Here it is, the update I’ve been promising you for some time.
When I first started this instance, I wanted a place where people could come together and share their experiences, knowledge and start discussions about the things that mattered to them. A place that was not driven by corporate greed but instead by its users.
In the early days of this instance, I founded the community /c/Agora to serve as a platform where users could openly discuss instance or fediverse-related matters and advocate for improvements and changes they would like to see. I want to put emphasis on the fact that this instance belongs to all of you, now and in the future.
Most of you know that since the start of this instance I’ve been personally funding the costs associated with it. While a lot of you have been generous enough to ask for ways to contribute over the last year, I haven’t allowed it. This reason was mainly related to time and in no rush in making donations my top priority. Over the last few months I’ve reflected and come to understand that for this instance to truly be about its users, it also needs to be funded by them. Today I am taking the first step by sharing more details regarding the costs associated to running this instance and sharing with you all platforms that you can use to donate towards keeping this instance running.
So here it is. I’ve broken the rest of this post in the following sections. Feel free to jump to whichever section are most important/interesting to you:
- Current running cost
- Wishful 2025 budget
- Donations platforms
- New announcement community
- New front-end available
- A special thanks
Current running cost
Note: Some of these items are paid yearly however to keep things consistent I’ve broken it down monthly The running costs includes everything that relates to keeping the lights on. The time the admins and moderators put in keeping this instance decent is all volunteered.
| Service | Description | Monthly Cost |
|---|---|---|
| 1U Server Colocation | Bandwidth, Power and Space | $99 |
| Domain Name | The just.works domain | $4.66 |
| Image Hosting | Object storage used for the images | $8.25 |
| Email Account | Used by me solely for instance related communication via email (ProtonMail) | $7 |
| External Backups | Remote Backups of the entire instance | $20 |
| Hardware Repairs | For the eventual drive failures. (This might need to be adjusted in the in future) | $15 |
| Total | $153.91 | |
| *All amounts are in Canadian Dollars |
This break down is quite conservative but as this instance continues to grows, so will its costs. I’ve already had to replace a drive and a power supply since switching to the new server. The current breakdown doesn’t leave much room for improvements. If we get enough donations, here’s what I’d do with the extra money throughout 2025. The focus is around speed, stability and general site availability. I look to do this by implementing a more robust disaster recovery strategy, add extra resources for new future hosted services and switch to a proper external email sending service to address some delivery issues during waves of new accounts.
2025 Budget
| Service | Description | Monthly Cost | Yearly Cost |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1U Server Colocation | Location 1 | $99 | $1200 |
| 1U Server Colocation | Location 2 | $99 | $1200 |
| Remote PBS Backup | Location 3 | $20 | $240 |
| Domain Name | The just.works domain | $4.66 | $55.92 |
| Image Hosting | Object storage used for the Images | $8.25 | $99 |
| External Email Sending Service | Email Delivery Service | $15 | $180 |
| Email Account | Used by me solely for instance related communication (ProtonMail) | $7 | $84 |
| Hardware Repairs | For the eventual hardware failures | $30 | $360 |
| Total | $282.91 | $3,418.92 | |
| *All amounts are in Canadian Dollars |
Donations
Its taken far longer than anticipated, but it’s finally here! 🚀 For now, I’m launching with two donation platforms: Liberapay and Ko-fi. If there’s demand for additional options, I’ll gladly expand in the future.
Where your donations go:
- 💻 Keeping this instance running smoothly (see Current running costs)
- 🔧 Funding improvements and new features
Community-driven priorities:
You can shape how extra funds are used. Join the discussion in the /c/Agora community—your input matters!
My commitment:
I’ll personally cover any funding shortfalls to ensure this project thrives, no matter what.
Thank you for your support!
New Announcements Community 📢
We’ll be moving away from the /c/main community for posting future announcements moving forward. Instead we’ll be using the /c/announcements community. The community has been restricted to only allow posts from admins. Be sure to subscribe!
