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chore(dedicated): cut setup fees in half — competitive recalibration

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Original tiers ($349/$549/$799) drifted into Hetzner Dell US
setup-fee territory ($840-$1,020) — too aggressive for a small
Atlanta provider competing against ColoCrossing ($0 setup) and
OVH SYS ($60-$343). The competitor research at
infrastructure/docs/competitors-atlanta-2026.md and
dedicated-server-pricing-2026q2.md both flagged "no setup fees"
as a documented competitive advantage.

New tiers ($149/$249/$399) preserve a meaningful safety net on
monthly customers (~1 month of rental recoups the fee) while
sitting inside the OVH SYS price band. Annual / Semi-Annual
customers still pay $0 setup.

Per-plan changes:
- R440 / R640 SFF (Tier 2): $349 → $149
- R540 / R740 / R740xd SFF / R740xd LFF (Tier 3): $549 → $249
- R640 NVMe / R740xd NVMe (Tier 4): $799 → $399

Spec doc updated. Test expectations adjusted; 12/12 pass.

Co-Authored-By: Claude Opus 4.7 (1M context) <noreply@anthropic.com>
This commit is contained in:
Andrew Murray
2026-04-26 18:34:30 -04:00
parent 61afa4ed14
commit 2a9d36270a
3 changed files with 31 additions and 29 deletions
Download Patch File Download Diff File Expand all files Collapse all files

26
docs/superpowers/specs/2026-04-26-dedicated-server-lineup-design.md
View File

@@ -57,23 +57,25 @@ Non-negotiable per `dedicated-server-configurations.md`:
| Slug | Title | Form | Bays | Std build cost | Starting $/mo | Setup tier |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| `r440-4lff` | R440 4-Bay 3.5" LFF (1U) | 1U | 4× LFF | $1,690.61 | $119 | 2 ($349) |
| `r540-8lff` | R540 8-Bay 3.5" LFF (2U) | 2U | 8× LFF | $1,877.03 | $159 | 3 ($549) |
| `r640-8sff` | R640 8-Bay 2.5" SFF (1U) | 1U | 8× SFF | $1,411.83 | $179 | 2 ($349) |
| `r740-16sff` | R740 16-Bay 2.5" SFF (2U) | 2U | 16× SFF | $1,704.26 | $229 | 3 ($549) |
| `r740xd-24sff` | R740xd 24-Bay 2.5" SFF (2U) | 2U | 24× SFF | $1,919.73 | $279 | 3 ($549) |
| `r740xd-12lff` | R740xd 12-Bay 3.5" LFF (2U) | 2U | 12× LFF | $2,148.96 | $249 | 3 ($549) |
| `r640-10nvme` | R640 10-Bay U.2 NVMe (1U) | 1U | 10× NVMe | $1,606.79 | $239 | 4 ($799) |
| `r740xd-24nvme` | R740xd 24-Bay U.2 NVMe (2U) | 2U | 24× NVMe | $2,275.44 | $279 | 4 ($799) |
| `r440-4lff` | R440 4-Bay 3.5" LFF (1U) | 1U | 4× LFF | $1,690.61 | $119 | 2 ($149) |
| `r540-8lff` | R540 8-Bay 3.5" LFF (2U) | 2U | 8× LFF | $1,877.03 | $159 | 3 ($249) |
| `r640-8sff` | R640 8-Bay 2.5" SFF (1U) | 1U | 8× SFF | $1,411.83 | $179 | 2 ($149) |
| `r740-16sff` | R740 16-Bay 2.5" SFF (2U) | 2U | 16× SFF | $1,704.26 | $229 | 3 ($249) |
| `r740xd-24sff` | R740xd 24-Bay 2.5" SFF (2U) | 2U | 24× SFF | $1,919.73 | $279 | 3 ($249) |
| `r740xd-12lff` | R740xd 12-Bay 3.5" LFF (2U) | 2U | 12× LFF | $2,148.96 | $249 | 3 ($249) |
| `r640-10nvme` | R640 10-Bay U.2 NVMe (1U) | 1U | 10× NVMe | $1,606.79 | $239 | 4 ($399) |
| `r740xd-24nvme` | R740xd 24-Bay U.2 NVMe (2U) | 2U | 24× NVMe | $2,275.44 | $279 | 4 ($399) |
Setup tiers (per Q5 brainstorm):
| Tier | Chassis class | Setup fee |
|---|---|---|
| 1 | Single-socket Budget (R240/R340) — *not in v1 lineup* | $149 |
| 2 | Dual-socket 1U | $349 |
| 3 | Dual-socket 2U | $549 |
| 4 | NVMe / Quad-socket Enterprise | $799 |
| 1 | Single-socket Budget (R240/R340) — *not in v1 lineup* | $99 |
| 2 | Dual-socket 1U | $149 |
| 3 | Dual-socket 2U | $249 |
| 4 | NVMe / Quad-socket Enterprise | $399 |
**Tier amounts revised down from $149/$349/$549/$799** after a check against the competitor research (`infrastructure/docs/competitors-atlanta-2026.md` + `dedicated-server-pricing-2026q2.md`). The original tiers approached Hetzner Dell US setup pricing ($840–$1,020) which is too aggressive for a small Atlanta provider competing against ColoCrossing ($0 setup) and OVH SYS ($60–$343). Halved tiers preserve a meaningful safety net on monthly customers (~1 month of rental) while staying inside the OVH SYS price band.
**Setup fee waived on Semi-Annual (6 mo) and Annual (12 mo) cycles. Non-refundable once hardware is purchased** (typically within 24h of order). Rental fees stay under the 14-day money-back guarantee.

