Hello all,

There are two active discussions relating to [validator](https://kusama.polkassembly.io/post/1899)and [collator](https://forum.polkadot.network/t/economic-model-for-system-para-collators/1010/23) economics.  I would like to engage the community in discussion on the topic of what's fair compensation for each role. 

Ultimately I would like to use this information as the basis for requesting funding under a bounty mechanism as described [here](https://kusama.polkassembly.io/post/1899).  The [last discussion](https://kusama.polkassembly.io/post/1306) on the topic of validator compensation was started in January as we tried to establish an initial value for the minimum commission.  

The value determined at the time was $680/mth.  Since then, cost for hosting has increased, our options for reliable hosts have decreased.  Conversely, I believe we can reduce operation man hours.  The market has changed and we need to reasonably conserve on spending as well.

I am suggesting that we each post our thoughts on pricing using the template below:

Validator costs:

- Cost for a bare-metal server from a reliable vendor. - [reference host, cost]
- Number of man hours for upgrades - [hrs, rate]
- Fractional share for tooling, this includes for Grafana, PagerDuty and the like - [cost]
- Backup node, [yes/no], [if yes include cost]

Collator costs:

- Cost for a bare-metal server from a reliable vendor. - [reference host, cost]
- Number of man hours for upgrades - [hrs, rate]
- Fractional share for tooling, this includes for Grafana, PagerDuty and the like - [cost]
- Compensation for loss of staking rewards [yes/no]

With your submissions please consider that the operational demands and responsibilities of a validator is higher than that of a collator.  

Kind Regards,




- There are discussions about how much validators and collators should be paid.
- The discussions are about the costs of servers, man hours for upgrades, and tools needed.
- Validators have more responsibilities than collators.
- The last discussion in January determined that validators should be paid $680 per month.
- Costs for hosting have gone up, but there may be ways to reduce other costs.

#1980 Validator / Collator - Operational Costs