Unstandardized Design

I get asked about hosting all of the time, and the simple answer is this: most websites can run fine on a shared host, and shared hosting is CHEAP!

So, who is the best shared host?  Short answer: I don’t know!  But I’ve got some experience to draw from.

This blog post was inspired by an email I got from a friend of mine, here it is:

So I’ve tried working with the following hosting companies with clients over the past month:

• DreamHost - No phone support
• MediaTemple - No Clean URLs, no phone support
• Network Solutions - Great phone support so far, no Clean URLs, 1-click install can’t be done into the root so has to be done manually, which is fine, but a little more time consuming.
• DotEasy - Had problems with memory limits, register_globals, only support PHP 5.1.6, site doesn’t display some pages, manual install, all kinds of nightmares.

Somehow Godaddy, with their 1-click install, 24-hour phone support, and Clean URLs has been the easiest to work with.    

• Do you know of any reasons NOT to work exclusively with Godaddy?
• Do you recommend any Godaddy hosting plans/features that would make the site perform optimally (i.e. fast)?
• Did you sign up for the Godaddy Affiliate Program?  You make about $65 or so each time someone signs up for the economy hosting under your code, which is nice.

Thanks for the summary on all those hosts.  Usually I just send people go GoDaddy
if they have low-traffic sites.  The shared accounts there are decently fast.  I just signed up for their affiliate program, which is good because I sent people there all the time.

The thing about GoDaddy that I don’t like (at least when it comes to Drupal) is that their database server is not on the same machine as the web server.  It makes the hundreds of database calls that Drupal makes a tiny bit slower, but it adds up and its noticeable.

Anyway, I have two preferred hosts: Bluehost and WebFaction.  Both are in the $8-9 a month range, which is double the godaddy economy linux package, so thats the downside.  The plus side is that both are decently fast for that price (www.jewelerswarehouseusa.com is on bluehost, and its Drupal, its heavy, and its not too slow), you can host unlimited domains, and the database servers are localhosts (which really helps with Drupal on shared host setups).

WebFaction is what I use for my personal account - and its fast.  It’s shared hosting for developers.  The setup is a little weird (you setup a domain then an application (like Drupal or just a static site) then a website), but once you get used to it, you can get a new Drupal site up (or wordpress or anything else for that matter) in a few minutes.  Its by far the fastest shared host I’ve ever seen or used.

I’ve never called tech support for either WebFaction or Bluehost… so I can’t say if they are any good.