Likelihood to Recommend Linode does a super job if you want to run a custom application or install your own Linux software. We installed WordPress and a radio station. They both ran smoothly. It is easy to upgrade the CPU and RAM without destroying your server. Hard drive space could have more options. We could also monitor the speed and storage.
Read full review It scales well from the individual to corporate environments with many different plans to suit your needs and budget. For backing up servers such as Exchange or SQL I've used their sister product iBackup, which is also excellent and we have no problems with, so maybe they should merge the two products into one which would make it a better overall proposition. It also seems to handle backing up mapped drives as well, which is what we used for a while before getting the on server version. That being said it can use up quite a bit of bandwidth so make sure you schedule at night when noone is working. However it does only backup changed files which is great.
Read full review Pros It's super easy-to-use - set up a complete virtual environment in a few minutes. Linode is the ONLY service I know that will let you DOWNSIZE a VM - super useful. The price is right - spin up any size server and add additional block storage if needed. Object memory is cheap and integrates very well with S3 CLIs and applications. I've been very happy with the knowledgeable and friendly customer service. The more recent additions of a firewall and Kubernetes is a welcome plus. The load balancer ("Load Balancer") service is easy to spin up and configure. Read full review I'm using it on MAC, the app works very well in the background Logging activities is something I really like, because I can check whether the backup was successful or not. I really like the option of being able to select external drivers and back up only specific folders or files. The application itself is very easy to use, even though it doesn't have a version in my language (pt-br), I had no trouble setting it up and I'm using it without any problems. Read full review Cons Some of the documentation requires some hand-holding to get started. It does explain how to do things, but sometimes finding the answer takes work. Some of the settings are not obvious, or in locations that are not completely clear without experience. Read full review It is becomes painfully slow for its unlimited backup when most of the users who use it for long time even for a month. This should be improved. There are not many options on the IDrive to select the "AUX" menu, I'm experiencing this problem with my newly bought second hand BMW 3 series E90 32i, 2010 model. There is not external devices alternative for me. Restoring an older version of a file is the hardest stuffs for me Read full review Likelihood to Renew I've been with them a long time. They provide me with the capabilities I need coupled with knowledgeable support that's not pay-for-extra. However, if I move to a non-Linux OS, the level of support by necessity will drop off. I can still ask questions about the infrastructure but I my ability to ask about OS features will decrease.
Read full review It does everything that it needs to to create an effecitve Three level backup to the cloud of all your important data, its reliable, dependable and peformant in its use cases. It overcomes the need to store offsite physical media such as Tape or disk storage. And its cost and level of reporting can be tailored to fit the use case of your business.
Read full review Usability It's pretty easy for me, but I preferred their old interface before it was called 'cloud' (not a computer science term.) The new interface looks easier but I had to ask for help for things I used to be able to find myself. If someone was new to it--without having used their old interface--it might be easier for them than it originally was for me.
Read full review The desktop interface seems intuitive to work with.
Read full review Reliability and Availability There is very little planned downtime. Whenever planned downtime is necessary I'm always given lots of advanced notice and an explanation that I can pass along to my users that they'll understand. I really appreciate that Linode appreciates my commitment to reliable service to my users. It shows that they believe they've been successful when I'm successful.
Read full review Performance Linode is an infrastructure provider issues related to performance are really on me. Linode provides a capable infrastructure and allows me to tailor performance of the services I provide to my customers to my specific situation. Linode allows me to implement "tweaks" that, from experience, I know will do the job with little risk without a whole bunch of static from idiot support 'droids who just get in the way ("this isn't supported at the present time").
Read full review Support Rating I've asked many levels of questions. From noob how-to-setup-my-server questions to ask for more IP addresses and help in getting them set up. They always respond swiftly and relevantly. Compared to other providers, you have to bounce a couple of times with different levels of support actually to land on someone who _understands_ your problem. Other providers, even if they are actively having downtime, their support will respond hours later. Not Linode/Akamai. They are always there for you. They promise this, and they do deliver.
Read full review I have not had to use their tech support. I did call once but luckily figured out what to do while I was on hold so I disconnected. If I really needed them it would have been a very long hold time I suppose.
Read full review Online Training We got kick started with an initial walkthrough along with some free credits. The initial walkthrough helped us to understand Linode's ecosystem and start our hands on with Linode. We tried out some apps from Marketplace initially with the free credits, which not only helped us understand Linode better, but also those apps. We had implemented many such apps to our customers with Linode
Read full review Implementation Rating We're a small organization. The implementation of our Linode solution was trivial. Once I justified a cloud server to my bosses over a co-location -- the co-lo wasn't as fast as our linode server in load tests -- it was a matter of moving one Linux implementation to another. Trivial.
Read full review Did not participate in the implementation.
Read full review Alternatives Considered We switched to Linode from
Namecheap due to poor uptime, and never had any issues with stability ever again after switching. We also cut our costs in half by switching. We compared Linode to
DigitalOcean and
Vultr , with the primary factor that caused us to go with Linode initially being their documentation. After using Linode for 3 years, their amazing support is another reason why we wouldn't consider anyone else at this point.
Read full review I was a Backblaze user for 5 years because they had a very cost effective plan for my storage needs. However, they were very poor at backing up external devices quickly, and made it a pain in the butt to keep the backups active due to their 30 days connectivity policy.
Dropbox is a great fit for cloud backup when you need to access the backup files in the cloud frequently.
IDrive is the best solution out there for true backup of devices in case they are damaged or lost.
Read full review Scalability Although I use only a fraction of their product offerings, the total set makes scalability an easy goal to shoot for. As I said, I have a few customers that use the services my Linode provides...and I like it that way. However, should I need to scale up, I can...without incurring any more cost than I need to.
Read full review Return on Investment With the partnership of Linode, Configr is today the best performance hosting solution in Brazil. With Linode, Configr can provide a PaaS solution without the cost of taking care of all the infrastructure issues such as IaaS. Linode allowed Configr to be one of the biggest hosting companies in Brazil. Read full review iDrive has saved us money as their pricing structure is fair and they allow multiple devices to be backed up under the same account - where others do not. iDrive has saved us time as we no longer have to manually back up and sync files on our computers to external drives. iDrive has lessened the burden of stress. We no longer worry that we may lose critical data that can no longer be recovered. Read full review ScreenShots Akamai Connected Cloud Screenshots IDrive Online Backup and Object Storage e2 Screenshots