7 ms·

Why only 1 on linode? Is there a reason?

by carbon8 17y ago

KB 17y ago
I was just thinking the same thing. 14 on Slicehost and only 1 on Linode seems like an odd ratio considering the similarities of the services provided and price point. Maybe its because Slicehost offers backups?
- buro9 17y ago
  I'm not YC, but yes backups differentiate for me. Though I'm still itching to find something just like Slicehost but with gigabit on the private network.
- medianama 17y ago
  That's the power of branding..
  - davidw 17y ago
    SH really does have a strong brand. Initially, I wasn't really aware of the 64 bit issue, and saw that lots of people were happy with them, so I went with them over Linode without any real concrete reasons. That turned out to be a mistake, as Linode is significantly cheaper for what I need, yet still seem to run a quality operation.
axod 17y ago
Surprised me as well. I don't know of a metric where slicehost beats linode.
- rantfoil 17y ago
  Slicehost support is top notch -- also getting started on a box is absurdly simple with PickledOnion's tutorials.
  - edawerd 17y ago
    True. PickedOnion's tutorials are really helpful, especially if it's your first time setting up a "real" server. I later went with Linode for my personal websites, since they're a bit cheaper, and I felt more comfortable with setting up a box now.
    - diN0bot 17y ago
      I went with linode and used the slicehost tutorials for setup. All good. I definitely feel more loyalty to slicehost, but I was already set up on linode and it is cheaper, so momentum kept me there.
  - davidw 17y ago
    SH are definitely good people, but are they better than Linode in terms of support? That's difficult to determine and quantify. The only support request I filed was asking if they'd be adding 32 bit instances any time soon, and they said no;-)
- bretthoerner 17y ago
  Disk, right? RAID 1+0 at Slicehost is pretty unique, afaik. I'm not saying that makes them objectively better in every way, but it's just an answer to your non-question. ;)
mdasen 17y ago
There are several. Slicehost has been doing Xen hosting longer. Linode is older, but they were using User Mode Linux (not nearly as good as Xen) for a long time. Slicehost got the mindshare by getting to Xen hosting first. Slicehost is local to all their data centers. Whether in St Louis or Dallas/Ft Worth, their employees actually work there. Linode's employees all work in South Jersey, 2 hours from their Newark data center and inaccessible to their other data centers. Kinda indicates that they have other people setting up a lot of their stuff. Linode is often out of stock or having limited stock. This might just be that Slicehost doesn't tell us how the sausage is made and Linode does. Linode tops out at 2880MB. Slicehost offers instances going up to 15.5GB. That's a major difference if you want to try scaling up easily and there is a huge difference between trying to get your site to handle traffic on a 3GB server and a 15GB server. Backups are a nice touch. The Rackspace name lends a "they're the big game in town" to their service. They aren't that much more expensive. Linode charges a constant $0.0555. . . per MB of RAM. At the 2GB level, Slicehost is charging $0.634 per MB of RAM. That means that if you were to get 2GB servers from each, the Slicehost would cost you $130 and the Linode would cost you $114. It is cheaper, but it isn't so significantly cheaper. Slicehost can more easily upgrade your plan. Linode has to switch your box should you want to move plans. Often Slicehost can move plans while keeping you on the same box. -- Now, none of that may matter to you. It doesn't to me and that's why I'm a Linode customer. However, for many these are considerations. If you're running a business, having instances top out at 3GB is a concern. Would you pay a 13% premium for Slicehost just for the knowledge that you can upgrade beyond 3GB of RAM should the need arise? If I had a person project where downtime for migration would be embarrassing, I would. Likewise, some might care that the Slicehost people actually work in the area rather than colo-ing boxes with places like The Planet. I'm very happy with Linode, but I can see why many would choose Slicehost.
- axod 17y ago
  >> "They aren't that much more expensive" Bandwidth overage on slicehost is .30/GB. On Linode it's .10/GB. That's a fairly massive difference.
  - patio11 17y ago
jmtame 17y ago
Linode is great. Using them for Hacker News Directory (hndir.com) and several other sites.

