Comments on: Good web host for Ruby on Rails?

Question: Good web host for Ruby on Rails?

shinji_ikari — Fri, 09 Sep 2005 20:12:22 -0800

Can anyone recommend a good inexpensive web hosting company that would have Ruby on Rails installed or would be easy to install on (already has the latest version of Ruby and probably Gems)?

I'm aware of TextDrive already, which I would assume would have Rails installed since they're recommended on the Ruby on Rails site. I just wanted to see if anyone knew of any hosts they would recommend over them.

By: odinsdream

odinsdream — Fri, 09 Sep 2005 20:16:47 -0800

Just curious, what is textdrive lacking that you'd like to see?

By: dorian

dorian — Fri, 09 Sep 2005 20:30:17 -0800

have been happy with dreamhost, and they started supporting ruby on rails a month or two ago.

By: onalark

onalark — Fri, 09 Sep 2005 20:31:18 -0800

I've done the deep discount web host and had a bad experience, my recommendation is to go with TextDrive

By: odinsdream

odinsdream — Fri, 09 Sep 2005 20:38:34 -0800

If you're interested, TextDrive is currently letting out a third round of limited (as in, could end any day now) lifetime hosting plans for $399. So, you pay that once, and you have hosting for as long as the company exists. Do the numbers, it's a pretty good deal.

By: gramcracker

gramcracker — Fri, 09 Sep 2005 22:54:36 -0800

I've actually had surprisingly good support, uptime, and server speeds from Surpass Hosting, which offers a WebDev account with Ruby on Rails. (I don't have a WebDev account, just a regular one.)

By: bpt

bpt — Fri, 09 Sep 2005 22:58:43 -0800

hcoop: the internet hosting cooperative

By: persia

persia — Sat, 10 Sep 2005 01:29:03 -0800

You can also check the site5.com web hosting, it dose support Ruby on Rails.

By: b.

b. — Sat, 10 Sep 2005 01:36:15 -0800

I'm looking for something similar. DreamHost seems to be Ok. It's not extraordinarily great, but good enough for trying and it's so cheap (~$25 for full year with discount), that even if it'll turn out to be complete disaster, you can just move on to some more 'premium' hosting later.

Catches (for developer-type users) seem to be: people reporting MySql being slow; DreamHost limits CPU usage, disabling accounts, even some common applications (forums, blogs) can run into troubles where bottleneck is CPU time, not bandwidth. About reliability and support - you get what you pay for, but it's still fine.

I was also attracted to TextDrive, their community, features and reputation are excellent, but then I checked their Terms of Service and Acceptable Use Policy and I was very surprised, suddenly they don't look nearly as nice and friendly as their popular image. Explanation from their president was not completely kosher.

By: reklaw

reklaw — Sat, 10 Sep 2005 06:00:44 -0800

A Small Orange have the cheapest Ruby on Rails web hosting I've seen, and it all seems to work fine. TextDrive's prices are a joke.

By: Civil_Disobedient

Civil_Disobedient — Sat, 10 Sep 2005 07:59:33 -0800

Woah, thanks for that TextDrive link, odinsdream. That's an incredible deal for what you get. Now I just gotta find $400 in between my sofa cushions...

By: odinsdream

odinsdream — Sat, 10 Sep 2005 08:43:16 -0800

b., it's interesting that you find the TOS and AUP unacceptable, or, more surprisingly, uncommon. Most hosts have very similar documents, and I don't see anything that looks particularly aggressive in either. In fact, the previous host I was with had most of the same language, but instead of the penalty being "$500 fine," it was "your account will be deleted without notice."

By: lowlife

lowlife — Sat, 10 Sep 2005 09:50:21 -0800

b., you mention some kind of 'discount' in relation to Dreamhost; do you have any more details about that? I don't see anything on their site about that.

Thanks!

By: misterbrandt

misterbrandt — Sat, 10 Sep 2005 09:59:07 -0800

Dreamhost has (had?) their 777 deal, but it has apparently expired (google), and been replaced with the 88ISGREAT (google again) deal.

By: b.

b. — Sat, 10 Sep 2005 10:46:22 -0800

odinsdream, I would prefer to have my account deleted (though not without notice :), than to get fine worth of several years of service in question. For counterexample of decent hosting with more 'fair' TOS check here.

Though, I would be happy to be wrong, VC3 deal is sweet. It makes sense if 'lifetime' will be more than 3-5 years (snarkfilter: who dares to predict hosting deals in 5 years?).

On preview: lowlife, dreamhost has sort of own 'pyramid scheme' going on. When you sign for their service, at the very end you will get the option to insert 'code' to get discount. Amount of discount varies depending on the code, and different codes have different influences depending on the hosting plan.

'777' was their first promo code, started by DH themselves. Now they have 'word-of-mouth' marketing campaign, where everybody who is with them can sign for affiliate program and generate own codes setting their own discount rates, getting profit from people signing with this code. I believe it can go up to ~ $95 discount for year of hosting, less discount gives more profit to affiliate.

Besides this, they have also referal program with strong money incentives, so be careful about recommendations to DH, they may not be completely sincere.

For finding codes, check technorati or google.

By: shinji_ikari

shinji_ikari — Sat, 10 Sep 2005 11:40:48 -0800

It's not so much that TextDrive was lacking any features, I just wanted to get some other comparisons and recommendations. Their lifetime hosting plan does sound like an awesome deal but I'm not sure if I'm looking for something that long term right now. Well, that and that I don't have $400.

A Small Orange has some really great prices, but it didn't seem that they offered any kind of versioning software like Subversion/CVS. Also, it looks like they've temporarily disabled new account sign ups.

I think the webdev plans at Surpass Hosting are looking like the best combinations of features/price so far.