Ultra-cheap hosting given away or almost given away! Is it really worth it?

In recent years, perhaps due to the crisis, economic instability and a creeping recession that is affecting many sectors, we have witnessed the consolidation and expansion of some large international players in the hosting sector. Giants with investment funds behind them, ruthless marketing strategies and a mentality that we could define without mincing words as a “serial climber of market share”.

The strategy? Simple and perverse: go at a loss. For years. With prices that defy logic, arithmetic, common sense. “Unlimited” offers for a few euros, plans that border on free, but which in reality hide a much more disturbing economic truth.

Two Economies Compared: Real vs. Financial

On one side there is the real economy: companies like ours, which provide real services, managed by real people, with living costs, salaries to pay, investments in safety, performance, assistance. The price to the customer is the result of a healthy entrepreneurial logic, where each euro must cover a sustainable value chain. A transparent, measurable mechanism, where the resources employed must generate a proportionate, not hypothetical, return. Where each individual customer is followed and managed according to a direct relationship between the service offered and the value received.

The real economy is based on principles of balance, sustainability, and responsibility. It cannot afford to chase inaccurate numbers, fictitious metrics, or exponential growth unsupported by fundamentals. It must balance income and expenditure, reinvest revenues in infrastructure and people, and provide concrete responses to the real needs of those who pay for a service.

On the other side, there's the "creative" economy, fueled by capital injections, multi-million-dollar IPOs, and business models that rely not on the present but on a hypothetical promise of the future. The game is well-known: millions are burned for years, winning over customers with below-cost offers, in the hope that "one day" it will all turn into profits—a day that, in many cases, never arrives.

This economy lives on storytelling, not sustainability. It does not have to respond to a balance sheet that closes in the black, but to a narrative that can attract new rounds of financing, new market segments, new illusions of growth. It is a model that does not foresee margin, but only expansion; not satisfied customers, but accounted users.

It's an economy fueled by ignorant or overly optimistic investors, who choose to bet on "the chicken tomorrow" rather than the egg today. An economy that, to exist, needs to delay the moment of truth for as long as possible, systematically postponing any form of financial reporting. The real value of the service offered? Often irrelevant. Only the number of users acquired matters, even at the cost of offering services at prices that don't even cover the cost of delivery.

There is no match. But maybe it's not even the same match

The truth is that a healthy company, operating in the market with ethics and entrepreneurial logic, cannot compete in that field . And perhaps, on closer inspection, it shouldn't even try . It cannot lower prices to the point of becoming uneconomical, it cannot cut support to the point of compromising service quality, it cannot distort itself to the point of reducing the customer to a mere ID in a spreadsheet, where only the cost of acquisition (CAC) and lifetime value (LTV) matter.

Those who work honestly, build solid infrastructure and train competent technicians, cannot sustain a model where price is the only competitive criterion . Because that's not a business model: it's a gamble. And by definition, a gamble is based on luck, not sustainability.

The moment you accept this logic of the lowest price as the only metric of competition, the battle is already lost , because it is played according to rules that do not reward merit, but the ability to resist at a loss for longer.

Let's take some Eastern European operators for example (we could write a whole chapter about Lithuania's right to be part of Europe): they offer plans starting from 8 euros per month to host 100 WordPress installations . Yes, you read that right: one hundred.

An offer that, to those who look only at the price, seems incredible. Seductive. Even logical, in a world where everything has become "unlimited." But it's a toxic logic, because those who fall for it discover too late what's hidden behind those figures.

What is clear and self-evident is that this business model, which you can see in the table above for a well-known low-cost hosting provider, failed from 2019 to 2022, with losses of well over 45 million euros. In 2023 alone, against a turnover of 110 million, it closed with a profit of 3 million, with a net margin of 3%, well below the actual margins of hosting companies.

How can you trust a company that is losing money at this level? What happens when something breaks? When the site slows down, when a mysterious error appears, when you need human and competent support?
It happens that is there no one on the other side? Or if there is, it limits itself to responding with pre-packaged phrases, or to ignoring it altogether. Why? Because you are part of a mass, not of a relationship. You are a cost to be contained, not a user to be supported because they pay (fairly) and are profitable.

