Ask HN: Worth looking for cheaper VPS than Digital Ocean?

#1

Post by vpser » Sat, Apr 09, 2016, 1:56 PM UTC

Hi HN,

I want to get a Linux VPS on a yearly plan, to use for experimenting with some small side projects on Linux. The projects may not make any or much money, at least to start with (more for learning).

So is it worth checking out cheaper options than Digital Ocean, which, last I heard, was 5 USD per month for the lowest plan?

Also, if anyone recommends any other VPS host, have you tried it, and is it fairly reliable in terms of uptime, resources (RAM, HDDThanks in advance for any suggestions/tips.

I'm not very experienced with handling VPS's, though I've used them a bit in the past. But have a fair amount of Linux experience on local machines at home and work. So a few tips on things to watch out for or take care of, regarding VPS vs. local Linux box, are very welcome too. Or if preferred, I can make that a separate Ask HN post.

Re: Ask HN: Worth looking for cheaper VPS than Digital Ocean?

#2

Post by mpnordland » Sat, Apr 09, 2016, 2:11 PM UTC

You may look at lowendbox.com for some really cheap vps options, performance may not be ideal. Also beware that you might end up in an unsavory ip address range, fine for most things but any emails sent from that ip will most likely fail.

Re: Ask HN: Worth looking for cheaper VPS than Digital Ocean?

#3

Post by profquail » Sat, Apr 09, 2016, 2:16 PM UTC

Since you're shopping around, take a look at Vultr [0]. It's the same price ($5/month) and they've been recommended before by other HNers.

If you're just toying around for now, AWS offers a free 'micro' instance. It's low-powered but enough to run a simple, low-volume site on.

[0]: https://www.vultr.com/

Re: Ask HN: Worth looking for cheaper VPS than Digital Ocean?

#4

Post by arclyte » Sat, Apr 09, 2016, 2:36 PM UTC

mpnordland wrote: post #2

You may look at lowendbox.com for some really cheap vps options, performance may not be ideal. Also beware that you might end up in an unsavory ip address range, fine for most things but any emails sent from that ip will most likely fail.

Awesome site, thanks for posting! I'm in the the same boat as the OP and just happened to see this thread pop up while investigating, so this at least serves as a good source for comparisons to relatively more expensive options.

Re: Ask HN: Worth looking for cheaper VPS than Digital Ocean?

#5

Post by vsakos » Sat, Apr 09, 2016, 3:17 PM UTC

Check OVH [0] ($3.49 is the lowest plan) or for even less, take a look at Time4VPS [1], they have really cheap servers, but I wouldn't use them in production only for dev and private use.

[0]: https://www.ovh.com/us/vps/vps-ssd.xml

[1]: https://www.time4vps.eu/pricing/

Re: Ask HN: Worth looking for cheaper VPS than Digital Ocean?

#6

Post by afarrell » Sat, Apr 09, 2016, 4:23 PM UTC

You should include your own time in calculating the cost of a VPS host.

Before I discovered Linode and Digital Ocean, I tried to use the free VPS that was developed and maintained by the computer club at my school. It took me hours upon ours to get to an SSH terminal and would have been way cheaper for me to just work a minimum wage job and pay for one maintained by people who had the time to think about user experience rather than exams.

Re: Ask HN: Worth looking for cheaper VPS than Digital Ocean?

#7

Post by arrmn » Sat, Apr 09, 2016, 5:50 PM UTC

afarrell wrote: post #6

You should include your own time in calculating the cost of a VPS host. Before I discovered Linode and Digital Ocean, I tried to use the free VPS that was developed and maintained by the computer club at my school. It took me hours upon ours to get to an SSH terminal and would have been way cheaper for me to just work a minimum wage job and pay for one maintained by people who had the time to think about user experie…

You're saving yourself really some time when using digitalocean, they work without a problem and you know exactly how much you're paying at the end.

When you're a student you can get even 50$ credit through Github https://education.github.com/pack.

In my opinion it's worth it.

Re: Ask HN: Worth looking for cheaper VPS than Digital Ocean?

#8

Post by vpser » Sat, Apr 09, 2016, 5:57 PM UTC

afarrell wrote: post #6

You should include your own time in calculating the cost of a VPS host. Before I discovered Linode and Digital Ocean, I tried to use the free VPS that was developed and maintained by the computer club at my school. It took me hours upon ours to get to an SSH terminal and would have been way cheaper for me to just work a minimum wage job and pay for one maintained by people who had the time to think about user experie…

>You should include your own time in calculating the cost of a VPS host.

Thanks, good point. I had just started to think, after posting the question, that maybe I shouldn't bother about $5 vs. $2.5 or $3, and instead look at the reliability of the host. As you say, if more of my own time is needed with the cheaper option, it would actually be more expensive.

Re: Ask HN: Worth looking for cheaper VPS than Digital Ocean?

#9

Post by vpser » Sat, Apr 09, 2016, 6:00 PM UTC

mpnordland wrote: post #2

You may look at lowendbox.com for some really cheap vps options, performance may not be ideal. Also beware that you might end up in an unsavory ip address range, fine for most things but any emails sent from that ip will most likely fail.

>might end up in an unsavory ip address range

What is that? you mean, like, bots are run from such a range?

Re: Ask HN: Worth looking for cheaper VPS than Digital Ocean?

#10

Post by vpser » Sat, Apr 09, 2016, 6:02 PM UTC

mpnordland wrote: post #2

You may look at lowendbox.com for some really cheap vps options, performance may not be ideal. Also beware that you might end up in an unsavory ip address range, fine for most things but any emails sent from that ip will most likely fail.

Thanks.