Drupal Hosts Share your experience with Drupal Hosting!

Personally, I've had good experiences with AN Hosting. I've been using them since 2006 (over three years now).

I've had my site land on the front page of Reddit a few times now, and they've always been able to handle the traffic.

Take a look at my review, I've got some traffic stats, performance numbers, and some other interesting checklist-type stuff that Drupal users should be looking for.

I've been with Dreamhost for about 2.5 years now, and am very satisfied.

They do not really advertise as a Drupal web-host, but these are some of their features which have helped me a lot with running Drupal sites:
- crontab.
- Shell access and the ability to organize sites with symbolic links, to make the whole thing vastly more maintainable. I run seven Drupal sites on two codebases (5.x and 6.x) and have written a whole collection of shell scripts for various admin tasks on it.
- PHP 5, which they keep updated. If you need more PHP features, you can also set up your own php.ini to include additional extensions, or even compile PHP from scratch.

For beginners who can't use all that, they also offer a one-click managed installation of Drupal, that they keep updated for you. You can't modify it though, so advanced users would want to set up their own site.

I started using Bluehost to host Drupal in the late fall of 2005. They haven't been perfect, but it's hard to tell where there were true service interruptions vs. me being on a learning curve. They may not be appropriate for very high-traffic sites (I'm considering Media Temple as the next option in such a case).

One thing that is really great about them is the phone support: I've usually had a great experience if I needed to call and get advice on a configuration question. Only once I got a guy who just didn't seem to have the skills-- I hung up, called back, and got someone more knowledgeable.

Currently I'm going into e-commerce, with SSL etc.. It seems a bit tricky to setup a site like foo.net, customer1.foo.net, and customer2.foo.net and have all of it under one SSL cert. I hope it can be worked out.

The only problem I have with ANHosting's shared host service is they won't let me direct which directory each domain or subdomain goes to. For instance, I have a multi-site setup with multiple domain names pointed to the root of my web folder. That works fine. I can create a subdomain, but it requires me to point it to a new folder. It won't let me point the subdomain to my primary drupal install.

On the same note, if I want to create a new Drupal install for a single site, I can, but I can't add more domain names to that drupal install for another multi-site setup.

I have asked for this functionality and basically they say I have to spend the $ on a VPS to get what I want.

Other than that lack of functionality, I must say that ANHosting has good uptime, a nice live chat function for support, and a useful trouble ticket system that gets me very prompt responses.

Multisite will work on AN Hosting, you just need to replace the subdirectory that cPanel creates with a link to your files. This is true for all hosting companies that use cPanel (which is most of them). Here's a simple guide:

http://drupal.org/node/125539

I have been using Bluehost for a year now and haven't had much problem with them, but I don't get much traffic and am farily new to maintaining a drupal site. However I have read a lot of bad things about Bluehst(and host gator), so I was thinking of swithing to A2 hosting as my account expires soon.

It seems to me that there is just as much bad press as there is good for any of the big hosting solutions.

I'm not aware of any upload size limits on AN Hosting. I've uploaded files that are several hundred megs without any problems.

AN Hosting lets you control those settings via your php.ini file. Here's the setting I'm currently using:

post_max_size = 30M
upload_max_filesize = 30M

You can adjust it as needed.

Keep in mind that uploading really large files via HTTP is impractical for other reasons (the HTTP protocol doesn't support resuming, for example), and I would really suggest using FTP for anything over 50M.

I've used Hot Drupal, HostGator, and DreamHost, as well as Server Powered, RackSpace, and a few others for larger projects.

So far, for quick and dirty sites that won't be getting more than a few hundred (or even a few thousand) visitors a day (i.e. 90% of websites today), I think HostGator and DreamHost have the best service/performance/price ratio of all the hosts I've researched.

Hot Drupal is run by an amazing staff and is owned by a very kind and hard-working IT pro, Steve. The first week I set up one of my largest Drupal sites yet on Hot Drupal, the server went down around 11:30 p.m. (central), and I was working on finishing up some loose ends. I called their 800 number, and guess who answered? Steve cordially talked to me for a few minutes and let me know *exactly* what was going on. They had a problem with one of their two Internet connections. Within half an hour the problem was fixed.

