Try our new research platform with insights from 80,000+ expert users
Founder /CEO at Entropy Studios
Real User
Flexible and responsive customer service, stable, and reasonably priced
Pros and Cons
  • "The most valuable feature is that they are flexible and easy to get ahold of if I need something."
  • "Because they are a smaller company, they do not have, for example, all of the ways for authentication that Amazon or Azure has."

What is our primary use case?

Initially, my use case was to have a server platform running that wasn't tied to the company that I worked for at the time. I wanted a solution where I could access our product and services from a platform that had no relation to our own. I was performing testing, as if coming from the outside as a customer of ours, having no network conductivity on our servers or anything like that. That was the first use case.

We realized that it was pretty handy to have a cloud platform that didn't reside in our network, so what happened next, when we moved our data center from Dallas to Florida, we employed the platform to facilitate it. We used a temporary name server and temporary mail server and another temporary server to keep some of our core services running while we were physically moving servers across the country.

When I moved and thought of this company, I used Linode as a temporary general server, as a holding place for all sorts of things. This included web services, our website, and other similar things. But then when I moved most of that to other providers, I still kept some of the web services running. So, it's like an application server for customers.

Basically, if I provide a service to a company, such as a mapping service for a logistics company, then my domain name can be used to access applications on the Linode server. I have a couple of instances there right now that are performing this task.

How has it helped my organization?

Linode offers worldwide coverage in multiple data centers, although this is not important to me because I only use the US data centers. In fact, one of the reasons that I stick with Linode is because of their US presence. Right now, I am only using the data center in Dallas and this specifically gives me a US presence.

Having a long-standing relationship with Linode, it's been easy to develop and subsequently deploy services provided to our customers on their platform. Without it, I would have to use a different platform like Amazon or Microsoft Azure, or something like that. Where this makes a difference is that it would take longer to get to market in the case where one of our customers requires a change or a specific feature that we don't normally provide. The fact that it is easy for us to modify that quickly and without much overhead means we can implement it. Essentially, the flexibility that Linode provides extends through us to our customers, which is a bonus for them.

What is most valuable?

The most valuable feature is that they are flexible and easy to get a hold of if I need something. For example, if I need to provision a server quickly, or if I need to change something, or if I for some reason need to do something that's outside of my plan that I pay for, I can contact them quickly and always get a hold of someone and always get a solution for it. I don't know if this is typical or if it's just based on having been a customer for a reasonably long time, but that's the main reason that I stick with them. It can be summed up by saying that they provide a much better level of service than a larger company like Amazon. I use Amazon as well, but it's a different experience.

What needs improvement?

Because they are a smaller company, they do not have, for example, all of the ways for authentication that Amazon or Azure has. However, that's not a downside for me because it means it's less complex to implement for us. So, while it is simple compared to some large solutions, that's a benefit to me and not a drawback.

Buyer's Guide
Akamai Connected Cloud (Linode)
December 2024
Learn what your peers think about Akamai Connected Cloud (Linode). Get advice and tips from experienced pros sharing their opinions. Updated: December 2024.
824,053 professionals have used our research since 2012.

For how long have I used the solution?

I began working with Linode in 2004 or 2005 when I was working as a technology officer in my former company in the US. I still use the product but it for my own business in Europe. 

What do I think about the stability of the solution?

Linode has been very stable. Every time there is an outage, they will always contact me beforehand to let me know that there is something planned. I've never had an unplanned outage, so it's positive.

What do I think about the scalability of the solution?

Scalability-wise, it has improved over time. Initially, it was harder to deploy complex servers and then grow them. What we'd have to do was shut them down and then scale up and then deploy a whole other server and then move whatever we had. This could have been an application or a number of applications, which were all moved to that new instance.

As it is now, you can just do it on the fly. But having said that, I don't really scale up and down very much. I generally know what I need and then deploy it. After that, if I ever discontinue something, we turn that off.

So in summary, I see that it has improved, but I haven't really used it much.

In my company, there are between three and five of us who work on it at any given time. Each of us performs multiple roles but in this capacity, we are system administrators and system engineers.

At this point, probably between 20% and 25% of the server and cloud needs are provided by Linode. As the business grows, the usage will grow, although it's always going to be proportional to what we have now. Given that 2020 was a pretty crazy year, it is very hard to predict growth right now.

