I haven't switched yet. And not really looking to switch but it's looking like Slicehost is starting to fall more behind in price / performace as with this latest article.
http://journal.uggedal.com/vps-performance-comparison
Slicehost and Rackspace is pretty much the worst price / performance and has the lowest space / transfer rates available. When might we start seeing some competition? I know Slicehost generally have faster support but if the other systems give same tools so i can pretty much do everything by myself with the exception of a few things then support really doesn't matter to me.

Same here. I would hate to switch, as I've had zero problems here at Slicehost, but I've heard good things about some of those competitors that are offering better performance/memory/storage for the same price I'm paying now...

Nice that no one from Slicehost has responded to this.
But then post this via there twitter account. Twitter

all I need is more memory for same price.

I'm debating switching to prgmr

           Monthly cost  Memory   Memory/$   Storage   Transfer
Slicehost  $20.00        256MB    12.80MB    10GB      100GB
Prgmr      $20.00        1024MB   51.20MB    24GB      160GB

The deficiencies of Prgmr vs Slicehost are moot for me when compared to memory/storage/transfer vs cost right now.

Heck, I'd be a happy if slicehost doubled baseline memory from 256 to 512mb. 1024mb from prgmr is making me think about migration.

This is one of the main reasons to not be excited when a company like Rackspace acquires a company like Slicehost. I know that after these acquisitions take place the smaller innovator always spins it as a "we're still going to maintain our independence!" thing, but the fact of the matter is that as soon as the acquisition took place, the Slicehost team was answerable to the "we need to see profit" suits at Rackspace. It's no longer the brilliant Slicehost guys innovating to create better more competitive service, it's Rackspace employees maintaining whatever Rackspace's mandate is, and from what I've seen, Rackspace's mandate has never been low and competitive pricing.

I haven't switched my service yet because there is a cost and inconvenience to do so, but I'm getting tired of reading articles that point out all of the features and resources that other VPS hosts offer that I'm not getting at Rackspace/Slicehost. Throw me a bone, Slicehost!

Posted By: MWB123I can assure you we are taking steps to move forward and provide you with many of the features and options that have been requested by our customers. Unfortunately, I don't have any further information to provide in this regard. However, please do understand that just because it is not publicly available at this time, does not mean that we are not working behind the scenes to make our product the best it can be.

So except for useless lipservice - you guys have NOTHING to say?

If there's one common thread among most tech companies, it's "leaking" info on upcoming products and services.

Saying "you can't say" just means "there is NOTHING of interest" to announce.

Posted By: MWB123I would invite you to perform your own benchmarking tests on your slice to compare the results.

I did a very scientific benchmark called the "Wallet test". That test CLEARLY shows that I can get more of everything for less money from your competitors. There was no "inherent flaws" in that testing method.

In this economy, CLIENT RETENTION should be high on every businesses list. Resting on your "but we have great service" laurels (which by the way, means "you do the job we pay you for") is a very poor business strategy.

Remember, there is no successful business that maintains the "status quo" - you're either gaining market share or losing market share.

I've been on Slicehost since it was waiting-list only. On a positive note, the paltry memory I get on a 256 slice has ... uh, "allowed"? "forced"? ... me to learn a bit of memory optimization for Apache and MySQL, on my (admittedly) low-traffic site, which is probably a good thing. But those extras on Linode are indeed starting to look mighty tasty...kind of like money burning a hole in your pocket. You don't have to spend it, but it's there...so why not? For now I'm too lazy to switch, plus I do have a strange innate loyalty to Slicehost. But I'd love to see some more resources or a lower price - the natural progression of a technological commodity. VM's in the cloud were *cool* and *new* when I started with Slicehost, but they're a dime a dozen these days.

Hi,

I've been away for a few days which is why I have not directly replied to this thread but I have also been thinking about what to say. Admitting shortcomings and mistakes is not an easy thing to do.

A lot of what everyone is saying is absolutely correct. We have had a very quiet year. Is it due to the Rackspace acquisition? Nope. Nothing could be further from the truth. Having the financial backing and resources from Rackspace is an amazing thing for any company to have.

The mistake has been made in the fact the resources we have access to have not been utilised. Is that something I am proud of? No it isn't. Let me tell you what I have been doing in the past 6 weeks.

Some of you may know that I am actually from the UK. Early this year, around March time, I visited our offices in the US (San Antonio to be exact) and I realised I was not able to influence the progress of Slicehost from the UK in the same way I could if I was in the US. Phone calls and video conferences are not the same as being there looking someone in the eye and waiting for a reply!

So we got together (Rackspace and I) and applied for my Visa. 6 weeks ago I moved to San Antonio (Visas take a long time to complete). Sure, this is a great personal opportunity for me - how many people have the opportunity to live in another country! However, the overriding reason I wanted to get to San Antonio is that I knew I would be able to influence the progress of Slicehost.

I am now the GM of Slicehost. Grand title which doesn't mean a single thing unless I take action and get the momentum going again. In case newer members don't know me, I am PickledOnion (the one who wrote most of the articles on our articles site) and I was the first employee at Slicehost. I built the incredible and fanatical support structure you see today.

However, I have seen the product slow down and it upsets me. It annoys me and, to be blunt, it makes me damned angry. We have the best, world class service and support in the VPS market but nothing has happened to the product itself.

So, back to what I have being doing in the past 6 weeks. I have made more progress in 6 weeks than have been made in the previous 9 months to a year. We have items in the development queue. We have new hires coming. We have access to all the fantastic resources that Rackspace offers.

