I use Azure VMs but this post got me to check out your pricing again. You're not as expensive as I remember. In fact you look right in line with Azure and EC2.
Looks like with this program you can get a free 1 GB Linux or almost free 1 GB Windows server for 6 months anyway. Thanks for the program - it put you back on my radar.
We switched to DigitalOcean a month ago. The servers are 2x faster than rackspace (same RAM size) and we pay only half the price. DigitalOcean doesn't have all the features of rackspace (additional storage, private networks etc.), but the much better performance is everything we need.
I've conducted some independent tests of various block storage options with Rackspace, EC2, HP and GCE. Here are links providing a CSV of the results (may take a few seconds to generate). A value of 100 signifies near performance parity to a baremetal SAS reference system. Overall, Rackspace SSD is performant, but lacks the consistency of EBS PIOPs or GCE persistent storage.
Yes, we're actually very cost competitive for VMs - and cloud files includes a global CDN. I'm really, really, really happy this put us back on your radar. If you run into issues or have questions - jesse.noller@rackspace.com - my door is always open.
Do you support setting a cap on cloud files? e.g. customer sets some limit, say, $500/month, and if it ever hits that number it stops serving files instead of running up charges. And/or do you support triggers, so customer gets an email when charges run up to $200, then another email at $300, etc. ?
Not really good enough. It's unacceptable to ask your customers to expose themselves to unlimited billing liability. This is one thing that Google gets right and yourselves and Amazon don't: the ability to set a budget.
I bet if I didn't pay my bill on time you'd cut me off pretty quick. Why not let me tell you how much I've got to spend ahead of time so there's no nasty surprises when I get back from vacation while some bot has been rampaging through my site?
Of think of it this way: today's offer is designed to get people using Rackspace by lowering barriers. You're hoping people will like it and stay, or be too lazy to move. Don't you think the potential of an unlimited bill is another significant barrier in people's minds? I bet you're losing sign-ups.
medium utilized reserved "m1.large" instance, which has 7.5Gb of RAM + 2*420Gb of local storage costs $1272 a year max (less if you don't use it all the time). If you go with heavy-utilization instance it's even cheaper. see https://aws.amazon.com/ec2/pricing/#tabm1
Rackspace's 8GB/320GB instance costs $4200 a year.
The Rackspace instance you are referencing has 4 vCPUs in it - the m1.large on Amazon has 2. Also, don't forget the prepay amounts on EC2 reserved instances in your calculations! The prepay for 1 year on the m1.large is $243, making a reserved m1.large $1434 a year (365 days * 24 hours * $0.136/hour + $243).
Also, don't forget that the heavy reservation is billed for every hour in the term, not when you have it turned on.
> With this RI [Heavy], you pay a little higher upfront payment than Medium Utilization RIs, a significantly lower hourly usage fee, and you’re charged that lower hourly rate for _every hour in the Reserved Instance term you purchase_.
Looks like with this program you can get a free 1 GB Linux or almost free 1 GB Windows server for 6 months anyway. Thanks for the program - it put you back on my radar.