Chawlk

1. Drawar
2. Fenxy
3. Decaflon
4. Two Credits
5. Wriging
6. Loose Suits
7. Chixe
8. Dud3s
9. Wing Colors

 

I have a couple servers through serverbeach. One in Virginia, one in LA. I host dozens of domains on them so all I have to worry about is setting up the software. The hardware, power, and connectivity are taken care of by them.

Hostek - they're small and extremely helpful with support queries. They're also damned good value but you may find the bandwidth restrictive.

I use them and Dreamhost in parallel. I've shipped all my static stuff (images, css, rss cache, etc) off to them because of their ultra-bandwidth allowances and they still have pretty good uptime. But Hostek is a much better environment for doing the actual page processing.

I love them to bits mainly because you can fire an email at support@ without any details of who you are, which domain you're talking about and they're familiar with you and any past problems, without having to go through a 15-stage process to log a support ticket. They also reply fast, regardless to the time of day (very handy considering I'm in England, and they're in Florida).

The servers are good quality and they seem to be able to handle a good amount of traffic. That said, they're not mirrored or load balanced (to my knowledge) so you will suffer the same if there are any problem sites on your server, but then again, they're usually on top of problems within a few minutes, so... yeah.

They're also open to wheeling-and-dealing, so ping their sales guys an email and see if they can give you a better quote for exactly what you need, rather than ending up in a package deal with a ton of stuff you'll never use.

Yeah, in time I plan to move to ServerBeach. I can't really justify the 1000% cost increase at the moment though... Stupid pesky Windows licenses >_<

I just switched over to Cirtex Hosting. So far they have been great. They have some really good values, and their support is top notch. Plus, they have a nice little community/forum for everyone to discuss things and help each other out.

Thanks for the suggestions and feedback! :) I also got recommended to DreamHost, anyone use them? If so, how do you like them?

If you know how to set up a server yourself, I highly recommend you get a 512mb VPS from SWVPS for the same price as MediaTemple's GridServer.

I'd avoid DreamHost if I were you. I used them for a long time and was plagued by bad support, downtime, etc.

I use siteground and I really like them.

xmgfree. I don't really like it, but I dont have money for real hosting so I just keep my mouth shut.

I went through server switching a few months back (loathed it). But I decided on Network Redux after reading some reviews and comparing prices. I have no complaints.

hostican
good rates
wordpress
and great 24 hour support

I'm using Joyent after purchasing one of their VC deals. Seems to have worked for me quite nicely thus far, and they offer similar types of hosting for a monthly fee.

I moved to Joyent from DreamHost, who I had a great experience with. Even with some of their downtime and troubles, they were very quick to respond to support queries. Overall DH was very helpful, blogger *and* developer friendly, and inexpensive.

I know a coupla folks who use SliceHost, and have good experience with them. Not sure that is what you are looking for but never hurts to suggest.

Enjoy!

I am with BlueHost, currently fighting through the CPU Exceeded errors. Otherwise, they are really good.

Loving bluegravity.com, and rackspace.

I'm with hostgator.com and I really like it. It's economic and good service.

asmallorange.com

great hosts, cheap. not a single problem or even any down time to speak of.

I use DreamHost for a while for around ten websites (from simple sites to relatively big web apps).

I have tried before (since 2001) some french hosting, asmallorange, textdrive then joyent.

I really like them for:

- reliability (around two downtimes of two hours a year)
- quick et good support in one or two hours
- gigantic bunch of features, even rare ones (webdav, jabber, subversion, media streaming, cron jobs...)
- recent coding languages versions (php, mysql, ruby/rails...)
- virtually no space or bandwitch limit (for "reasonable" hosting)
- they listen and talk to their customers, they are permanently evolving and they can be both profesional and relaxed, even funky sometimes

The cons for me are:

- email servers are a bit slow
- my french websites are a bit slow (ping) because France is far from them ;)

I definitely recommend them.

Oh, I am with MediaTemple right now, but once my services expire, I am planning to move to a new webhost. Preferably something like NearlyFreeSpeech.net.

Rackspace. They're worth every bit they over-charge for. (We use MediaTemple too, but typically only if they deem the client VIP.)

I made a comment recently, about how I was disappointed with (mt), because of their recent downtime. It was true, I was. Very disappointed. I had just purchased one month of hosting to see what they're like, before I launch a new project.