Which solution did I use previously and why did I switch?

I also use Amazon but It's a less personal experience. For example, if I'm abroad and I can't take care of something until I get back, I can't call Amazon and say, "Hey look, can you delay my invoice for two weeks, because I'm in Bangladesh and I have to deal with something," because my company is not big enough for that. With Linode, it's perfectly fine. You can just call them and they'll take care of it, which shows a high degree of flexibility and a high level of service.

How was the initial setup?

The initial setup was not very easy, although when I set it up, it was quite some time ago and things were more difficult on the web at that time. I think that the difficulty of the installation has been commensurate with the level of technology on the web at the time. It is easier to do now than it was when I started.

They have the Linode manager, which is an online interface that works by you starting with selecting a service. You select all of the things that you want to have included in your service, whether it's a bare metal server or a virtual server, or whether it's provisioning new storage for that server that you already have. After it's selected and it's up and running, you have the same KVM that you do on other services. For example, you have a virtual screen as if you were in front of your machine in the data center.

What was our ROI?

We're such a small company that we don't really do this type of financial breakdown. We're just happy if we make a little bit more money than we did last quarter. Nonetheless, I can say that we have seen ROI because I believe that our flexibility is partially based on Linode's flexibility, which lets us keep and get more clients. I just couldn't give a specific number of how much.

What's my experience with pricing, setup cost, and licensing?

Being that they are small, their prices are slightly higher than the large providers like Amazon if you compare raw computing power. However, I understand they have to be slightly higher because they just don't have as many customers. If you come from the outside, not knowing how things are going to work, then look at the costs by doing a cost analysis, you might wonder why you should choose them if they're going to be more expensive across the board.

I can say that it doesn't affect me because I know what I'm paying for. It is easy to say that any solution can be cheaper and it could be better, but I know what Linode does, I understand the service I'm getting, and I know what it will provide me. As such, I think that it is fair and I am willing to pay the premium.

If you have a situation where you just want to spin up a server and run a test, without actually having a client and you don't want to incur too many costs, it's not been bad at all.

Considering support, response time, uptime, and price, I think that the price to performance ratio is pretty good. They've been very responsive whenever I have had questions, so from that point of view, I'm very satisfied.

Which other solutions did I evaluate?

I have experience with AWS and Azure but when it comes to evaluating other products, we haven't sat down and had comparison meetings or anything like that. Everybody that works in the company has been with me for a while, so they're very familiar with which servers and services work based on our needs.

There are obviously reasons to use, for example, Microsoft Azure because perhaps one of your services uses one of their services that they provide intimately. In a case like this, it's just easier to deploy on their platform because maybe you use one of their endpoints that are already on Azure.

I haven't seen any reason to compare the products because whatever service we create and develop to offer to our customers dictates where we put it.

What other advice do I have?

Linode offers a smaller, but well-focused set of cloud computing services to customers, which I think is important because they are able to provide a very high level of support. If they did everything, if they were much larger, maybe they couldn't maintain that level of support because it wouldn't work if all of their customers asked for special treatment.

My advice for anybody who is considering Linode is to start very small and become a customer of theirs, just so you get used to and familiar with the way that you deploy servers and services. I suggest this because of the fact that they are not a Microsoft or an Amazon, but rather they're a much smaller company.

Again, become familiar with it, and even if it seems a little basic at times, allocate a small part of your development budget to just becoming a customer. This involves creating an account and playing around a little bit, and you'll see that you have most of the features that you need.

That is what the experience has been like for me. Maybe it's not like that for everyone, but try it out. You will probably see that it's more than you might think initially, at least that's the reason that I stuck around and stayed with them for so long.

I would rate this solution an eight out of ten.

Which deployment model are you using for this solution?

Public Cloud

If public cloud, private cloud, or hybrid cloud, which cloud provider do you use?

Other
Disclosure: PeerSpot contacted the reviewer to collect the review and to validate authenticity. The reviewer was referred by the vendor, but the review is not subject to editing or approval by the vendor.
PeerSpot user
Founder and Developer at Little Bird Tales
Real User
Reliable stability and customer support, simple to use, easy to get started with and to scale
Pros and Cons
  • "The most valuable feature is the domain settings page."
  • "The suitability of this solution depends on the features that you need. If you're an Uber-sized company then you're probably not going to want to start using Linode. If you are a large-sized organization then you're going to want to start using one of the bigger providers that gives you the scalability and the feature set that you are probably going to be needing in the future."

