Server rental vs buying and paying collocation
I just spent some time looking at server buying+collocation vs rental for a server with an 8c/16t CPU, 128 RAM and 2x1TB NVMe.
Rental: €120/month
Buy: ~€3000 + €50/month collocation.
Cost after 5 year:
Rental: €7200
Buy+Collocation: €6000
If asking for credit to pay the server over 5 years: €7500
So, only profitable with cash at hand or if you use the server for more than 5 years (obviously doable but hard to make 5 year decisions in tech).
Server rental vs buying and paying collocation
@moritzheiber yep but for 5 years it's usually not a significant cost. I have servers running for about that time and they never had a single part changed or maintenance done.
From experience (mine and others) after 5 years it's when it starts to be more of an issue. That's why I made the calculations for 5 years because after that it's hard to say.
Server rental vs buying and paying collocation
@hugo Spare parts and maintenance are "a thing" as well ..