What is the best cheap web host?

September 9, 2008 2:12 PM

Are there any dirt-cheap web hosts that stand out from the flock and offer multiple domains on one account?

I'm looking for an inexpensive (no more than $5/month) web host to run my personal photography site, and more sites in the future. The main thing I'd like is the ability to host multiple domains that aren't subdomains, like foo.com and bar.com rather than bar.foo.com. Massive storage isn't an issue, but high bandwidth would be nice if the sites somehow get popular. I run simple php; SQL databases would be nice but not required. I'm a poor student, so cheaper=better.

posted by scose to computers & internet (10 comments total)

dreamhost
posted by judge.mentok.the.mindtaker at 2:17 PM on September 9, 2008 [1 favorite]

Definitely dreamhost. Google around for coupon codes, there's usually a ton out there.
posted by cgg at 2:33 PM on September 9, 2008

TRU Networks
posted by armoured-ant at 2:33 PM on September 9, 2008

Webfaction. Cheap, good, topnotch support.
posted by signal at 2:46 PM on September 9, 2008

I use dreamhost, and while I have heard some people complain about them, I've never had an issue. For hosting just photos and stuff, it is a sweet deal. It runs ~$10 a month but you get a domain registered for free while you're paying, so that's like one month free right there.

They have SQL and php setup good.

I've also heard decent things about bluehost, but I don't have personal experience with them.
posted by jamuraa at 2:50 PM on September 9, 2008 [1 favorite]

NearlyFreeSpeech.net. They have been pleasant to work with. They're basically prepaid, so you can't get surprised by a huge bill. One billing account can support multiple domains.

Checking their info: $5 is 500 meg of storage a month, or close to 10 gig of bandwidth - they've set bandwidth to continuously get cheaper. MySQL is an extra penny a day.
posted by Pronoiac at 3:02 PM on September 9, 2008 [2 favorites]

NearlyFreeSpeech looks great; I can just pay a little and switch to something else if I get big bandwidth use. Thanks! My site is now online at www.jamespreiss.com !
posted by scose at 3:48 PM on September 9, 2008

I bought some hosting on ebay a couple years ago, nobody bid on the auction, and I got a years hosting for $10. I'm sure that it can't handle gigabytes of traffic, but I have served as much as several hundred MB a day without any issue. I currently have 7 domains hosted on one account. I've got every service too...from mysql to cpanel, crons, majordomo's and etc. It's fairly fast, too. I use the hell out of the SQL.

Every time I send him an email (for example, to turn OFF register_globals), I have a response back within the hour, and the issue is fixt.

Apparently the price I paid is everyday, too, because I just renewed it about a month ago.

If you're looking to host a blog or a photo gallery or something that isn't going to get DESTROYED, you should be ok.

Last year once I got "lifehacker'ed" and the site survived. :) His site is ugly but he runs a decent service: MyNyContact

Ooh...new rates ($24 a year) and website! Fancy!
posted by TomMelee at 3:53 PM on September 9, 2008

Dreamhost. Definitely. I've been with them for a few years after bouncing my site from host to host. What I particularly like about them is their active user forums and their documentation pages. I have my sites set up to archive to zip files and download automatically to my Mac overnight while I sleep. I'd have never figured that sort of thing out without info like this.

A tip: dreamhost can host tons of domains under one account - and you get a free one (which really means they pay for it so long as you host with them). So, if, like me, you've already paid for your domain name years in advance, you can use the free domain for a fun project.

Also - if people follow the link above, I get credit at dreamhost.... which means if YOU sign up, people who host with them by following your link give you credit. It's an awesome deal however that's just a perk. It's not why I host with them.

I use them as my webhost because I've been through too many others and had too many problems. Rackshack! EV1! ciHost! BAH!!!!! I could name so many others. DH isn't perfect, but I've been with them for years and am honestly very happy with the service I get considering that it costs me under $10 a month.
posted by 2oh1 at 3:59 PM on September 9, 2008

[removed referral code, don't do that here, thanks.]
posted by jessamyn at 6:11 PM on September 9, 2008