In a system where every open ticket is a loss to be cut, the only goal is to reduce interaction to a minimum, keep you on board until you pay — and then never mind if you don't come back.

Unfair competition and dumping

In the hosting world, as in many other digital sectors, we are witnessing a degeneration of the very concept of competition: we are no longer competing on value, but on the emptying of the market , fueling a race to the bottom that has little to do with real entrepreneurship.

In theory, a business should be profitable . It should have a sustainable cost structure, a margin, and a strategy geared towards healthy growth. Yet today, we often find ourselves faced with models in which profit is an optional concept, postponed until a later date—if it ever arrives. We find ourselves faced with companies that operate at a loss for years , with the sole aim of eliminating real competition —the kind that works, hires, pays taxes, invests, and creates jobs.

It's as if, in the center of a small town, a group of investors decided to bankrupt the only pizzeria in the area, opening a new one right across the street and giving away pizza to everyone, every day, for months or years. Not to build a sustainable business, but to destroy the existing one.

Free market is fine, liberalizations are fine, but when the goal becomes the annihilation of the other and not fair competition, we are faced with a toxic and destructive dynamic.

As Nobel Prize-winning economist Joseph Stiglitz rightly observed , "when the market simply competes, it destroys ." Because without rules, without limits, without ethics, competition becomes war. And in war, value no longer has any place: only the one who resists the longest wins, even if he burns millions in the process.

What is dumping?

Dumping is exactly this: a sales strategy at unsustainable prices, lower than the real cost of the service, with the aim of disrupt the market and crush competitors.
In economic theory, this is a well-known anti-competitive behavior and, in certain contexts, even punishable.

The European framework

At the regulatory level, the European Union regulates dumping against third countries through instruments such as Regulation (EU) 2016/1036 , applying anti-dumping duties and corrective measures when clear cases of unfair competition are detected. But when dumping occurs within the EU's borders , between companies registered in EU countries, the regulatory framework becomes more restrictive , especially in digital services, where fiscal and operational territoriality is increasingly difficult to define.

Dumping in services: a trap for everyone

In services—and especially hosting—dumping is even more dangerous than in tangible goods, because economies of scale don't apply to human quality, support, or technical expertise . You can automate part of the provisioning, but you can't automate customer relations, problem resolution, or attack protection.

The result? A polluted, drugged market, where honest workers are sidelined , and customers are accustomed to expecting everything for nothing , only to find themselves abandoned when something goes wrong.

Those who dump aren't doing business: they're just playing a losing game, hoping to win by exhaustion . But sooner or later, everyone will pay the price : customers, suppliers, and the market.

When you are a cost, you are no longer a priority

Those who rely on these providers quickly discover that the economic balance they rely on doesn't include customer support, personalization, or care . There's no room for empathy, relationships, or listening. The entire model is built for acquisition, not retention; for volume, not quality.

A user who opens 10 tickets a year and pays 8 euros a month is, quite simply, a red tape on the balance sheet . An anomaly that needs to be fixed. It doesn't matter how technically complex the problem is, or how important your site is to your business. If you cost more than you generate, you instantly become invisible.

In no serious economic model – not even in the poorest economies in the world – can decent technical assistance be justified under those conditions. A company cannot dedicate resources, time, skills, tools, escalation logic, monitoring, if in exchange it receives the equivalent of a sandwich at the bar. It is simply unsustainable.

So what happens? What's obvious happens: you're left alone.

• A DDoS attack? Too expensive to mitigate. Your problem.

• An updated plugin that breaks your site and you want a 40 day old backup? It doesn't exist. Your problem.

• The site is down and you want to sue? We are waiting for you in court, in Lithuania, Romania, Estonia or some other country with jurisdiction not really accessible.

It's a model where your online survival is none of their business . Where the concept of "service" ends at the point of payment, and beyond that boundary lies only your technical solitude.

Yet this reality is cleverly disguised by glossy landing pages, high-sounding claims, and prices that seem too good to be true. And that's where the paradox lies: many only discover it when it's too late . When the site is offline, when support isn't responding, when the damage is already done.

