What's the best web hosting platform?
We've been using Webfaction and have had several problems recently. We are thinking of moving to Amazon Web Services (AWS) and curious what experience others have had with them or with another platform. Thanks.
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Mar 29, 2019
Like most questions on here, it depends! In this case, depends on your tech stack and the size of your app and use case.
If you have a small blog, there's no reason to move beyond wordpress and shared hosting on bluehost or hostgator.
wpengine is my favorite host for growing wordpress websites, as $35/mo gets you up to 25k visits/mo.
If you have a static non-wordpress website, then a cheap VPS server on bluehost or a small digitalocean droplet should suffice.
Lastly, if you have a more complex, dynamic web app or backend API, then a cloud-based host that automatically scales up like google app engine or AWS like you mentioned would start to make sense.
Aug 17, 2012
Hi Mary, I see, that's why there are some error occur when I post on this site. I recommend http://www.bluehost.com for web hosting this works fine for us and I'm using their services for more than 2 years now. You can search them regarding their performance. Thanks! BTW. just hit me an email when you are ready regarding your video project! Many Thanks!
Aug 17, 2012
Unless you really need a cloud, there isn't a need to move away from traditional hosting. AWS however is a great platform. Checkout Openshift from redhat too!
Aug 17, 2012
I've used GoDaddy hosting for several years and have generally been satisfied with their shared and dedicated server plans. Before that I used Peer1 for a number of dedicated boxes, and they're very good too.
Aug 17, 2012
For very early-stage companies, there's no reason to over-optimize or over-reach your hosting needs. Most of the large shared companies will do just fine for your MVP and beyond. AWS is great for scale, but that's only significant when you're REALLY far along the scale curve.
The Endurance properties (BlueHost, Bizland, PowWeb) are all on the same platform - it's called "massively-shared" ... one step short of cloud - and works just fine. For people doing framework projects (like Symfony or Django) I'd suggest going with a company that specializes in that framework (it makes support calls go much easier when you don't have to explain what you're doing). Once your company gets rolling there will be time to move to a more robust platform, but the marginal cost of doing so is just not worth it at the beginning.
Aug 18, 2012
Thanks Michael. Great advice. We had a call with AWS yesterday and we are going to use their email service, but wait on the hosting.
Aug 21, 2012
It might be worth a moment to check out https://www.profitbricks.com/us/en/ and see if their offerings would align with your need.
Aug 21, 2012
As far as I know Rackspace (http://www.rackspace.com/) provide better and cheaper cloud services compared to AWS. You can consider also KickAss VPS http://www.kickassvps.com/ or other smaller clouds.
Aug 21, 2012
I've heard a lot of great things about Rackspace. Will check them out too. Thanks.
Aug 21, 2012
By the way, a friend of mine was considering using a crowdfunding platform to expand his private cloud. The deal was meant to be - lifelong instance for one time funding, instead of paying per hour/minute as by AWS, Rackspace, etc. What do you think - does this sound reasonable for people like you, looking for cloud hosting?
Aug 21, 2012
Hi MAB! I love HostGator for my small business website. They have awesome customer service and are cheap. Great combination. Justin
Aug 21, 2012
Just for the record, HostGator and BlueHost are both Endurance properties. ;-)
Aug 21, 2012
I personally like HostGator. They have great customer service and you pay one price and can host unlimited sites.
Aug 27, 2012
I second HostGator. Unlimited web domains from one account; great service. (If you're streaming video, that changes what you'll need, tho).
Aug 21, 2012
Good Afternoon Mary,
I was introduced by a colleague that reads the MosaicHub that reads the post/articles daily. I saw your recent post and perhaps you've already made the jump to AWS or Rackspace, but my company Profitbricks has some unique technology that would certainly help MosaicHub out and is half of the cost of Amazon and Rackspace. I can tell you that we focus on Vertical Scaling, Network Flexibility, and Security in the Cloud. We have a unique Virtual Data Center where you can literally drag and drop servers, add firewalls, etc and have your page running in 10 minutes. I would love to speak to you a bit more as I would love for you or your IT team to TEST us out.
