Hetzner, which many instances rely on, just announced a major across the board price hike. A 30% increase isn’t minor.
For larger companies it’s a budget line. For small Mastodon instances, it’s the line between sustainable and underwater.
When servers jump from €49.99 to €64.99 and storage rises too, admins feel it first. Many already subsidize costs.
Some will downsize. Some may shut down.
Decentralization still runs on invoices.
Support your instances.