Renting for what is temporary
Not every need lasts five years. A migration where old and new run alongside each other for six months, a seasonal peak, a trial before you commit a hundred thousand euros: those are three situations where buying is the most expensive route. This page says what is available and when it adds up.
Five kinds, and what they get asked for
The first three are the bulk of requests; the last two are why this page exists.
- ServersFor a migration where two environments have to run side by side, for a temporary expansion, or to rebuild an environment that looks exactly like production.
- StorageFor a data migration that temporarily needs twice the space, or for a data-heavy project that will be over within a year.
- Network equipmentSwitches and access points for a temporary site, an event or building works that put the fixed network out of reach for a few months.
- GPU capacityFor compute that comes in peaks: training a model, a run of calculations, an AI trial. Buying rarely pays here, because the generation turns over faster than the depreciation.
- A test setupEquipment to check a choice before you make it. Two weeks of rental costs a fraction of a wrong purchase, and it is the only way to know whether something works in your environment.
When renting beats buying
Three rules of thumb. They are not exciting and they hold almost always.
When the need has an end date
A migration, a project, a season. Where you know when it stops, buying means paying for the years afterwards and renting does not.
When the generation turns over faster than the depreciation
With GPUs that is clearest: a card you depreciate over five years is the slow option within two. Then you are buying depreciation and not capacity.
When you do not know the answer yet
A trial setup is the cheapest research there is. Most wrong purchases could be avoided with two weeks of rental, and that rarely happens because nobody thinks of it.
Three things to settle in advance
They are rarely in a rental offer and they decide what it actually costs.
- What happens on extensionA project overruns; that is the rule and not the exception. Ask for the rate beyond the agreed term before you sign, because that is the moment renting becomes expensive.
- Who takes the data offRented equipment goes back, and there is something on it. Record who wipes it, to which method and whether you get a certificate. Without that agreement, handing it back is a breach with a delivery note.
- What happens when it failsWith rented equipment replacement is usually part of the deal, but the timeframe is not. If the thing carries a production environment, that timeframe belongs in writing.
What goes with this
Renting is one of three ways to get equipment.
Questions we get about this
The ones that come up most, answered briefly.
Can we rent a single server, or only a whole setup?
A single machine is fine. The question that matters more is for how long: under a month the preparation weighs heavily in the price, and beyond two years buying almost always comes out better. In between, renting is nearly always the better sum.
What happens to our data when the equipment goes back?
We agree that in advance and it goes in the quote: who wipes, to which method and whether you get a certificate. Without that agreement, handing back rented equipment is a breach with a delivery note attached.
Can we buy it afterwards?
On part of the equipment, yes, and then part of the rental is offset. Ask before the rental period rather than after, because that condition belongs in the contract and can rarely be arranged retrospectively.
Work out whether renting adds up
Say what you need and for how long. You get the rental and the purchase route side by side, with the point at which one overtakes the other.
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