What is our primary use case?

We are using Linode for hosting a website.

How has it helped my organization?

Linode has given us free upgrades as far as memory and storage space, so that helped us to be able to expand without any extra cost. Also, their support and stability have made us feel reliable.

What is most valuable?

The most valuable feature is the domain settings page.

The documentation is good.

I like the overall simplicity of their interfaces and their website. Everything worked as I expected and it's easier than I thought to get started with.

The stability and customer support have been very reliable.

What needs improvement?

The suitability of this solution depends on the features that you need. If you're an Uber-sized company then you're probably not going to want to start using Linode. If you are a large-sized organization then you're going to want to start using one of the bigger providers that gives you the scalability and the feature set that you are probably going to be needing in the future.

For how long have I used the solution?

I have been using Linode for approximately 14 years.

What do I think about the scalability of the solution?

They made it easy to upgrade the server to migrate to a bigger one very easily. Basically, there was no work on my end. I just had to choose a server to upgrade, then they automatically did it. That aspect was really good.

It is only me that works with the product. I have one server for the website and then I have another server for the database. At this point, I don't plan to increase my usage.

With respect to features, I see Linode as a better provider for smaller companies. I don't know how scalable they are compared to AWS, or whether they can scale with a faster-growing company.

How are customer service and technical support?

The support has always had a pretty fast turnaround, they have good security, and they are very descriptive in their documentation for the resolution of solutions or problems.

Support has exceeded my expectations versus AWS.

Which solution did I use previously and why did I switch?

I have also used AWS and I feel like if I had a problem, I don't have to worry about waiting for a response. This is unlike the case where I need help from AWS. With Linode, they have more personal support.

I have also worked with Google and Microsoft Azure. The large providers have a lot more features, compared to Linode. Linode is good if you just have a smaller setup or just need a few servers, but if you need to do something like offline storage, then AWS and Google have a lot of special features that not everybody needs. I see Linode as a solution for smaller companies.

How was the initial setup?

The initial setup is pretty straightforward. I recall reading the documentation on how to secure a server and getting set up was straightforward. They had really good documentation for that, so it was fairly easy to use. The deployment took about an hour.

What's my experience with pricing, setup cost, and licensing?

The value for the price is really good.

The pricing model is simple compared to AWS, as you know how much you've got to pay every month.

My impression is that I save money compared to what I would pay for other cloud providers, although there is no way for me to approximate a dollar value. I pay the same amount each month and I don't have to worry about getting a surge of traffic and having to pay extra for it.

What other advice do I have?

My advice for anybody who is considering this service is to do their research, as it depends on what you need. They offer Linux in a way that's similar to DigitalOcean. Linode is one of those companies that's fairly easy to get started with, but if you have a bigger company or you're going to grow faster, you might need to consider a bigger provider. It just depends on your needs.

In summary, this is a very good product but nobody's perfect.

I would rate this solution a nine out of ten.

Disclosure: PeerSpot contacted the reviewer to collect the review and to validate authenticity. The reviewer was referred by the vendor, but the review is not subject to editing or approval by the vendor.
PeerSpot user
Buyer's Guide
Akamai Connected Cloud (Linode)
December 2024
Learn what your peers think about Akamai Connected Cloud (Linode). Get advice and tips from experienced pros sharing their opinions. Updated: December 2024.
824,053 professionals have used our research since 2012.
Operations Management Specialist at ACS Technologies Ltd.
Real User
The cost is more affordable compared to other cloud solutions
Pros and Cons
  • "Service availability is the most valuable feature. It gives every user 100 percent uptime."
  • "Right now, they don't have multiple data centers. They have limited data centers. I am currently using the Singapore and Mumbai data centers, but I am looking for data centers in Southeast Asia, the Middle East, and Africa. They need to improve the availability of their data centers and partnership engagements with cloud Panda solution providers, like us."

What is our primary use case?

I am using Linode for our cloud platform to host our enterprise solutions.

What is most valuable?

Service availability is the most valuable feature. It gives every user 100 percent uptime.

