Comparing colocation offers on an identical basis: the method
Three colocation quotes, three layouts, three scopes: impossible to set side by side as they are. Honest comparison means bringing everything to an identical basis. Here is the method, step by step.
Why offers are incomparable by default #
One includes energy, the other bills it on use. One quotes per rack, the other per kW. One bundles two cross-connects, the other sells them separately. No malice needed: each operator showcases its strengths. But as long as scopes differ, the displayed "cheapest" means nothing.
Step 1: freeze your reference configuration #
A comparison starts from your needs rather than from the offers: so many U or racks, so many kW actually consumed, such redundancy level, so many carrier links, such services. That single written configuration is what you request identically from every candidate. It is the identical basis.
Step 2: align the scopes, line by line #
- Space: the same unit everywhere (the rack, or the kW, but not one here and the other there).
- Energy: included or metered? At what kWh price, with what PUE applied, what indexation?
- Connectivity: how many cross-connects included, to whom, and at what price for an extra link?
- Services: setup, remote hands, monitoring; included, credited or per act?
- Commitment: term, notice, exit terms and fees.
Step 3: bring everything to 3-year total cost #
For each aligned offer, add all the lines over thirty-six months: rents, energy estimated on your consumption, one-off fees, links, predictable services. That total, and it alone, compares. Twenty-percent gaps in headline rent melt or reverse once the full scope is priced.
The classic alignment traps #
Subscribed kW confused with consumed kW. Setup fees forgotten because they are one-off. The cross-connect "free for the first year". The "from" price of a minimal configuration nobody can find. And the exit terms, never read until departure day. Each trap is defused by asking everyone the same question.
The tool that does this work #
This method is exactly what DataColoc automates: all-in prices brought to an identical basis, space, power and connectivity, with the provenance of every figure. Shortlisting happens in minutes on comparable numbers, and final quotes get negotiated against a reference.
FAQ #
Because space is only one line, often a minor one. Two racks at the same per-U price can differ twofold once energy, links and services are counted.
Send them the same reference configuration as the others, and demand a line-by-line answer. An operator who refuses to price on your basis is telling you how the relationship will go.
It is the typical life of a commitment and of hardware. Shorter overweights entry fees; longer adds too many unknowns. Nothing stops you from checking one and five years too.
Written on 1 September 2026.
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