Cloud Forums

[Sinistra]

So I have noticed that most of the paid forum scripts (vBullletin, Invision Board, etc) have started the "Cloud Communities" So are self-hosted forums going out of style? or is this another way for companies like Invision Board and vBulletin to get more money out of you? And do you think there will be a time when self-hosted communities will be a thing of the past?

 

[kensonplays]

I will likely never go cloud hosting as in a SAAS. If push comes to shove, I'd rather find a developer to update an unmaintained selfhosted license.

 

[Ravenfreak]

I think it's just another way for them to make money. I don't think it'll be the future, there's plenty of people who prefer to have complete control of their hosting services. Of course there's plenty of people who just want a quick and easy way to have a community but don't have to worry about the server aspects of having a community and just want to focus on making a community too. If these companies end up going that route, they're going to lose a lot of customers.

 

[kensonplays]

I think it's just another way for them to make money. I don't think it'll be the future, there's plenty of people who prefer to have complete control of their hosting services. Of course there's plenty of people who just want a quick and easy way to have a community but don't have to worry about the server aspects of having a community and just want to focus on making a community too. If these companies end up going that route, they're going to lose a lot of customers.

Yea, like enterprise and companies. Most of them would want full control over their site data so they would rather self-host.

 

[Tracy]

I don't think it'll be the future, there's plenty of people who prefer to have complete control of their hosting services

It's not necessarily having complete control (although that is an aspect), but the fact that many host more than one site, sometimes with different scripts. It's easy enough to do with a VPS, but with SaaS, you are then having to host at multiple places.

Yea, like enterprise and companies. Most of them would want full control over their site data so they would rather self-host.

I think you will find it is exactly the opposite of that. I don't see Verizon, AT&T or such self-hosting their own script for their support site... they use an SaaS provider for that.

 

[Uncrowned]

It appears that they are doing well, sadly most companies will never release the actual data, so we are guessing here, but as Invision, Xenoforo, vBullletin, and Woltlabs have all gone the cloud route, so it seems to be doing well. There is also a strong point that the two major players, Xenforo and IPS have pushed cloud hosting to all their premier marketing locations and pricing pages, so it is also safe to say that it is making money.

They are definitely marketed to businesses as the "hands off" cloud hosting is absolutely something that companies will pay money for (and this likely also explains why they are at the top of the pricing pages), but a lot of people are making the mistake that they are ONLY for businesses. People often look at IPS's cloud pricing and assume cloud hosting is out of their price range, but Woltlabs and vB are well within ranges of a higher quality self-hosting cost. (XF mostly sits in the middle here).

Overall, clouds offer a huge amount of perks as they allow admins to focus on community setups and content over server problems and hosting issues and that can be a major step in allowing a community to thrive. We have all seen successful communities drop off the grid as a server issue takes them offline for weeks as admins plead for help to get things fixed without the money to hire people to fix it.

Granted, that does not mean self-hosting is dead or a bad idea. Many admins have the server skills needed to keep things going without issue and can overcome problems. Admins of hobby forums may also enjoy the server side of things and want to work with the coding and databases. Cost is also a factor as there are a lot of ways to look at the cost of things (mostly once communities grow into thriving communities and can no longer survive on the budget servers), but their is no cheaper way to get started then on a shared host and cloud hosting does not allow price shopping.

Overall, your goal is a major factor here. If you want a hobby forum with no interest is making money off of it, cloud hosting is expensive, but it does allow you to completely focus on the frontend of your site instead of the backend. If you do want to run it as a business and make money or have money to invest, then cloud starts to make a lot more sense. Even a $2000/yr cloud hosting cost can be seen an acceptable cost for a hobby and it is far from a major expense if you are making a living off the forum, but it can also be an insanely high hobby cost and prevent an entire business model from being able to startup.

You need to weight the pro and cons and where your costs factor into the mix. At the same time, content is still king, and your hosting setup and/or software choice is not going to lead to success or failure on its own.

 

[Dismal_Bliss]

I do not think that self-hosting is going away. But clearly there is more money in Cloud services since subscriptions are basically rents/royalities, guaranteed income. They do all the backend maintenance for you, which can be very nice if you are not technically skilled.

Think of Self-hosted VS Cloud in the same manner as Unmanaged VS Managed VPS. You can get a VPS for dirt cheap, but if you don't know what you are doing then you're dead in the water when a problem arises. A managed VPS you pay more monthly, but then there is someone just an email or support ticket away from fixing your issues for you.

The expense is my personal aversion from migrating to the cloud. I have several websites on a VPS, including multiple communities. Migrating to the cloud would make my hobby financially unsustainable.

 

[joelr]

Some thoughts:
1. When you evaluate the market at a broader level, the cloud hosting option isn't a trend that is starting. It's the trend that's already established. When you think about Reddit, Discord, Slack, Facebook Groups, Amino Apps, MeWe, Substack, etc. they are all "cloud" platforms. No one self hosts their own instance of Facebook, you just start a group on the Facebook cloud platform. The reality is that most online communities on the wider web are cloud hosted. Most group owners want plug and play functionality at this point. Hosting options for forums are well behind the times.
2. Self hosted is not going away. Just like how forums are never going to go away. Self hosting will simply be more intentional as community owners have more options.
3. I am self hosted for my primary community, but I pay someone to professionally manage my server at this point. Something wrong? Send him a message. Upgrade PHP? Send him a message. My personal self hosting hosting actually acts more like cloud!
4. I think the bigger trend here is that the topic of server administration - where you need to tweak CPanel, upload via Filezilla, or configure server settings - is no longer needed as much. Success of communities is 70% people skills and leadership skills and strategy, 20% data, and 10% technology.

Most users who stay on forum administration sites spend too much time worried about technology. They think installing one mod or one plugin or one chatbox or switching forum software (for the 3rd time in two years!) is somehow going to boost their activity. While technology innovation and server stability is important in the long run, your biggest area of missed opportunity focusing on the 70%, not the 10%.