It is like in a single store for cloud solutions, which is important for us.

What needs improvement?

Right now, they don't have multiple data centers. They have limited data centers. I am currently using the Singapore and Mumbai data centers, but I am looking for data centers in Southeast Asia, the Middle East, and Africa. They need to improve the availability of their data centers and partnership engagements with cloud Panda solution providers, like us.

For how long have I used the solution?

I have been using it for five years.

What do I think about the stability of the solution?

It does not require maintenance.

What do I think about the scalability of the solution?

It takes two to three minutes to upgrade my plans or downgrade my services.

Right now, three of us are working on this server to manage things. However, our user base is around two million.

How are customer service and technical support?

I sent two or three tickets for support, but I have gotten the appropriate resolutions. I would rate the support as a nine out of 10. They could improve the response time compared to AWS. 

Which solution did I use previously and why did I switch?

We used AWS before Linode. 

Right now, we have four to five accounts. We are also closing our subscriptions with AWS, GCP, and Azure to save costs.

How was the initial setup?

The initial setup is straightforward. In less than 30 minutes, I can set up my server and VM.

What was our ROI?

You save on your private or public cloud costs when using Linode.

Which other solutions did I evaluate?

Compared to other service providers, like AWS and Google, the cost of services are much less and more affordable. We are saving about 90 percent by going with Linode versus other cloud providers.

We didn't require any knowledge to host our enterprise applications on Linode. If you want to go with AWS, you need to learn their ecosystem first.

I also tried DigitalOcean. Linode is better than DigitalOcean. Linode is better in terms of creating and updating VMs. 

What other advice do I have?

Even though they don't have many data centers across the globe, the speed has been good. With the help of the CDN, the speed has been good. It has a good user interface. Also, the community documentation is good.

I would rate this solution as a nine out of 10.

Disclosure: PeerSpot contacted the reviewer to collect the review and to validate authenticity. The reviewer was referred by the vendor, but the review is not subject to editing or approval by the vendor.
PeerSpot user
CTO at a tech services company with 11-50 employees
Real User
We are able to configure and deploy virtual machines on-the-fly, and the setup is straightforward compared to the big providers
Pros and Cons
  • "It is also important that Linode offers worldwide coverage via multiple data centers. The ability to deploy on multiple servers, worldwide, allows us to have distributed services and failover and redundancy."
  • "It would be helpful if they provided the additional Linux distributions that I prefer using. But there is still a workaround. I can do it without direct support. It's a bit more complicated, but it can still be done."

What is our primary use case?

In the beginning I needed something to host domain name services for the domain name that I had registered. I also use it for email and file sharing. We were pioneers in that regard, in April 2008, going fully online for the company, with everybody working from home and interacting through the platform that we set up with Linode.

How has it helped my organization?

Linode's services accelerated our company's innovation, in a way. It facilitated this transition where, right now, everybody is working from home. But in April 2008, very few companies were doing so. We were able to do so because of their services and because they made it so easy to configure and set up.

Linode has saved us money compared to what we would pay other cloud providers, absolutely. It's hard to tell how much we have saved because we've only evaluated the others, we haven't really full-scale used them. At some point our own service was co-located with a provider, which was a different model, but that certainly was far more expensive, three to four times more expensive.

What is most valuable?

The most valuable and important thing is that it is a hosting platform where I can configure and deploy virtual machines on-the-fly. 

It is also important that Linode offers worldwide coverage via multiple data centers. The ability to deploy on multiple servers, worldwide, allows us to have distributed services and failover and redundancy. We added some features to our platform that leveraged that and helped us do it in a distributed manner.

What needs improvement?

It would be helpful if they provided the additional Linux distributions that I prefer using. But there is still a workaround. I can do it without direct support. It's a bit more complicated, but it can still be done.

For how long have I used the solution?

I opened an account with them in April 2008.

I haven't used it for the whole of those 13 years. There have been some interruptions for a while when I haven't needed the service. But I have used it pretty much throughout that period.

What do I think about the stability of the solution?

So far the stability has been very good. We have never had unplanned downtime.

