66 lines
2.8 KiB
Markdown
66 lines
2.8 KiB
Markdown
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title = "Shared hosting is a scam"
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publishDate = 2023-03-29T00:00:00+02:00
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lastmod = 2024-11-18T20:09:29+01:00
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tags = ["sharedhosting", "saas", "scam"]
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categories = ["tech"]
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draft = false
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meta = true
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type = "list"
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[menu]
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[menu.posts]
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weight = 3003
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identifier = "shared-hosting-is-a-scam"
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This isn't the first, and won't be the last time I rant against shared hosting, SaaS, and all the other 'I want to be a landlord' scams out there.
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This time in shared hosting: friend of mine wants to set up a tech stack for their new agency. Website, email, CRM, the works.
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Starting with the basics, we talked a bit, and arrived at the conclusion that, since they're not very tech literate, it would make the most sense to just buy a domain and set up with Google Workspace (easy!) and Google Sites (easy!). That's about $15/mth. The domain is about $20/yr, which gives us a total of $200/yr for that simple set-up.
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A reasonably speedy VPS that would handle this load would be about $60/yr, plus domain we go up to $80-ish a year... but you only break even on this after two years of use (not including maintenance costs if you'd hire someone for that.) Note the amounts are cumulative.
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| Year | Google | VPS |
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|------|--------|------|
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| 1 | $200 | $280 |
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| 2 | $400 | $360 |
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| 3 | $600 | $440 |
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| 4 | $800 | $520 |
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This is based on a quick estimation that setting up a VPS, domain, website and email server (just the tech, no content or graphical design) would take a few hours of sysadmin time. Let's call it $200.
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The actual figure is only mildly relevant, as we can clearly see that as time passes, renting a VPS is much more affordable and sane.
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Plus, you get to grow and expand your tech stack at no additional cost. There is a [long list of available free alternatives to garbage software.](https://github.com/RunaCapital/awesome-oss-alternatives)
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And it gets much worse...
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When they asked their friendly neighbourhood web designer about setting a server up for them...
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They got the following offer (verbatim):
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- SSL
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- 5GB space
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- 1TB bandwidth
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- 3 emails
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- unlimited use
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- free FTP
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All words which the average person doesn't understand. How do you even begin making sense of this if you don't grasp how the Internet works?
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The price tag? A very not cool $50/mth. _For shared hosting with ridiculous limits._
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I can't fathom how a person can justify having these restrictions on a $50/mth plan. For that money you can _easily_ rent a top of the line VPS that'll dance and sing to any tune you play.
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**And how does it stack up? $600/yr makes for 600, 1200, 1800, 2400... you get the picture.**
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For **the worst service** at the **highest price.**
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This is right on par with SaaS and vendor lock in terms of how bad this is.
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Be ethical. Don't give money to thieves.
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[Join the FSF.](https://my.fsf.org/join)
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