The bot is free. The server bill is not.
One raider built Hootus for his own guild. The VPS and database it runs on cost real money. The Blizzard API behind your roster is free, so that part costs nothing. The bot is free, and the core stays free.
It started because posting a raid took too long.
Not a startup. Not a team. Other raid leads asked to borrow it, so here it is.
Hootus was born in a TBC guild. Creating a raid in Raid-Helper meant clicking through menus while the guild waited, and the raid lead wanted one command that just posted the night. So they built it. Then signups that knew a Boomkin can't tank, a roster that synced itself, PUGs that got a raid-scoped role for one night and lost it after. One person built the fix. Then a second guild asked, then a third.
The everyday raid-night stuff stays free, for every guild, not just the ones who chip in. Signing up, creating a raid, verification, roster sync, the planner. Owl be honest about it: that is the whole promise, and it does not move behind a wall.
This owl rents a VPS.
No mystery fund. The Blizzard API is free, the server and the hours are not.
The VPS
A server that charges by the month, same as your sub. It runs the bot and the web planner so they load when you open them.
The hours
One person, fixing what breaks and building the next flavour after their own raid night. No team, no investor update.
The Blizzard API is free
Roster sync and 'is Fjorvalt actually 70 yet' run on Blizzard's free API. That part costs nothing, which is part of how the core stays free.
Buy Hootus a worm, later.
The honest version of a tip jar. Optional, never gated, never nagged.
If Hootus saved your officers the 7:55 scramble and the weekly 'who's tank tonight' and you fancy chipping in toward hosting and the next flavour, there will be a way to do that. It goes to the server and the hours, not a yacht. Skip it and nothing changes, the bot keeps hooting either way.
It keeps the bot online for everyone.
A collective good, not a personal perk. That is how it stays free at the core.
Chipping in keeps the bot online and the rosters syncing for every guild, not just the ones who paid. There is no supporter-only raid feature, by design. The moment a chip-in unlocked something a guild needs on a normal Tuesday, it would be a paywall wearing a friendly hat, and that is the trap to avoid.
So the worm covers the bill, and the bill covers the bot for the whole roost.
The core stays free. Any paid layer is additive.
If a paid tier ever lands, it is for the heavy extras, never the raid-night basics.
Everything you have been using stays free, the way the rest of the site promises. If a paid layer ever ships, it would only add things on top, never gate the basics:
- Heavier analytics and longer history retention
- Priority on bug reports
- A bit of cosmetic flair, a supporter badge or a guild crest on the planner
- One supporter covering all the guilds they run
Skip it and nothing you rely on moves. There is no tier you are missing out on today, no countdown, no upgrade button waiting to spring. We are not there yet, and you will know well before anything changes.
One raider, one guild, one bot.
The most honest thing on the site. It is the credibility Hootus spends when he asks for support.
I’m Simen. I play HexusPlexus, a Warlock in The Night Owls on Thunderstrike, and Sykepleier, a level 90 Shaman in Muppets Inc on Mirage Raceway.
I built Hootus because creating a raid in Raid-Helper meant clicking through menus while the guild sat waiting. I wanted to type one command and have the night posted, the signups checked against class and spec, and the right people pinged.
It started in The Night Owls, where I raid with friends, not as the raid leader. I listened to what ours kept griping about and built it custom for them. When I rolled into Mists I made it multi-flavour and folded in every annoyance I had with other bots. My Mists guild leans more social than hardcore, so they wanted Hootus to cover more than raid night, and that is how he grew past it.
No team, no roadmap deck, no investor update. One person, a couple of guilds, one bot.
Use it, and tell another guild.
There is no link to click yet, so the best way to back the bot is to run it on your own raid night and point the next raid lead at it. Add HootusPlootus, walk the wizard, push the raid button.