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by gorgonzolachz 2020 days ago
I feel like I have to ask: where are you getting a server that'll run arbitrary erlang code for 2 bucks a month? The absolute cheapest I've seen seems to be 5, from digitalocean/linode
5 comments

There are a few websites which aggregate VPS offers, for example https://lowendbox.com/ or https://lowendstock.com/

However, you usually get what you pay for, so be prepared for

    - long and frequent server outages
    - tech support which takes weeks to respond or no tech support at all
    - IP changes without warning
    - system images which have last been updated 5 years ago
    - machines which simply fail to reboot
    - retroactive contract changes, e.g. introduction of a "maintenance fee" for already paid services (cloudatcost)
    - customer support logging in as root into your machine from Indian IP addresses and changing random system settings
But if you are not concerned about the privacy, integrity or availability of your services, you can often find offers for about $1 per month.
Fair warning you've posted, I'd say with a caveat some of the cheap ones are good enough.

There's also a community that [0] splintered off the ones you mentioned that are not ColoCrossing centric unlike LET/LEB. I'd bought hundreds of servers there over the years (with cost being a main factor) and it tended to be the Colocrossing ones that'd be volatile or not last your entire billing period.

For specific servers/recommendations, I have a few servers with Ramnode (might be a grandfathered service) for $15/y. There are a bunch of good providers in that price range but without knowledge of them they can be hit and miss and for the most part makes it worthwhile paying more to worry less about it.

[0] https://talk.lowendspirit.com/

I'm running a $2/month xmpp server on IONOS [1], so far didn't have a single outage.

However, they can slap 20% vat tax above that if you are in certain jurisdictions, making it $2.40 for EU customers.

[1]: https://www.ionos.com/servers/vps#packages

Scalewsy Stardust instances are 1.9Eur/m.

https://www.scaleway.com/en/stardust-instances/

IPv6 only is even cheaper at 0.3 euro per month.
Hetzner and a few others will go a bit cheaper than DigitalOcean. Scaleway used to but have hiked prices of their cheapest instance.
Vultr has $2.50/mo USD VPS if you're okay with ipv6-only... that's the lowest I've ever come across.
See IONOS, I provided a link in a reply to parent comment.
This is cool, thanks!