An Alternative to GoDaddy for simplemachines

Started by peggyren23, March 11, 2015, 03:33:48 AM

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peggyren23

I have previously set up a small forum for the sharing and discussion of skin-care knowledge. Initially, I choose the Deluxe plan of Godaddy. It is fine for the first 6 moths. However, as my forum continues grow with more visitors, it seems that the Deluxe is not enough. Now, I have around 50K threads and at least 800 daily visitors. So, my question is, should I upgrade my GoDaddy account or go for another hosting company? I have checked this forum and the hosting review site like hxxp:linkedhosts.com [nonactive], and have found that BlueHost and InMotion are better? So, which one should I choose?

margarett

Hi and welcome to sm.org ;)

Read some topics in this board --> http://www.simplemachines.org/community/index.php?board=158.0 as you'll find real reviews of real SMF users.

Always avoid "unlimited" stuff, as that's something that doesn't exist and, if it looks too cheap to be true, it probably is...
Some more topics of interest:
http://www.simplemachines.org/community/index.php?topic=117303.0
http://www.simplemachines.org/community/index.php?topic=534423.msg3797990#msg3797990
Se forem conduzir, não bebam. Se forem beber... CHAMEM-ME!!!! :D

QuoteOver 90% of all computer problems can be traced back to the interface between the keyboard and the chair

B3aker

Quote from: peggyren23 on March 11, 2015, 03:33:48 AM
I have previously set up a small forum for the sharing and discussion of skin-care knowledge. Initially, I choose the Deluxe plan of Godaddy. It is fine for the first 6 moths. However, as my forum continues grow with more visitors, it seems that the Deluxe is not enough. Now, I have around 50K threads and at least 800 daily visitors. So, my question is, should I upgrade my GoDaddy account or go for another hosting company? I have checked this forum and the hosting review site like linkedhosts.com, and have found that BlueHost and InMotion are better? So, which one should I choose?

I used to use GoDaddy. I think I had the Deluxe package as well. It is way to constrictive and I always had problems. I switched hosts to Gray Web Host. I talked to the guy, got a good plan set up and in the year, it's about the same price GoDaddy and I haven't had any issues. Great value for my money (more space, unlimited databases, more bandwidth, etc). Gray Web Hosts support is amazing too. If I open a ticket, I hear right back. The transfer was also quick and painless. They did everything.
PSX4Central Since 1999, quite possibly the oldest PlayStation Community on the net

waris

I use vodahost.com since 2006 and I have unlimited disc space and bandwith and have never had any problem since I signed up.

I have 3 dot com domains with them.

Their cPanel is fully loaded with everything you will ever need. You will be able to install SMF forums directly from your cpanel.
Just visit their website and check everything out.

Kindred

there is no such thing as unlimited ANYTHING.

Any host which sells "unlimited" programs is almost certainly an overseller and *WILL* cause issues if you actually use a significant amount of server resources or bandwidth.

Additionally -- installing **ANYTHING** from your CPanel is a terrible, terrible idea.
Слaва
Украинi

Please do not PM, IM or Email me with support questions.  You will get better and faster responses in the support boards.  Thank you.

"Loki is not evil, although he is certainly not a force for good. Loki is... complicated."

waris

You may have your own opinion Kindred.

I have been using VodaHost with unlimited disk space since 2006 without any problem at all.
so you should not discourage others from using "unlimited".

You may think there is a catch to such offers but my 9 years of using unlimited say some are bonafide offers not all are lip service.

Bigguy

There is a problem with unlimited. Just because you have had no problems does not mean that all of a sudden unlimited is good. How does a host offer UNLIMITED disk space, have you ever thought about that. ? I mean all they have is hard drives for everything that is on their servers. So how do they give you UNLIMITED space...they can't. Same with bandwidth. It is a scam, it always has been and it always will be.