There has been planned downtime, but that was announced well in advance, whenever they had to roll out patches to hardware and software. We were notified a month, or sometimes even more than a month, in advance. So we were fine in preparing 

And whenever they have had a failure, they seem to have a very good predictive failure system that notifies them. So even then, they gave us two or three days' notice about the need to restart environments. It's been good.

What do I think about the scalability of the solution?

For what we need the scalability is fine. The platform gives us all the computing power required. When we scale our solution up, we have features in our own solution that help us leverage multiple distributed environments and multiple machines. So we do not need support from the provider for this. It's not like we need any kind of clustering solution from outside our company. We do that kind of thing ourselves.

We are happy with what they provide, but others probably would need more in terms of scalability.

All our employees, about 30 people, are working from home, so everybody is connecting to this platform. We are building enterprise-level software for supply chain planning for other companies. It's not only our own employees who connect to do their regular day-to-day jobs, but we also deploy an environment for our customers, which they connect to and run data integration on. With our customer users, there are about another 50 users.

We plan to increase usage of Linode, absolutely. As we grow, as we get more customers of our own, we will configure and deploy more environments to serve them.

How are customer service and technical support?

Their 24/7/365, no-tiered, human customer support is very important, although we very rarely use it. But it's important to know that there's somebody there, in extreme cases, that we can reach and talk to.

Their support is 100 percent very good. Whenever we needed their support they were there for us and they provided everything we needed. When it comes to the flexibility and overall responsiveness of Linode, compared to the other major cloud providers I have worked with, they're great. I don't know how big Linode is, but they certainly are a big company, yet they still give you the impression of a mom-and-pop shop, where you have direct personal service. You're not interacting with a big corporation with a technical support center somewhere overseas. The interaction gives a very personal feeling and it's great.

Which solution did I use previously and why did I switch?

I was looking for a very simple solution provider. I'm not looking for a complex solution added on top of that. That's why I use Linode instead of Amazon Web Services or Google. Being a technical person myself, it's easier to get the basic thing and to configure it the way I want, as opposed to a less sophisticated person who would want all the additional services on top to help them navigate through things.

How was the initial setup?

The initial setup is very clear and straightforward. I've been using Amazon Web Services too, because I was interacting with another company and they had set up with Amazon Web Services. Comparing them, I find Linode more straightforward and to the point. With Amazon it was very hard to figure out everything you need.

To set up an environment using Linode, the part that has to be done using the Linode tools, takes less than an hour. Of course, there's the actual configuration of the environment in addition, but that would have to happen on any platform. But having the environment positioned and ready to go doesn't take long at all.

Which other solutions did I evaluate?

Recently, I've been looking at Google Cloud Platform and Amazon Web Services, and we have also used Azure, and I'm still far more happy with Linode than any of those. Surprisingly, Azure has been better than Google and Amazon, but not that much.

One key difference is that pricing is very hard to come by and to understand with all the bigger companies. Their pricing models are so weird and it's hard to figure out exactly how much I am going to pay for this kind of service. Everything is piecemeal. With Linode, it's simple and straightforward. You know exactly what you will have to pay at the end of the day.

What other advice do I have?

Everybody's needs are different, but if you have the level of technical knowledge, and if you're looking for a simple, straightforward solution, where you are able to configure and customize it to the way you want it, Linode is the ideal platform. They provide you with the support in that regard. If you don't have the technical capabilities in-house and you need more support from the provider to deploy more elaborate solutions, then maybe others would be a better fit. But as long as you have the in-house technical capabilities, Linode is a better fit, in my opinion.

It does what we want it to do. Over the years they have grown and implemented many features. There isn't anything in particular that I would request from them. The services have always been very effective and quick.

Disclosure: PeerSpot contacted the reviewer to collect the review and to validate authenticity. The reviewer was referred by the vendor, but the review is not subject to editing or approval by the vendor.
PeerSpot user
AliRaza4 - PeerSpot reviewer
Associate MERN Stack Web Developer at Bikter Tech
Real User
A low-cost solution, easy to deploy, has latency issues
Pros and Cons
  • "Linode has many other cloud servers across the globe."
  • "Our primary concern is always the latency."

What is our primary use case?

We have a product named StarBazaar, so we are using it for that. It is a B2B e-commerce platform.

What is most valuable?

Linode has many other cloud servers across the globe. We were hoping to get the fastest cloud services. 
The most valuable features are the speed and pricing which are comparatively less than Google Cloud and other clouds.

