Reliable, non-crappy shared hosting provider with fixed pricing?
September 15, 2010 5:49 PM Subscribe
What is a reliable, non-crappy shared web hosting provider with fixed pricing? All the mainstream ones, and even some of the smaller ones (like A Small Orange) get terrible reviews.
I do use the really excellent (and I'd say almost universally positively reviewed) NearlyFreeSpeech.NET. But I need hosting for a project with somebody else and would like something with a fixed monthly cost, since bandwidth usage might be somewhat higher. The only possible one I've turned up so far is pair Networks.
Anything?
(Oh yeah, and I've seen this, but it's been a couple years.)
I do use the really excellent (and I'd say almost universally positively reviewed) NearlyFreeSpeech.NET. But I need hosting for a project with somebody else and would like something with a fixed monthly cost, since bandwidth usage might be somewhat higher. The only possible one I've turned up so far is pair Networks.
Anything?
(Oh yeah, and I've seen this, but it's been a couple years.)
Best answer: Pair. No contest. Rock solid. I've been with them for 13 years.
posted by seanmpuckett at 6:09 PM on September 15, 2010
posted by seanmpuckett at 6:09 PM on September 15, 2010
Try OrangeServe.com
This site offers professional web hosting for free. It includes infinite hard drive space, infinite bandwidth, and infinite email space. You have to pay for an official domain name, but they offer free subdomains.
posted by EatingCereal at 6:17 PM on September 15, 2010
This site offers professional web hosting for free. It includes infinite hard drive space, infinite bandwidth, and infinite email space. You have to pay for an official domain name, but they offer free subdomains.
posted by EatingCereal at 6:17 PM on September 15, 2010
Nthing pair. I've been with them for 12 years. Never, ever had a problem. They bend over backwards for their customers. If you need simple hosting, check out their (relatively) new pair lite offering. I switched from my regular "advanced" account to pair lite and haven't looked back.
posted by buckaroo_benzai at 6:43 PM on September 15, 2010
posted by buckaroo_benzai at 6:43 PM on September 15, 2010
I'd have recommended hostica.com until yesterday, when I learned that simple things like help buttons don't work, and my concerns about missing features were answered with nothing more than an "OK". Now I'm looking for a new host.
posted by orthogonality at 7:00 PM on September 15, 2010
posted by orthogonality at 7:00 PM on September 15, 2010
Ditto for dreamhost. I have an unbelievable amount of space and bandwidth and I've been very happy with them for several years.
posted by lemniskate at 7:35 PM on September 15, 2010
posted by lemniskate at 7:35 PM on September 15, 2010
Another vote for Dreamhost. I don't know how many years I've been using them, but I've been quite satisfied with their service and their tech support.
posted by bricoleur at 7:39 PM on September 15, 2010
posted by bricoleur at 7:39 PM on September 15, 2010
Dreamhost. Not flawless but unreasonably good given the cost.
posted by southof40 at 7:53 PM on September 15, 2010
posted by southof40 at 7:53 PM on September 15, 2010
Best answer: Hurricane Electric. Can't speak to their Customer Support, never had to use it. Guess that sez som'n...
posted by armoir from antproof case at 8:09 PM on September 15, 2010
posted by armoir from antproof case at 8:09 PM on September 15, 2010
I've had good luck with Site5 over the years, but moved most of my stuff over to a shared host. Now only a few very low-traffic static sites life on that host, so things like uptime may have gotten worse without my noticing.
posted by verb at 8:45 PM on September 15, 2010
posted by verb at 8:45 PM on September 15, 2010
Er, "To a VPS," not a shared host. Site5 IS a shared hosting company.
posted by verb at 8:45 PM on September 15, 2010
posted by verb at 8:45 PM on September 15, 2010
Response by poster: I'm kind of doubtful of free web hosting, especially for anything important.
Also hosts with pictures of support people dying to talk to you on the front page... not so good. "We've got a gazillion GB of bandwidth and storage!!!11!!"
posted by nrobertson at 8:55 PM on September 15, 2010
Also hosts with pictures of support people dying to talk to you on the front page... not so good. "We've got a gazillion GB of bandwidth and storage!!!11!!"
posted by nrobertson at 8:55 PM on September 15, 2010
Look at https://www.nearlyfreespeech.net/ it's seemed reasonably stable. It does not have unique ip addresses or some options like rails, but has shell access and is really inexpensive.
posted by sammyo at 9:39 PM on September 15, 2010
posted by sammyo at 9:39 PM on September 15, 2010
pair. I'm customer number 3xx, (joined 1995) and I haven't had a problem, ever, and I've used their tech support numerous times over the years. At least 30 clients host with them as well. Their cgi-wrap for PHP (not sure if other hosts have similar packages) make using PHP apps such as wordpress a dream.
