Author Topic: Reliable web hosting  (Read 9727 times)

Rangifer

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Reliable web hosting
« on: October 05, 2012, 12:52:08 AM »
Hi all,

I'm looking to see if anyone has suggestions for a webhost. The most important things I need are good performance and server uptime. I've tried a shared hosting provider before, but that experience is best described as traumatic. Right now I'm paying $50 a month for a VPS, which hauls ass and doesn't go down, but is overkill for what I'm doing. I just can't find a good compromise between a VPS like the one I've got and the $2.99 unlimited special that goes down on a regular basis.

I know MMM is using bluehost and has a lot of traffic with seemingly no problems, but I'd like to see any other suggestions.

mustachecat

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Re: Reliable web hosting
« Reply #1 on: October 05, 2012, 06:32:15 AM »
How much bandwidth do you use/need?

AmbystomaOpacum

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Re: Reliable web hosting
« Reply #2 on: October 05, 2012, 07:39:21 AM »
There are cheaper VPS options:

http://www.linode.com/

This assumes a lot of server knowledge, but Linode is rock solid and starts at $20/month.

Just promise you will never use GoDaddy. For anything. Ever.

Rangifer

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Re: Reliable web hosting
« Reply #3 on: October 05, 2012, 01:38:56 PM »
As far as bandwidth goes, I wouldn't need more than 100GB/month.

I've looked into Linode but don't think I can confidently run an unmanaged server. I'm currently with WiredTree which is great, but just way more than I need.

As far as godaddy, they are on my list of companies I don't do business with regardless of the offer.


Something important to note is that I do get some income from my websites. That is why I really value hosting with impeccable uptime. My last (shared) host went down multiple times a week. They even disabled my hosting without notice due to someone hijacking my email to send out tons of spam. That part was the last straw, especially since they shut it down a week after the compromise happened (and had already been fixed for 5 days).
« Last Edit: October 05, 2012, 01:46:06 PM by Rangifer »

Paul der Krake

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Re: Reliable web hosting
« Reply #4 on: October 05, 2012, 01:59:22 PM »
Hosting in the US is ridiculously expensive. I have used Hetzner (they're in Germany) in the past and would highly recommend them, but it might not be the best choice if you have a high-traffic site and the majority of your visitors are in North America.

PS. Take a Sunday morning and learn to Unix like a boss. Consider it a life skill, like riding a bicycle.

mustachecat

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Re: Reliable web hosting
« Reply #5 on: October 05, 2012, 02:21:37 PM »
I've had really terrific experiences with A Small Orange, although on a shared plan. A quick Google search seems to bring up lots of happy customers on VPS. Regardless of plan, their customer service is excellent.

They offer a cloud VPS plan with 8GB of space and 100GB of bandwidth for $25/month, plus 2 months free if you sign up for an annual payment plan.

Daley

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Re: Reliable web hosting
« Reply #6 on: October 05, 2012, 02:33:52 PM »
I've had really terrific experiences with A Small Orange, although on a shared plan. A quick Google search seems to bring up lots of happy customers on VPS. Regardless of plan, their customer service is excellent.

They offer a cloud VPS plan with 8GB of space and 100GB of bandwidth for $25/month, plus 2 months free if you sign up for an annual payment plan.

Second on ASO. I've used them for years with customers, and are an excellent host if you're needing Cpanel-style hand-holding.

Rangifer

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Re: Reliable web hosting
« Reply #7 on: October 05, 2012, 05:07:10 PM »
Paul: Yea, non-US hosts are definitely not an option due to the fact google takes into consideration load times as part of ranking sites. I would like to learn unix, but at this point I think it is more important for me to work on building the site than working on the server.

mustachecat: It looks like cPanel is only available on the $40 and up VPS plans. At the same time, i'm not necessarily looking for only VPS providers. If their shared hosting is good I don't have problem going with it. I've just had a bad experience with a shared plan so i'm pretty skeptical since just about every host claims that they are the best.

I.P. Daley: What plan were those customers on?

Daley

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Re: Reliable web hosting
« Reply #8 on: October 07, 2012, 10:08:06 AM »
I.P. Daley: What plan were those customers on?

