For personal stuff I use Tektonic who are pretty good. The price is very competative, tech support exists, and they accomodate special requests with no particular hassle (e.g. please make sure my two VPSs are in different data centers).
Last time they had a problem was a few years ago (server hardware failure) and they bothered to give updates frequently and rapidly opened up new temporary hosts for customers who had backups to restore from. Pretty good service for a 'no support' plan.
Yes it's an affiliate link but they are truly amazing. Prices are great and come with full support and management. Highly recommended. Have never had an easier experience.
Woah, expensive. I've had way better-priced dedicated servers from leaseweb, vectoral and layeredtech for the same price as some of those VPSs. Unmanaged, but still way cheaper. Think terabytes of transfer and better specs..hmm.
I used interland.com (bought out a while ago) and serverpronto.com, but now I use business grade Verizon FIOS in my basement with a Mac Mini on a 2 hour UPS. Uptime has been 100% over the last year (except for the reboots I did for software updates).
I used to run a lot of mailman lists and have discovered the hardest thing to do is to get a set of "clean" IP addresses. Serverpronto was tough, they were blocked a lot. Interland was ok. My Verizon address block (I get 5 static IPs) is not on any RBLs but they sit in the middle of what are generally dynamic IPs so some big sites (esa.int, notably) reject email from my system.
We use The Planet (http://www.theplanet.com) along with EC2 from AWS. I've used The Planet for about 7 years now, for both business and personal use. Good prices, decent support and a top notch network.
Just started with them too. Steep learning curve getting everything done myself (other hosts really pamper their customers!) but dang are the servers fast.
And besides, every true web hacker needs to know how to set up a server from scratch!
I think "pamper" might be looking at it the wrong way. Other providers do provide nice click interfaces, but compared to slicehost, they are very limited. I would say slicehost pampers their customers with their fantastic service and unlimited possibilities.
If you honestly want to be "green" you can make changes to your personal behaviour (such as using CFLs, recycled packaging etc.) and not rely on some company to hold your hand and make you feel like you're making a difference for a little extra cash.
I personally tend to lose respect for companies that try to upsell their "green" options, much in the same way I am dubious of extended warranties.
I also hope you realise that even if they were to offer a "green" option it probably wouldn't mean they're going to stick a windmill on top of their colo, they'd just use your extra cash to offset the environmental cost of the electricity you used, much in the same way you can.
Don't get me wrong, I a happy Slichost customer and have made efforts to recycle and use public transport for the environment's sake since I was a child, but this recent rash of "green" buzzwording really ires me as it seems to be used in a most insincere and vapid manner, instead of people actually taking a rational, pragmatic approach to environmental efficiency.
He probably wants a "green" option so he can advertise it on the site itself -- that will make it popular with the hipster crowd, the kind who has the Facebook widget "My Profile is Carbon Neutral" (ignoring the obvious fact that the greenest Facebook profile is no profile at all)
If you honestly want to be "green" you can make changes to your personal behaviour (such as using CFLs, recycled packaging etc.) and not rely on some company to hold your hand
But surely hosting is by definition an area where you need a company to do it for you? Things like what you eat, how you travel, etc, you can control yourself, but the whole point of shared hosting is that you don't own or even see the server.
The other point I made was that even if they were offering "green" VPSs it doesn't mean they're going to have a "green" and "non-green" power cables running in to the building and they put your VPS in the rack hooked up to the "green" one. They`d probably just do exactly what you can do yourself, pay someone to offset the environmental cost.
One of the main things about purposefully choosing "green" companies, often at increased cost, is that you are influencing the market based on your preference. Choosing environmentally friendly products encourages companies to offer them (I also appreciate that this is why many abuse the term).
Furthermore, if you wish to brand your site or company as "green" you should probably do a little more than choose a "green" VPS provider lest you further obviate the term.
I have no idea who agreed with you, but I am against the major theme of your reply.
