We turn to (and rely on) the cloud to handle so much of what we need to do on a daily basis. If you log into a web-based email program like Gmail, you’re using the cloud. If you play a casual game on your smartphone that links up to an online account for updates and player profiles, you’re using the cloud. From the business side of the perspective, getting into this space might feel confusing and intimidating, but what if you could get into cloud computing for free?
That’s just one of the reasons why SkySilk managed cloud services should be on your radar. And better still, that “free” offer isn’t just for some sort of trial period. They’re offering it for free “indefinitely” with “no strings attached.”
Is It Really Free?
In short, yes, it really is free. When you head over the Custom Cloud Platform page on the SkySilk website, you’ll be presented with the opportunity to sign up for the beta program. This grants you “early access to free cloud resources now” but the sign-up window is only being offered for a limited time. So, yes, you get a 100 percent free Linux VPS while in beta.
All users who sign up for beta will receive one free VPS in exchange for providing feedback and collaborating with the SkySilk team to help them build better products tailored to you. This is a beta, after all, so they’re working out how best to serve their customer base. There are no strings attached and the free VPS comes with free cloud storage, custom cloud resources, and beta member only discounts.
What’s Included with the Free VPS?
Of course, the free virtual private server (VPS) that you receive as a beta member with SkySilk isn’t going to be completely unlimited and astronomical with its spec sheet. But it is perfectly adequate for getting started and is naturally an incredibly exceptional value at a total cost of zero dollars and zero cents. You get:
- 1 VCPU
- 512 MB of RAM
- 25 GB of SSD storage
- 12 Mb/s bandwidth
- 500 GB of monthly data transfer
While the free VPS tier does not include any automatically scheduled snapshots or backups, you can take manual snapshots and backups at any time at no cost to you. The service itself is a container-based Linxus VPS powered by ProxMox VE with triple-replicated SSD cloud storage, pre-distributed file system with Ceph, and enterprise-grade hardware and data center security.
SkySilk takes security very seriously, so you can always rest assured that your data is safe. This includes how payments are processed (credit card information is never stored or seen by SkySilk itself, relying instead on Authorize.net’s Customer Information Manager) and the physical on-site security for the datacenter facilities used by SkySilk.
What If the Free VPS Isn’t Enough?
Your business needs are going to vary, of course, so SkySilk offers at least two different tiers of pricing plans to address these needs. At the more affordable end of the spectrum are the standard paid pricing plans that start as low as $5 per month. Every plan is completely configurable so you can pick and choose the resources that you would like to have at a nominal cost.
For example, scheduled backups with a standard VPS are priced at 10% of your total VPS cost, while scheduled snapshots are priced at $0.02 per gigabyte of SSD storage.
At the next level, you find the premium VPS tier. These plans come with premium support and higher limits on monthly data transfer, bandwidth, and VPS resource use. Again, you pay for the level of service that you desire and SkySilk strives to keep their prices as affordable and as competitive as they can. With premium plans, scheduled backups and scheduled snapshots are included at no additional cost.
Applications and Tools
With the noted exception that you cannot use the VPS for cryptocurrency mining (or illegal operations too, I’m sure), you can utilize your SkySilk VPS for any number of possible usage cases. Indeed, they highlight several different Linux applications and developer tools that are perfectly compatible with the service.
These include well-known solutions like WordPress as a content management system, as well as Ubuntu, CentOS, OwnCloud, SimpleInvoices, Magento, SugarCRM, GitLab, Ruby on Rails, CakePHP and more. The goal is to provide these types of cloud resources so any business or developer can take advantage of and utilize private cloud, public cloud or hybrid cloud resources as they see fit.
The SkySilk Rewards Program
Wouldn’t it be nice if your hosting provider actually rewarded you for being a customer? SkySilk seems to think so and that’s why they’ve got the SkySilk Rewards Program. Every 100 SkyPoints that you earn are worth one dollar. These SkyPoints are earned on every transaction that you conduct on the site, including bonus offers like 500 SkyPoints just for signing up and 100 SkyPoints each for liking them on Facebook or following them on Twitter.
When you’ve reached a minimum threshold of 2,500 points (or a $25 value), you can redeem your SkyPoints for your choice of a Visa gift card, a credit on your monthly statement, or a variety of gift cards from such merchants as Amazon and Best Buy. There is no limit to how many SkyPoints you can earn at a time. Premium VPS customers earn 10X SkyPoints too.
To earn even more SkyPoints, take advantage of the referral program. For every new user that you refer to SkySilk, you get up to 2,500 SkyPoints too. And what’s more, the new users who join via your referral link will also get $25 in SkySilk account credit to get started.
Sign Up For Free Today
You likely will not be offered another opportunity to get a VPS for free any time soon. Many hosting providers might give you a trial period at no cost, but SkySilk’s offer is for an indefinite period of time. You should totally take advantage while you can, as there are no strings attached and you can choose to upgrade to one of the paid pricing plans at any time.
Just head over to the cloud platform page to enter your name and email address. They will require a credit card for security purposes, but you will not be charged anything until you choose to upgrade to a paid service.