[andrewstuart]

Aren't there a bunch of offers of free cloud hosting for Startups? We should list them here.

And you don't need to be a YC company......

Microsoft Azure gives hosting to startups under their Bizspark program - get over your prejudice - it's a great way to run Linux machines.

Softlayer and Rackspace I think also have programs for startups.

Any other companies offer free hosting to startups?

[curun1r]

Unfortunately, all of these require that you be part of some accelerator or receive VC funding before you can take advantage of the discounts. Founders trying to bootstrap a company without external funding are SOL.

It strikes me that these cloud hosting companies are really interested in businesses that value growth above profits and are willing to ignore startups who try to manage costs to get to profitability more quickly.

[iolothebard]

BizSpark requires a 5 minute write up. It's comically easy to get accepted as an individual if you can string together a few sentences.

Azure is so inexpensive even without BizSpark it's kind of amazing to me. Having done startups in the 1990s, 2000s and 2010s, what people have available now is incredible IMO.</old man>

[amorphid]

If you want to use Microsoft Software, BizSpark is great. I've signed up a couple times for a couple different entrepreneurial endeavors of mine. Super easy. Always free.

[geoka9]

"Deploy a Linux VM on Azure. Azure supports a wide range of Linux distributions including Ubuntu, CentOS, Oracle Linux, Chef and Puppet."

Doesn't sound very reassuring. Do they have a good track record with non-MS stacks?

[ewindisch]

My experience has been positive.

Their team has been doing good work. For example, Azure had the first/best Docker integration of all the cloud providers. What they had was superseded by docker-machine and swarm eventually, but they were definitely thinking ahead of the curve.

As a user of Azure, I admit that find some aspects of the service unusual, such as requiring users to pick a globally-unique identifier for every server they boot. As in, they ask you to provide a string for your instance's name, then they provide a hostname based on that string; if the hostname (thus the name you pick) is taken, you'll get an error.

[ewindisch]

Update: I just noticed that in the past few months, Azure has eliminated this weird DNS thing with the introduction of a revised API and are phasing out the old service as "classic". I'm actually looking at moving some of my infra (containers) to Azure with their Bizspark program which offers a $750/mo credit for startups.

[devsquid]

GCN and AWS both have very easy drop in Docker support. I'm not sure how it could get any easier.

[ewindisch]

Yes, they do, but Azure beat them to offer first-class support and did so with their own Docker-API compatible endpoint. This was back around the first Dockercon in 2014. Rackspace had a similar integration at the time, but I was definitely more impressed by what Azure was doing.

[devsquid]

Besides not being very reassuring, its quite expensive. People on HN always want to believe its affordable, I don't get it. Like you can go to the site and see that it's quite an expensive cloud service.

[andrewstuart]

I use Azure for Linux and like it alot. You should try it.

[brbsix]

Just out of curiosity, what's not reassuring about Azure, other than the fact that they seem to think Chef and Puppet are Linux distributions?

[devsquid]

wut?? Azure is about 30-50% more expensive than AWS or GCN. I look around every time I have a new client, look for yourself.

I think they've just won favor of startups recently because they've been subsidizing their cloud costs. If theres one thing Microsoft has, its business savvy.

[ogsharkman]

I am consistently surprised by Azure pricing when I look to spin new stuff up (luckily I'm not paying for it). Not to mention I lose connectivity to some of my v12 sql databases randomly.

[devsquid]

well to be sure not to get locked in then.

[tobias3]

It is not only expensive, it is also really slow. If you want a VM that compares to a 10$ droplet (i.e. with SSD) you are paying five times that.

[TheLogothete]

You can sign up for bizspark without a registered company?

[aprdm]

yes, did that, got accepted.

[robzyb]

Cloud hosting companies are making logical choices.

They care about a company's growth, not its profit.

They'd rather get $1M/annum from an unprofitable VC-backed company than $100k/annum from a profitable bootstrap.

[smallegan]

Bizspark does not require you to be part of an accelerator. I've used it with two separate startups without any external funding.

[cdcarter]

Actually, Bizspark requires neither. It's a great way to get resources while you're still figuring out what your idea really is.

[manigandham]

That's absolutely not true.

All of these providers have multiple levels. There's a cheap option of usually a few hundred or thousand then the upscale option with 5 or 6 figures over a year.

We got into higher tier AWS Activate for $25k/year by just asking. Then we worked with a MS Azure evangelist to get us into the $120k/year program. We would've made it but declined because we asked Softlayer and they gave us $120k/year first and their network was a better fit for us.

Lesson: JUST ASK. There are entire teams of people at these companies who are working to get more customers onboarded and will do whatever they can to help you.

[blaines]

Who exactly at AWS were you asking? I talked to people at the AWS loft a few times and they said there was nothing they could do for our startup.

[CryoLogic]

I was able to get one of my websites on Azure hosting when I formed an LLC to manage it. I just had to send out a few emails to developer advocates until one could hook me up.

Granted, I'm on Digital Ocean now for my sites (most more cost effective) - but it was fun to play around with while it was free.

[lugg]

It isn't a prejudice if you don't want to support a company with such a history. Azure could be the best cloud host for all I care, I still wouldn't use them.

In any case, I have no issue with listing them as an option, not everyone feels the same way I do.

[x5n1]

Prejudice against people might be something which is contemptible. Prejudice against corporations is not something to be ashamed or concerned about. It means their brand sucks (as in the perceptions of customer), probably because of past behavior.

[asadlionpk]

Google has an awesome plan too https://cloud.google.com/developers/startups/

[voidlogic]

"In an approved Accelerator, Incubator or VC fund" so not so awesome for independent folks.

[devsquid]

They have a free tier 2.

AWS actually has a pretty decent free tier for an entire year.

[s_kilk]

> Microsoft Azure gives hosting to startups under their Bizspark program

My curiosity piqued, I just tried to sign up for BizSpark:

1. I go to http://www.microsoft.com/bizspark/

2. It's "Down for maintenance"

3. Try again in an hour

4. Still down

5. Lightbulb goes off, check status.azure.com

6. "We're having issues."

7. Hmmmmm... Probably not a coincidence.

[s_kilk]

Almost four hours later and it's still down. Really doesn't inspire confidence.

[5ersi]

8 hours, still down.

[ceejayoz]

AWS does as well.

https://aws.amazon.com/activate/

[frgtn]

AWS package, if I understand correctly, only includes training and support for non-portfolio companies. You're still limited to their free tier for services themselves.

[andreamazz]

That would be great. Any idea on how effort is required for an incubator to become affiliated? My incubator is a university, so they move their butt at a painfully slow rate.

[paulofilip3]

and it's for all startups, not just to the cool YC kids.

[jxm262]

I'd also like to see a list. Is there something that gives a comprehensive list of resources?

[ascorbic]

"Down for Maintenance" - not the greatest advert for Azure!