You can’t really compare GoGrid with MediaTemple though because I don’t believe that you have access to the raw server infrastructure, nor cloud storage, nor load balancing with MT. We allow for root or administrator access on Windows and Linux servers on the GoGrid Cloud. The RackSpace cloud is a bit closer to GoGrid, however, even as stated on their product page, the API is “on the way”. If you want to programmatically control the scaling of your servers with Rackspace with an API, you have to wait till they release that. I do admit that snapshotting within their service is something that we don’t have (yet). However, the framework with the MyGSI allows an on-ramp for this to happen.

In terms of the VPS comparison, GoGrid is still very different than that: no monthly contracts, usage-based billing, self-service, free load balancing, free cloud storage (10 GB), dedicated CPU portions, dedicated RAM, dedicated persistent storage, ability to connect to dedicated hosting or colocated hosting via secure private network…all of those things I don’t think you will find in a VPS but please do share any findings you have.

>The Cloud is not dedicated nor VPS hosting. These are very different beasts, VPS obviously being less expensive than >dedicated. The Cloud has characteristics and capabilities that these don't have: no contracts, scalability, on-demand, self->service, etc.

MediaTemple's $20/month plan get you all of this. Rackspace's cloud servers CAN actually scale up and down.

Thanks again for your comments. You are almost reading my mind here. Be sure to stay tuned for the announcements coming.

I will pass on the info about the Cloud Connect links on the pricing page. Do note that it IS called out on both the GoGrid (http://www.gogrid.com) homepage AND the ServePath (http://www.servepath.com) homepage. Probably not as prevalent as it should be on GoGrid, but definitely there on the ServePath page. I will chat with our WebDev team about making it a bit more obvious.

If you have any other suggestions, feel free to email me directly: Michael AT GoGrid.com.

Thanks,
M

Essentially what I was getting at, besides the terrible Credit withdrawal timing is as follows.

Many people wish to move entirely to GoGrid and have a 24/7 Online server for the price of a normal dedicated server they already pay for.
But, have the ability to scale up at times of unexpected need so not to lose potential sales/ad revenues.
In this scenario, they basically commit to a dedicated server, but can also scale up from there commited plan dynamically if needed, and add another Dedicated server if they feel they have grown to need more resources constantly.

To achieve this you could give competitive dedicated Server prices that are almost instantly setup like any GoGrid server, from the same add menu, but on creating the server the user selects a Dedicated option, Instead of Dynamic.
And if your setting up a dedicated server, you commit to using it as a Dedicated Webhost/Database server that will be online 24/7, commiting to a contract or paying quarterly for the competitive price etc.. so there really is nothing but a Dedicated server sale, but the option to scale up a server or two if a heavy surge comes.

Now I know they could just integrate GoGrid on top of there current dedicated server, but oddly that doesn't seem to be a strong idea from what I have witnessed, people seem to want to move solely to GoGrid or not at all.

In fact, having just actually noticed the Hybrid Dedicated / Cloud Hosting link hidden where I only went for a quick info seek, the same as the 18 people I witnessed failed to even notice it, your even offering something like this!
I suggest GoGrid try there best to integrate the Hybrid Dedicated / Cloud Hosting option as easy as I have just said to make it as hassle free as possible, and completely clear your offering a Cloud/Dedicated Mixture to those who want dedicated hosting at competitive prices with the ability to Dynamically scale, and create a dedicated competitively priced commited server from the same control panel in almost the same way.

And immediate advice, place the Hybrid Dedicated / Cloud Hosting link on the Pricing plan page!
And mention you offer Hybrid Services on the Pricing Plan Page, Under the Data Transfare Plans, perhaps just a sentence mentioning that servepath/Colo and GoGrid Hybrid is an option.

Though I think the ease of creation and integration I mentioned is still important to many people.
Feel free to inform anyone that feels the Dedicated / Cloud Hosting link is visible enough already that they won't feel so good when the boss finds out they thought it was a good idea to keep loosing the company customers by failing to act.

Thanks for the (lengthy) reply. It is always good to get raw feedback on our services, products, pricing and features. I appreciate the time you took to think this out and do comparisons versus dedicated and VPS solutions. Obviously, my response will be a "rebuttal" of sorts but everything that you mention is valid but simply warrants some further discussion, clarification and explanations.

The Cloud is not dedicated nor VPS hosting. These are very different beasts, VPS obviously being less expensive than dedicated. The Cloud has characteristics and capabilities that these don't have: no contracts, scalability, on-demand, self-service, etc.

We do have plans to do some pricing modifications in the future, but it still won't be directly comparable to cheap VPS as they are different (and probably never will be). You have to also realize that if we were to undercut the pricing, that would devalue the service and not allow us to do all of the items we plan on doing (and there are lots).

When thinking about the comparison (a bit of apples to oranges), there are definitely some things to think about:
- Dedicated service providers can't provision dedicated servers on demand
- Dedicated service providers require a commitment
- GoGrid provides free f5 load balancing
- GoGrid provides 10 GB free of Cloud Storage
- We don't charge for the private Gigabit network
- We don't charge for the 1 Gbps internet connection
- We don't charge for Windows Server licensing
- We provide 16 static, contiguous public IP addresses for free
- With MyGSI, you will have free automated tools to save images and provision new images from those on-demand for rapid scalability
- Our pre-paid pricing is cheaper than AWS (who you really should compare against, not VPS or dedicated)
- GoGrid can also provide dedicated private megbit connections to a dedicated environment as well using Cloud Connect
- We also have 24/7 support for free and a dedicated service team (hard to find that with cheap hosting VPS providers)

So, I guess the bottom line here is, you really get what you pay for. Sure, you can find really cheap dedicated or VPS hosting out there, but you need to look beyond just the server. Does it meet needs of scalability? Can you fully deploy a load-balanced networked infrastructure in just minutes from signing up? Do they have and honor an SLA?

I'm actually in the process of writing a post about how Cloud Computing is not for everyone. Your points may actually help me so thanks.

Best,
Michael