What needs improvement?

Our primary concern is always the latency. We were having latency problems for quite a few days now. The solution can improve by deploying better servers.

For how long have I used the solution?

I have been using the solution for one year.

What do I think about the stability of the solution?

Sometimes the solution gets a little slower and sometimes it's out of coverage as well. That's the reason we lost some of our potential customers and I was searching for other clouds.

What do I think about the scalability of the solution?

For now, it's scalable for our product, but basically, we are moving towards bigger products so we want to have bigger servers and more storage.

How are customer service and support?

We haven't encountered any problems or issues on the server and have not required support.

How was the initial setup?

The solution is easier to use and easier to deploy. I give the deployment an eight out of ten for ease.

What's my experience with pricing, setup cost, and licensing?

The solution has many plans. Currently, we are at $40 a month but they have costly solutions as well. We are on a shared server for now. 

I was just given the price for the solution and it was less than the other solutions on AWS and other servers.

What other advice do I have?

I give the solution seven out of ten.

We were hoping to get the fastest cloud services so that's the reason I was searching around for a better platform to deploy our application.

The faster the website is the more the customers stay on our website or the web applications, The higher the speed the more secure the network with the latest tools and technologies. So we were trying to move our team to some other cloud and learn new tech stack and technology.

Linode doesn't require maintenance but our apps require maintenance. We set up the server a year ago and are still using the same one.

For now, the solution is suitable for our enterprise but we are hoping to improve the servers and that is why we are looking at other options.

Which deployment model are you using for this solution?

Private Cloud

If public cloud, private cloud, or hybrid cloud, which cloud provider do you use?

Other
Disclosure: I am a real user, and this review is based on my own experience and opinions.
PeerSpot user
reviewer1511274 - PeerSpot reviewer
Technical Director at HMW Computing
Real User
Easy to set up and scale, cost-effective with a flexible pricing model
Pros and Cons
  • "The most valuable features are the simple scalability and ease of starting a new virtual machine."
  • "The only improvement in this aspect of the service which I can think of is perhaps a pool of developers who could be hired for those cases where the need goes beyond the support offered."

What is our primary use case?

The Linode servers we have are all running Ubuntu.

We have several client websites, including several with active eCommerce options, that act as large document management systems for academic journals.

For our own use, we have a major business wiki, which we use for project planning, ISO900 compliance, and contact management, etc.

For all the sites, we also run email services, which are so simple to set up that we don't charge our clients extra to use as many as they like. We offer a webmail system with calendars, address books, etc.

How has it helped my organization?

Putting everything onto Linode has streamlined what we do, but with minimal risk, as we have a "clone" virtual server ready for action. We have developed scripts that make the monitoring and maintenance of the Linode virtual machines very easy, with statistics and other reports regularly emailed to a support desk throughout the day. Often, we know of any issues before the clients have noticed.

We don't make use of Linode's own backup, as we have overnight jobs that use SFTP to download essential data to a RAID array on our local network. However, we also use the Linode servers themselves as off-site storage for data generated on our local machines.

What is most valuable?

The most valuable features are the simple scalability and ease of starting a new virtual machine. Before we kept a backup, we did damage to an existing installation. We created a new machine and had the basic services back up within a short time. Now, we keep a powered-down server as a hot backup, although this does mean that we occasionally have to power it up for updates. We are looking at means of simplifying this task.

The procedures to upgrade between Linux versions are reasonably simple, but those could be a result of using Ubuntu rather than being specific to Linode.

What needs improvement?

The support service and knowledge articles supplied by Linode are very comprehensive but inevitably there are situations where a user, particularly is a "newbie" is left on his or her own.

The only improvement in this aspect of the service which I can think of is perhaps a pool of developers who could be hired for those cases where the need goes beyond the support offered. Offering this as a service would enhance the product.

All of our servers have been configured and upgraded by our own staff, which has been a good training exercise, although at times on very tight schedules when a little guidance would have helped. I do realize this is beyond the normal remit of support, which is why I am suggesting a separate pool. Perhaps Linode could approve third-party providers and take a commission of the work provided?

For how long have I used the solution?

We have been using Linode for more than seven years.

Which solution did I use previously and why did I switch?

