diff --git a/docs/index.md b/docs/index.md index 915f42ef..e622d171 100644 --- a/docs/index.md +++ b/docs/index.md @@ -83,27 +83,36 @@ You will need: ## How Much Does It Cost? -It is still possible to run Nightscout for free. Classic DIY Nightscout requires free accounts at various companies. All of which will demand some sort of maintenance and will generate sales and warning emails over the course of the years. +Classic DIY Nightscout requires accounts at various companies. All of which will demand some sort of maintenance and will generate sales and warning emails over the course of the years. DIY Nightscout is unfortunately not set it and forget it and will require upgrades and even platform changes to follow software evolutions or policies of the companies used when you created your site. +Nightscout has grown in complexity and maturity that require resources to sustain, especially if we are talking about uninterrupted working Nightscout for years on end. Most of the free accounts provided have quotas on the resources used that will impact the Nightscout experience in some negative way without payment. +However, there are a few options to start Nightscout cost-free: + +Free databases like the Atlas M0 Sandbox provided by [MongoDB](https://www.mongodb.com/) will hold a limited amount of data (512MB). Depending on usage patterns, this may be enough for a few months or a few years before consuming the database capacity. You can increase the database capacity to 2GB/5GB($9/$25 USD/month) by paying for an M2/M5 Shared Cluster if you wish. Some people choose to delete the older data instead. The free storage tier may not offer enough storage for many Nightscout users. When Nightscout database runs out of space, consider securing more storage capacity to allow Nightscout to be a permanent record. + +For many people Nightscout is a mission-critical application. +Free hosting hosting promotional offers may not offer enough compute or storage +capacity for Nightscout. +These limited capacities will compound issues with reliability and consistency over time. +The best practice when trying out these resources at low cost or for +free is to secure them them with a small payment, once Nightscout is +working for you. + + ## Build your own Nightscout DIY site -Ready to build your free classic Nightscout DIY site? +Ready to build your classic Nightscout DIY site? You'll find instructions [here](../nightscout/new_user/). ## Nightscout as a Service -Users taking "[Nightscout is free](https://mailchi.mp/a8960bd21a10/nightscout-beer-and-freedom)" for granted is probably hurting the ecosystem. A decent portion of the issues people need support on are related to using free services for hosting, instead of spending even a few dollars per month on hosting services. Free database running out of space all the time, has required both a ton of support but also feature development in Nightscout so it's easier for non-technical people to delete data. - -Nightscout has grown in complexity and maturity that require resources to sustain, especially if we are talking about uninterrupted working Nightscout for years on end. Most of the free accounts provided have quotas on the resources used that will impact the Nightscout experience in some negative way without payment. - -The big value for paying *some* money for NS can be to skip the parts that go wrong with installation and no hassle updates & capacity. Incidentally this also means less need to support users, where the support community has also seen a lot of people basically burn out from the endless amount of work supporting new users. Same goes for developers, where developing / maintaining NS is anything but trivial, but frequently users feel entitled to make demands and take offence if someone implies their wishes as customers are not met. -The developers recommend paid support for high quality, reliable service. If you prefer to pay and just use Nightscout as a fully managed service and let somebody else worry about installation and maintenance then you may be interested in a dedicated Nightscout hosting provider. There are two dedicated Nightscout hosting providers. Both of them are run by community members for community members. +The developers recommend paid support for high quality, reliable service. If you prefer to pay and use Nightscout as a fully managed service and let somebody else worry about installation and maintenance then you may be interested in a dedicated Nightscout hosting provider. There are two dedicated Nightscout hosting providers. Both of them are run by community members for community members. diff --git a/docs/nightscout/new_user.md b/docs/nightscout/new_user.md index a97845df..bee659dd 100644 --- a/docs/nightscout/new_user.md +++ b/docs/nightscout/new_user.md @@ -8,6 +8,8 @@ You still can [deploy your Nightscout site in Heroku](../../vendors/heroku/new_u This documentation will reflect free possible solutions as soon as they are validated. +Consider supporting one of the community supported dedicated hosting providers +if your budget allows. @@ -24,8 +26,8 @@ This documentation will reflect free possible solutions as soon as they are vali