posted by maxwelton at 9:43 PM on September 15, 2010
posted by maxwelton at 9:43 PM on September 15, 2010
About pair and other recommendations: do any of these offer fixed IP, or work well with Drupal?
posted by msalt at 10:19 PM on September 15, 2010
posted by msalt at 10:19 PM on September 15, 2010
Dreamhost's website is not the most confidence inspiring, but I'll throw in another vote for them. Their support has always been great and smart (I know my around a server a bit, so I get pissed when people talk down to me), they let you do basically anything, their security setup seems sound. They don't dick you around with having multiple domains or setting up subdomains or anything. They let you set up custom DNS records. They'll set up Google Apps so that you can use google calendar and gmail with your domain and stuff. They let you host subversion repos. As far as I know, you can even compile your own PHP and use it.
I really like dreamhost, in other words.
posted by !Jim at 11:31 PM on September 15, 2010
I really like dreamhost, in other words.
posted by !Jim at 11:31 PM on September 15, 2010
Another vote for Dreamhost.
posted by media_itoku at 2:57 PM on September 16, 2010
posted by media_itoku at 2:57 PM on September 16, 2010
I'm a big fan of Webfaction. (Disclaimer- I am a member of their affiliate program, but that link is not an affiliate link.)
posted by majikstreet at 4:12 PM on September 16, 2010
posted by majikstreet at 4:12 PM on September 16, 2010
Response by poster: I'm thinking I may just go with NFSN as $10 a month seems to buy a fair amount around there. And at least in the near future, we probably would paying under $5 a month, I'd guess. And if we needed to switch to somebody else, it's pretty easy to break away.
/thread not closed yet, though!
posted by nrobertson at 4:51 PM on September 16, 2010
/thread not closed yet, though!
posted by nrobertson at 4:51 PM on September 16, 2010
I just signed up for the free trial of DreamHost, based on the advice here. 2 interesting points:
1) I entered Metafilter as where I heard about it, and the next screen purported to give me a $95 discount as a result. Can't be sure until I get billed -- I signed up for 1 year with no extras at the $8.95 package, total was about $114, so that would be nearly the entire bill if true.
2) They offered a specific IP address for $3.95. But on closer inspection, they said it was not shared but not static, either. Can someone explain the distinction please? Thanks.
posted by msalt at 11:53 AM on October 4, 2010
1) I entered Metafilter as where I heard about it, and the next screen purported to give me a $95 discount as a result. Can't be sure until I get billed -- I signed up for 1 year with no extras at the $8.95 package, total was about $114, so that would be nearly the entire bill if true.
2) They offered a specific IP address for $3.95. But on closer inspection, they said it was not shared but not static, either. Can someone explain the distinction please? Thanks.
posted by msalt at 11:53 AM on October 4, 2010
Has anyone used Drupal on Dreamhost? There are tons of complaints about horribly slow response times, due to the way they server MySQL databases apparently.
Any one have experience with HostGator or BlueHost? They seem to be favorites on the Drupal forums.
posted by msalt at 1:00 PM on October 4, 2010
Any one have experience with HostGator or BlueHost? They seem to be favorites on the Drupal forums.
posted by msalt at 1:00 PM on October 4, 2010
1) I entered Metafilter as where I heard about it, and the next screen purported to give me a $95 discount as a result. Can't be sure until I get billed -- I signed up for 1 year with no extras at the $8.95 package, total was about $114, so that would be nearly the entire bill if true.
I can't speak to your other question, but they did a similar thing when I signed up where I think I paid like $7 for a year of service. When I got my bill for $120 the next year, it made sense. For most people, once you have your stuff on a server somewhere, you're unlikely to want to move it. They figure if they can get you hooked, they'll make up their $95 in the longer term (the fact that the service is truly awesome helps.)
posted by !Jim at 9:45 AM on October 15, 2010
I can't speak to your other question, but they did a similar thing when I signed up where I think I paid like $7 for a year of service. When I got my bill for $120 the next year, it made sense. For most people, once you have your stuff on a server somewhere, you're unlikely to want to move it. They figure if they can get you hooked, they'll make up their $95 in the longer term (the fact that the service is truly awesome helps.)
posted by !Jim at 9:45 AM on October 15, 2010
« Older Seriously...do people really eat that? | how to make quick money, (very) short term job? Newer »
This thread is closed to new comments.
posted by mkb at 6:05 PM on September 15, 2010