Seeking a new hosting provider

[Jeremy]

I wasn't sure if this belonged in development or growing your blog, but either way, here it is. I'm looking for a new host. I use GoDaddy now, mainly because I got a few months free when I registered domains and for $3.99/month you can't go wrong.

But more importantly, I'm not unhappy with GD's hosting. I have had virtually 0 downtime in just under a year. The site has always loaded fast and even lasted for a while before coming down during a front page of digg moment.

What I don't like are some of the basics like their email platform, control panel, etc. I'm not looking for hundreds of gigs of storage or many TB of bandwidth. I don't need that. But I do want to move somewhere that provides a full featured control panel, extremely reliable uptime, and hopefully the ability to host multiple domains with one account (I have a couple static pages I want to put up on their own domain).

You can recommend DreamHost all you want, I won't sign up with them, so don't bother. Otherwise, I'm just looking for suggestions/positive experiences from people who have hosting in the $20/month or less range that can provide. It is almost worthless trying to sift through reviews of companies online and since my requirements aren't very unique I figure some people here have had good experiences to start with. Thanks!

[Dan Schulz]

www.hostgator.com - check out the $10/month plan

[Jeremy]

Thanks, Dan. Actually Host Gator is on my "short list". I've heard a quite a few good things about them, and since they use Cpanel I'm especially partial to those hosts.

[Dan Schulz]

No problem.

[deronsizemore]

Well I'm with A Small Orange (http://www.asmallorange.com) right now and they've been great! Only downtime was for about 5 minutes two nights ago. I've had to contact support for small miscellaneous things and everytime I've submitted a support ticket within 5 minutes, regardless of time of day/night, I have an answer. It's great!

If something happened where I decided to go away from A Small Orange (have no plans to at the moment) I would be going with http://www.enginehosting.com. I absolutely love ExpressionEngine and the staff over there and I can only assume that EngineHosting is also of the same standards and quality. Plus, I've honestly don't ever remember reading one bad thing about EngineHosting. Good Luck.

[samwoodfin]

My paid hosting experience is very limited, but I liked Electric Kitten (http://www.electrickitten.com/), back when I could afford it. They have CPanel, SquirrelMail, and lots of things that I don't have a clue what to do with. Some plans allow multiple domains. I don't remember experiencing any downtime in the year I was with them. Customer service is great! They use Fantastico installers, though, and I've read not-so-good things about that.

[ses5909]

I've used dreamhost for several of my own domains but I also have my own server for the majority of them. I've been happy with dreamhost overall although my use of it is very limited. I have a coupon to save you money if you do choose them.

[mccormicky]

I use Powweb and I like them a lot.They're about 68 dollars a year.Everything works really well and they have an Install central for loads of great stuff. I've never noticed downtime. You can have the latest version of PHP which was a + for me.

[Jeremy]

Thanks for all of the suggestions, they do help when trying to narrow things down. It is amazing how inconsistent hosting can be, which is why I'm so reluctant to switch. I have the best uptime and server response I've ever experienced with a cheap shared host, yet the back-end features are so crappy I need to switch.

[deronsizemore]

Thanks for all of the suggestions, they do help when trying to narrow things down. It is amazing how inconsistent hosting can be, which is why I'm so reluctant to switch. I have the best uptime and server response I've ever experienced with a cheap shared host, yet the back-end features are so crappy I need to switch.

What kind of backend features do you currently have and what are you looking for?

ASO has cpanel, but from what I understand, some view cpanel as a very cheap solution and absolutely despise it. I actually like it, but it's all I've ever known, so I have nothing to compare it to. I know EngineHosting however, does not use cpanel.

[adalante]

i have an account at Hostgator and they have been good.Below are some hosts that i'm on right now (i have multiple sites hosted by different hosts):

http://Brius.com

http://Hostingzoom.com

http://resellerzoom.com

If your traffic is big and your article get digged mot of the time than you should consider a Virtual Private Server (VPS) by http://spry.com or http://survivetraffic.com

[ses5909]

but from what I understand, some view cpanel as a very cheap solution and absolutely despise it.

