Recommended Web Hosting

This page contains recommendations for reliable Web hosting that can save you money.

Some of the links below may be affiliate links, but I don't recommend anything that I haven't used myself.

DigitalOcean

If you need a Linux VPS, DigitalOcean is a good choice. They also offer other kinds of hosting, like managed databases, an app platform, and free hosting for static websites. They also own Cloudways.

Use cases: full-stack apps like Django, Laravel, Rails, WordPress, etc. where you want a full Linux server.

Linode

Linode is similar to DigitalOcean. I've had good results with both companies.

Use cases: same as DigitalOcean.

Fly.io

Fly.io is like a better version of Heroku. If you have an app that is built with modern Web development techniques, you can probably deploy it to Fly. It supports Docker and you can even use managed PostgreSQL databases on the free plan.

Use cases: free small full-stack apps, Next.js, anything that can run in Docker.

Cloudflare

I like to use Cloudflare on my sites, even when they aren't hosted on Cloudflare. It manages the DNS settings for your domain, speeds up your website, and protects it against some kinds of attacks.

Cloudflare can also host static sites with Cloudflare Pages, provide backend functionality with Cloudflare Workers, and store data with D1 and other databases.

This site is hosted on Cloudflare Pages as of 2024.

Use cases: free static sites, jamstack.

Supabase

If you need an inexpensive and easy-to-use database, check out Supabase.

Astro running Cloudflare Pages along with Supabase for a backend is a combination that lets you build a dynamic SEO-friendly website starting at $0.

WPEngine

WPEngine isn't cheap, but it's a good choice for WordPress hosting.

Other Web Hosting

The services below don't let you put a cap on spending, which makes me nervous when I use them. An unexpected bill like that might sound rare -- it's kind of like winning the lottery, except the hosting company is the winner, and you're the one paying!

I have experienced the unexpected 4-figure bill, and it wasn't waived in my case, so the situation isn't that uncommon. See below for other terrifying examples of hosting gone wrong.

Netlify

Netlify provides hosting for static sites and some other kinds of "jamstack" websites.

I used to use and recommend Netlify until I heard a story about a user who was unexpectedly charged $104,000 USD. The company eventually waived the charges, but only after the story got attention.

Use cases: free static sites, jamstack.

Firebase Hosting

Firebase Hosting is an easy way to get into Google Cloud Platform. Hosting for small sites is free, including cloud functions.

Unfortunately, Firebase has similar problems to Netlify. You can't cap the billing. Here's a user who was unexpectedly charged $121,000 USD in two days. They were able to get the bill waived, but who wants that kind of stress? How many people with similar stories (and smaller but still painful amounts) didn't get the bills waived?

If you're thinking about using Firebase, take a look at Supabase. It uses Posgres under the hood, and it's open source.

Use cases: static sites, jamstack.

AWS

I haven't used AWS much, so I can't say much about it. Some people like it, but I've tended to use DigitalOcean because it's cheaper and simpler for the kinds of things I build.

GCP

GCP is an alternative to AWS. This is the one item on the page that I haven't used myself, but Google App Engine might be worth looking into for some kinds of Dockerized websites, if Fly.io isn't what you're looking for.

Hosting to Avoid

Here are some hosting companies that I avoid.

• 👎 EIG / Newfold Digital -- This company owns many Web hosting brands including Bluehost, Site5, Hostgator, and many more . My experience was consistently disastrous on a scale unmatched by any other company.
• 👎 GoDaddy -- Not good.
• 👎 1&1 / Ionos -- Not good.

If you want to know why those companies are not recommended, go to any online forum that talks about Web hosting and ask what they think.

The real test of a hosting company is in how they handle their disasters. Servers occasionally going offline for a short time won't tell you whether a company is good or bad, but the company's handing of the situation will. When getting advice about hosting companies, try to find out how the company handled the inevitable bad situations, because that's the real test of quality.