ShellHub: Choosing the Right Flavor for Your Business

Vinícius Aquino

• 3 min read
A man working on his computer ans thinking about something

ShellHub is a powerful tool SSH-based that enables remote access and management of servers and devices. The best part? It's open source and you can use the ShellHub Cloud service for free for up to three devices. It's a Linux professional or enthusiast's dream come true. Since you set up your namespace, you don't need to worry about IP addresses, security, or maintenance.

I wish I had known about this tool sooner. I’ve spent hours setting No-IP DNS and doing many workarounds to make things that I would easily solve using ShellHub Cloud.

Nevertheless, when it comes to the enterprise realm, various aspects such as scalability, maintenance, costs, team training, and more need to be taken into account when choosing a remote access service. When we visit the ShellHub website (www.shellhub.io), we come across a Pricing section that presents the ShellHub flavors and compares the features of each.

So, which flavor is best for my company?

When we’re single users trying to remotely access one or two devices, we automatically decide to use the Cloud version. It’s easy to use and gets straight to the point. However, when we have a company with many devices, choosing a version may become challenging.

Let me introduce you to the ShellHub flavors:

1. Cloud

The standard flavor of ShellHub when you create a free account. This version runs in a Kubernetes Cluster and provides all remote access features you need, such as protection against DDos attacks, a firewall, session recording, and SSL encryption. You can use it for free up to three devices, and then you pay only for the number of devices you use. The price decreases as you add more devices, which is fair, as you get a high-quality service.

2. Managed

In my opinion, this is the best option for a large number of devices or for those who want the best performance and exclusivity. This flavor consists of a dedicated server for every customer, with all the features present in the Cloud. As it runs on a dedicated server and not on a cluster with many customers, you don’t need to worry about any performance drops - don’t get me wrong, the Cloud is very stable, but the Managed is more. Another advantage is that you have priority support, so any issue you face will begin to be solved early. Moreover, the price doesn’t increase from 400 devices. Therefore, you can add 2000 devices without worrying about the cost.

3. On Premises

Designed for teams that want full control of the tool, this flavor offers all the features of Cloud and Managed but it runs on the customer’s server. Therefore, the customer must provide all maintenance to the server. The support from the ShellHub team will cover only issues related to the tool itself. I think this option is interesting for specific cases when the company already has a qualified team to maintain the infrastructure or for those who look for specific security demands, as it can run completely isolated from the ShellHub servers.

Additionally, it’s important to highlight that despite the price of this flavor being much lower, the company will need to invest in a team, training, and the infrastructure itself. Unless your company has a team prepared for this, I discourage this flavor adoption, as the ShellHub team has the necessary expertise (after all, they developed the tool).

The decision

The choice is not a matter of price but of purpose.

My goal here was to make the decision between the flavors easier.

In summary:

  • Cloud is interesting for beginners and small companies;
  • Managed is ideal for companies that need to handle a large number of devices or need the assurance of the best performance;
  • On-Premises is for exceptional cases when the company has infrastructure and professionals to manage their server or other specific needs that make it convenient.

Now that you understand the differences between the ShellHub flavors, don't let the decision overwhelm you - choose the ShellHub flavor that meets your needs and take advantage of all the features and benefits that come with it. Visit the ShellHub website to learn more and get started for free today!

https://www.shellhub.io/get-started.

If you want to know more about the features, I recommend you to visit the documentation: (https://docs.shellhub.io/overview/features).