I never said I wanted something gimmicky, I never said I wasn't personally environmentally conscious. I like to do everything I can in all aspects of my life to try and leave as small of a footprint as I can. I have never owned a car, I became a vegetarian for its environmental (not animal rights bullshit) reasons (10 pounds of grain or a pound of beef?), and leave the furnace off for a good part of the winters even though I am Canadian.
I'm not wanting some company to hold my hand and make mne feel like I'm making a difference, because I know I am. I'm saying I want a company that cares as much as I do. I want one that does power its servers off of 100% renewable resources. and not to say to my customers "LOOK! I CARE!".
I understand the best I'm going to get it someone purchasing offset credits, but that's better than nothing. So please sir do not judge me before you know me, do not make assumptions about what I am doing. I don't want a buzzword, I want solutions.
Automatically purchases renewable energy to offset CO2 emissions due to your clients, network, and servers, independently of your hosting provider, so you can use it with Slicehost.
I largely agree with the other replier about most green options. I suspect that if you want to do that, the easiest thing to do is make sure you don't use more computing resources than you have to, and the second is to host it yourself and power it yourself (that can be very impractical).
There are places that are trying to offer green options, that aren't that slimy -- I have met the follow that runs http://burlyhouse.net/, and his operation is nice. His prices are high, but I think most of his customers are people who also hire BurlyHouse for programming or other services.
Slicehost: For the Rails apps I write. They have a great range of tutorials and how-to articles to sysadmining isn't too much hassle.
Dreamhost: For various Wordpress blogs, Redmine (Rails) bug tracking, Subversion repositories, WebDAV -- basically the stuff you don't need to waste money on a VPS for.
+1 for slicehost. Simple, easy VPS, just works, plenty of very handy tools. Upside of any VPS, you get to manage the whole server. Downside, you have to actually manage your server.
I've used DreamHost, but their crap up-time and extra crap support drove me out. I still use them for domain registration, but that's about the same anywhere, and transferring registrars is a little bit of a pain. If you just want an easy plug-and-play test server or a personal blog, they're cheap and not completely terrible.
Slicehost rock! The only thing I can find bad about them is the pricing above 1GB RAM VPSs, but apart from that its a rock solid service with great staff! Cannot recommend them enough....
I'm curious why so many people have down-voted my comment above, as it's factual. I host stuff in my own datacenter, I don't overly promote it here, although I had considered a YC special rate. Or is it that I shouldn't promote my startup because it's not free? Several people here post links to or comments about their startup businesses without getting down-voted.
I have a VPS from WiredTree (wiredtree.com) and I can't recommend them highly enough. Good guys, great support. The only negative is that the intro VPS (with only 256MB of RAM) is a little weak, and can choke on cPanel. If you're looking for a fully-managed VPS, go with WiredTree.
For smaller-scale sites, Media Layer (medialayer.com) gets nothing but rave reviews on the webostingtalk.com forums, though I don't have any first-hand experience with them. I've used EngineHosting (enginehosting.com) for a couple ExpressionEngine based sites for clients, and they're great, too.
I have a dedicated server from Liquid Web. I can't say enough good things about them. The service is really top notch.
a) Communication: they actually speak English, you aren't forwarded to some call center in India
b) Response: If you call someone, will pick up within 3 rings. If you email you'll get the first response after 5 minutes. They really are around 24/7. I once needed something done at 3:30 am, I got a reply to my email in less than 10 minutes.
c) Its all managed, you really don't need to know anything about servers. Need a library installed? Just drop them a line, Can't figure out how to setup your server? Drop them a line. And there are no support ticket fees or any other crap like that, that other managed hosts charge.
I mean honestly, if Rackspace is any better, there better be some sex involved while I wait for them to fix the server. And with the higher prices Rackspace has, that better be the case.
Note: You should really only be using them with dedicated servers, their shared/virtual is a little bit pricey
And to those that complain about prices, think to yourself, would you rather get a problem resolved in 20 minutes, or 20 hours.