I'll not go into the details, but, I'll just say they've regained my confidence and support.

Also, for a cheaper option, I'd recommend Midphase/AN Hosting. Great guys, and very helpful.

We host all our client sites on our own dedicated boxes. So if you are considering going the dedicated route, we love Softlayer.

On of the guys on our team is on MT (grid) for some of his outside projects and he is in the same boat. He's looking around for something else as soon as his contract is up.

Yeah, I am on the grid as well. And while their grid is as buggy as hell, they sell hosting gift cards instead of fixing their issues... wtf?

(Yeah, I remember when MediaTemple's servers were set to some date in 2000 a few months back. Even if it was only for a few hours, I noticed.)

I'd agree with everyone that the (mt) grid is less than stellar, mainly because any MySQL calls result in a bottleneck. I looked around for other providers but never found anything that really interested me so I'm sticking with (mt) for now because I like how my grid server is organized, regardless of how well it works.

I've used HostRocket.com for about three years now and I've never had an issue that wasn't fixed immediately. They use standard cpanel, phpmyadmin, etc. One of the things I like most about them is that I rarely have to ask them to adjust a setting. Their default set up is more than adequate to install a WordPress blog without a bunch of fiddling.

Well, the only thing (mt) MediaTemple has going for it is the fact that it doesn't ruin your credit rating like 1&1 Internet.

Never EVER get hosting by StartLogic. Those guys have no idea what they're doing. I ordered a domain name and hosting, it took them over two weeks to get it all set up.

At one point, I was on the phone with them for almost 2 hours.

Horrible, horrible host.

Dreamhost used to be nice but many downtimes right now and performance problems.

Softlayer is perfect.

MT has been kind of sluggish lately, with unfortunate database connection failures. I'm not sure I want to move again, but if I ever hit the big time and start to get more visitors I might have to consider a more expensive account...

I don't understand the (mt) users who have speed issues with the grid server yet think that chucking even more money at (mt) is a good idea. I've seen so many people say things like "I'm considering upgrading to a DV" or "perhaps I should buy a mysql grid container".

For the amount of money the grid costs each month, you should expect blazing speeds all the time -- for databases too, considering they're one of the most important aspects of a modern website.

If you're unhappy with your $20/month (mt) hosting, you should probably look elsewhere because there are plenty of shared hosts charging less and providing a better quality of service.

Once people stop needlessly chucking money at them, perhaps they'll address the issues and make their hosting compete.

====

I suggest you try hosts. I reckon you can get a lot from asking people but you won't know for certain until you've been with them for a short while. Your mileage will vary. Most hosts have a reasonable money-back guarantee, so put them to use. Whack out a few copies of your site and see how they perform.

Anyway, I'd suggest Dreamhost (linux, $50-off with coupon: dreamkitten (disclaimer: my code)) or Hostek (windows/linux) as they're both hosts that I've stuck with for over two years and enjoyed.

I've been with Hostnine for about 8 months and i can say that these guys rock. More or less prices and features are similiar to other companies but their support is just great.

Its interesting looking at this post...there are no particular hosts that are dominant. Its almost like everyone here uses a different hosting provider :)

StartLogic == BAD

I was with one of their "sub" companies, complete hosting solutions...

WHAT A NIGHTMARE, 4 clients I had "refered" there, and my own site got "deleted" completely, with no backup, nothing. Fortunatly, other than some guestbook & tourdates mysql stuff, I had full backups on my dev box...

then to move off there...well just getting a hold of someone was horrible, finally one day I found George's home & cel number. It wasn't long after that when I was able to put them behind me.

I'm with Dreamhost now, good value, uptime is ok, and when it's not, it's always inconvenient...lol...tech support is slow sometimes, especially when they have a big problem, they sometimes, like this morning, cloud your unrelated problem with the larger issue without actually investigating. This morning some file server unrelated to my site went down, and they replied to me that this is what the problem was...and it wasn't...httpd on my server died...

anyway...there's my worthless 2cents

If you don't need SSH but need to run multiple sites, go for Mosso. For the three-four months I've had them, there's been no downtime (I have Pingdom checking on it 24/7) and their support is great. It's a bit pricey, but if you run multiple sites/clients, it's worth every penny. They'll also support your clients for you if you wish. Lack of SSH can be a real pain sometimes.