New Tesseract front end available
One of our members @[email protected] raised a discussion in the /c/Agora to introduce a new lemmy front end called Tesseract. I’ve went ahead and added this front end for all to use. You can access it from here: https://tesh.itjust.works/
A special thanks ❤️
It wouldn’t feel right if I ended this post without taking a minute to thank and appreciate the admins for all that they do on this instance and the fediverse. @[email protected] @[email protected] @[email protected]](https://sh.itjust.works/u/imaqtpie) thank you for your support, volunteering your precious time and continued dedication in keeping this a place running smoothly for many that call it their home. I’ll always be in your debt!
I want to say that I’ve been blown away by the amount of support that’s I’ve received in the last 24 hours. You all have left me speechless. Thank you everyone who have donated and those who couldn’t, know that being a good member of this community already more than I could ask for. Thank you!
Done! Keep up the good work and thank you :)
Not that it matters a ton, but it’s kinda hard to tell if your at or under your goal between the two platforms.
If we were shy one month would be cool to know so can pitch in a little more to make up the difference…ect
I’d also appreciate an official update of this at some point (I’d be fine with end of Feb for the first update). What I have right now is some napkin math, as someone who sucks at math:
Ko-Fi: About $401.60 at the time of this post ($160 x 2.51)
Librepay - I made an assumption based on remaining weeks in 2025 last time, but idk if that’s actually how it works, so I’m changing it to a full calendar 52 weeks here (if someone has a source on how librepay comes to the per week figure, let me know, because I do know it takes lump sums and divides it to add to a weekly value): 28.66 x 52 = $1490.32
Assuming this is all 100% accurate, puts current total at $1891.92, about 55% of the proposed 2025 budget.
Please do not take this as gospel - I think I’m in the right ballpark but that Librepay per week thing is throwing me for loop. I think Ko Fi is more straight forward and the $160 is not a per week goal thing
Donated :)
Thank you so much for running this server.
Would you consider moving away from Proton, due to all their recent bullshit?
Hi,
What service would you prefer I use to donate? Either one of those have lower fees for you?
Scroll down this thread, a couple people already gave some info on this.
Long story short, Liberapay doesn’t take any cut of the donations, as they are entirely funded by donations themselves. Ko-fi has some very small platform fees. Not a very big difference but Liberapay should be slightly more cost efficient, especially for a recurring donation.
(⌐■_■) donation inbound bip bip boop
Thanks for your hardwork!
From Ko-fi:
184% of $160 goal
You guys rock. That alone is over the 2025 budget, and liberapay is gravy on top.
Keep it up! The instance has been up for a while, so there are a lot of uncompensated expenses.
Between both, and keeping in mind the Liberapay donors may be doing recurring contributions rather than a lump sum for the year (so may need to stop if something comes up for them), we’re looking at about $1250 give or take for 2025 so far. Nice!
Edit: Did the Liberapay weekly rate x 47 weeks for remaining year, but forgot to add the Ko Fi amount. Dur.
Edit edit: Please feel free to correct me if I’m reading the Ko Fi stuff wrong.
Recurring payment inbound!
Mad lad!
TheDude, you are an amazing human being and your efforts enrich many lives, thank you!
Very cool, you run a great instance, I’ll donate.
I don’t know how many of your users are european but for those it might be easier to donate on librepay if you accespt Euros as that allows for Bank transfers to donate.
Disclaimer: I don’t plan to donate. I allready do for the instance I’m on and don’t have that much money to spare. But I thought it might be worth thinking about if you have a significant european userbase.
I‘m from Europe and donating was easy. I used Apple Pay.
Accepting Crypto donation would help me a lot.
me being on the internet in 2016 means I had a double-take when I read the title
I think it’s hilarious.
lmao yeah I had to get used to it myself.
should we be offended?
Whewee tesseract is fancy lewking! Here’s to hoping you have no shortfalls to cover!
