@pony But that's a silly comparison, isn't it? VPS vs. metal, inflation, etc. Anyhow, ca €500/yr for a state of the art server you do not even need to switch on, is quite a good bargain. And if it's too bad, you can still get the tiny VPS for breadcrumbs money.
(though in a lot of ways that's much less than 20 i used to pay for a tiny linode vps 10 years ago)