Why only 1 on linode? Is there a reason?

by carbon8 17y ago

Why only 1 on linode? Is there a reason?

KB 17y ago

I was just thinking the same thing. 14 on Slicehost and only 1 on Linode seems like an odd ratio considering the similarities of the services provided and price point. Maybe its because Slicehost offers backups?

buro9 17y ago
I'm not YC, but yes backups differentiate for me. Though I'm still itching to find something just like Slicehost but with gigabit on the private network.
medianama 17y ago
That's the power of branding..
- davidw 17y ago
  SH really does have a strong brand. Initially, I wasn't really aware of the 64 bit issue, and saw that lots of people were happy with them, so I went with them over Linode without any real concrete reasons. That turned out to be a mistake, as Linode is significantly cheaper for what I need, yet still seem to run a quality operation.

axod 17y ago

Surprised me as well. I don't know of a metric where slicehost beats linode.

rantfoil 17y ago
Slicehost support is top notch -- also getting started on a box is absurdly simple with PickledOnion's tutorials.
- edawerd 17y ago
  True. PickedOnion's tutorials are really helpful, especially if it's your first time setting up a "real" server. I later went with Linode for my personal websites, since they're a bit cheaper, and I felt more comfortable with setting up a box now.
  - diN0bot 17y ago
    I went with linode and used the slicehost tutorials for setup. All good. I definitely feel more loyalty to slicehost, but I was already set up on linode and it is cheaper, so momentum kept me there.
- davidw 17y ago
  SH are definitely good people, but are they better than Linode in terms of support? That's difficult to determine and quantify. The only support request I filed was asking if they'd be adding 32 bit instances any time soon, and they said no;-)
bretthoerner 17y ago
Disk, right? RAID 1+0 at Slicehost is pretty unique, afaik. I'm not saying that makes them objectively better in every way, but it's just an answer to your non-question. ;)

mdasen 17y ago

There are several. Slicehost has been doing Xen hosting longer. Linode is older, but they were using User Mode Linux (not nearly as good as Xen) for a long time. Slicehost got the mindshare by getting to Xen hosting first. Slicehost is local to all their data centers. Whether in St Louis or Dallas/Ft Worth, their employees actually work there. Linode's employees all work in South Jersey, 2 hours from their Newark data center and inaccessible to their other data centers. Kinda indicates that they have other people setting up a lot of their stuff. Linode is often out of stock or having limited stock. This might just be that Slicehost doesn't tell us how the sausage is made and Linode does. Linode tops out at 2880MB. Slicehost offers instances going up to 15.5GB. That's a major difference if you want to try scaling up easily and there is a huge difference between trying to get your site to handle traffic on a 3GB server and a 15GB server. Backups are a nice touch. The Rackspace name lends a "they're the big game in town" to their service. They aren't that much more expensive. Linode charges a constant $0.0555. . . per MB of RAM. At the 2GB level, Slicehost is charging $0.634 per MB of RAM. That means that if you were to get 2GB servers from each, the Slicehost would cost you $130 and the Linode would cost you $114. It is cheaper, but it isn't so significantly cheaper. Slicehost can more easily upgrade your plan. Linode has to switch your box should you want to move plans. Often Slicehost can move plans while keeping you on the same box. -- Now, none of that may matter to you. It doesn't to me and that's why I'm a Linode customer. However, for many these are considerations. If you're running a business, having instances top out at 3GB is a concern. Would you pay a 13% premium for Slicehost just for the knowledge that you can upgrade beyond 3GB of RAM should the need arise? If I had a person project where downtime for migration would be embarrassing, I would. Likewise, some might care that the Slicehost people actually work in the area rather than colo-ing boxes with places like The Planet. I'm very happy with Linode, but I can see why many would choose Slicehost.

axod 17y ago
>> "They aren't that much more expensive" Bandwidth overage on slicehost is .30/GB. On Linode it's .10/GB. That's a fairly massive difference.
- patio11 17y ago

jmtame 17y ago

Linode is great. Using them for Hacker News Directory (hndir.com) and several other sites.