Other options than GoDaddy or DreamHost?

April 6, 2010 9:56 AM

Help me find a new (cheap) hosting service!

Currently I have four domains and two hosting services.

GoDaddy
Domain 1 (renews in July)
Domain 2 (expires in April. unsure if I will renew it)
Shared Economy Hosting - Linux ($4.95/month)

DreamHost
Domain 3 (renews in October)
Domain 4 (expires in April. Not renewing)
Shared Happy Hosting (special $9.95/year expires in april)

Between all domains, i'm not using very much at all.. they could all easily fit under the cheap GoDaddy hosting. I like DreamHost's 'unlimited' package but it switches to $10/month after the end of this month.. this is more then I want to pay for something I barely use.

What I dislike is GoDaddy will not notify me if I go over my storage/bandwidth.. they will just start automatically charging me overage fees. I feel this is dishonest and one of the reasons i moved to DreamHost and it's unlimitedness.

Do you know of any 'unlimited' webhosting services under $10 per month? Or cheap hosting with better business practices then GoDaddy? Do you have any other suggestions?

We're talking less then 1gb of storage and bandwidth per month.

posted by royalsong to computers & internet (23 answers total)

I use GKG.net. Their base package is about $40 a year. You could get one main account and then use the virtual domain feature of Cpanel to host the other domains on the same account.
posted by COD at 10:08 AM on April 6, 2010

I use IX Webhosting, the cheapy 'expert' plan has unlimited storage and bandwidth and is less than $5 per month.
posted by Confess, Fletch at 10:11 AM on April 6, 2010

I've used LaughingSquid in the past, and they are both cheap and great.
posted by Threeway Handshake at 10:15 AM on April 6, 2010

nearlyfreespeech.net is cheap, no frills, and their FAQs are pretty awesome in guiding you through transferring your domains from GoDaddy. As I said, it is no frills, and has none of the excess that GoDaddy has. It can be as much or as little as you want it to be. Cheers.
posted by lonemantis at 10:16 AM on April 6, 2010

NearlyFreeSpeech.Net is cheap (pay as you go) and good, but they don't do a lot of hand holding. If you are comfortable with that give them a shot, I've been using them for 6 years now and everything just works.
posted by ChrisHartley at 10:16 AM on April 6, 2010 [1 favorite]

How "barely" are these sites used?

If your usage is truly infrequent, NearlyFreeSpeech.Net offers an awesome pay-as-you-go plan that costs next to nothing if your needs are modest and don't require a lot of storage.

Although NFS.net's storage prices are on the high side, you could always put any large images/videos onto Amazon S3, which also costs next-to-nothing for the usage you're talking about.
posted by schmod at 10:30 AM on April 6, 2010

Oh. Hi to all you guys up there.
posted by schmod at 10:30 AM on April 6, 2010

1and1.com is cheap (as low as $4 a month) and they have high bandwidth caps and access to SQL databases and other good stuff.

I also use www.powweb.com which has been steadily improving over the last several years. Both hosts have had incredible uptime.
posted by anotherfluke at 10:37 AM on April 6, 2010

Bluehost.com is pretty good. PHP, Python, SSL, etc., etc. for only $7 a month.

You can FTP, SSH, or just use the CPanel to edit your site.

Highly recommended.
posted by 47triple2 at 10:38 AM on April 6, 2010

Oh, and Blueshost is unlimited bandwidth, storage, etc.
posted by 47triple2 at 10:39 AM on April 6, 2010

Just signed up for a bluehost account, and it's worth it just for dealing with their fantastic support staff. If you google for, t.x. bluehost rebate or similar you can find links that will let you get the hosting for 3.95 per month if you sign up for three years. I did.
Plenty of frills, low cost and helpful, available, and very human supportstaff on livechat.
posted by Iteki at 10:54 AM on April 6, 2010

I also use Bluehost and have always been happy with the service.
posted by PlutoniumX at 11:08 AM on April 6, 2010

I use ASmallOrange. Never had a problem. Their customer service is first-rate. Prices are very reasonable.
posted by Thorzdad at 11:26 AM on April 6, 2010

There are plenty of decent (certainly better than Godaddy!) hosting providers from under $10/month.

I currently work for a web host which is mentioned in this thread. I do not host my personal website with my employer for multiple reasons but I can tell you that any of our brands are better than Godaddy. The only host listed in this thread (so far) that I would not be confident with is 1and 1.

I have been using BlueHost for coming up on three years now and have had a good experience. Prior to that I used DreamHost and I left them after a series of issues that drove me batty. I think I left just before they "D'oh" rebilled their entire customer base.
posted by FlamingBore at 12:07 PM on April 6, 2010

I've heard good things about HostGator, and I've been in the same place you are. (I dropped my old web hosting with pair.com because I really wasn't using it for much, and when I got my iPhone I got a me.com account and then started doing webstuff there with iWeb and, well, suffice to say I'm pondering something else nowadays.)

I hope you find something good.
posted by mephron at 12:17 PM on April 6, 2010

We just switched our half dozen sites from Network solutions to bluehost. Network solutions offers great first year rates but has a lot of hidden pile-on fees and the renewal rates are not attractive. We're very happy with Bluehost- our costs have been cut dramatically and service seems great so far.
posted by arnicae at 12:48 PM on April 6, 2010

i also use bluehost and have found it more reliable and easier to use than other services i've used before (which include the aforementioned 1and1 and ixwebhosting)
posted by raw sugar at 2:15 PM on April 6, 2010

Nice to hear that other people's bluehost experiences have been great. I use them for two sites and I have never had a problem.
posted by NoiselessPenguin at 2:29 PM on April 6, 2010

I like and use 1and1.com for lots of sites, so consider this a +1 for them.
posted by deezil at 4:30 PM on April 6, 2010

I've worked with many, many different hosts. I've seen some alarming recommendations above, so here are my thoughts:

1&1: Seem to make it really, really difficult to cancel your account. Also are sort of a hosting megacorp.

Powweb: I was, until recently, a customer since about 2001. They were bought out by an umbrella corp and aren't doing that great compared to others. Their support staff try to be helpful, but are actually fairly incompetent compared to other hosts. Also, Powweb are plagued by slowness and are missing features (shell access, own-domain SSL certs being big ones) compared to other hosts.

Host Gator: I've heard good things about them too. I also heard that their control panel sucks...

Bluehost: Have friends who love them, though the company is getting really popular, and I've heard that their performance is suffering as a result.

One I would recommend that hasn't been mentioned:

Site5: Very good support, are expanding features and seem to rock. I'm using them for my cheapo-host right now.
posted by circular at 4:57 PM on April 6, 2010

If you put in a billing ticket at DreamHost asking for a callback and tell them you want to cancel unless you can move to the cheapest plan they've got right now, they'll usually do it. I've done it a few times.
posted by cdmwebs at 9:48 PM on April 6, 2010

I have heard a lot of negative feedback about GoDaddy, but I have never used the myself. You don't need to look for unlimited bandwidth or space, because 1. you don't need unlimited space/bandwidth, 2. unlimited space/bandwidth does not exist - that is marketing language, you should read the fine print. As circular said, I also heard that HostGator and BlueHost are good.
posted by Linert at 6:05 AM on May 25, 2010

Went with bluehost. Thanks all!
posted by royalsong at 12:08 PM on February 25, 2011