Server Cost Update 2024

[SMcNeill]

Got our billing notice today for the forum costs for this year:

   
   

I was estimating our costs at $300 a year... The actual total is a few pennies shy of $302.00.  How's that for an eductated guess!! 

Some folks don't like to be bothered with this type of information, but I prefer to keep all our costs, donations, and finances as transparent and available as possible, for those who might be curious about us -- or perhaps just curious what it might cost for them to set up an online site of their own.

There *ARE* cheaper plans available out there, but this one gives us unlimited storage and unlimited bandwidth (which, let's be honest, we mainly transfer text on this server and that's not using a ton of either -- not like some music or video streaming site!), so we never have to worry about how we might want to expand or develop things in the future.  And, we're 100% AD FREE!!  The worst you guys normally have to deal with for ads is the occasional once-a-year reminder that our bill is coming due and it's time to get in last minute donations, if anyone wants to. 

As of this moment, our donations have covered about $250 of that $300 (honestly, I don't have the exact figure in my brain this early in the morning yet, and I'm too lazy to look it up right now before I have my coffee!!), with a couple of pledges of "the check is in the mail!"  Provided the mail doesn't lose those checks, we should be covered for that yearly cost already.

If our donations this year exceeds our cost, as I've mentioned elsewhere, I'll either:

1) Swap to a longer plan which is more expensive up front, but cheaper on a per-month average price.
or
2) Just let the excess balance carry over to next year.

If anyone wants to donate and you haven't yet, all the info you need is in this thread here: https://qb64phoenix.com/forum/showthread.php?tid=2470

Many thanks to one and all who support us.  You guys are truly appreciated! 

[SMcNeill]

Update for our update -- I just did the maths for our total donations, for those who like exact figures:  So far we've earned a total of $232 in donations, after PayPal and Patreon take out their share for processing fees and what not.

$70.00 left to cover our costs completely this year, with 2 checks in the mail and on the way.  I don't forsee any issues whatsoever in making a one-year renewal for us. 

[SMcNeill]

$20.00 donation came in today, leaving $50.00 due, and I still haven't received either of the pledged checks via the mail.  

[SMcNeill]

Got today's donations in. One PalPal donation for $31.44. (Such an odd amount! I suppose it was originally in Euros or some other currency and then converted over to US Dollars.) I also got the first pledged check in the mail today for $100.00.

Our server costs are now covered for 2024 -- and EXCEEDED!! As we get closer to the April deadline, I'll check to see what a muti-year cost runs, and if possible I'll sign us up for such a plan. If not, whatever is left over this year will be saved and used to help cover next years costs and any unforseen price hikes and such.

Many thanks to one and all who have donated and help keep our server and wiki going for us! You're all truly appreciated.

[PhilOfPerth]

Maybe the $31.44 was a piggy-bank? Bigger than my own piggy-bank though!

[SMcNeill]

I just checked for the updated prices on multi-year server costs, seeing as how we're going to exceed our goal of ~$300.00 this year. Here's the basic rundown for costs:


Business Plan (this rents us the server space which we use for our wiki and forums and such)

1 Year: $263.88
2 Year: $503.76
3 Year: $719.64

.COM Domain Renew (this gives us the static www.qb64phoenix.com domain name for folks to click and find us)

1 Year: $22.99
2 Year: $45.98
3 Year: $68.97
5 Year: $114.95

Renew: Private Registration for Domain Name (helps prevent spam and such and keeps server info private)
1 Year: $15.00
5 Year: $75.00

---

And we can pick and choose freely as these 3 components make up what we pay for, for the QB64PE forums and wiki here.

The .COM Domain Renewal doesn't seem to save any $$$ if you pay for more than a single year, and neither does the Private Registration. Personally, I'd put those down at the bottom of our list of priorities to spend extra money on, in favor of attempting to get the discount prices for the server space itself.

At the moment, we're sitting at about $375.00 in donations. (Remember, amounts recieved are always a little smaller than amounts given as PayPal or Patreon take a small cut for their processing fees and such.) IF we can reach the $540.00 mark, I'll pay for us to get a 2-year server rental at $503 and then tack on the $23 domain name and $15 private registration.

There's still one check out which someone pledged to help pay for our costs, and we're sitting at approximately $375.00 in our funds already. That means we only need less than $165.00 to get the 2-year subscription instead of the 1-year subscription.

Anyone who still wants to donate, still has time, though any checks sent via the mail should probably be sent soon(tm) if they're going to get here in time to go on this years costs. From the time the first check was pledged, to when I recieved it, was about a week or so. If I'm going to manually renew the forums, I'll need to swap them off auto-pay (which is how they're currently set up for us), so I'd need to do that 2-3 days before the end of this month.

Anyone who doesn't get their donation in to me within the next two weeks (by 3/24/2024), will be pushing their luck with processing times and such things, so if any of you guys still want to chip in so we'll get that multi-year subscription, do it before then.

And that's basically the full state of our finances as of this moment in time.

[bplus]

Ha! @Steve I saw last night you finally got my check (9 days sheesh, mailed 2/29) and this morning 11:33AM I was getting access errors when trying to check in??? kind of distressing, kinda ironic.

Were you updating something with the forum data, that you had to close it for awhile?

If you do plan to shut down forum for a bit, please give warning before hand if you can.

Is there big savings going 2 years?

[SMcNeill]

@bplus https://qb64phoenix.com/forum/showthread.php?tid=2498

It was apparently something that the switch to Daylight Savings Time glitched out on us.  Last night definitely wasn't a planned update or scheduled downtime.  It just blew up right after the clock change, and I've been working with customer service ever since to get it all sorted back out.

[bplus]

OH today is DLS crap, totally missed it on my calendar, it's an hour later!

[SMcNeill]

Going 2 years basically saves you $10 a year, and going 3 years will save $20 a year, so not HUGE savings -- but there's one nice feature that can't be overlooked:  While your plan is in effect, you don't have to worry over any price increases which might occur until after it expires.