It’s official: summer is over, and kids are back in school.
That means it’s the time of the year when hosting providers are most likely to enter a permanent hibernation.
First, we saw the DediPath DediPool, and now, we’re seeing another host, Database By Design, bite the dust.
Here’s the email they just sent out:
Due to economic conditions and ongoing industry consolidation into major cloud providers we have made the hard decision to spin down operations at Database By Design, LLC. We will be ceasing all network operations at midnight (EST) December 8th 2023. We understand this comes as a shock and surprise to many of our customers. Our support team will remain available over the next 30-days to assist with any technical questions or concerns you may have. Effective immediately all recurring payments have been cancelled. Pro-rated refunds will be processed within 60 days for any services that were pre-paid past December 8th 2023. We highly recommend customers begin their migration to another host as soon as possible. We greatly appreciate the years of business and it has been a pleasure serving your hosting needs.
Database By Design, LLC
phone/fax: 866.488.7770
Source: this LowEndTalk thread.
I confirmed with the Database By Design team that this is in fact a legitimate email as well, and they are indeed closing down on December 8th of 2023.
This isn’t all that surprising when you consider the majority (I assume) of the type of offers they sold, at least around here anyway. For example, LowEndTalk user @acidpuke said the following:
I have had them forever .. just got the email this morning I’ve had one of there July 4 $17.76 E3-1270 servers from years ago.. probably been my best uptime with any provider to date. Sad to see them fold up.
At least there giving a heads-up to move data off.
Can’t have very much of a profit margin on $18 per month for an E3-1270. I don’t understand how that offer could be economically possible at all.
Plus, their stock lineup was pretty dated and… expensive?
That’s a far cry from the normal holiday offers they were known for, like the one @acidpuke mentioned above. I don’t find those offers appealing at all, personally, and the gear is all about 10-years old.
I don’t see those servers selling like hot cakes, either.
Their recent VPS offers are a little better, but still not great:
It just goes to show that this market is extremely commoditized and cutthroat.
Database By Design is very correct in the aspect that “big cloud” is seriously stepping in on the little guys’ offers.
You absolutely need to find a way to differentiate yourself.
As a host, if you have no edge over your competitors, and you don’t stand out in any other way…
You’re Going To Have a Tough Time Competing Solely on Price
You might last a few years, but it isn’t going to be pretty. Businesses need to make money and they can’t do that by racing to the bottom.
But, nonetheless, @acidpuke does have a good point…
It’s a good thing Database By Design let their customers know ahead of time rather than pulling a DediPool like, “Hey, guys, we forgot to pay all of our bills, we’re bankrupt, and uh… your servers are going to disappear into a void of nothingness in a few days.”
We need more graceful deadpools around here.
To All Current Database By Design Customers:
It’s official, you have until December 8th of 2023 to move all of your data. Database By Design is shutting its digital doors permanently.
Best of luck and R.I.P. Database By Design.
Maybe you could find a suitable refugee offer on LowEndBox or LowEndTalk?
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