$0
- Open source software may be free of cost
- Doesn’t include the potential costs of licensing (if not free) or training
THE COST OF OBSERVABILITY
BUILDING VS. BUYING
YOUR PIPELINE
Observability pipelines play a crucial role in ensuring the performance and reliabilityof modern software applications, allowing organizations to make data-driven decisions.Building an observability pipeline from scratch can be costly and require expertise,whereas a pre-built solution offers faster time to value, scalability and lower costs.
This infographic outlines key considerations for each route and its costs:*
01
SOFTWARE COSTS
Hosting is crucial for an observability pipeline, but expenses for self-builtsolutions can accumulate rapidly, covering cloud infrastructure, datastorage, and management costs.
BUILD
BUY
$11,880
- Observability pipeline platform tosupport monthly ingestion of 1TB
02
HOSTING
Hosting is crucial for an observability pipeline, but expenses for self-builtsolutions can accumulate rapidly, covering cloud infrastructure, datastorage, and management costs.
BUILD
$27,584
- 3 servers with an on-demand price of $0.35 per hour
BUY
$0
- None (Built into platform pricing)
03
DEVELOPMENT
Developing your own observability pipeline requires a considerableinvestment in hiring and training developers, as well as acquiringnecessary hardware and software.
BUILD
$525,000
- 1 full-time engineer (FTE)needed in year one for setupand rule configuration
- 2 FTE in year 2, and 3 in year 3 to build, maintain, and scale as requirements evolve
BUY
$175,000
- 0.5 FTE needed in year 1 for setup and rule configuration
- 0.25 FTE in years 2 and 3 for updates as business requirements evolve
04
OPERATIONS
Once you’ve built your pipeline, you’ll also need to invest in ongoingoperations, including monitoring, maintenance, and upgrades.
BUILD
$393,750
- 0.5 FTE in year 1 for monitoring and management
- 0.75 FTE in year 2, and 1 in year3 (inclusive of pipeline alongwith data sources anddestinations
BUY
$43,750
- 0.25 FTE across 3 years for monitoring and management (inclusive of pipeline along with data sources and destinations)
05
support
Your company will need to budget for ongoing support and customerservice. These costs can quickly add up for a self-built solution.
BUILD
$393,750
- • 0.5 FTE in year 1 for technical end-user support and platform education
- 0.75 FTE in year 2, and 1 in year 3
BUY
$0
- Cloud-based SaaS solution with the support cost factored into it
06
TOTAL COST
The total cost of building and maintaining an observability pipeline can quickly add up tosignificant amounts of time and resources spent, taking away from what you can allocatetowards other initiatives that drive your business forward.
BUILD
$1,340,084
BUY
$230,630
TAKE OBSERVABILITY TO THE NEXT LEVELWHILE STAYING WITHIN YOUR BUDGET
Want to learn more about our cost analysis? Check out our blog post totake a deeper dive into our findings and learn more about how a pre-builtsolution can help you drive your business forward.
*Figures are based on the assumption that the FTE loaded salary is $175,000/year, and all numbers areamortized over a three-year period.
TO LEARN MORE ABOUT HOW MEZMO IS IMPROVING OBSERVABILITY,
CHAT WITH ONE OF OUR OBSERVABILITY PIPELINE EXPERTS.