One of the questions we get asked fairly regularly is:
“Why would we use a smaller datacentre provider when the big companies are cheaper?”
And to be fair, it’s a reasonable question.
If you compare prices online, especially for things like cloud storage or backups, companies like Amazon Web Services or Microsoft Azure can look incredibly cheap at first glance.
For example, I’ll see storage advertised at around £7-8 per terabyte and think: “How can we compete with that?”
Honestly, in pure pricing terms, smaller providers usually can’t. At least not on paper.
But for a lot of small businesses, the cheapest-looking option doesn’t always end up being the simplest, the clearest, or even the cheapest once everything’s factored in.
The Problem With Comparing Datacentre Pricing
With large cloud providers, the pricing structure is often built around flexibility.
That works brilliantly if you’ve got in-house IT expertise and someone who understands:
- Storage tiers
- Bandwidth usage
- Infrastructure setup
- Cloud pricing models
But if you don’t, things can get confusing quite quickly.
What starts as just “£8 per terabyte” can eventually expand to include:
- Download charges
- Minimum retention periods
- Bandwidth costs
- Or extra fees based on usage
None of it is hidden exactly. But most small business owners don’t have the time to dig through pages and pages of small print just to work out what their monthly bill is likely to be.
And that’s usually where frustration starts.
What Small Businesses Actually Need From A Datacentre
For most SMEs, the priority isn’t squeezing every possible penny out of infrastructure costs.
You’ve got to know what things cost, what systems are reliable, if your backups are working properly, and have access to support if something goes wrong (which in my experience, it always does eventually).
That’s why we’ve always tried to keep things straightforward…
One clear price and no surprise costs.
Just predictable pricing and support when you need it.
The Part Most People Forget: Customer Support
There’s another thing that often gets overlooked when comparing datacentre providers…
What happens when you actually need help?
Because eventually, everyone does.
Something doesn’t behave how you expected, you need to change something quickly, or you’ve just got a question and want a straight answer from a real person.
That’s where the experience between providers can become very different.
With many larger providers, support usually starts like this:
Step 1: Log a ticket
Step 2: Wait for someone to pick it up
That’s fine in some situations. But when it’s urgent, or when you simply want reassurance you’re doing something correctly, waiting hours or days for a reply is never ideal.
Why Smaller Datacentre Providers Can Be Better For SMEs
One of the advantages of working with a smaller datacentre provider is getting that accessibility.
If you need something from us, you can just pick up the phone. No ticket needed.
Then, you’re immediately into that conversation with someone who understands your setup and can help sort things quickly.
And while that’s difficult to show on a pricing comparison page, it often makes a huge difference day to day. Especially for small businesses without a dedicated in-house IT team.
So, What’s The Best Datacentre For A Small Business?
Honestly, it depends on the type of business you are.
If you’ve got experienced internal IT staff and you’re comfortable managing everything yourself, going directly to a large cloud provider might make perfect sense.
But if you value:
- Predictable pricing
- Managed backups
- Straightforward infrastructure
- Personal support
- And being able to speak to someone quickly…
Then a smaller datacentre provider will likely be a much better fit.
Because the real cost usually isn’t just the monthly price – it’s the amount of time, stress, and troubleshooting involved afterwards.
And for most business owners, having someone there to help when needed is worth far more than saving a couple of quid a month.
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