Kindred

I most certainly SHOULD discourage users from using "unlimited" hosts...

because when their site gets shut down or slow -- they first come complain to US...

while I am happy (for you) that you have had a good relationship with your host... my *20* years of dealing with a variety of hosts and hvaing to help folks who have been screwed by their "unlimited" host says that I am correct.
Слaва
Украинi

Please do not PM, IM or Email me with support questions.  You will get better and faster responses in the support boards.  Thank you.

"Loki is not evil, although he is certainly not a force for good. Loki is... complicated."

Biology Forums

@peggyren23

These guys are great: http://www.ifastnet.com/

Used their service for many years until I outgrew them!

青山 素子

Quote from: waris on March 30, 2015, 06:30:18 AM
I have been using VodaHost with unlimited disk space since 2006 without any problem at all.
so you should not discourage others from using "unlimited".

How much of that "unlimited" space are you using? What about traffic?

I'll try to be a bit more nuanced here in my opinion.

With shared hosting, there's been a huge rush to the bottom. Most of the customers using the services will be very small sites and many will not be familiar with what they need at all. They will be focused on two things: price and resources. Offering "unlimited" makes some people feel better as they don't have to monitor their usage and worry they'll get cut off near the end of the billing cycle because of a bump in traffic. Because of these two focuses, the mass shared hosting market basically has to offer "unlimited" because all their competitors do too, and unless a hosting company is pure trash, the customer will try to get more for less.

That said, it's important to remember that there really is no such thing as no limits. You can only put so much storage in a server. You can only have so much bandwidth to consume. You certainly can set up your systems to use a SAN, and run multiple gigabit lines to each server, but then you start running into expenses as a hosting company that can't be covered by what the customers are paying you.

Most hosting companies will set limits in their terms of service. Sometimes they'll set limits on how much CPU you can consume, other times it's limits on number of files and total size often broken down by type. Often, it's multiple restrictions. All these are in place to make sure you won't use so many resources that you cost them money. Heck, look over at VodaHost's TOS and you'll see the limits they put in place.

All this is leading up to me saying that "unlimited" isn't an instant "run away" sign like it used to be. Basically every major shared host is an overseller. However, there's a difference between overselling and "overselling". The good hosts will make it clear what they are doing and will likely charge a bit more than bottom-barrel hosts. They'll be very forthcoming that they oversubscribe their resources, as most people won't use but a fraction of their allocation. The bad "oversellers" will try their best to bury their actions. These hosts will cram servers full of accounts, blame you when you report speed issues (or any issue really - support people are expensive!), and basically do their best to do as little as possible that costs them money.

The really good shared hosts actually advertise what your resource limits are and do their best to oversubscribe resources as little as possible. They'll be more expensive than "unlimited" hosts, but you also know that the resources promised will be available.

So, if you're just playing around with SMF and have a small site, an "unlimited" shared host may work great for you for a long time, if you didn't happen to choose one of those "overseller" companies. A really good shared host, with up-front resource limits may work great for even longer. It all depends on your site usage.


Quote from: waris on March 30, 2015, 06:30:18 AM
You may think there is a catch to such offers but my 9 years of using unlimited say some are bonafide offers not all are lip service.

You likely got lucky. You're probably on a server that isn't overloaded. Perhaps VodaHost doesn't pack their servers like some companies, or maybe you have remained lucky.

As for "oversellers", there are a lot out there to stay away from. GoDaddy fits the definition of overseller that I listed above (packs servers tight, blames you when you report a problem). Any company owned by Endurance International Group is the same (they all use the same server back-end, so switching between the companies won't do you any good). EIG operates so many brands because they prey on people looking only at price and jumping from a bad experience with one of their brands to just use another one. Bluehost is owned by EIG, so I'd avoid them.

As margarett said above, look at reviews in our Hosting board. They'll come from people running SMF and will be good if you're looking explicitly for SMF-friendly hosting. You can also look over at WebHostingTalk for more reviews and to see what the general opinion on a hosting company is.
Motoko-chan
Director, Simple Machines

Note: Unless otherwise stated, my posts are not representative of any official position or opinion of Simple Machines.


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