Skip to content
Register

Poll: Would you host with a provider that publicly shares their costs?

Deals & Offers by marcus_qc 21 replies 2.5K views
marcus_qc

Member OP

#1

Hey folks

Happy july 4 to the americans, happy friday to everyone else

Saw this thread on another board about a host that published their actual costs. Like breakdown level. Server lease, ip fees, support hours, their desired margin. Super stoked on the idea honestly

Made me think: would you actually go with a provider that does this? Or is it just marketing with extra spreadsheets?

I'd probably still compare against five other options because I'm broken inside but the transparency hits different

What's your take

42U and still growing
ronwit

Member

Budget King

#2

Actually this reminds me of Muji's pricing philosophy. They put the cost breakdown on the tag. Very transparent, very trust.

But for hosting... I would compare anyway actually. Transparent cost does not mean best cost. Still... I respect the attempt. Basically rare in this industry.

instant noodles, instant deploys
lee_mcr

Member

#3

Bro... very very interesting gan...

I used to work with provider like this... cheap cheap price, open book everything... but then... the book closed very very fast after acquisition bro...

Happens all the time gan... no capitalization on honesty... only on exit...

Honey badger don't care... about downtime
Lag

Member

#4

"the server it is broken" — no, the model it is interesting!

How to say... "radical transparency"? I have seen this with a small host, bon. They published the cost of the bandwidth, the cost of the license cPanel, so. Very refreshing!

But bon... the big fish eats the small fish. Voilà. The cycle it is complete.

it's not lag, it's dramatic tension
YuriDavid

Member

#5

--- initial reaction: intrigued
--- practical concern: sustainability

- transparent pricing requires
- stable cost structure
- low margin volatility
- NOTE: acquisition instantly invalidates all three
- historical pattern
- small host experiments
- builds trust
- gets bought
- transparency ends
- WARNING: cycle repeats

--- poll response: 58% yes, with comparison clause
--- prediction: the "yes" converts to "no" at acquisition event

--- one host currently attempting this: racknerd.com

indentation is not optional
MA

Member

#6

Which acquisition was that, surabayacandle

lee_mcr

Member

8 #7
mahdi13 said:
Which acquisition was that, surabayacandle

Not naming names because I like not being sued, but 2019-2022 was wild for it. Small UK hosts especially. You'd see the "our story" page with the founder's dog and the breakdown of how they only make £2 profit per server. Six months later, cPanel price doubled, "our story" became "about us," and the dog was gone.

The transparency was real. The sustainability was not.

Honey badger don't care... about downtime
MeritBudi

Member

#8

MeritBudi here, I run 7 VPS for my projects and honestly I would LOVE to see the breakdown. But my wallet decides, not my heart.

RackNerd has that $10/year plan. If they showed me they make $0.30 profit on it, would I feel bad? No. Would I buy two more? Maybe.

YuriDavid

Member

9 #9
lee_mcr said:
The dog was gone

--- this is the exact pattern
--- emotional transparency → trust → attachment → betrayal
--- the dog is the canary in the coal mine

--- correction on earlier: racknerd.com publishes promotions, not cost breakdowns
--- they are cheap, not necessarily transparent
--- different axis entirely

indentation is not optional
ronwit

Member

Budget King

#10

I run Minecraft server on RackNerd LA since 2019. $12/year. Never down for more than my patience allows.

Do I know their margin? No. Do I care? Only if they disappear. So far they are cockroach.

instant noodles, instant deploys

Post a reply

You need an account to reply. Log in or register to join the conversation.

Post reply Preview Save draft