I've used VPSLink on and off depending on my needs since they started, incredibly cheap service and I've yet to have any major problems. Minor issues were resolved very quickly, great support.
I agree, VPSLink is great. Never had any problems and if you can get a coupon (they offer them fairly often) you can really get a great deal. (I got mine locked in at a lower price with the coupon I used, and I believe they've offered more since).
If you're looking for cheap dedicated hosting, I liked leaseweb, ovh and vectoral, and if a .us based host is okay, layeredtech and softlayer are excellent. Support ranges from amazing to nonexistant, but they're all _really_ cheap (except for softlayer, but you get what you pay for..) for lots and lots of transfer - I blow through a few terabytes a month on three servers, think $100/month for 3TB transfer, 250gb hdd, 1.5gb ram which slicehost can't compare to price-wise.
Otherwise for me it's a tie between slicehost, dreamhost (because i had a free promo code..) and asmallorange (i have a lifetime account). All of them meet different needs of mine, sooo.
For Rails/Merb projects that can afford it, I love Engine Yard. They're way more expensive than VPS hosts, but you get a support team who specialize in Rails/Merb deployment. It's like outsourcing your sysadmin team, too.
For lower budget, I love Slicehost.
I either want full control, or someone I trust in control.
We've been with Rails Machine for over a year and loving it. If you need some extra support and sysadmin knowledge (aka more hands-on then Slicehost) Rails Machine is absolutely the best we could wish for.
And of course additionally we also use EC2 and other AWS services.
We use MT's Dedicated Virtual offering - it's "in the cloud", but it gives us full on root access. If you go that way, however, get a box without Plesk pre-installed. Ugh.
They are carbon free and have provided great service since 2000. They use 100% solar power and have bio-diesel backup generators. Have used them for 4 months and have had a great experience.
I've been using vpslink.com for a few months for a few servers. One of my virtual servers has been rebooted without warning (which they say up front can happen, it's true) three or four times in the last two months. If I had anything important on that machine, I'd be somewhat unhappy, but it's hard to complain at their prices.
75 comments
[ 4.9 ms ] story [ 247 ms ] threadLast time they had a problem was a few years ago (server hardware failure) and they bothered to give updates frequently and rapidly opened up new temporary hosts for customers who had backups to restore from. Pretty good service for a 'no support' plan.
Yes it's an affiliate link but they are truly amazing. Prices are great and come with full support and management. Highly recommended. Have never had an easier experience.
I used to run a lot of mailman lists and have discovered the hardest thing to do is to get a set of "clean" IP addresses. Serverpronto was tough, they were blocked a lot. Interland was ok. My Verizon address block (I get 5 static IPs) is not on any RBLs but they sit in the middle of what are generally dynamic IPs so some big sites (esa.int, notably) reject email from my system.
Just started with them too. Steep learning curve getting everything done myself (other hosts really pamper their customers!) but dang are the servers fast.
And besides, every true web hacker needs to know how to set up a server from scratch!
For me great service is a must. Unlimited possibilities is why I moved to slicehost.
If you honestly want to be "green" you can make changes to your personal behaviour (such as using CFLs, recycled packaging etc.) and not rely on some company to hold your hand and make you feel like you're making a difference for a little extra cash.
I personally tend to lose respect for companies that try to upsell their "green" options, much in the same way I am dubious of extended warranties.
I also hope you realise that even if they were to offer a "green" option it probably wouldn't mean they're going to stick a windmill on top of their colo, they'd just use your extra cash to offset the environmental cost of the electricity you used, much in the same way you can.
Don't get me wrong, I a happy Slichost customer and have made efforts to recycle and use public transport for the environment's sake since I was a child, but this recent rash of "green" buzzwording really ires me as it seems to be used in a most insincere and vapid manner, instead of people actually taking a rational, pragmatic approach to environmental efficiency.
