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Switch to Pair - https://www.pair.com/ https://www.pair.com/ - they are older than Linode and have a great reputation. (PS: However, I am not sure if they have

Switch to Pair - https://www.pair.com/ https://www.pair.com/ - they are older than Linode and have a great reputation. (PS: However, I am not sure if they have been acquired by another company now. The "old" Pair had a sterling reputation, and I can vouch for that as a former customer.)

ubermonkey 4y ago
I'm paying for a few small Linux VMs. Pair has nothing all price competitive. They're also now part of a giant media company (!), so yeah, pass.
- webmobdev 4y ago
  Look up "managed" hosting vs "unmanaged" hosting - that's one explanation why their services are costlier.
  - ubermonkey 4y ago
    ...but I don't _care_ why they're costlier, and also noted I don't really want to deal with them as an entity, so it doesn't matter.
    - webmobdev 4y ago
      Just pointing out that price comparison between two product or service needs to be done with similar yardsticks. A product or service being costlier doesn't automatically mean that it costs you more as it can save your business money elsewhere.
      - ubermonkey 4y ago
        It doesn't really, though. I'm happy with what I'm getting for the price I'm paying. I'm not interested in a bigger spend here at all. So yes, it's completely fair to dismiss Pair as being too expensive based their prices alone.
duskwuff 4y ago
Pair is absolutely not price-competitive. Pair's "Starter I" plan is $30/mo, for 1 vCPU, 2 GB RAM, 20 GB storage, and 500 GB transfer. Linode's most similar plan ("Linode 2 GB") is $10/mo, and includes 2 TB transfer.
- webmobdev 4y ago
  Does look like they have hiked their prices. But it also depends on how you are making the comparison. For example, just a cursory look at both pricing shows me some major differences - Pair is offering "fully managed" VPS hosting which means the hosting providers employees will help you do most of the common hosting tasks (and provide better customer support) unlike "unmanaged" hosting where you have to do everything yourself with the tools provided. Is the Linode plan you cited also similar or for "unmanaged" hosting (which is what Linode was famous for)? Note that Linode (Akamia) also makes a distinction between "shared" vCPU vs "dedicated" vCPU and prices it differently. Don't know how Pair looks at that. The point is that the pricing variation can be justified by the services being offered. I admire and respect Akamai and also like Linode a lot. But I also recognize that Akamai is big B2B company offering enterprise services and small or independent developers will always be an after thought for them.
  - ubermonkey 4y ago
    Serious question: why are you stanning for Pair? Do you work for them?
    - webmobdev 4y ago
      No, I don't. I am vocal about brands I admire or dislike. One of the ways I was taught to evaluate web hosting companies was to check how long they have been in the business (both the company and the management) as web hosting is an easy business to get into (even today, any Tom, Dick and Harry can start a web hosting business with next to nothing investment by becoming a reseller). Pair hosting is one of the oldest web hosting companies I know, and they have / had a reputation for high server uptimes (I still remember one of their employee had once posted in some forum on how one of their FreeBSD run server had an uptime of more than 2+ years - yeah, bragging about server uptimes was once a thing too) and great customer support. (I also have fond memories of Linode, Slicehost, Rackspace etc. before they all gave up and were gobbled up by someone, and web hosting became all this "cloud" bullshit.) Tl;dr: No. Brand recognition / recall is a powerful marketing tool.

ubermonkey 4y ago

I'm paying for a few small Linux VMs. Pair has nothing all price competitive. They're also now part of a giant media company (!), so yeah, pass.

webmobdev 4y ago
Look up "managed" hosting vs "unmanaged" hosting - that's one explanation why their services are costlier.
- ubermonkey 4y ago
  ...but I don't _care_ why they're costlier, and also noted I don't really want to deal with them as an entity, so it doesn't matter.
  - webmobdev 4y ago
    Just pointing out that price comparison between two product or service needs to be done with similar yardsticks. A product or service being costlier doesn't automatically mean that it costs you more as it can save your business money elsewhere.
    - ubermonkey 4y ago
      It doesn't really, though. I'm happy with what I'm getting for the price I'm paying. I'm not interested in a bigger spend here at all. So yes, it's completely fair to dismiss Pair as being too expensive based their prices alone.

duskwuff 4y ago

Pair is absolutely not price-competitive. Pair's "Starter I" plan is $30/mo, for 1 vCPU, 2 GB RAM, 20 GB storage, and 500 GB transfer. Linode's most similar plan ("Linode 2 GB") is $10/mo, and includes 2 TB transfer.

webmobdev 4y ago
Does look like they have hiked their prices. But it also depends on how you are making the comparison. For example, just a cursory look at both pricing shows me some major differences - Pair is offering "fully managed" VPS hosting which means the hosting providers employees will help you do most of the common hosting tasks (and provide better customer support) unlike "unmanaged" hosting where you have to do everything yourself with the tools provided. Is the Linode plan you cited also similar or for "unmanaged" hosting (which is what Linode was famous for)? Note that Linode (Akamia) also makes a distinction between "shared" vCPU vs "dedicated" vCPU and prices it differently. Don't know how Pair looks at that. The point is that the pricing variation can be justified by the services being offered. I admire and respect Akamai and also like Linode a lot. But I also recognize that Akamai is big B2B company offering enterprise services and small or independent developers will always be an after thought for them.
- ubermonkey 4y ago
  Serious question: why are you stanning for Pair? Do you work for them?
  - webmobdev 4y ago
    No, I don't. I am vocal about brands I admire or dislike. One of the ways I was taught to evaluate web hosting companies was to check how long they have been in the business (both the company and the management) as web hosting is an easy business to get into (even today, any Tom, Dick and Harry can start a web hosting business with next to nothing investment by becoming a reseller). Pair hosting is one of the oldest web hosting companies I know, and they have / had a reputation for high server uptimes (I still remember one of their employee had once posted in some forum on how one of their FreeBSD run server had an uptime of more than 2+ years - yeah, bragging about server uptimes was once a thing too) and great customer support. (I also have fond memories of Linode, Slicehost, Rackspace etc. before they all gave up and were gobbled up by someone, and web hosting became all this "cloud" bullshit.) Tl;dr: No. Brand recognition / recall is a powerful marketing tool.