I've never had that kind of support from an online company (heck, even most B&M stores don't have that kind of support!), and for this reason alone I'm going to stick with them for any other larger projects I work on, unless the projects need dedicated servers (for which I'll go to RackSpace, most likely).

The only thing that I'm waiting to see is how Hot Drupal can scale up as they get more and more customers. If they can even give me half the support they've given so far on future support tickets, I'll be set with them for life!

A note on Server Powered: I moved away from them due to a declining helpfulness in support, and due to the fact that they canceled one of my accounts with them after five years because we missed one monthly payment—even after I had emailed them ahead of time and told them I was working on getting a new credit card for the account!

AN Hosting has the fastest Drupal hosting I have seen to date and it is on par with some dedicated and VPS installs that I have worked with. However, this might have something to do with the new data center they are now in and maybe because their boxes aren't quite full of other shared hosts just yet -- just speculation there.

But I've got to say that I've had a problem with AN Hosting. I signed up two clients with them and they both ended up on ans50. This was when they were in their old data center and we often had bandwidth problems with their upstream provider there in Chicago. But the took action and moved us over to a new box, ans26, just before they did their big data center move.

When they migrated us over, they moved the old version of the site (ans50) instead of the new version. They apparently had some bad housekeeping and didn't seem to update the account profile to say that we were now on ans50 and they didn't remove the account on ans26. It took them several days to resolve this after repeated calls and multiple claims that they had it in the "911 queue". Still, they refused to give me an ETA. Instead, the issue just languished and so did we.

Then it happened again right before Christmas with one client and just after the new year with the other. Apparently they moved us again, but again built out the new account with the data from ans26. I told them on several occasions that this was the problem. The sites were down for even longer this time - for over a week. I kept on calling to get updates and then one front line technician, after speaking to him on repeated occasions, said he was going to let his supervisor know - ---- THANK YOU! That apparently worked because our site was back up in 4 hours.

I accept that hosting providers are going to have problems. I don't disparage them for making mistakes. Rather, I grade them on how they handle their problems. I give them credit for moving data centers to solve their problems, but I give them an F for basically ignoring my insistence that my site needed to be restored. For some odd reason, I still like them and I haven't written them off completely, but I will be using the Backup and Migrate module with some sort of ftp running on cron.

http://drupal.org/project/backup_migrate

Is there a workaround for setting up Wildcard redirect? I need it for the Domain Access module but ANhosting doesn't offer it on their shared servers...

I've started using HostGator for my first Drupal project and love them. Their support is phenomenal. But, I didn't seen any special support for setting up Drupal sites. Where did you find support for setting up Drupal sites on HostGator.

I've also had good experiences with HostGator. While I haven't run any very large sites there, I am running something like 7 smaller sites on a multi-site install with no problems.

One I would avoid is ProNIC Solutions. They were my first shared host, and used to be quite good. Their uptime deteriorated sharply a couple of years ago, which prompted my move to HostGator. Now I've had an open ticket on my little remaining data for well over a month with no response.

Always good as in Drupal good, never had any issues and support is just that support and fast. http://www.hostnine.com/

Excellent response times, fast, reliable shared service. The best Shared Hosting experience in my 1 year with them, then I've had in 15 years of using shared hosting with quit a few others.

Vince,

I don't make any money off that coupon code. It's a generic code AN Hosting provides. The same goes for all coupon codes on this site.

That said, I am an AN Hosting affiliate. If you sign up via my site, I'll probably get a commission. If you do, thanks. It helps me fund my Drupal projects, like this site, Drupal Modules, Drupal Code Search, etc.