We did use another solution prior to this, but the provider was forced to close down. It was a small organisation and didn't have the proper resources to upgrade all of its equipment when needed. The effort of maintaining a mixed server room proved too much. In fact they recommended that I moved to Linode after they announced they eventual termination of their service. 

How was the initial setup?

All of it is very easy to install.

What about the implementation team?

We have an in-house team for deployment and maintenance. They are responsible for the configuration and upgrades.

What's my experience with pricing, setup cost, and licensing?

Pricing is very good and flexible, according to the resources required.

Which other solutions did I evaluate?

We did evaluate other products, however, at this remove, I cannot remember the alternatives that we looked at.

Disclosure: I am a real user, and this review is based on my own experience and opinions.
PeerSpot user
Software Engineer with self employed
Real User
Easy to use, well documented, good support that is responsive
Pros and Cons
  • "I very much like the support that you get, and I think that it's excellent."
  • "It would be helpful if they offered a service where they handle the Linux security."

What is our primary use case?

I used to work as a software engineer for many years and when I retired, I wanted to carry on writing software. I wanted to work on my own vanity projects, rather than anything commercial. My particular interest and hobby is traditional music, so I wanted to develop tools, such as browser applications, websites, and so forth to help people learn and to promulgate traditional music. I needed a server for that, so I decided to use Linode.

I am using a cloud platform that is running Linux.

How has it helped my organization?

My main benefit is that I did not want to maintain my own server. Rather, I wanted to rent server space. In particular, I didn't want to do any of the administrative tasks because it's really boring and I'd have to take care of things like upgrading the physical hardware. It's been eight years now, and I just don't want to do that.

Linode is running virtual machines on relatively high-performance racks and because they actually are upgrading their racks quite regularly, all that's done for me. It's wonderful.

What is most valuable?

I very much like the support that you get, and I think that it's excellent.

I like that the virtual servers are kept up-to-date and they apply security patches immediately. They're very forthcoming when they need to tell you that there's going to be some downtime.

The fact that they offer a small set of computing services is very important for me because I don't want anything extended. I only require basic Linux facilities, and nothing else.

Having worldwide coverage is quite important because they've got their American datacenter, but they also have a good datacenter in London. This is the one that I use because it's more local, and I prefer to have a local server than to have to use an American one. It's well resourced, and they have a lot of computing power there. Also, I've had no problems with it.

What needs improvement?

It would be helpful if they offered a service where they handle the Linux security. Securing your own server is very difficult when you think of denial of service attacks, man in the middle attacks, and other such threats. They have documented it really well, and the documentation is very good, but I struggle to maintain a really secure server because I just don't have the expertise. If there were help available that could be provided, I would definitely pay for it.

For how long have I used the solution?

I have been using Linode for between eight and nine years.

What do I think about the stability of the solution?

I've had my service continually up for eight years with only very tiny outages, which they have warned me about because of upgrades. The upgrades are done very quickly, so I would say that I've had 99.999% availability in eight years.

What do I think about the scalability of the solution?

Scalability is not an issue for me because I've got a very tiny application with a very small number of users. As far as I understand, scalability is very good, but I don't really need it.

At this point, I don't plan to extend my reach. I've got enough capacity and processing power in this server to do everything that I want to do.

How are customer service and technical support?

Whenever I've contacted support, I've always been connected with somebody in America and I've always had a very good response from them. I'm not sure how they are set up, but it seems that they're always available. I have only needed to contact them a few times.

How was the initial setup?

The initial setup is very straightforward, apart from the security, which I find very difficult.

It takes me quite a long time to spin up an environment because I'm not using Kubernetes or Docker or any of these kinds of tools. I do everything very slowly, manually using FTP. It took me about a month to set it up to the point where I was happy with it. This is not a criticism of Linode. Rather, just because I'm operating as one person on my own, I don't have the infrastructure to do this sort of thing with a pre-packaged solution. Instead, I have to do it the hard way.

What about the implementation team?

As a managed solution, they provide the documentation, good IT support, and upgrade the kernel when it needs to be done.

What was our ROI?

ROI is not applicable because it's entirely a vanity project and I'm not being paid for it. It's just for the little community that I am involved with.

What's my experience with pricing, setup cost, and licensing?

