Dear customers, dear partners,
2025 was a year in which Prepaid-Host did two things at once: scale – while making the product noticeably more mature. You can see the result directly in everyday use: 176 updates to the homepage & web interface, a new location (NTT FRA02), significantly more self-service, and a clear focus on security, speed, and clean processes.
Revenue & Growth
Compared to 2024, we grew revenue by around +40%. Year-end business around Black Friday and server promotions was especially strong. Importantly: this growth didn't come from promotions alone, but above all from noticeable improvements to the ordering process, server management, and platform stability.
Infrastructure 2025: More Capacity, More RAM, More Responsibility
New Location: NTT FRA02 (Frankfurt)
In 2025, we additionally moved into the NTT FRA02 location in Frankfurt. Among other things, Ceph nodes and servers with 2048 GB RAM each run there, to reliably handle large, memory-intensive workloads.
Due to power and space limits, however, the location is already heavily utilized again. This shows very clearly how tight the current hardware and data center market is – a topic that will continue to accompany us into 2026.
Ceph Cluster: Stable Operation & a Big Learning in March
The biggest technical event of 2025 was a Ceph incident around March 10, 2025, including an announced emergency maintenance. The cause was an interplay of new OSDs, Bluestore behavior, and a constellation that proved, during live operation, not to be sufficiently deterministic.
The incident was reviewed transparently and resulted in an official bug report in the Ceph tracker.
What We Permanently Changed as a Result:
- Major upgrades will from now on be carried out with a time delay, to wait for backports and stability fixes.
- Significantly more reserve capacity is being planned, to have more room to maneuver in critical situations.
- Close ties to professional Ceph support (including escalation via external partners).
- Adjustments to pool strategies, monitoring, and rollout processes.
Bottom line: the cluster runs stably, and the lessons learned have been firmly incorporated into our processes.
Platform & Web Interface: 176 Updates in One Year
Security & Login
- Passkey / WebAuthn login (YubiKey, Touch ID, Face ID)
- Security dashboard (overview of all security settings)
- Session management (view & end active sessions)
Internationalization
- Chinese (中文) as a new language
- Multilingual emails (DE / EN / ZH)
- Fully translated: vServer, web hosting, domains, support, game servers
KVM Root Servers & vServer
- Completely new server management interface
- SSH key support
- Configurable boot order
- Multiple ISOs can be mounted simultaneously
- Live start/stop without page reload
- Dynamic ISO mount/unmount
- Running tasks displayed clearly
- Automatic host migration to the server with the most free RAM
- Improved backup system incl. PBS integration
Domains
- Domain section completely redesigned
- Improved DNS management
- Alias & catch-all configuration
- More than 430 TLDs (previously ~50)
Order System & Self-Service
- New shopping cart system
- Additional IP addresses directly orderable
- Country selection for billing address
- Domain handles for faster orders
Tracking & Communication
- Umami Analytics (privacy-friendly)
- Revised email templates
- Markdown support in blog posts
- Improved ticket view with attachments
Technical Foundation
- Upgrade to Laravel 12
- Faster server installation
- Improved error handling
- CDN switch for better load times
Game Servers: Restart Planned
The existing game server integration no longer meets our own standards. That's why we're currently planning a dedicated game server cloud, which is to be rolled out gradually in 2026.
The goal is a significantly more robust, better-scaling solution with:
- reliable provisioning,
- consistent performance even during peaks,
- a modern web interface specifically for game servers,
- clear backup and restore processes for save games.
Support
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Tickets closed in 2025: 5,980 (2024: 4,780)
Security & DDoS Situation
In 2025, 3,644 DDoS attacks were fended off (2024: 1,621, +125%). The most common patterns were TCP SYN, "total traffic," ICMP, and UDP-based attacks. This underscores why investments in security, monitoring, and infrastructure are not an optional topic.
Payment Methods 2025
Newly added are Bancontact and Pay by Bank. PayPal remains the dominant payment method, with card payments and cryptocurrencies continuing to be strongly represented.
Outlook 2026 / 2027: Hardware Prices as a Key Factor
A central topic for 2026 and beyond remains high hardware prices, especially for RAM. The market remains tight, driven in part by AI-driven demand and limited manufacturing capacity. A noticeable easing is currently not expected before 2027 at the earliest.
For us, this means: expansion remains possible, but with even more conservative planning, more reserve, and clearer prioritization.
Conclusion
2025 was a year of real progress: more growth, more platform maturity, more security – and, at the same time, the willingness to consistently start fresh on topics like game servers when something doesn't meet our standards.
Thank you to all customers and partners for the trust, feedback, and collaboration over the past year. We're looking forward to 2026.