They were all smaller businesses using the shared webhosting plans, and this was also back before Tim Dorr sold the outfit to Brent Oxley of Hostgator back in 2010. I don't have much personal experience with them since the buyout, but haven't found any real grumblings that have cropped up since so I've felt comfortable continuing to recommend them. I will say this about ASO, they used to place you server-wise with their shared plans based on the initial shared hosting plan you choose. The bigger the shared hosting package, the less populated the server they seemed to park you on. As you can expect, the tiny package can have some resource sharing problems with other server hogs and sloppy code. That said, I don't know if that's still their practice and they're still one of the cheapest small-package hosts on the market. I just noticed they've also recently added dedicated business hosting plans, and they might be worth looking into as although they're shared hosting, it's shared hosting on a scaling VPS infrastructure with cPanel. Might be a good middle-ground between the two extremes you're facing if you go with them given their $20 package fits your bandwidth needs.

I'll also mention Gandi.net... they have a few shortcoming with their hosting features, but they're excellent for the price if you don't need any hand-holding. Granted, once it comes time to stay or go with my current project next July given the new VPS packages at ASO and depending on the traffic, I may find myself migrating back to them from Gandi. It's always good to be able to know what you're doing with bare iron, but I also do miss the convenience of certain click-n-drool administration activities (it's a love-hate relationship between me and cPanel). If you know what you're doing, either can be easily screwed up and left vulnerable or made plenty secure. If you're needing this level of hosting service, though, take the time to learn your craft... because people who just rely on cPanel to do everything eventually wind up with compromised CMS installs, and you're doing traffic at a level that makes you a valuable target.
« Last Edit: October 07, 2012, 10:10:36 AM by I.P. Daley »

freelancerNfulltimer

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Re: Reliable web hosting
« Reply #9 on: October 07, 2012, 12:40:22 PM »
I really prefer Dreamhost's control panel to CPanel. I hate CPanel.

Lately (last year and half) Dreamhost has had some issues but it seems like they're working on getting their act together. They are very inexpensive.

jbhernandez

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Re: Reliable web hosting
« Reply #10 on: October 07, 2012, 02:17:50 PM »
I really prefer Dreamhost's control panel to CPanel. I hate CPanel.

Lately (last year and half) Dreamhost has had some issues but it seems like they're working on getting their act together. They are very inexpensive.

They're cheaper because they don't have to pay cpanel licensing fees. I had them and was not thrilled with them.

I have 2 shared hosting accounts with hostgator and a VPS with another host.

focusaurus

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Re: Reliable web hosting
« Reply #11 on: October 08, 2012, 08:16:51 PM »
There are cheaper VPS options:

http://www.linode.com/

This assumes a lot of server knowledge, but Linode is rock solid and starts at $20/month.

Just promise you will never use GoDaddy. For anything. Ever.

Try http://digitalocean.com for much lower prices than linode. I used linode happily for several years, but now digital ocean gives me a better VPS at $10/month versus $25/month at linode. Spent a portion of the weekend migrating my sites. Note, if you just need a web host or just web + wordpress, I believe there are very very cheap options. This is a full VPS though with root access, unlimited web sites, unlimited bandwidth, etc.

kittrad

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Re: Reliable web hosting
« Reply #12 on: January 10, 2015, 09:56:53 AM »
How about for this year please. Does anyone have a top 3 list on the most affordable hosting providers that have an "okay" support?

webguy

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Re: Reliable web hosting
« Reply #13 on: January 10, 2015, 01:15:16 PM »
Hey Rangifer,

I was in your situation a few months back and found an amazing host who I've been blown away with and would heartily recommend. I run an online business and my website is my livelihood and so reliability, speed, a customizable hosting solution and excellent customer service is very important. I had my sites on GoDaddy for about 18 months but had so many problems with resource limits and many other things. I moved to AcceleratedWP (https://www.acceleratedwp.com/) and it's the best business decision I've made for a while. Their hosting is incredibly fast and I haven't had any down time in the 3 months or so I've been with them, they custom tailored a hosting solution just for me, their support is very quick and personal and they go above and beyond. Plus their plans range from just $19 - $49 per month. I'd definitely recommend contacting them for more info. They're a small company right now (currently just 2 guys) but they really know their stuff. I'm not affiliated with the company in anyway, just a really happy customer!