In all seriousness, that's retarded.
But surely hosting is by definition an area where you need a company to do it for you? Things like what you eat, how you travel, etc, you can control yourself, but the whole point of shared hosting is that you don't own or even see the server.
One of the main things about purposefully choosing "green" companies, often at increased cost, is that you are influencing the market based on your preference. Choosing environmentally friendly products encourages companies to offer them (I also appreciate that this is why many abuse the term).
Furthermore, if you wish to brand your site or company as "green" you should probably do a little more than choose a "green" VPS provider lest you further obviate the term.
I never said I wanted something gimmicky, I never said I wasn't personally environmentally conscious. I like to do everything I can in all aspects of my life to try and leave as small of a footprint as I can. I have never owned a car, I became a vegetarian for its environmental (not animal rights bullshit) reasons (10 pounds of grain or a pound of beef?), and leave the furnace off for a good part of the winters even though I am Canadian.
I'm not wanting some company to hold my hand and make mne feel like I'm making a difference, because I know I am. I'm saying I want a company that cares as much as I do. I want one that does power its servers off of 100% renewable resources. and not to say to my customers "LOOK! I CARE!".
I understand the best I'm going to get it someone purchasing offset credits, but that's better than nothing. So please sir do not judge me before you know me, do not make assumptions about what I am doing. I don't want a buzzword, I want solutions.
Automatically purchases renewable energy to offset CO2 emissions due to your clients, network, and servers, independently of your hosting provider, so you can use it with Slicehost.
There are places that are trying to offer green options, that aren't that slimy -- I have met the follow that runs http://burlyhouse.net/, and his operation is nice. His prices are high, but I think most of his customers are people who also hire BurlyHouse for programming or other services.
I've used DreamHost, but their crap up-time and extra crap support drove me out. I still use them for domain registration, but that's about the same anywhere, and transferring registrars is a little bit of a pain. If you just want an easy plug-and-play test server or a personal blog, they're cheap and not completely terrible.
1U Dedicated server (BYOS) for $50/mo.
Had no problems with them so far.
For smaller-scale sites, Media Layer (medialayer.com) gets nothing but rave reviews on the webostingtalk.com forums, though I don't have any first-hand experience with them. I've used EngineHosting (enginehosting.com) for a couple ExpressionEngine based sites for clients, and they're great, too.
I recommend all 3, just depends on what you need.
For example...
a) Communication: they actually speak English, you aren't forwarded to some call center in India
b) Response: If you call someone, will pick up within 3 rings. If you email you'll get the first response after 5 minutes. They really are around 24/7. I once needed something done at 3:30 am, I got a reply to my email in less than 10 minutes.
c) Its all managed, you really don't need to know anything about servers. Need a library installed? Just drop them a line, Can't figure out how to setup your server? Drop them a line. And there are no support ticket fees or any other crap like that, that other managed hosts charge.
I mean honestly, if Rackspace is any better, there better be some sex involved while I wait for them to fix the server. And with the higher prices Rackspace has, that better be the case.
Note: You should really only be using them with dedicated servers, their shared/virtual is a little bit pricey
And to those that complain about prices, think to yourself, would you rather get a problem resolved in 20 minutes, or 20 hours.
Otherwise for me it's a tie between slicehost, dreamhost (because i had a free promo code..) and asmallorange (i have a lifetime account). All of them meet different needs of mine, sooo.
For lower budget, I love Slicehost.
I either want full control, or someone I trust in control.
never had a problem.
And of course additionally we also use EC2 and other AWS services.
I joined up recently, and they're fantastic. Handle spike traffic well too :)
They are carbon free and have provided great service since 2000. They use 100% solar power and have bio-diesel backup generators. Have used them for 4 months and have had a great experience.
VPS? Slicehost
Dedicated server(s)? Softlayer
He runs his own sites and needs a lot of server power, but also leases out to his contacts (me) and the people they refer.