I need a new web host

[dpep]

I would be interested in hearing about any experiences good or bad anyone has had with web hosting services.

I have a small personal site that I mostly just use as a Dropbox alternative for photo links. I went with GoDaddy many years ago and just never got around to moving elsewhere as it got increasingly expensive. But this year it has gotten increasingly bad. Right now I cannot ftp anything to my site. The support has been abysmal. I just spent over two hours working with them on my problem and they essentially blew me off. When I googled them up I found out I am lucky I don't have anything critical on my site. And at least my site is up. There were people with businesses that all of a sudden had their sites pulled and had to get a lawyer to make GoDaddy put them back up. Their reputation is trash.

The names I see recommended highest in my searches are Hostinger and Bluehost. But if anyone has some personal experience with a provider they could pass on it would have weight with my decision.

[Baatfam]

Ugh....Not good.
I no longer have a web site, but I still use GoDaddy for my email client and for my domain names. And yes, the cost has gone up for even that.
I really can't help you with an alternative, Don. But I appreciate the warning. Guess I should start shopping around.

[Rijko]

I have great experiences with Vimexx.
Not expensive, SSD disks, lotsa diskspace, etc.
They have a bunch of scripts and tools to monitor the sites they host.
And support is excellent.

[bwringer]

I've used Dreamhost for my personal stuff (and some pro stuff, but nothing mission-critical) for many, many years, and I've always been very happy with the product, pricing, and support.

I have used Bluehost in the past, but I'd avoid them now; very confusing, and support is nonexistent.

Friends don't let friends use GoDaddy for ANYTHING. Or Network Solutions.

FWIW, I have used name.com for domain name registration and DNS for a long time, both professional and personally, and they've been exemplary. Absolutely stellar. Cloudflare offers free DNS for one domain name, and it's fantastic.

Enterprise level stuff is a whole 'nuther conversation, but you'd be appalled by how many of my clients (mostly financial institutions) are still using GoDaddy or Network Solutions.


The common thread above in the services I've named above that stick around and maintain quality is US ownership with a minimum of private equity investment. As soon as a company gets bought out by PE, especially foreign investors, quality and support are gone forever.

Newfold digital is one of the worst offenders in this regard. Absolutely avoid any of these brands in this rogue's gallery:

https://newfold.com/brands

There are many other brands owned by this group that are not listed here and have been turned into absolute trash, so be careful, be skeptical, and pay close attention to who actually owns the company.

As Rijko notes, there are some excellent providers in Europe; for the stuff I do professionally I have to stay in the US, so I don't know much about them.

[Baatfam]

bwringer
So Brian, all I need is a place to keep my domain name and my email client. So name.com and Dreamhost? Or will one do both for me.

[bwringer]

bwringer
So Brian, all I need is a place to keep my domain name and my email client. So name.com and Dreamhost? Or will one do both for me.

Either can do any or all the above, and more. Dreamhost and name.com both resells domain name registration and email, in assorted flavors.

If it's easier for you, you can use a single provider to buy and manage everything. They also make things much easier by pre-configuring the DNS stuff for you, so it's a great option of you're not already a web pro.

For example, you can buy domain name registration and DNS from name.com, and also sign up for Google Workspace (email and extremely useful suite of online apps) at the same time. They also offer Titan email, which is just email and cheaper than Workspace. In this situation, Name.com is acting as a reseller for Google and Titan.

Name.com also offers inexpensive simple hosting/email packages. (This basic email is not very well filtered, and may not work well for you.)

For email and productivity apps, I use and recommend Google Workspace, whether you buy it directly or via a reseller. Their spam filtering and security is pretty much the best on the planet. But they're not as cheap as some.

For building a basic business or personal website with no coding experience, avoid Wix at all costs (seriously awful) and perhaps consider Squarespace. Again, with Squarespace, you can also purchase your domain name and set up email at the same time if you wish.

Unless you need something very specific, I do not recommend WordPress for beginners; it's amazing, and it's what we use at work to build enterprise websites, but it requires active, knowledgable management to stay reliable and secure. Any of the cheap hosts can set up and host WordPress for you, but it's just way too much trouble for basic stuff, IMHO.

Confused yet?

To boil it all down to one one-stop-shopping recommendation, I would recommend Dreamhost if your goal is basic inexpensive shared web hosting (where you can use SFTP to manage files), and optionally sign up for Google Workspace for email, storage, and productivity apps. You could also just sign up for their basic inexpensive email if that's all you need. You can also buy your domain via Dreamhost if you like, and they automate much of the DNS management stuff to make it easy.