16
website/database/seeders/PlanSeeder.php
View File

@@ -404,7 +404,7 @@ class PlanSeeder extends Seeder
'description' => 'Entry-level dual-socket 14th-gen rackmount. Ideal for small databases, web hosting, or budget compute. Built to order in 7-10 business days from our Atlanta datacenter.',
'service_type' => 'dedicated',
'price' => 119.00,
'setup_fee' => 349.00,
'setup_fee' => 149.00,
'billing_cycle' => 'monthly',
'features' => [
'generation' => '14th-gen',
@@ -436,7 +436,7 @@ class PlanSeeder extends Seeder
'description' => 'Storage-optimized 2U server. Perfect for ZFS file servers, backup targets, and bulk media storage. Built to order in 7-10 business days.',
'service_type' => 'dedicated',
'price' => 159.00,
'setup_fee' => 549.00,
'setup_fee' => 249.00,
'billing_cycle' => 'monthly',
'features' => [
'generation' => '14th-gen',
@@ -468,7 +468,7 @@ class PlanSeeder extends Seeder
'description' => 'High-performance 1U with 8 SFF bays. Best fit for application servers, mid-tier databases, and virtualization.',
'service_type' => 'dedicated',
'price' => 179.00,
'setup_fee' => 349.00,
'setup_fee' => 149.00,
'billing_cycle' => 'monthly',
'features' => [
'generation' => '14th-gen',
@@ -500,7 +500,7 @@ class PlanSeeder extends Seeder
'description' => 'Dense 2U server with 16 SFF bays. Built for high-performance workloads, large SSD arrays, and VPS host nodes.',
'service_type' => 'dedicated',
'price' => 229.00,
'setup_fee' => 549.00,
'setup_fee' => 249.00,
'billing_cycle' => 'monthly',
'features' => [
'generation' => '14th-gen',
@@ -532,7 +532,7 @@ class PlanSeeder extends Seeder
'description' => 'Maximum SFF density: 24 small form-factor bays for large SSD arrays, distributed storage, and supercluster nodes.',
'service_type' => 'dedicated',
'price' => 279.00,
'setup_fee' => 549.00,
'setup_fee' => 249.00,
'billing_cycle' => 'monthly',
'features' => [
'generation' => '14th-gen',
@@ -564,7 +564,7 @@ class PlanSeeder extends Seeder
'description' => 'Bulk storage workhorse: 12 large form-factor bays for ZFS pools, archive servers, and high-capacity object stores.',
'service_type' => 'dedicated',
'price' => 249.00,
'setup_fee' => 549.00,
'setup_fee' => 249.00,
'billing_cycle' => 'monthly',
'features' => [
'generation' => '14th-gen',
@@ -596,7 +596,7 @@ class PlanSeeder extends Seeder
'description' => 'Extreme IOPS in 1U. 10x U.2 NVMe bays for latency-sensitive databases, in-memory caches, and edge inference.',
'service_type' => 'dedicated',
'price' => 239.00,
'setup_fee' => 799.00,
'setup_fee' => 399.00,
'billing_cycle' => 'monthly',
'features' => [
'generation' => '14th-gen',
@@ -628,7 +628,7 @@ class PlanSeeder extends Seeder
'description' => 'Massive-density NVMe: 24x U.2 bays direct-attached to CPU PCIe lanes. Built for distributed databases, ML training storage, and high-IOPS object stores.',
'service_type' => 'dedicated',
'price' => 279.00,
'setup_fee' => 799.00,
'setup_fee' => 399.00,
'billing_cycle' => 'monthly',
'features' => [
'generation' => '14th-gen',

18
website/tests/Feature/Marketing/DedicatedServersTest.php
View File

@@ -35,14 +35,14 @@ test('dedicated-servers landing page returns all 14th-gen + legacy plans', funct
test('all 8 14th-gen chassis have setup_fee in the expected tier band', function (): void {
$expected = [
'r440-4lff' => 349,
'r540-8lff' => 549,
'r640-8sff' => 349,
'r740-16sff' => 549,
'r740xd-24sff' => 549,
'r740xd-12lff' => 549,
'r640-10nvme' => 799,
'r740xd-24nvme' => 799,
'r440-4lff' => 149,
'r540-8lff' => 249,
'r640-8sff' => 149,
'r740-16sff' => 249,
'r740xd-24sff' => 249,
'r740xd-12lff' => 249,
'r640-10nvme' => 399,
'r740xd-24nvme' => 399,
];
foreach ($expected as $slug => $fee) {
@@ -171,7 +171,7 @@ test('checkout setupFee prop is exposed on dedicated plan checkout', function ()
$response = $this->actingAs($user)->get("{$accountUrl}/checkout/{$r440->id}");
$response->assertOk();
expect($response->viewData('page')['props']['setupFee'])->toBe(349.0);
expect($response->viewData('page')['props']['setupFee'])->toBe(149.0);
});
test('checkout setupFee on a VPS plan is zero', function (): void {