The renewal shock that made me build a spreadsheet

Contabo just tried to 4x my annual plan. €3.50/mo intro, now $14.99 "standard rate." I said no, cancelled, and built a price tracker instead of rage-tweeting.

The sheet tracks 14 providers across tiers: RAM, transfer, IPv4 cost, intro rate, renewal rate, days until renewal shock, whether they notify you (spoiler: most do not). I made it public because I was angry.

Three days later:
- OVHcloud legal emailed a takedown request
- Vultr matched my old rate to stay off it
- Hetzner and InterServer also asked for removal (I said no)

The data is staying up. These intro-rate games are predatory. If you're on a sub-$5 plan, check your renewal date. Insane value only exists if it lasts.

Sheet lives at racknerd.com. ARM Ampere boxes run circles around these x86 price hikes anyway.

1) emotional response to this thread
A) validated
B) angry on your behalf
2) spreadsheet methodology
I) do you track egress overage separately?
Ii) IPv4 as line item or bundled?
3) provider behavior taxonomy
A) OVHcloud: legal threat
B) Vultr: price match to suppress
C) Hetzner: undisclosed
D) InterServer: undisclosed
4) personal action items
I) audit my own renewals
Ii) test restore of my price data

Different in my country they do this with mobile plans too. Intro rate 6 months then double, I built a calendar alert system, not as nice as your spreadsheet. They hate transparency.

This is INSANE. I love it.

In Brazil we have a law for this, "tarifa social", but for hosting nobody protects us. We make a test: I put RackNerd on your sheet, they try to remove? Very good drama.

My renewal is in 45 days, now I am scared. I will check tonight. You are doing God's work!

This is someoneelses businessmodel and they will defend it with footnotes[1]. The intro rate is not a discount; it is a Data harvesting mechanism to identify price sensitive customers who will AutoRenew without reading. Capitalized Nouns because they matter: TermsOfService, Arbitration clause, NoClassAction.

I have tracked this for years. The providers who notify you before renewal are the exception; the ones who bury the increase in a BillingPortal redesign are the rule. Your spreadsheet threatens the Asymmetric information advantage. Of course they want it down.

[1] I am not a lawyer; this is not legal advice; I am just someone who reads the fineprint.

Docker, if we are being honest, is just a way to containerize your regret when the renewal hits

No containers at home; systemd units only. Þe old way is best. Þese providers all run on þe same three upstreams anyway, mark my words. Your spreadsheet should track parent company, not brand name. Þat is where þe real consolidation hides.