I have been using IXwebhosting for about 2 years now. If you are a novice drupal developer. They are great, they support most basic drupal configurations and their technical team sometimes answers drupal related issues. BUT as soon as you try to do anything real technical they cough and stumble. They block a lot of ports example IMAP and POP and said they wont open them, no shell account, limited to 2MBwebftp and phpmyadmin upload size, seperate sites for database and web hosting, numerous database server downtime issues, sometimes really slow, i am not sure about multisite support but i havent gotten it to work. maybe because I havent tried hard enough. Otherwise its a pretty userfriendly interface and they give you php.ini right and "unlimited" storage and bandwidth - limited by a clause in their terms and agreement.
So for basic to intermediate level sites, they can go, they currently host about 15 drupal sites for me so its workable. Im impressed by the anhosting comments so I am going to test it out soon - I will give you a comparison after a few months.

http://byethost.com
I'm using it to experiment with my project and thinking of upgrading it there to a paid account (the one I'm using is free account). Has anyone else tried it??

I was hosting a couple of Drupal sites with Dreamhost, I even went to their "sudo" VPS. I was still displeased with their performance. I then went around testing a view other providers then I came across Linode. They are simply the best VPS hosting provider there is. The level of control you have along with their policy of NOT over stacking their servers provides an outstanding environment for Drupal. The speed, stability and flexibility IMO are unmatched. I've been with them for a good year now and I couldn't be happier. I bootstrapped a Gentoo Linux environment which results in a lean, mean and rock solid stable site with Drupal.

My recommendation, take the time and build a good environment. The support forums are very good and friendly environment to guide you to building your VPS. If this isn't an option seriously hire someone to set it up, it's well worth the time/effort.

Tim: Not as far as I know.

As Drupal becomes more complex, and as people design more great modules, the PHP Memory Limit is becoming a real bear. Views, Images and CiviCRM are memory hogs, and shared hosing providers have hard limits at 12M (ANHosting) and 50M (Bluehost). You are dead in the water with 50M if you have images, views and CiviCRM.

The low memory limit permitted by ANHosting seems like a serious bug for a company that claims to offer good Drupal support.

Nobody seems to have a second tier for shared hosting. I wouldn't mind paying $12.95 for my small-scale CiviCRM website, or $25/month if it was a larger one.

I've been using DreamHost since 2007 and haven't regretted it. They let you host as many domains as you want, provide you with CRAZY diskspace/bandwidth and give you a lot of features.

They also let you have a Virtual Private Server, so you can have a dedicated server (minus root access) for less than the cost of a real dedicated server.

I'm impressed with DreamHost and recommend them to everyone.

I second Tim's suggestion to avoid StartLogic. They are good for static sites, but are in way over their heads on Drupal! Admin login times can be up to 100 seconds and typical daytime response time for admin pages is 60 - 80 seconds. Tech support is no help.

Bill

Paul,

Transferring your files is the easy part, you can just copy your Drupal directory and import the database from MySQL. The hard part is that most VPS accounts are unmanaged. You have to install and maintain everything, including Apache, MySQL, PHP, etc. Unless you're familiar with setting up and maintaining a Linux box, I wouldn't recommend a VPS. Compared to a shared account, you get a lot more power, but "with great power comes great responsibility".

I signed up with hotdrupal.com for around $10 a month. They have the best and fastest support that I've experienced and best of all, their servers are quick. I have over 5K nodes on my site and still kicks ass. I was surprised it was even faster than my local install.

I've used Pair Networks for the last six or seven years and have hosted small and large size/traffic sites with them. I highly recommend them. They are a big company, but their support is intelligent and dedicated, and most importantly--you have no trouble reaching people on the other end of the phone every time. I've run several CMS systems with them, and at least 7 were Drupal sites. The Drupal sites run flawlessly.

On the downside, Pair is a little expensive, and they don't have a great interface for casual account maintenance. (Their control panel is actually primitive compared to some of the other hosting services out there.) I did have an issue with them recently regarding email spam control--they really weren't much help in that department. They also did some unannounced system upgrades that caused me several headaches, but they were easily fixed. All in all, the service is rock solid and the technical support is really top notch.