The first dose, as we know, is free. But then comes the bill. And it is often steep. And often there is no one left to discuss it with or complain about it.

Hosting: Expense or Investment?

This is precisely the point: a customer shouldn't be a cost . They should be an asset. But be careful: value is never unilateral ; it's always a reciprocal relationship. And this goes both ways. It's a relationship of trust that builds over time, and like any relationship, it requires respect, transparency, and recognition of each party's role.

A hosting company must offer value—and by value, we don't just mean disk space and a promised percentage of uptime . Those are technical prerequisites, the bare minimum. True value is measured in the ability to be there when it matters, to anticipate problems, to offer competent responses, to treat the customer like a person , not a numbered ticket in a queue.

We're talking about human support , real performance , technical reliability , proactive management , a knowledgeable and responsible presence . We're talking about security, attention to detail, meticulously managed updates, real, tested, ready-to-use backups. All things that require resources , skills , time , and infrastructure . And they can't be improvised.

But at the same time, the company must be able to afford to do so . It must know that those on the other side recognize and support that value . It is the customer who, by consciously choosing a reliable supplier, allows the system to function , improve, and grow. It is they who, by paying a fair price, support the support they will receive, the protection from attacks, future optimizations, and the human and technical capital on which everything is based.

If the customer is not willing to recognize this, if he chooses based on price alone , if he considers hosting as a simple commodity to be purchased at a low price , then he is implicitly declaring that for him that service is an expense, not an investment.

And then—as in any unbalanced business relationship— there is no balance , and there can be no quality . A service cannot be excellent if it is treated like a disposable commodity . A relationship cannot grow if it is based on mutual suspicion or a "squeeze everything while it lasts" approach.

Those who only look at price already choose, from the outset, to accept a minimum level , a technical and relational threshold just sufficient to keep the contract standing. So let's not be surprised if the service received is exactly proportional to the amount paid . It's not a punishment: it's the natural result of a specific economic choice.

One hosting service may seem the same as another—at least when everything is going well. But when things start to crumble, the difference between an expense and an investment becomes clear : those who invest have someone by their side. Those who spend... only have a discount to remember.

Value is a two-way street

Providing a valuable service means taking on real responsibility . It means being present, acting competently, responding with humanity. It's not a question of marketing or homepage promises: it's what happens when the customer truly needs it . And that's where the difference between a supplier and a partner lies.

Providing a valuable service means:

• be available when needed , not when it is convenient;

• intervene before the customer notices the problem , anticipating critical issues and resolving them promptly;

• build a relationship , not a simple entry in a management system, not an ID in an impersonal CRM that nobody reads;

• have qualified , trained, motivated staff who can understand problems and propose real solutions — not just copy/paste the standard knowledge base answer.

All this doesn't come out of nowhere . It has a cost, and it has a value. It requires solid infrastructure, organization, on-call shifts, ongoing training, professional tools. You can't improvise, you can't sell off. And above all: you can't fake it.

If we want the web—and the digital economy as a whole—to be reliable, high-performance, and secure , we need to start paying for value , not just price.

Because whoever buys based solely on price is buying only a price . And at the first real problem, they will realize that there was nothing behind that price.

Everything is beautiful, everything is infinite, but only the contracts matter

Marketing campaigns are captivating. The messages speak of unlimited resources, extraordinary performance, 24/7 support, cutting-edge technology, and free one-click migrations. It's all great. It's all infinite. But when things go wrong—and it's only a matter of time— it's no longer what was promised that matters, but what was signed.

In the real world of hosting, what matters is the contract . And the truth is that with the vast majority of low-cost services, that contract clearly states that they are not responsible for anything . Not for data loss, not for downtime, not for lack of support, not for any direct or indirect damages. It's all on the customer's shoulders. The illusion of infinity vanishes at the first line of the disclaimer.

SLAs? They're often absent, vague, or constructed in such a way as to guarantee no real compensation. A careful reading is enough to realize that the business model is based on never having to answer for anything , even when everything goes to pieces.

Ultimately, you may have paid too little , but if you find yourself alone in your time of need, you've still paid too much . And no advertising promise will help you unless it's backed by a serious, transparent, and responsible contract.

Don't feed the troll. A rule that always applies.