If your goal is more to build a website for a business or a hobby, especially if you'd like to set up an online store, take a look at the Squarespace site builder (again, they also resell the rest of the services you need, such as domain registration, email, etc.). They make it fairly easy and quick to set up a nice-looking site, set up a store, etc. However, you don't really get SFTP access so you can store files.

Weebly is pretty decent for this sort of thing as well, but I think the edge for business sites and online sales goes to Squarespace.


Avoid Wix. It's just... awful. Very difficult to deal with, absolute brain cramp of a website builder.

As I mentioned earlier, others to avoid for anything and at all costs are Network Solutions and GoDaddy. There are several others to avoid, such as Hostgator, Bluehost, etc.

[Baatfam]

Very good, Brian. Thanks. No longer host a web site, just maintain the domain we have consistent email addresses.
Once the holidays are over, I'll dig into it.

Thanks again.

[bwringer]

Very good, Brian. Thanks. No longer host a web site, just maintain the domain we have consistent email addresses.
Once the holidays are over, I'll dig into it.

Thanks again.

In that case, since you don't need web hosting, then name.com with an inexpensive email add-on might be the way to go.

[dpep]

Either can do any or all the above, and more. Dreamhost and name.com both resells domain name registration and email, in assorted flavors.

If it's easier for you, you can use a single provider to buy and manage everything. They also make things much easier by pre-configuring the DNS stuff for you, so it's a great option of you're not already a web pro.

Brian, what about someone in my situation who wants to transfer everything from single provider GoDaddy to to single provider Dreamhost or other? The site is simple html coding with no commerce. My email is separate with Earthlink.

What are the steps? Is it possible to just sign on with a new provider, give them the authorizations, and let them handle things from there? I am willing to pay handsomely to avoid the frustration of ever having to interact with GoDaddy again. Their lack of both cooperation and competence is harmful to my mental health.

[Nessism]

bwringer

Hey Brian, do you need support (money) for hosting Cliff's old website? You are doing the community a SOLID by picking up duty, but I don't think it's fair if you are footing the bill alone.

[dpep]

bwringer

Hey Brian, do you need support (money) for hosting Cliff's old website? You are doing the community a SOLID by picking up duty, but I don't think it's fair if you are footing the bill alone.

Amen................

[bwringer]

Brian, what about someone in my situation who wants to transfer everything from single provider GoDaddy to to single provider Dreamhost or other? The site is simple html coding with no commerce. My email is separate with Earthlink.

What are the steps? Is it possible to just sign on with a new provider, give them the authorizations, and let them handle things from there? I am willing to pay handsomely to avoid the frustration of ever having to interact with GoDaddy again. Their lack of both cooperation and competence is harmful to my mental health.

Dreamhost has a guide here for DIY:

https://help.dreamhost.com/hc/en-us/articles/360042035012-Migrating-from-GoDaddy-to-DreamHost-overview

Their knowledge base and their support folks are quite good (although you have to use the chat)



But if you really want to go hands-off, Dreamhost offers "Pro Services" that can handle this sort of thing for you. Look under "Site Migration" or "Website Transfer".

https://www.dreamhost.com/pro-services/management/website-transfer/

Pricing seems pretty reasonable, actually.

[bwringer]

bwringer

Hey Brian, do you need support (money) for hosting Cliff's old website? You are doing the community a SOLID by picking up duty, but I don't think it's fair if you are footing the bill alone.

I greatly appreciate the thought, but no, I don't need any support.

For one, the GS Archive is a tiny fraction of the resources I have available on my personal web hosting at Dreamhost, and for another my hosting costs me very little thanks to their referral program and a couple of referrals.

However, I just learned that Dreamhost recently changed their referral program. I had to sign up again, and I should have a new referral link in a few days. So if you're thinking of signing up with Dreamhost and you don't mind waiting a few days, using my referral link would be appreciated.

I'll check in a little later when I get a new link.

[bwringer]

Howdy, gents!

Here's my Dreamhost affiliate link -- just start with this link if you decide to sign up with Dreamhost, and the rest is automatic.

http://click.dreamhost.com/aff_c?offer_id=8&aff_id=20999&source=gsr

I may earn a commission if you purchase DreamHost services through my link, but this won't increase your cost. Any commissions in excess of what little is needed to pay for GS Archive hosting will be donated to TheGSResources.com forum.

If affiliate links aren't cool here, just let me know and I'll remove this post.