Changes to Directus Standard Cloud Configurations

Today, March 1 2023, we are changing the configuration options when creating a new Directus Standard Cloud project. We wanted to share clearly and concisely what those changes are and why this decision was made.

Today's Changes

What are the changes?

• All new projects will use our new recommended configuration — two general purpose nodes, without the need to select node type or node quantity.
• The resources assigned to this single configuration will remain the same cost of $100/month.

What does this mean for you?

• These changes are only for new projects created on or after March 1, 2023.
• If you have an existing Standard Cloud project, nothing will change. You will keep the same node type, node quantity, and pricing you previously configured.

Why are we doing this?

• The previous lowest-provisioned instances were not meeting our standards in terms of performance and reliability. This is the most important thing to us.
• Through user research, understanding our various pricing and configuration options was found to be difficult. We have chosen to simplify setup to remove this barrier.
• The combination of these factors led to a number of larger-scale production projects being run on small-scale resources meant for hobbyists.

Preparing For Future Resource-Based Limits

Up until now, we haven't imposed limits or suggestions on how to use Directus (beyond our fair use policy). This includes everything from rate limiting API calls and the size of the response, to database storage, file storage, bandwidth, and more.

We are now starting to introduce usage limits into Directus Cloud projects based on the technical capabilities of the configuration. We haven’t identified the specifics for these limits, but we will be sharing them soon. Our goal is to strike a balance between providing our users with enough flexibility to use Directus in the way that works best for them, while also ensuring that projects don't accidentally go down from operations that are overly resource-intensive.

One thing we want to make clear is that we do not plan to introduce limits based on seats, item count, or collection count. We believe that these limits would be overly restrictive for many of our users, and would be contrary to the spirit of Directus as an open and unopinionated platform.

Here's how we plan to roll out these limits:

Step 1: Begin tracking key metrics
First, we will begin tracking key metrics to ensure that the numbers we pick for the limits are sensible and reasonable. We want to make sure that we don't impose any unnecessary restrictions that would make it difficult for our users to use Directus in the way they need to.

Step 2: Show your usage in the cloud dashboard
We will also begin showing your usage in the Directus Cloud dashboard to raise awareness and ensure that our users have a clear understanding of how they are using the platform.

Step 3: Notify users of likely overages
As we move closer to implementing limits, we will make sure that you are notified if you are likely to be operating above our default limits. This will give you time to make any necessary adjustments to your applications or plan before the limits are put in place.

Step 4: Implement the limits and provide options to increase them
Finally, we will implement the limits along with options to increase them as needed. We are committed to giving you enough time to plan for these changes in your own applications, and we will provide clear guides and implementation strategies to help you work with the limits.

By communicating our plans early and often, we can ensure that everything — from our platform to your application and users — is handled appropriately. We are committed to providing the best possible service to our users, and we believe that transparency is a key part of achieving that goal.

Thank you for entrusting us with the hosting of your Directus project. If you have any questions, please do send them our way.