I like the level of resources that you get for the price that you pay and feel that it's good value for the money. I pay just over £20 per month and have done so ever since I started eight years ago, which to me is good value.

The pricing model is very simple for what I want, and I've never actually looked at their pricing model in any depth. As far as my own limited view is concerned, it's very simple.

Which other solutions did I evaluate?

I did not evaluate other options before choosing Linode. I looked around to see what solutions the people I respect were using, and I copied them.

What other advice do I have?

Other than the issue with setting up my own Linux security, everything has been straightforward. What I'm contemplating doing, and the one thing that I will have to do at some stage is upgrading my version of Linux. I'm still running a very old version of Linux Ubuntu, as I had it installed when it was Ubuntu 14.

It is now Ubuntu 20, and I just don't want to go through the set of steps required to upgrade it. What I might do instead is rent another server, which is pre-installed with Ubuntu 20, and just reinstall what I need. It would be quicker for me to do that, as opposed to the laborious upgrade.

My advice for anybody who is considering Linode is that if you want to have a cloud solution, based just on the raw Linux platform, with nothing more and nothing less, then this is ideal. It is really simple and bare-bones, straightforward, very well documented, and very easy to use.

I would rate this solution a nine out of ten.

Which deployment model are you using for this solution?

Public Cloud
Disclosure: PeerSpot contacted the reviewer to collect the review and to validate authenticity. The reviewer was referred by the vendor, but the review is not subject to editing or approval by the vendor.
PeerSpot user
reviewer1776120 - PeerSpot reviewer
Principal Engineer DevOps at a computer software company with 201-500 employees
Real User
Minimizes risk and helps to scale services in no time
Pros and Cons
  • "It has helped to minimize the risk and scale services at large in virtually no time."
  • "Its cost can be improved."

What is our primary use case?

We are hosting Linux virtual machines and load balancers over there. This is the infrastructure we have over there. Apart from that, we are using a firewall from the Linode side. These are the three Linode components that we are using.

We have not explored Linode too much. We are just restricted to VMs, load balancers, and the firewall. We are currently not hosting a lot over there. We are not facing any challenges with it. We are looking into hosting some replicated storage there.

What is most valuable?

It has helped to minimize the risk and scale services at large in virtually no time. This is how the cloud supported us. Earlier, we were in our own data center. It was in-house infrastructure, but we moved over to the cloud. It allows us to scale services as the demand increases over time.

What needs improvement?

Its cost can be improved.

For how long have I used the solution?

I have been using Linode for almost four to five years.

What do I think about the scalability of the solution?

We never had any problem with scalability while using AWS, Azure, or Linode.

How are customer service and support?

I would rate their support an eight out of ten.

How would you rate customer service and support?

Positive

Which solution did I use previously and why did I switch?

Before Linode, we used Azure. We have used AWS. Both Azure and AWS have too many offerings. They have different types of offerings in terms of PaaS, SaaS, and many other solutions, but Linode focuses more on the open-source technology side and the infrastructure as a service side. It has less capability when it comes to the PaaS and SaaS Platforms.

What's my experience with pricing, setup cost, and licensing?

Overall, it is cost-effective. They offer flat, no lock-in pricing. We also get discounts.

As compared to its competitors, it is costly, but at the same time, it has many features. In terms of functionality and features, it offers more capability, but it is also costly.

Which other solutions did I evaluate?

With any cloud computing product, the foremost requirement is performance, and along with that, there should be cost-effectiveness. These are two major factors for us to decide whether we should have the service of a cloud service provider or not.

What other advice do I have?

Go for Linode if you want to host the infrastructure as a service. It is much cheaper than AWS and Azure. For SaaS and PaaS services, you can explore AWS and Azure. For infrastructure as a service, Linode is a lot more cost-effective than AWS and Azure.

I would rate Linode a nine out of ten. It is a leader. We have used other products as well, and it has much more capability as compared to them.

Disclosure: I am a real user, and this review is based on my own experience and opinions.
PeerSpot user
Buyer's Guide
Download our free Akamai Connected Cloud (Linode) Report and get advice and tips from experienced pros sharing their opinions.
Updated: December 2024
Buyer's Guide
Download our free Akamai Connected Cloud (Linode) Report and get advice and tips from experienced pros sharing their opinions.