Moonwaves

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Re: Reliable web hosting
« Reply #14 on: September 21, 2015, 08:25:15 AM »
I want to register a domain name and set up a basic website for my new business (translation). Won't be anything fancy, really not much more (at first anyway) than contact details and a short bio and description of services. If I google it, a lot of the marketing efforts of the companies around seems to be of the "we're the cheapest" variety, which doesn't necessarily mean the best value. At some stage it occurred to me that MMM people are likely to be able to give good advice on this and lo and behold, there's already a thread. One thing that I'm particularly wondering about though is that quite a few services seem to specify that you only get to keep the domain name you choose if you stay with them as hosts. And since I'm planning on just using my name (it is available), I really don't want to have to leave it behind if I decide to move to a different provider. Am I misreading things? Is it better perhaps to register the domain and only then go looking for a host? Would really appreciate any advice (including links to other threads if this has been covered elsewhere).

Thanks.

protostache

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Re: Reliable web hosting
« Reply #15 on: September 21, 2015, 08:29:58 AM »
I want to register a domain name and set up a basic website for my new business (translation). Won't be anything fancy, really not much more (at first anyway) than contact details and a short bio and description of services. If I google it, a lot of the marketing efforts of the companies around seems to be of the "we're the cheapest" variety, which doesn't necessarily mean the best value. At some stage it occurred to me that MMM people are likely to be able to give good advice on this and lo and behold, there's already a thread. One thing that I'm particularly wondering about though is that quite a few services seem to specify that you only get to keep the domain name you choose if you stay with them as hosts. And since I'm planning on just using my name (it is available), I really don't want to have to leave it behind if I decide to move to a different provider. Am I misreading things? Is it better perhaps to register the domain and only then go looking for a host? Would really appreciate any advice (including links to other threads if this has been covered elsewhere).

Thanks.

Never ever ever register a domain name with a webhost. They will screw you when you need to leave them. I buy domains through Namecheap, but that's just personal preference. They're price competitive with most other registrars out there.

For basic hosting, GitHub Pages is great (and free) if you're ok with the command line. Others can probably chip in if you're looking for something more clickable.

tonyevans

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Re: Reliable web hosting
« Reply #16 on: September 21, 2015, 08:31:28 AM »
I've used webfaction for years. When I need hosting, I go to them, and don't even look anywhere else. With them, you get pretty close to having the full control as you do with a VPS, but without the price. Their support is top notch as well.

https://www.webfaction.com/
« Last Edit: September 21, 2015, 08:36:55 AM by tonyevans »

Moonwaves

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Re: Reliable web hosting
« Reply #17 on: September 21, 2015, 09:18:15 AM »
Never ever ever register a domain name with a webhost. They will screw you when you need to leave them. I buy domains through Namecheap, but that's just personal preference. They're price competitive with most other registrars out there.
Thanks. Nice to hear I may not be completely mad/paranoid. :)

For basic hosting, GitHub Pages is great (and free) if you're ok with the command line. Others can probably chip in if you're looking for something more clickable.
I have no idea what any of that means so I'm going to assume I'm not okay with the command line and am looking for something more clickable. Actually, I have a friend lined up to do me a proper website but not until the business has made enough profit to be able to pay him. So for now, will be muddling through with something extremely basic. He'll help me just get something set up for in-the-meantime and I have a couple of other friends who have offered their expertise. Just need to find a few hours/days to get it done. But registering the name, and at least getting email set-up is important since I really need to order business cards and don't want to have to use my decades old yahoo address on them.

kudy

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Re: Reliable web hosting
« Reply #18 on: September 21, 2015, 09:37:57 AM »
I have a VPS with KnownHost - they are a bit cheaper than WiredTree, and have been stable for me. I found a coupon when I signed up that gave me 15% off for life as well.

Syonyk

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Re: Reliable web hosting
« Reply #19 on: September 21, 2015, 09:51:14 AM »
PS. Take a Sunday morning and learn to Unix like a boss. Consider it a life skill, like riding a bicycle.

It takes radically more than "a Sunday morning" to learn to use Unix "like a boss."

========

Have you considered EC2 or GCE for your hosting?  You get a full on Linux VM and can configure it however you want, scale it as you need, etc, and you're the only person on it.  But, you do need to know how to configure and secure it properly.

