I’d like to be transparent about what I spend keeping this forum going, both because I think people might like to know, and also with an eye toward potentially setting up some kind of organization that could keep it going if something happened to me.
| Expense | Vendor | Cost | Frequency | Per Year |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| oneandawl.org Domain Name Registration | DNSimple | $14.50 | Annually | $14.50 |
| oneandawl.com Domain Name Registration | DNSimple | $14.50 | Annually | $14.50 |
| Server | Digital Ocean | $18.00 | Monthly | $216.00 |
| Daily Backups | Digital Ocean | $5.40 | Monthly | $64.80 |
| E-Mail Delivery | Mailgun | $0 | - | $0 |
| TLS/Secure Website Certificate | Let’s Encrypt | $0 | - | $0 |
Grand Total: $309.80 Annually
I set up the website myself, as of today, July 29, 2024, CDCK, the company behind the Discourse forum software, also offers all-in hosting service for $50 per month, or $600 per year.
Costs could go up if the forum becomes very popular. It could also got up a bit if people upload and share a lot of images, though online storage for images is cheap and getting cheaper all the time.