OverviewRecently my low cost hosting account with LunarPages was suspended due to excess resource usage, so obviously I needed to find a more powerful server to host my websites. This guide will go through what I looked for in the hosts I considered, what hosts I likes, which ones I didn’t etc. the VPS web hosting companies I considered were: Media Temple, GoDaddy, LunarPages, Linode, VPS.NET & x10VPS.
Features:To be entirely honest, I am a bit of a Linux n00b. I have had minimal experience using an SSH client, configuring PHP, MySQL, Apache and everything else VPS hosting involves. as a result, I wanted something that’s really simple to use.Hosting companies are not always honest about what you get with the plan, so if your not sure sending them an email is a must! you should also explain your situation to the company to ask for their recommendations and also make sure the amount of RAM, CPU and bandwidth you get is made clear before you purchase.
I was after the following features: the table indicates which hosts provided them.
Dedicated CPU:
LunarPagesNoGoDaddyNoVPS.NETYesx10VPSYesLinodeNoMedia TempleNo
Burstability:
LunarPagesYesGoDaddyYesVPS.NETNox10VPSNoLinodeNoMedia TempleYes
Commercial control panel included:eg. Plesk, ISPManager, cPanel.
LunarPages+$10GoDaddy+$10VPS.NETYesx10VPSNoLinodeNoMedia Temple*Custom Panel
Flexible:eg. can I upgrade and downgrade as I need it?
LunarPages+$10/m for 512 RAMGoDaddyNoVPS.NETYesx10VPSNoLinodeNoMedia TempleNo
Support:I measured the quality and speed of support based on how long each company took to reply to my inquiry email. It should be noted that I contacted each company on a weekend at approx 1am US central time. the following breakdown explains the quality of the reply I received from each company and how long it took.
Linode:Linode’s response time was quite impressive considering it was a weekend and they seem to be a relatively small company compared to the others. It took them about 16 hours to get back to me, which is acceptable for a weekend. I was also very impressed that my questions were specifically answered by Linode with references to my examples, meaning that it was not a blatant copy-paste job. according to a few blogs that I frequent, the customer support they offer is well above par – kudos to them. 
VPS.NET:VPS.NET was another high performer on the support front. I was able to get all my questions answered within about five minutes of accessing one of their sites, as they provide a live chat service on the website. I was also very impressed with their email response, which came back in under 12 hours – a clear winner. I was also shocked when they sent me a message on Twitter, all they said was “We’re here to help if you need us,” not overly helpful but It was comforting to know that they actually made the effort.
LunarPages:I was hosted with Lunarpages for two years, a time in which I found their support to be excellent at times and painful at others. General support generally takes 6 hours for a response, tech support can take several days and the billing department can take anywhere up to a week to respond. I often found that Lunarpages support staff simply copy-pasted answers which were not always relevant to the issue I was having. on a more positive note, the customer support on Twitter was really good – I think they need to get priorities right.
GoDaddy:GoDaddy answered my email within 24 hours, which being a weekend is quite good. the answer they gave me was concise, relevant and was not a copy-paste job – always a good sign! I was somewhat disappointed that such a large company didn’t provide live pre-sales chat, but it’s something that can easily be lived without.
Media Temple:Media Temple answered my emails very fast, taking less than a few hours even though it was the middle of Saturday night. they answered my targeted question in a clear and concise way and provided lots of additional information that I didn’t ask for, but was useful nonetheless. I did find that they didn’t well disclose the extra costs of their basic plan, and seemed hesitant to answer my questions about the maximum amount that it could cost me to host my sites with them. I was also disappointed that such a big name company didn’t have live support.
x10VPS:I didn’t send x10VPS any emails, as all my questions were clearly answered on the website. they do not have any live chat, I couldn’t find a support forum and they refuse support via Twitter. on a positive note; the ticketing system appeared efficient – but who knows how well it is manned!
Price:
I’m a student. Students are traditionally very low on cash, and I am no exception. Price was one of the biggest considerations when picking a hosting provider for my site, however I’m also aware that you generally get what you pay for.
I have done some sketchy math to work out how much each plan costs per 256mb of RAM and for each 100GB of bandwidth. they are in order of best to worst, based on RAM. All prices are USD.
x10VPS:RAM: $5Bandwidth: $2
GoDaddy:RAM: $7.50Bandwidth: $5
Linode:RAM: $10Bandwidth: $10
VPS.NET:RAM: $12Bandwidth: $8
Media Temple:RAM: $25Bandwidth: $5
LunarPages:RAM: $27.95Bandwidth: $5.60
So which one did I go with?I eventually decided to go with VPS.NET, simply because their plan is so much more flexible than the others and the support was great. they were one of the more expensive companies I looked at, but they offer the unique ability to switch between different plans whenever I want. If my site experiences a large spike in traffic, I can temporarily add an extra 376mb of RAM and 10GB of bandwidth for just a dollar a day.
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