Faced with market dynamics now clearly tainted by dumping and unfair competition, we have witnessed with some dismay a couple of small Italian suppliers try to emulate the big international players — but with an even more extreme and dangerous approach.
Let's talk about typical offers “FREE HOSTING for one year”, with a second year renewal for a few cents, completely incongruous with any logic of sustainability, quality and real value.

Anyone who works in the industry knows perfectly well that there's no healthy model where you can provide free hosting indefinitely , hoping that the minimal renewals will be enough to keep a company afloat. It's a trap. A show believed only by those willing to close their eyes to reality and live by digital illusions.

And in these cases, an ancient and ever-valid rule applies :

Don't feed the troll.

Those who make these kinds of offers aren't looking for value , they're just looking for attention. They want someone to react, to stoop to their level, to start a war for the penny. And when you do that, you're giving them exactly what they want : legitimacy.

Entering into this type of competition means only one thing: that sooner or later someone will start tying the noose to the ceiling . Because an uneconomic business venture , or one based on the hope that "success will come later" without having underlying quality , has no way of surviving over time . It's a ticking time bomb. And when it explodes, it leaves behind only disappointed customers, damaged suppliers, and a market that's slightly more polluted than before.

Our position is clear: we don't stoop to that game. We don't respond. We don't feed that fire.
Let's not feed the trolls. And those who have entrepreneurial vision should do the same.

You were complaining about the low prices in Aruba.

For years we have heard them whine. “Eh but with those prices Aruba is ruining our market…”, “It is impossible to compete with those who do hosting for pennies…” — it almost seemed as if Aruba was the absolute evil of the sector.
But then, surprise: the same people who complained about the 40 euros a year, today have started giving away hosting. That's right. Free. All-inclusive hosting at zero euros for a year, with a renewal for a few cents, not even the vending machine for snacks.

Other than Aruba: at least they have a real infrastructure. And above all, at least they put their face to it, their data centers, and a business model that — whether we like it or not — has existed for decades and It is not supported by illusions and capital in the vein.
But not you: you threw yourself into the ridiculous game of lowering prices thinking that putting “free hosting” on a landing page would suddenly be interesting.

You've done worse. Much worse.
You have taken a sector that is already difficult, already inflated, and you turned it into a market stall circus, where “freemium” packages are handed out as if they were flyers in front of a discount store.
Congratulations! Really: the category thanks you.

When you're gone in a year, or when you decide to raise everything's prices because you've realized that servers, staff, and electricity are expensive even in your fairytale world, we'll be there to pick up the disappointed and abandoned customers , to explain that there are still those who do hosting with discretion, with dignity, with a vision of the future that doesn't include default as a necessary step.

Time is a harsh master, be the customer you wish you had.

There is one thing that no one dares to say openly, but that everyone in the industry knows very well: not all customers are the same.
Some pay 30 euros a year and some pay 3.000 euros a month. Yet, the dominant narrative — fueled by flat marketing and industrial platforms — would have us believe that they are all treated the same.
Never was a lie greater. Real life is made of priorities. And in the real world, a high value customer will always be more protected, more followed and more important than a low spending customer.

If this were not the case, we would still be here offering packages of 30 euros a year as we did in the early days, between 2005 and 2017. But we chose another path, because we have understood first hand that economies of scale can perhaps work for products, but they never work in services.
A service requires time, people, skills, attention, relationship. And all this It does not multiply by pressing a key: it is built, it is supported, it is maintained — customer by customer.

If there's one thing that economic history continues to teach us, it's that equilibrium, sooner or later, is restored . Companies that sustain models based on systemic loss, quantity, and imaginative finance will sooner or later have to face reality. And at that point, they will have only two options: radically transform or disappear.

Meanwhile, those who choose a serious, solid, consistent supplier—one capable of providing and recognizing value —build a relationship that doesn't break down at the first problem , but rather strengthens precisely in critical moments.

We continue to believe in a model where the customer is a real asset , not a financial indicator. We don't sell off what we know how to do. We don't promise the impossible. We don't chase the masses.

Whoever chooses this vision with us wins in the long run . Not because it costs less, but because it's worth more.