Eternal virtual servers

My name is Leonid, I am the developer of the site Search VPS. As the name implies, the project specializes in helping to find virtual servers, so I try to keep up with all the innovations in this area.



One of the latest products presented by some hosters is an eternal virtual server, that is, a VPS / VDS with a one-time payment: the user pays a fixed amount and can use such a server for as long as he wants.







I have long been accustomed to marketing gimmicks like “unlimited traffic” or “unlimited number of sites”, and I am fine with such things, although I understand that nothing unlimited in fact does not exist, and traffic will be limited at best by the maximum channel speed, and infinite the number of sites can run into a limit on the number of files or resources consumed. Also, sometimes there are offers with unlimited disk space (this is mainly relevant for shared hosting), but most often there are a lot of reservations that such a tariff cannot be used for placing images, file storages and other projects that take up a lot of space.



All of the above marketing techniques have one difference from eternal servers: the user pays constantly.



In the case of an eternal server, the situation is exactly the opposite: the hoster receives an amount (although many times higher than the rental cost per month) once and then grants the user the right to use the server without time limits. I saw a lot of criticism of such tariffs, basically it all boiled down to unprofitability or to the fact that the hoster could go broke or at some point say that the tariff ceases to be eternal.



Let's try to figure out how this business model has the right to exist.



At the moment, I know three hosters that provide such eternal servers, but I am sure that in the future their number will only grow:

Each of these hosters has several perpetual tariffs to choose from with a different amount of resources and for different money. The cheapest perpetual tariff is offered by EternalHost for 5,990 rubles, it includes 1 processor core, 1 GB of RAM and 16 GB on an NVMe SSD drive. Other hosters offer similar characteristics with the exception of disk space: VDSina has 30 GB of disk for 8640 rubles, and cPanel Hosting offers 10 GB of disk for 8800 rubles.



The easiest way to understand how profitable such a sale is for the hoster (and therefore how many risks the client has in the future getting nothing from the donut instead of the server) is to calculate how many months such a server would pay off if the client paid every month.



I counted in two ways:

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So, all hosters adhere to the tactics of taking at least 35 rents per month for the server, when compared with the lowest prices on the market. Thus, for the user, the situation with renting an eternal server will be beneficial if the time of its use is more than 3 years. However, in fact, this number will be even higher, since I do not take into account the following parameters:

1. Some hosters offer discounts when paying for a long term, for example, very often you can see a 10% discount when paying for a year. Thus, the number of monthly payments increases by a few more.
2. , , - , .
3. . , 2 GB RAM, 2 40 GB 249 , .

Thus, dividing the cost of an eternal server by the price per month and obtaining the number 35 in fact turns this number into a conditional 40 or even more.



On the part of the hoster, everything turns out pretty well: the client pays immediately for 3 years in advance, which can be called a kind of investment. Over these 3 years, the equipment on which the client is located will most likely pay off, so the hoster will only need to pay for the server placement, if there is no DC, or only rent and personnel costs, if there is a DC. Plus, there is a chance that after some time the user will stop using the server, and overselling has not been canceled, so the cost of hosting such a user will be relatively low.



For the user, the conditions look pretty tempting: pay and use as much as you want. The offer is profitable, but in my opinion there are several risks:

1. At some point, the resources of the purchased tariff may not be enough, and the hoster may not give an additional charge and switch to another tariff.
2. I’m almost sure that the hosters will not allow you to transfer such a server from account to account, so the “sell” eternal server will most likely fail.
3. Something can happen to the hoster, and then you can hardly expect a return on the money invested. There are a lot of cases when small and not so hosters go out of business, especially a large number of them were in 2019.
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Buying or not buying such a server is a personal matter for everyone, you need to assess the risks that may arise during 4 years of operation - in my opinion, this is the minimum payback time for an eternal server, and in order for such an offer to become profitable, you will need to continue to use the server and after this period.



On the part of the hoster, there are also risks here, since the user may well use such a server for a very, very long time, and some costs will be needed for this. However, it seems to me that the risks of the hoster are much less than those of the user, and therefore the probability that the eternal server at some point will turn into a pumpkin is not eternal is quite small, and such offers have a right to life.



By the way, recently, one of the mobile operators has introduced the ability to pay for the tariff once the amount equal to 25 months of service, and use the SIM card as much as you like. I am almost sure that no one will have the idea that at some point the operator can change the conditions.



It is interesting to hear different opinions about the offers of eternal servers, I'm waiting for your comments.