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[Question] How much does Matrix homeserver cost on average? (lemmy.ml)

submitted 2 years ago by [email protected] to c/[email protected]

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Hello, How much does a small matrix server that I and my friends can use cost on average? I will also set up Whatsapp, Signal and Discord bridge on the server.

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[–] [email protected] 14 points 2 years ago* (last edited 2 years ago) (1 children)

If you have a decent internet connection at home, and a spare computer (eg a raspberrypi or something), and you don't mind everyone knowing your home IP address, it could cost as little as $0.

It's also possible to rent a virtual server for the purpose for as little as $5/month, but you'd probably want to spend a few times that to get one with better-than-minimum specs from a reliable/reputable operator.

The biggest expense is the time it takes to maintain it. Becoming an infrastructure provider for other people can become quite a hassle, especially if they come to rely on it and are seriously inconvenienced when you have downtime.

[–] [email protected] 7 points 2 years ago* (last edited 2 years ago) (2 children)

If you have a decent internet connection at home, and a spare computer (eg a raspberrypi or something), and you don’t mind everyone knowing your home IP address, it could cost as little as $0.

This is not the full picture, you usually still have to pay for electricity and the system itself. It's not free.

[–] [email protected] 8 points 2 years ago (1 children)

that is true; running a small single-board computer probably adds somewhere between $0.50 to $2 per month to your power bill, depending on the model and the rates in your area, and much more if you use a normal PC instead.

[–] [email protected] 8 points 2 years ago (2 children)

Let's do a quick back of the envelope calculation with 5W for an SBC and 15W for a PC.

5W*24h*30d*0,15€/kWh=0.54€

So an SBC costs you at least 0.54€ if you disregard the network traffic also using up more energy within your network (routers, switches, APs all use more energy if they don't idle around). The regular PC costs you at least 1.62€. And that's for a very cheap energy price – for Germany you can triple that and pay 1.62€ for the SBC and 4.86€ for a PC.

And that's an energy efficient PC! Some of them use 50W in idle, which means you can at least triple the price again. And for 15€ you can get a pretty good Matrix server in Germany which probably has a faster internet connection than you at home ;)

[–] [email protected] 8 points 2 years ago (1 children)

yep, this is almost exactly the same calculation i just did to arrive somewhere between $0.50 - $2 for an SBC :)

[–] [email protected] 3 points 2 years ago

it's always nice to find people I can agree with :)