Web Hosting
Advanced or simple, know your options. Find what is right for you. Need more information about the different types of hosting? Keep reading.
Unmanaged Cloud VPS - Premium hosting, super low prices, DIY server setup
| Digital Ocean | Simple, easy, multiple OS options and a bunch of features. They have Kubernetes, storage, Load Balancing, DNS, and more. |
| Linode | Simple, easy, only Linux but a few options. |
| Amazon LightSail | Like AWS EC2 except simple and easy like digital ocean. Still Amazon and same infrastructure as EC2. |
| Vultr | Simple, easy, multiple OS options. Has the option for even smaller VMs. Also has a bare metal option. It has the option to upload your own custom OS version. |
| Cloudways | Spin up nodes on Digital Ocean, Linode, Vultr, AWS, and Google Cloud. |
Shared Hosting or a Managed VPS - Beginner to advanced, hands off management
| KnownHost | Recommended on the webhosting subreddit |
| iWFHosting | Recommended on the webhosting subreddit |
| VeeroTech | Recommended on the webhosting subreddit |
| NixiHost | Recommended on the webhosting subreddit |
| Namecheap | They are great for domains and have decent hosting too. |
| Namesilo | Not just domains, they do hosting too. |
Free Hosting - With the option of a custom domain
| GitHub Pages | Static HTML only. |
| Google Sites | For creating actual sites that aren't just blogs. |
| Blogger | It's just a blog but you can have a custom domain. |
| wordpress.com | Free WordPress hosting. |
Other Options - These might be options for some people
| Site Ground | Shared, cloud, WordPress, and WooCommerce hosting. |
| Wix | All in one package with a site builder, etc. This is for people who want to build a real site but don't know what they are doing. |
| GoDaddy | Shared, VPS, etc. Big name in hosting. Should have all the normal stuff you need. |
| Bluehost | Shared, VPS, and dedicated. Should have all the normal stuff you need. |
Public Cloud Computing - Lowest cost, most power, if you know what you are doing
You are generally going to get more for less with these. They are also more complicated to manage. These are slightly more complicated than using one of the Clould VPS solutions mentioned above. This is basically another step in the same direction. EC2 is what powers Light Sail.
| AWS EC2 | This is pretty much the first thing people thik of when they think of cloud computing. |
| Google Compute Engine | This is Google's could platform. They are good at what they do. |
| Microsoft Azure | Microsoft was late to the party but they caught up and have an awesome product now. |
| Rackspace | This is Rackspace, they are an old and well know cloud provider. |
Domain Names
Need a domain name?
TIP - get your domain name and hosting from separate providers. This way your hosting company can’t hold your domain name hostage. It gives you more flexibility and control.
| Namecheap | This is the first place I usually turn when buying a domain. They also do hosting. |
| Namesilo | This is also a good choice if you want a domain name. Of course they have hosting too. |
| Porkbun | This is another great place to get a domain name. They also have hosting. |
| Google Domains | This is something Google does too. A lot of people like getting their domains from Google. |
Types of Hosting
You can also ask questions and keep up on web hosting related issues on the web hosting subreddit HERE
- Shared Hosting - These are cheap but not the greatest either. They are usually totally fine if you are just starting out. Shared hosting basically means that you will be sharing a server with a bunch of other people. This clould potentially put you in a bad neighborhood as far as Google is concerned which may potentially affect your rankings.
- Virtual private server (VPS) - This will be faster and better than shared hosting but also more expensive. This is usually where you have an entire virtual machine to use as your private server. You can get these managed or unmanaged depending on whether you want to do all of the work or youself or have other people manage the server for you. Managed will be more expensive than unmanaged.
- Dedicated server - This is an acutal dedicated physical server just for you. This is a step up from a VPS and will tend to be more expensive.
- Cloud hosting - This is similar to the idea of a VPS except that the resources are replicated across multiple physical machines. This is more reliable, flexible, and scalable.
- Colocated - This is where you pay to have your own hardware hosted in a datacenter.
- Free Hosting (OK quality) - These are generally just sub-domains but you can buy a custom domain name and point it to your site. A few of the free hosting options out there are actually pretty decent. Just make sure that you select one from a known good provider like on of the options we listed above.
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Free Hosting (junk quality) - These are generally just sub-domains. There are a lot of ‘junk’ free hosting providers out there. They tend to require that their own adds be placed on your site. They have a lot of restrictions. You generally can’t count on them to stay up as many of them are small operations that will dissappear at any time. They tend to impose a lot of limitations on what you can do. Try to avoid these.
- Managed / unmanaged - Many of these options are provided as either managed or unmanaged. Unmanaged will tend to be much less expensive but you will be responsible for managing your own server. If anything goes wrong on an unmanaged server, it is your own responsiblity to know how to fix it. Even if you know what you are doing, this may serve as a huge distraction or liability. Managed is more expensive but the server will be managed by the hosting provider so you don’t have to worry about it.
Affiliate Disclosure statement We receive compensation for promoting many of these hosting services.