Aug 21, 2012
Thanks for the message Corey. Sounds very simple. I'll talk to our developer and will then reach back out and maybe we can set up a call (always better to have him involved in the more detailed discussions).
Aug 21, 2012
Yes, that would be great. My email is Corey.Brown@Profitbricks.com and my phone# is 617-800-6781 if you need to reach me. I look forward to setting up a call or meeting soon.
Dec 17, 2018
Web hosting is hosting your website, blog or any other article that are useful for others to insert into the internet. So shared hosting is helpful for faster-hosting services. Shared hosting is a cheap and a very simple method. For hosting everyone is using this method. Shared web hosting is providing a very good platform for hosting websites to the internet. This is done by with the help of a single server.
Mar 29, 2019
Hello Mary, we are a company with 400+ in house IT professionals and a portfolio of 5,000+ projects. We have been using AWS without any issue from the past 6 years now.
Hope this will help you :)
Oct 1, 2019
Deciding among lots of cloud service providers is a serious business choice. Here a detailed analysis of the top three cloud platforms: Google, Azure, and AWS with a comparison chart and additional insights for building a strong case for cloud migration: http://bit.ly/2nfGzJ
Nov 19, 2020
I have used many web hosting platforms in my professional career but found only some best providers. I would like to mention one of them here which I am currently using ARZHost.com. They are best in the market with highly professional team of experts.
Aug 20, 2012
Hi Mary-Alice. It really depends on your website needs. Tell me what you need and I would he happy to make a recommendation for you!
Aug 21, 2012
My biggest concern is reliability, which I am sure many people say. While cost is always a factor, it's secondary. Webfaction migrated us to another server that caused us to go down for several hours over a few days and then moved us again to remedy it. They had no phone support, which was very frustrating. We also keep surpassing memory. Long term, I would say being to easily scale, having reliable service and having someone to talk to when things aren't going well (at least in an emergency).
Oct 9, 2013
Mary-Alice, I apologize for not signing in for so long and getting back to you. If you are still looking for a reliable solution, give me a call at (714) 922-4349 and I would be happy to discuss this further with you.
Aug 21, 2012
Wow, so many great responses to this question. Thanks for sharing all of these great resources.
Aug 23, 2012
For Windows hosting I can recommend aspwebhosting.com. Their website is a little underwhelming but the reliability and stability of their service is outstanding.
Aug 29, 2012
There is no absolute "best" hosting platform. It all depends on the requirements for your application. Some questions to consider:
- What stack are you using for your application? Are you LAMP, Rails, Django, Play Framework, PHP, Asp.net? Different hosting platforms have different support.
- How much control do you want to have over all the infrastructure? Platforms like AWS, Rackspace or Voxel gives you complete control, whereas Heroku controls everything for you. Other platforms span the range of control.
- How easy should it be? If I drop you at a linux prompt, can you install nginx on fedora without a problem, or would you prefer a directory where you can FTP php and have it "just work".
- Enterprise support? Do you want to have someone to email or call when things break (and they will)?
- Load and demand. Are you in need of massive scaling now or in the near future, or can your website or web application be happy in a shared hosting environment?
I personally use Heroku or AWS depending on the application requirements, and I don't have many complaints. Your experience will vary. If you share some of your requirements, you'll get a better answer.
Sep 26, 2012
We recently moved to HubSpot. I definitely recommend you check them out.
They are really a marketing company that really provides fantastic education along with the best customer support I have ever experienced.
Mar 8, 2013
Does Hubspot provide hosting services too? I thought they were only inbound marketing support.
Oct 27, 2012
We've been very happy with Hostmonster.com
for higher end solutions, FireHost is also a good solution.
Thanks Dennis. I will check them out. Appreciate the information.