I really dislike cpanel. I prefer Plesk. I guess it comes down to all what you're used to!

[deronsizemore]

I really dislike cpanel. I prefer Plesk. I guess it comes down to all what you're used to!

Who are you with now? DreamHost? I'll have to check into Plesk. I've always assumed that there were alternatives to cpanel, but seems like every host offers it so I thought it was the norm.

[shyflower]

I use 1 and 1 Internet (http://order.1and1.com/xml/order;jsessionid=8E6AF1117EC357F9DD24BD5D55F98ED7. TC60b). Started with their free offer and have since upgraded to their business platform. No down time whatsoever, great support, super contral panel.

[Jeremy]

I think Sara is right about control panel preference. I love cPanel, but of course, when I had my web hosting company that is what we used so I know it inside and out. Put me in plesk and I'm clueless.

As for what I have now and what I'm looking for, GoDaddy's control panel is pathetic. It is very hard to navigate and doesn't really have many features. The worst is email administration. It is a nightmare to set up new and manage existing email accounts, and their storage is limited to 10 MB. Not to mention their god-awful webmail platform.

I really just need a full-featured CP, lots of flexibility with email, and the ability to host more than one domain. I see that 10/mo hostgator plan does that, and has cpanel so that is a good bet so far.

[pbradish]

I've always used cpanel until I took over a client's website that uses plesk. Wow, Plesk has been a nice change (visually).

Oh, I also recommend Hostgator.

[Prettyfem]

I would like to recommend Vision this hosting (http://www.visionthishosting.com) they offer excellent service.

[malique]

Vision This should have a site revamp.

a host i'd recommend, with your budget, is Media Temple (http://www.mediatemple.net/webhosting/gs/).

[Prettyfem]

Why is that?

[Kirk M]

I'll add my two cents worth here.

I've been with Bluehost (http://www.bluehost.com) for over a year now and besides the few rare glitches of downtime (never very long) that you'll have with any host, I have no complaints. My wife has been hosting her business website there as well.

You won't be disappointed with their number of domains you can have on your account either (unlimited I believe). And they have the latest version of Cpanel which is a heck of a makeover from the previous version. Fantastico auto-installs is included also. Everything is listed on Bluehost's main page.

Oh, and there's an honest 24/7 telephone support that's been excellent so far.

End of my two cents worth. :)

[Prettyfem]

Unless of course you have an active site and you don't mind their cpu cap. I was hosted with them and could not take the over cpu usage message anymore and it was sure not making my members happy. I did not realize that signing up with them would mean that because I had a successful site I would be down all the time.

[Kirk M]

Interesting. I had the same problem initially but it was due to a couple of badly built plugins hogging over 20% CPU time that I ended up losing and solving the problem. They've added additional servers during the past several of months so even slow downs don't seem to happen anymore.

When did you switch to your current host?

[jlee]

I am with Surpass right now but I am looking into changing. Hostgator is on my list but I'm afraid I can't afford to switch right now.

[Jeremy]

Vision This should have a site revamp.

a host i'd recommend, with your budget, is Media Temple (http://www.mediatemple.net/webhosting/gs/).

Actually, mediatemple is who I ended up going with after I found a 25% off coupon. It brought the price down to a comparable level with other basic shared hosts. But I was quite impressed with some of the reports on how well it stood up to getting front page digg and such, whereas typical shared hosting will crumble in a a few minutes. I've had a few stability issues when I had a popular stumble/reddit/digg page in the past, so it would be nice to not have to worry about that going forward, or end up having to switch hosts again in 6 months.

[malique]

(finally someone listens to me!!)

for the price you're paying, you should be getting a super stable machine.
nice find of the coupon, i couldnt find any.

All the best to your ventures, mate! :)

[Prettyfem]

Kirk, it will be a year the 31 of this month.