I also have (dv) and (gs) accounts on Media Temple. The (dv) servers outperform most dedicated plans I've worked on, but as I am not a total server admin and since Media Temple does not manage the server for you, I am paranoid and am moving off that in case something were to ever happen. The (gs) is cheap and seems to have mostly eliminated the downtime issues, but its performance can still be slow at times. You get what you pay for. If you only have $20/month and needs lots of space and bandwidth, it's still a good choice.

I'm going to be testing out Joyent in a few weeks for a project, because I've heard some pretty good things and have used their Connector groupware suite for a couple years now. They don't provide as much storage, but since I use Amazon's S3 service for most of my big files, I'm fine with that. In fact, I'd almost rather have a host with less storage/bandwidth at a higher cost if it means that data will be faster or more reliable. I'd prefer that to the hosts that give you tons of storage for cheap but sacrifice in other areas.

Stay away from DreamHost and Eleven2. DreamHost may be cheap and have great support, but even those that like it seem to admit that they have a good amount of downtime, which is something I feel is not acceptable in any case, for any price. Good employees or not, their job is to keep the damn site up. Eleven2 used to rock back in the day (I had multiple accounts with them a couple years ago) but my friends I know who are still with them are having lots of trouble, and their small staff takes days to respond via tickets or emails.

Just wondering, though. Say you get 50 visitors a day, or 100, just blog posts, no downloads. How would you know how much bandwidth you'll need?

but even those that like [Dreamhost] seem to admit that they have a good amount of downtime, which is something I feel is not acceptable in any case

My Pingdom and Mon.itor.us accounts would have to disagree with you - both registering my DH domains at 99.5% uptime for this month and 99.9% for December.

That's pretty exceptional for a non-clustered, shared host.

I only just bought my domain but I'm with Sustainable Hosting. So far so good. They're green and okay and I know the guy so that helps.

I recently changed from Total Choice Hosting to A Small Orange. I more or less the same and have less bandwidth and webspace, but so far I have no regrets.

I have no complaints against TCH regarding uptime or support ticket answer times, but they really (pardon the term) screwed me over with my old domain name, and thanks to their lack of response and horrible horrible website I could either pay them $60 to get my domain back or lose it for a year.

Fortunately I managed to get the .com version of it out of sheer luck and registered with Go Daddy instead of them, so it all ended well. But that $10 dolar domain name cost them more than $60 in the end.

I was under the assumption (mt) were the best. (And their website is pretty slick)

Well, bluehost.com seems to have a good deal. $6.95 a month, 1.5 TB storage and 15TB bandwidth...

I am hosting my startup at RailsPlayground.com - & boy, I coulnd't have found any better support staff!

Regards,
Maku
http://www.apnabill.com
http://www.makuchaku.info/blog

Go dedicated! :) The Planet <- very happy with the service and the low rates!

I use surpasshosting.com and like it a lot

I am a devout user of HostMySite.

rimuhosting.com ........get your own VPS, they're cheap. i have a couple of dedicated boxes with them, soon to get another. their support team is really quick to respond too.

MT jumped the shark for me 2 years ago when Rails came out and their support was non-existent.

@grasiani
I used to have surpasshosting a while back and their normal servers were awesome and cheap. Unfortunately, their web developer specialty servers are extremely oversold.

I just switched from a (mt) Grid-Server to WebFaction. WebFaction seems pretty nice so far. The download speeds max out my connection so its fast and I've had no database issues like I did with (mt). If you're a web developer and like trying new technologies (Rails, Django, etc) they usually have the latest and greatest (along with older) versions of popular web frameworks.

I use Surpass Hosting and I host 3 domains on their $6 hosting plan and have had ZERO problems... they're even gracious enough to bend the payment plan for me when I changed banks and had to wait 12 days for a new Debit Card number...

A relative has a server, and I'm using it.

I use IXWebHosting - Smooth till date!

I used Page-Zone for a few years without any problems. I only stopped using them because I recently switched my site over to tumblr and so no longer have any use for a dedicated host.

Well, my host has been absolute crap lately, so I'm looking for a new one. I've been eyeing eleven2, but kind of wanted to know if anyone here uses them or has heard of any good or bad things about them.

Dreamhost - It has good support and i am there since last few months still not much downtime there.. I am very happy with them