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Ask HN: Why is Linode way more expensive:D?

by ahmedbaracat on 9/23/24, 1:24 PM with 8 comments

I am comparing cloud providers (other than big tech ones AWS, Google, etc.) and I don't understand why is Linode is way expensive than the EU cloud providers.

I am benchmarking the closest dedicated server option to this • 2 CPU cores • 4GB RAM • 96 SSD • 4 TB transfer

Linode: $36, 2 cores, 4 GB RAM, 80 GB SSD, 4 TB transfer limit, 40/4 Gbps

Hetzner: 45 euro, 6 cores, 64 GB RAM, 1 TB ssd, 20TB, 1GBit

OVHCloud: £50, 6 cores, 32 RAM, 1TB SSD, unmetered, 1GBit

Scalaway: 40 euro, 4 cores, 32 GB RAM, 750GB SSD, unlimited, 300Mbps

Seems that EU cloud providers provide much better value for money, but I don't see why is it the case.

  • by adamcharnock on 9/23/24, 3:00 PM

    I only have partial information here - and that is that I’ve heard connectivity is generally much cheaper in the EU. And I can see why too: denser population, smaller distances between population centres, close to other continents.

    But I’d be interested in any other reasons people can give.

  • by sshine on 9/23/24, 5:57 PM

    I suspect Linode's cost of operation is simply higher.

    I did some CPU and disk benchmarking of VPS'es 10+ years ago and found that vCPU effective performance varies a lot.

    But that does not account for the difference in cost for dedicated machines, like you investigate.

  • by maicro on 9/23/24, 3:09 PM

    Another guess - just comparing Linode and OVHCloud quickly, my guess is that Linode focuses more on multi-VPS systems, while OVHCloud has a larger fleet of dedicated servers. If you have limited rack space and an existing fleet of servers, my guess it would be easier to provide multi-VPS systems than dedicated; that's assuming and implying a _lot_ of history on how Linode has developed (and apparently been bought by Akamai back in 2022...), but could be one "practical" explanation for the different pricing for dedicated servers - VPS pricing between Linode and OVHCloud is much closer.
  • by djaouen on 9/23/24, 3:14 PM

    Because when traffic spikes on your VPS, they don't black hole all the traffic like some other services lol
  • by hombre_fatal on 9/23/24, 2:52 PM

    Why is this piece of string longer?