Web Hosting Talk : Web Hosting Main Forums : Web Hosting : Best Host for Potentially Popular Website

[mpcidm]

Hey guys. I'm starting up a potentially (hopefully) popular website. It won't be for business. The pages will be pretty small, a mixture of PHP/HTML. MySQL accesses will be a part of it, of course.

I'll also be having a phpBB forum. I won't be hosting large files (if any) for download. Images will probably be very scarce.

I want a good, cheap host that can be reliable, that can handle the loads, and will be easy to upgrade (meaning, I won't have to pay an arm and a leg if I have any bandwidth overages).

First I was looking at DreamHost (they've got a nice deal for the first year with a coupon... but then it gets expensive). They seem to allow for a good deal of bandwidth for the price, but the small bit of research I did told me that their uptimes, and response times, aren't so hot.

I had a little stint with 1&1 a few months ago for an unrelated project. However, I don't like their deactivation process (it was a hassle, involving emails, fax, signatures, etc. It went smoothly, however). Their cheap plan has a good price, but their more expensive ones don't really match up with other hosts.

Right now, HostGator is looking very attractive to me. Does it sound like a good choice for me? I was thinking of starting with the "Hatchling" plan, and going from there. I think I read here that it's a month-to-month payment plan, as opposed to a year in advance, which is what I like.

Any suggestions are welcome.

[mrgeekchris]

Hostgator .. they got great support .. it would be a great choice ..

[jflattery]

you could try Hostparlor.com I have found him reliable and quick to answer any of my problem, give him a try

[goatitis]

I have Bluehost...they seem to fit what you're looking for

[dave-dave]

Hostgator is a good host. They seem to fit your needs and I have been extremely pleased with the service and support they provide.

[Amy-T]

crucialwebhost.com is good and has great support.

[Jedito]

If you wont use a lot of space/bandwidth just disregard those hosts offering tons of space and bandwidth for just a few bucks, and, if you plan to use a lot of space and bandwidth, discard them with more reason

For what I read, your site should be fine in any reliable shared host (which usually are not those offering tons of space and bandwidth for the price of a 6 beers pack)

[Amy-T]

I should mention as I forgot to until I was just reminded do to seeing the above post.
Downtownhost.com is one of my favorite hosts.
Awesome support and great service.

[ldcdc]

I want a good, cheap host that can be reliable, that can handle the loads, and will be easy to upgrade (meaning, I won't have to pay an arm and a leg if I have any bandwidth overages).

With the hosts you're looking at, and the type of sites you plan to host, you'll be using too much of the CPU way before you'll reach your data transfer limit.

Generally, the amount of computing power at your disposal is in a more or less direct relation to the amount you're paying. The less you pay, the less you get. The reasoning is simple enough. The host must make a profit, so each server must have at least x accounts on it, at a price of y. The less you pay, the more accounts need to be put on the server. The more accounts, the less server resources (CPU and memory) available per account.

Stay away from overages. They're always expensive compared to what you get with your hosting package, even at the higher end of the hosting spectrum.

[iHubNet-Matt]

Well, I too have the same point suggested by ldcdc and Jedito.
You will get for what you pay. You will be able to find hosts offering tons of disk space and BW for a few $$. But when you go for a cheaper package you will be forced to compromise on another side and it will be reliability.

Go through the forums and do d agood homework before you make a decision.

[mpcidm]

Thanks for all of the responses. I'll do some more research.

Here's a question. On my website, if any page will be viewed, it will be the page that accesses the database. I see that HostGator only allows 25 simultaneous MySQL connections. Let's say my website gets popular... is 25 enough? Any hosts that allow more?

[ldcdc]

Let's say my website gets popular... is 25 enough?

It depends on your definitions of popular.

You can have more than 25 users online/browsing a forum and not reach the 25 connections limit, as the connections have to be simultaneous. I wouldn't venture much above the 50 users level on though. But that's just me.

You can always send a presales email and ask what kind of usage would be safe in the host's opinion, based on their experience.

Any hosts that allow more?

I'm sure there are. More isn't always a sign of better though. If a host charges $10 and allows 200 simultaneous connections, it's such a lax policy that it may very well not be there. Restrictions do have a role, and that is to maintain the server's performance within certain parameters. Finding the right balance is the trick.

[Annex]

Originally Posted by mpcidm

Thanks for all of the responses. I'll do some more research.

Here's a question. On my website, if any page will be viewed, it will be the page that accesses the database. I see that HostGator only allows 25 simultaneous MySQL connections. Let's say my website gets popular... is 25 enough? Any hosts that allow more?

What I find is that if you multiply the simultaneous connections by 10, You will get The number of users "online". I used to administrate a forum of over 70,000 members, and often there were more than 300 users online, but the mysql connections usually never pass 30, as people do connections at different times. If you find your site is close to the limit, You can always disable high length queries such as forum searches. Pageloads are usually queried faster than the page loads for the person, Making more than 25 concurrent connections hard to break unless you are doing a massive searches.