Web hosting recommendations

[Samuel]

Hello everyone,

I'm currently searching for a web host for one of my projects. I was thinking of setting up a system similar to how Fred sells his software, but to be honest I'm still a newbie when it comes to this stuff. Which means I'm still learning all the things I could use in a good web host. Any information on good web hosts or things I might need in one would be greatly appreciated.

As of now I've only looked into HostGator and inmotion hosting. HostGator's forums seem to be dead except for the daily spam and they don't seem all that interested in cleaning it up. Not a good sign in my opinion especially since they advertise that they support over 8,000,000 domains.
Inmotion hosting looks pretty good, but I'd like to look through a few others for comparison.

Any information is greatly appreciated.

[J. Baker]

godaddy.com has been working fine for me.

[Keya]

https://www.google.com/search?q=avoid+godaddy

[J. Baker]

https://www.google.com/search?q=avoid+godaddy

That's weird. I have never had any issues with godaddy in all the years I have been using them. The links that popped up in your google search are not true. At least not from my experience with them.

[Keya]

also godaddy will let you buy a domain for 99c but then hits you a year later when it comes to renew. No way would i register a domain through them. Webhosting i guess is another matter though

[J. Baker]

also godaddy will let you buy a domain for 99c but then hits you a year later when it comes to renew. No way would i register a domain through them. Webhosting i guess is another matter though

It's actually a good deal. It's only like $10-15 USD after that per year. Not bad for what a domain register use to charge back in the 90's.

[normeus]

I am currently using hawkhost.com and I am happy with them ( 2016 )

dnsexit.com is also pretty good.
ixwebhosting.com ( I like them but pricing is good when you have at least 10 domains )

list of the ones I had bad luck with:
( bad customer service, extra charges for the most minimal stuff, etc.... )

godaddy.com ( always horrible customer service )
networksolutions.com ( worst: once they renewed 6 domains 3 months before expiration! at $75.00 USD EACH )

hostgator.com ( they constantly raised their prices on me )
smallorange.com ( now owned by same company as hostgator )
1and1.com ( I really liked them in 2011 then customer service took a dive in 2014 )


Norm.

[yoxola]

BlueHost is stable enough, but last year it rise the renewal price and billed my card without noticing me first, so I use my own microserver(a home made small PC server) instead. And it's reasonably stable, at lease it runs 3 years and no issues.

Id you don't have to run multiple sites you can still consider the single site plan of BlueHost though.

[TI-994A]

Consider keeping host & registrar separate.

[Samuel]

Thanks for all the replies so far.

I use my own microserver(a home made small PC server) instead. And it's reasonably stable, at lease it runs 3 years and no issues.

It would be nice having my own server, but my internet speed fluctuates too much.

Consider keeping host & registrar separate.

Are there any advantages keeping them separate?

[TI-994A]

Are there any advantages keeping them separate?

One example of a disadvantage would be ransom; when the two are linked under a single account, any dispute with one would place the other in distress. Another example would be downtime; if the domain DNS is hosted elsewhere, it could simply be pointed to an alternate/temporary host.

[Samuel]

Thanks, you make some good points. I'll definitely have to consider keeping them separate.

[netmaestro]

I use canspace (http://www.canspace.ca) and have found them to be inexpensive, reliable and always ready to give technical assistance. I've run small business websites with them successfully on their cheapest option ($60/year) and these utilized customer database interaction through PHP and MySql quite heavily. They have many turnkey packages available that can be installed with one click, such as PHPBB and WordPress. They boast many name corporate customers including the University of Toronto and their reliability is second to none. Database backups and restores are free and just a couple of clicks. I really can't say enough in support of Canspace, they are excellent in my book. One other thing if you're from the U.S.: Prices are in CDN$ which makes your costs considerably less than American alternatives with similar pricing structures. The Canadian dollar has been worth between 75 and 78 cents US for a long time now.

[tj1010]

I did godaddy during one of their deal campaigns and got a year for $9.99. Then got their DNSsec package the same and then use letsencrypt for free TLS.

The trick with web-hosting IMO is that you can use cheap hosting and pay for better hosting when you get enough traffic-revenue or sales-revenue off the cheap hosting. The better performance is paid for by the need for better performance.

I see a lot of people just throw money at VPS and dedicated hosting. There isn't enough contrast between provider's uptime anymore to go with the -you get what you pay for- way of thinking.

Bluehost is the one I've been seeing at the top of review indexes for the past decade. I was going to go with them till I seen the godaddy packages. Whatever has the most value and has a track-record.

[Kuron]

For many years, I have used the following host for sites. Very stable and reliable and excellent support.

http://coastlandtech.com

As somebody else suggested, I do recommend getting your domain name from somebody else. I personally use namesecure.com for domain names and I have since the 90s.

One of the main reasons to have your domain name from somebody other than your site host, is if you need to move site hosts all of a sudden, in an emergency situation. By having your domain name through somebody else, this makes it simple to move and minimizes your downtime.