Moonwaves

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Re: Reliable web hosting
« Reply #20 on: September 24, 2015, 04:32:01 AM »
Sorry to be bugging you all again with this. Just wondering if those who have had issues with godaddy mean that with regard to hosting services or domain registration as well. There is a huge difference in price between registering a domain with godaddy (about €3 per year) and namecheap (about €9 per year), for example. Don't want to just go for the cheapest no matter what but the wide variety of prices is making it difficult for me to figure this out.

ditheca

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Re: Reliable web hosting
« Reply #21 on: September 24, 2015, 07:36:55 AM »
Go for the best of both worlds?  Register your domain with godaddy for the cheap first year(s), and then transfer it to Namecheap when during one of their 'half off' sales for domain transfers.  You keep all the years you paid for through godaddy.

I self-host my own web applications.  IIS and SQL Server Express running on a Surface 1 tablet in my house.  Wouldn't work well if my bandwidth requirements increase, but for the minimal traffic my sites have, it saves me a lot of money in hosting fees.

For more professional hosting, I've had good luck in the past with https://www.lfchosting.com which is based in Canada.

Daley

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Re: Reliable web hosting
« Reply #22 on: September 24, 2015, 07:49:59 AM »
There is a huge difference in price between registering a domain with godaddy (about €3 per year) and namecheap (about €9 per year), for example.

That's only intro pricing. Long term, GoDaddy is considerably more expensive than Namecheap, Gandi.net, etc., for registration, especially if you're wanting to use any privacy registration. Add to that their terrible customer support, terrible infrastructure, and the horror stories including domain theft and poaching just for starters...

There's an entire book of reasons why nearly no professional worth his salt will actually use these people under any condition. Beyond just the outright domain theft and poaching, as well as the terrible customer support and bait-n-switch intro pricing with the minefield of difficult to opt out of up-selling during checkout, there's also the terrible user interface and a history of supporting online censorship legislation with SOPA and PIPA. I haven't even touched on the controversies unrelated to the technical and general business practices yet, either.

I've had to transfer domains out of that place to other registrars, and it's not pleasant.

Just don't.

Moonwaves

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Re: Reliable web hosting
« Reply #23 on: September 24, 2015, 08:43:10 AM »
You had me at...
... and a history of supporting online censorship legislation with SOPA and PIPA.
Thanks for the reply.

@ditheca: I don't think I'd be up to self-hosting. I'm your typical, want to be able to type and it all works kind of user and hate the tinkering around part of things. I'll learn how to do as much as necessary but it really isn't something I get a kick out of. I'll check out lfc as well.

On a side-note, is it just me or are many, many web-hosting and registration websites really, really terrible? Quite a few seem to be of the never-use-me-this-is-a-totally-dodgy-business school of design. While I understand hosting is not the same as designing surely it's not wrong to expect any company operating in internet services to be able to run a decent site?

Daley

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Re: Reliable web hosting
« Reply #24 on: September 24, 2015, 12:02:15 PM »
While I understand hosting is not the same as designing surely it's not wrong to expect any company operating in internet services to be able to run a decent site?

EIG as a parent company is the common factor. Some of the smaller hosting companies/rackspace providers and registrars out there used to be darn good before the silent buyout. A lot of the large gorillas bought out were just terrible in general and only got worse after the buyout. This is one of the reasons why I warn people off of Bluehost. Hedge fund investors care about wringing every last penny of profit out of a brand instead of actually providing quality service, and that bean-counter mindset shows in the service of their acquisitions.

I'd personally held hope that after finding out that A Small Orange was borged into the EIG collective back in '13 it somehow would have faired different. When I went back they'd already been six months in, all the support was still Stateside and there were still a few familiar names that I remembered from the late aughts when I was there last during the Tim Dorr days. To ASO's credit, the rate of entropy has been significantly slower than most other EIG buyouts, but two years in after returning to them, I'm now looking to leave due to non-existent billing support.

Have a solid and reputable overview of good hosting providers from over at Digital FAQ. It's sort of the analog to my communications guide for web hosting. For registrar services, I'm personally a Gandi guy anymore, but Namecheap is decent as well.
« Last Edit: September 24, 2015, 12:07:24 PM by I.P. Daley »

 

Wow, a phone plan for fifteen bucks!