Nathan Bowers

As much as I love the internet, sometimes it feels like key information has been intentionally redacted from the mighty cloud.

For example, I don’t know where to go for web hosting recommendations. Sure, there are lists of “cheap” sub-$10 hosts, but “cheap” = fail in the clutch.

We need a site that lists hosting companies from crummy shared hosts to expensive dedicated servers. There should be editorial ratings, user ratings, and a well moderated forum (Web Hosting Talk exists, but just look at that wall of text. Ugh.)

Anyway, today I’m with Dreamhost on the sub $10/month plan. Even with unannounced downtime, unbelievable billing disasters, and “bad neighbor” overselling problems, Dreamhost has been okay-ish. Recently though, pages will hang in the middle of rendering and the WordPress admin interface is unusably slow. It’s time to move on

List of things to look for when you need WordPress hosting:

• Linux/Apache/MySQL/PHP. Obviously.
• Digg survivability. I’ve hardened my site against traffic spikes, but I’d like to know that the host can sense a short term need for more power and accommodate it. Some low budget hosts cut you off when you have a spike, which is exactly when you don’t want your site to fail.
• Subversion. No matter how small your blog is, it needs to be in source control.
• Nigh unlimited domains, email addresses, and MySQL databases. I don’t need many, but I just don’t want to have worry about it someday.
• Backup. My WordPress database is backed up daily and emailed to me thanks to this WP backup plugin, and the rest of my blog is backed up with Subversion, but my uploaded blog files (images you see in posts) are not in source control (for technical reasons) and could be wiped out. Speaking of which, I’m going to backup those files right now… ah, much better.
• Root or near-root access.
• Plenty of warning about planned outages and full disclosure of unplanned outages. Most hosts have a status page (ex: Dreamhost’s and MediaTemple’s) but they don’t go out of their way to tell you about problems you might not have noticed.

The front runners so far:

• MediaTemple — The good: Big name bloggers I trust have used and recommended them for years. Their $20 “grid” service seems to fit my needs, especially digg survivability.
  The bad: I keep hearing that their grid service has a lot of downtime. A bit too bleeding edge it seems.
  The ugly: Their graphic design is top notch. No uglies here. This matters. It’s what economists call a signaling mechanism.
• Slicehost — The good: Recommended by friend and developer Micah Calabrese (creator of the productivity application Making the Chain). Slicehost claims “guaranteed CPU share and more when available.” One click upgrade path (they just allocate more resources to you). Full root access: the slice is all yours and you can install anything.
  The bad: You have to install everything (and I mean everything) yourself. They give you a bare box. This is actually a selling point if you’re building web apps because you can fine tune everything, but such control isn’t needed for a PHP blog. Also, I like to yell at someone besides myself when something breaks.
  The pretty: Their site is gorgeous, not because it’s flashy, but because in one page they tell you everything you need to know.

Dark horse candidates:

• A Small Orange
• Mosso
• pair
• ServInt

WTF? candidates:

• Liquid Web: They look nice, and I’ve read good reviews, but their site is unbelievably slow, like, 15 seconds per page slow. Does not bode well for a web host.
• RimUhosting: I just love the name. “Branding? We don’t need no stinking branding!”

What say you dear readers? Have any recommendations/horror stories? To readers on Typepad or the WordPress hosted option: how is that working out for you? Any plans to switch to self hosting?