post was originally posted by Vibol T. on Gotabs-consulting External link