Instance admins, how much does it cost you to run your instance? How much does that represent per active user? - eviltoast

Question triggered by the other post about instances shutting down due to costs

Summary of the answers:

  • lowest number so far: lemmy.ml with 0.03€ per user per month
  • a few others (feddit.uk, lemmy.zip) have around 0.11$ per user per month
  • obviously single user instance have higher costs
  • SorteKanin@feddit.dkEnglish
    24·
    3 months ago

    About 62 USD per month. I post monthly finance updates. All the costs are covered by user donations so far :)

    It might be possible to do it cheaper, but I feel I got a good deal for some very high end hardware so this setup should be scalable going forward for a long time.

      • SorteKanin@feddit.dkEnglish
        15·
        3 months ago

        I mean, I can’t really take credit - the users on Feddit.dk are the ones that deserve the praise. I’ve been very surprised at the willingness to donate. We have almost 18 months of runway and that runway has mostly only gone up as time went by. Feddit.dk is not going anywhere anytime soon :)

      • wjs018@lemmy.worldEnglish
        10·
        3 months ago

        I think that user donations are easier when an instance has a good focus. There are some other instances I can think of where the donation model has been enough to cover things. In addition to feddit.dk and beehaw, an instance I use most of the time, ani.social, is more than covered by donations last I checked. It looks like @hitagi@ani.social even took away the donate link in the sidebar. Never mind, I am just blind. I didn’t notice the little Ko-fi badge at the bottom. I was looking for a text link.

        • hitagi@ani.socialEnglish
          3·
          3 months ago

          I made it a small badge so people wouldn’t have to feel obligated to donate. But yes, the entire instance has been community funded already thanks to generous one-time and monthly donations!