Urchin 4 and VPS almost here..

[admin]

$8-10/month is what you would pay you could charge what every you want. $15-25 would be for our end user..

But I am looking at some options, i will talk it over in our metting tomorrow.

[Brangwyn]

What OS will the VPS's be running ? Plesk is a pretty good option for control panels on VPS's imo.

HSPComplete should have Windows VPS's available in the next few months based on .NET Server 2003.

[admin]

H-Sphere's is Redhat only, I have looked at HSPComplete but I hate there pricing based on CPU..

Admin, is there any way I could get in on the meeting? I have an idea, but not sure about some of the details of what is needed for urchin at this time, so I am not sure how well it would work/not work.

ISPMAN isn't a bad free CP, better than most of the others out there right now, also there is web://cp that works real well, but is a pain to install.

[vonbrocklin]

re: Urchin

Will be curious to see what your other ideas for Urchin pricing will be. Have you thought about a one-time fee, OR, what about charging me (a reseller) a monthly fee that gives me the ability to offer this to all of my clients? Just some ideas...

Here is one scenario I am personally looking at:

I have one client with 5 domains. They are all very low traffic, but they want good stats. I can't see asking them to pay $50/month extra just for stats, if your pricing will be per domain.

However it shakes out I am just looking forward to being able to FINALLY offer this!

I know what admin is thinking, if everyone wants urchin, there is a huge investment for Vortech to make, even if we can get the 100 domain license for $500 (it is not currently near that low) and every domain had it, there would be a HUGE upfront cost to offer urchin, I won't get into any specfics, but it would be well more than many of you make a year. In doing this the costs have to be effectivly recoup in a short period of time, I am not even taking into consideration the additional server(s) needed to run Urchin, or the internal network bandwidth. I also understand your concerns about costs for customers, even at $5, 5 domaisn would be an additional $25 a month, and some people won't go for that. But, at some point you just have to ask if they really want these stats, many people do, but for some webalizer/modlogan/most anything else if fine, when it works.

[electricfox]

Yes, landiserve, I hear all that. But I encourage you and Brad to reconsider. Covering substancial *up-front* costs should really be handled by a setup fee. Having a setup fee, even something around $20 to $30, would be FAR more sellable to my customers than $8 to $10 per month. Heck, that's 50% of what most of them are paying me anyway, which is quite a jump. Also, making it a setup fee only, would allow me to sell my plans with it included for free (which looks better from a marketing and competitive standpoint), whereas having such a high monthly fee would not.

Here's a suggestion that might work for everyone:

- Setup fees around $15 to $30, depending on what Brad thinks is fair, and maybe going down at some point more towards your actual costs of $6.95/domain once initial costs are subsidized

- And then either, 1) a monthly fee of about $10 to $20 that *allows* one to resell unlimited urchin to clients, OR 2) a restriction that only Morpheus+ plans can resell urchin. Being a cypher plan owner myself, I would moan and grown, but would upgrade my plan. This kind of gives that little extra encouragement for your cypher-babies to upgrade, and makes higher plan users very happy, OR 3) make it free for the higher reseller plans, and charge a fee for cyphers.

[vonbrocklin]

I second the idea of a set-up fee (even a high one) instead of a recurring monthly fee. I would also support the add-on idea of then charging the RESELLER (x) per month in order to offer it to our clients, or to only offer it on higher plans.

A monthly fee would really hit people hard, especially those with multiple domains. In my earlier example, it would cost the client $50 per month just for stats, which is more than they get charged for hosting! Just my two cents (again)

[ramjet]

it all doesn't tweak my button.
The way i see it is we can offer something shitty for free, or something good for expensive,
i was always hoping we would be able to offer something good for free, like every other host does...
I'm dreaming i guess!!

[admin]

ramjet, yes a lot of other hosts may but find one in our price range with what we offer.. Plus urchin for free..

[Firmsol]

If you like PHP, you will LOVE this:

http://phpbbfm.com/phpBBFM/home.php

[ramjet]

"ramjet, yes a lot of other hosts may but find one in our price range with what we offer.. Plus urchin for free.."

.....that sounds great Brad, i for one will surely sign up!!!

Seriously though, is it ever going to be possible to offer our clients a stats package that is free, good and works?
THIS is what you need to be offering IMHO.

murray.

[electricfox]

Brad, h-sphere is kind of new, yes, and thus not widely accepted, but I know lots of reseller-happy hosts that offer LiveStats (or similar) for free that have comparable prices (if not more reliable service).

[electricfox]

not to say I think you should have to bite the bullet on this - but maybe consider doing so a little bit, at least in how much extra you are chaging for incidentals - think of it instead as how great a marketing tool it would be to say Urchin is included for a small fee!