Again, the mistake has been the fact the resources available to Slicehost have not been utilised. Until now.

I'm not going to go into exact detail but let me outline the two main items that are next on the agenda (and are actively being worked on now and not just being talked about): Changes to our current Slice offering and massive improvements to the backups we offer.

When you look around at competitors, take a really good look. I notice some of them have limited numbers available. Last time I logged onto a competitors site, they had 6 large instances available (well, I say large, it is the largest they offer, it is the equivalent of one of our small to medium sized Slices). Is that really an attractive offer? What if you need seven? What if you want to grow quickly. 6 instances isn't going to get you far. Are you happy knowing it is sheer luck that they'll have the resources if you need to grow?

Want to backup your instance? Well, try and do that with some competitors.

Having said that, I don't want to get into a tit-for-tat, we have this, they have that. Think about your real needs - do you want to rely on a company that has massive backing and you know isn't going anywhere, has thousands of people backing it with the resources to offer improvements and practically unlimited expansion, has world class support and service or do you want to go with a company that has one person working 24/7 or a company that limits your expansion and the number of instances you can have (unless by chance they have a couple of new servers they can give you)?

We have made mistakes. I do not deny it. As I say, I am not proud of it either. In the excitement of the acquisition, a lot was talked about regarding the things that could be done. The failure was lack of action and a failure to utilise those resources. Well, I am in town and I take personal responsibility for Slicehost. Talk is cheap. Action is not.

Are you going to see changes tomorrow or in the next week? No. It does take time to plan, organise, develop and test new enhancements.

Mid Feb (just 2 months away) is a date you should put in your calendar.

Paul

Yakumo,

Thanks, I am having fun here in the US. Certainly a culture change!

I want to reemphasise what I said towards the end of my long answer shown above and say I am not going to get into a price war. Do you pay a small premium here? Yes, you do. However, that does not mean we won't be adding more value to the price you pay. Value does not necessarily mean more RAM for the same price. I have already talked about the fact we will be adding more Slice options and a much better backup systems for you. Many other things are actually in the dev plan now (as opposed to simply being talking about as has happened in the last year).

We all know where talk got us (which is to say, not very far).

Think about what I was saying about expansion. When I wrote the above post, a competitor had 6 (yes, six only!) of their larger instances available (again, it is the largest they offer but is just one of the mid-range Slices we offer). They actually have a whole 10 available today (wow). If you know you will never expand as a company or your website will *never* require massive, quick growth, then a competitor you know *cannot* sustain rocket growth may well be more attractive to you.

Want to spin up a dozen large Slices with us? No problem. Go ahead. Need another dozen on Monday? No problem. Need another dozen on Friday? Cool.

Want world class support while your Facebook app is experiencing 10,000% growth at 4am on Christmas Day? The whole world is trying out your new app on the Notebooks they got from Santa and you need support now. One person working 24/7 (one competitor is very open about the fact they have no other full time employees) is not going to be able to work with you on that.

You saved $5 a month: You can't expand as you need with the competitor. You can't get the level of direct support and infrastructure support with a competitor but you did save a some money.

When you choose a hosting partner, look at your bigger picture needs - what do you need right now and what do you hope/plan you will need in 6 months or a year? If you know a company can't scale the way your business plan requires, then you may want to look at whether they are, in the true light of day, the best fit for your personal needs.

If all you want is more RAM and you know you won't expand and you know you will never need quick, world class support at midnight on New Years Eve, then we may not be the absolute best match for you.

I don't like saying that. It makes me sad to say we may not be the best fit for your personal needs but I would much rather say that than promise something I would be pushed to deliver. I always tell the truth and I won't promise something I can't necessarily deliver (talking about the truth, ask the company you are looking at trusting with your website or business why they have so few instances available. Ask them how they will grow with you. Ask them what happens when you appear on TechCrunch and your growth is instantly at a percentage level in the hundreds and that level of growth continues day after day. Ask them if they can provide a dozen or more of their largest (equivalent of a mid size Slice) instances right now. Not in a day. Not in a week. Now. Ask them why so few (if any) ycombinator startups actually use them - learn what value actually means to them and their relationship with you.).

The field of VPS hosting is changing. It is changing quickly. This is not a great analogy but look at what happened to the shared hosting industry. Overselling, unlimited this, unlimited that. On paper, they look like 'good value'. What has your experience been with those companies?

We are starting to see that in the VPS industry. People wanted to move away from that nonsense and get real value for money. As I say, value is defined in many different ways.

If you rely on real opportunity for growth, world class support and want a partner to grow with you in your business and hosting journey, whether you have a single 256MB Slice or 5 dozen 15.5GB Slices, whether your expansion is slow and steady or breathtakingly and stunningly fast, then I ask you to look around and have a think about what you really need and want.

We'll be with you.

Paul

Just wanted to chime in.

Posted By: PickledOnionwell, I say large, it is the largest they offer, it is the equivalent of one of our small to medium sized Slices

Assuming when you say "a competitor" you mean Linode, your facts are a bit off. In actuality, they offer slices up to (roughly) the size of the 15.5GB slice here at Slicehost (ok, ok, it's a bit smaller) You just have to click through to the signup page to see these options.

Posted By: PickledOnionWant to backup your instance? Well, try and do that with some competitors.

Again, I'm assuming that you are referring to Linode. They (relatively) recently began beta testing their backup system. Haven't used it, so I can't compare it to Slicehost's backup offering.