We regularly monitor trends with the support tickets and feedback we get daily to look for future opportunities to make Reclaim Hosting even better. If one person is struggling with something we can help them, if many people are all struggling with something it’s a sign we need to fix the issue at a larger scale. Incremental improvements like this are a win/win situation because it solves problems for a lot of people and reduces the number of tickets that come in to us needing similar responses.
One question we’ve gotten regularly since day one revolved around the amount of storage we offer with our hosting accounts. When we launched in 2013 we had a single plan with 1GB of storage. At the time I’m sure it seemed crazy given the world we live in where every other hosts proudly promotes “Unlimited” storage (with 7 asterisks telling you they’ll take it away if you try to use it). Much like the myth of 24/7 support this is another area where other hosts overpromise and underdeliver. I made a point as we built out our infrastructure to offer reasonable plans and limits that would meet the majority of our community’s needs. Last year we added a Faculty plan at 5GB of storage and then 5 months later we doubled both plans to 2GB and 10GB respectively. As we have grown we’ve continued to build and give back.
There are, however, edge cases where groups or individuals just need more space for their stuff. We’ve helped folks setup connections to Amazon S3 and showed them tips on storing media off-site, but that also makes it difficult to marry with the message of “reclaiming your data”. With all that said we’re proud today to begin offering a third plan, the Organization Plan, with 100GB of space for $100/year (a little over $8/month). The plan, like all of our plans, includes unlimited hosting of addon domains, subdomains, databases, and we include a free domain registration or transfer as well. At a little over $8/month we think it’s a great deal for groups needing to setup exhibits and archives, users with high storage needs for archival work, or any other purpose. I’ll also point out that upgrading your plan is always a great way to support the work we are doing here! We continue to promote web hosting at reasonable cost and build slowly the right way and we’d love your continued support. Any existing customer can upgrade their account in the client area easily.
The other small change we’re making revolves around the Student plan. In the past we did not allow addon domains on the student plan. It was a great low cost option with limited storage meant for setting up a single site or a small handful using subdomains. Buying and hosting additional domains required the Faculty plan. This led to lots of confusion with users and frankly uncomfortable conversations on our part where it felt like we were “upselling” the user on additional upgrades after they had just bought a second domain with us. So we’re getting rid of the distinction. Our three plans now share all the common tools and features, and functionality. The only difference going forward will be the amount of storage space you need, making it dead simple to make informed decisions.
We love getting feedback and even more acting on it by growing and building as well as giving back to the community. We hope it’s making a difference and that you’ll continue to trust and support us for years to come as we continue to make this an awesome place to reclaim your digital identity.