Hokualahou,

Thanks for the feedback. That list is supplied by a 3rd party, so I don't control who shows up and who doesn't. Before signing up with any host, it's a good idea to check with their tech support to see if they support Drupal.

John
With AN Hosting do you know whether I need to also add a PHP.INI file in the root of my Addon domains, or does the master php.ini cover everything ?

Cheers

Dave

They refer to it as terms, like I'm going to pay 3 years in advanced, (I don't think so).
I only go with web hosts that do month to month with no long term commitments.

Long term is not necessary especially in this day and age where you should be trying a host out first and chances are you may be gone within the first 30 days.

The best hosts include (best meaning easy to leave if you have to)
> Unlimited Everything (no commitment)
> Low Monthly Fees - $3-$5

Many hosts will include an icon of a popular CMS, this does not mean they have good support for them, it just means they are selling what you want want to see.

That's why the future of web host searching comes down to this, you need to be able to plug and unplug very easy, you try it out for 30 days to see how you like and if not you can pick up and move your site to another company.

This is the only thing I look at since many hosts offer you everything but a cup of coffee so promises come cheap.

any word yea/nay on Hostmonster
- that is my second choice versus HostGator
- i am moving (finally after 7 years) from godaddy which is more of a sales operation than a hoster (every button on their site is trying to sell you something, and you just want to find the button to manage your domain)

A lot of people host community sites on AN, so it shouldn't be a problem. You might need to upgrade to a VPS if you grow really big. I hosted a friends forum on AN Hosting for most of 2009, we got up to about a million forum posts and then decided it was time to upgrade to a $40/month VPS. So, I'd say start with AN, it's a lot cheaper to use shared hosting while you grow your site.

Things I like about Hostnine
- just one plan, includes everything you'd ever want and more, all for one low price.
- unlimited domain host.
- cpanel (mandatory in my book)
- prices never change always cheap, no hidden fees or long term commitments.
- very generous with php/mysql tuning.
- they are always improving their servers to make it better.
- support is excellent
- with hostnine it feels like you are working with professionals not marketers.
I can't tell you what a relief it is to not have to experience the same crap and problems many face with webhosts these days.

My sites has been just released after 3 days ban after claimed my Drupal sites cause CPU overload and need to do something about it. Hostexcellence.com has been a pain to cooperate and let me have access to my sites. I am looking for something with couple of dedicated IP in the package and Unlimited the rest.

I tested C.Panel but I found it useless when you have 10 domain on your hosting. It puts all the file for the first domain in the main directory and makes it hard to find the right folder to work with.

Anyone has any suggestion for a good reliable Drupal hosting? Any experience with IXwebHosting.com?

I have had the same experience with siteground - but worse... our server was somehow hacked b/c one of the other virtual hosts on the same box was compromised. I'm not even sure how this could even happen - but it did & I had to reinstall everything. today I found out that they're based somewhere in eastern europe with a co-lo facility in the US - but they will not tell me any specifics on where...

The non-localhost dbserver actually saved us b/c the DB remained in tact and I still had most of the modules on my local machine.. but I had to redo some of the MODs due to siteground's sloppy security. Many times I prefer to have a separate box for mysql - the added latency is negligible on a good network. However, if you have overtaxed & underpowered servers in one country connecting to a dbserver running in somebody's mother's basement (in some undisclosed 2nd world country), I could see how performance could take a hit.

Now they're trying to convince me that if I upgrade to their "Business Class" servers, my problems will go away. Question: If your "shared" servers are not "Business Class" why would anyone want them? I could save $30/mo & setup a linux cluster in my mom's basement, too! Nostrovia!

My contract is up in a few months - I am now looking at bluehost.

I've used Drupal for my small church's site since 2006 or so, and after our local hosting company went belly-up, I went farther afield, to Atlanta and A Small Orange.

It's worked out great for us. They're available in the wee, small hours, and they're quite Drupal-friendly. It's not a high-volume site (not many Lutherans in the South), but if something breaks, it's usually because I messed up, not because of our host.