best joomla host?

[buckmanhands]

There has been a lot of chatting going on, but very few mentions of any hosts that run joomla well.
Here are all the hosts I have installed Joomla on and here is the winner:

I really love Dreamhost.

Everything they give you is top notch.

All my Joomla Installs run like a dream there. Plus I get Shell access, unlimited space, unlimited bandwidth, free domain registration. php4 or 5, and so much more!

Their homemade ajaxified control panel rules. You can run cron, create htacces files, make databases, host unlimited domains, use gmail instead of squirrelmail or neomail.

Have a question about their setup and their wiki has an answer. Usually with instructions on how to do it command line or from the windowz.

Plus they are employee owned and buy solar and wind power.

I have used Godaddy, Lunarpages, webhostingpad, arishost, and ipowerweb.

Godaddy has good tech service, but their control panel blows and their servers are slow.
Plus they have lots of hidden fees and a constant stream of sexist advertising.
Max database query limits that can cripple joomla.

Lunarpages is a pretty nice host, their tech support is knowledgeable and helpful. Not as many goodies though. They have a pretty up to date version of cpanel, but cpanel pales in comparison to dreamhost's panel. This would be my second favorite if for some reason dreamhost burned down (may that never happen).

webhostingpad is really bad, the tech support is awful and in a sweatshop call center.

Arishost uses the same call center as webhostingpad, plus their servers are from like 1990. SLOW!

ipowerweb = the worst host ever! Google them and read about their problems with continually losing email accounts. Plus they gouge you with hidden fees. Three or four hour waits for tech support. Never answer the email tech support. Bots that change the permissions on your folders. I could go on and on. I am sure the lawyers involved in the class action lawsuits could too!

But don't take my word for it check out Dreamhost for yourself. It is very refreshing to find at least one host that does not use a woman with a headset and lots of cleavage to sell their hosting to you.

[brad]

I have removed all the affiliate links from your post.

[CLDEAN]

FWIW ... I haven't had any problems with hostgator. They do have a reseller package that would fit the OP's needs.

Hope you find something that works for you.

[GameDaddy]

I'll have to endorse GoDaddy here.

They have consistently provided top notch service, have good forums, and very good Joomla! support. They now have someone devoted to upgrades and provide patch scripts so even the non-techs can upgrade to the latest version of Joomla! usually one to two weeks after a new release. They also have a scaled service plans to accommodate any commercial enterprise.

Even on the shared servers, server loading hasn't been an issue, Uptime is excellent, I have only had one outage on one of the four sites currently maintained there, and that was only for 4-5 hours as they resolved a security breach at one of the other hosted websites there.

[WolferGiga]

I've used 1and1 for hosting quite a few sites. The support is pretty bad for the most part, unless you contact their UK branch, then its better. Other than that I don't have too many problems. Then again we haven't done any sites that require large amounts of resources or special programs on the server.

iWeb looked interesting too, but we haven't gotten too much experience with them yet. Their unmetered bandwidth and claim of 100% uptime looks interesting, especially for the price. And it's Canadian.

[mergen]

...1and1: hedoo, velcum to vun and vun, my name is Iqbal, how may I elp you today?

Me: Yeah, Hi, I’m having some trouble setting up a Mysql database with you guys?

1and1: <pauses> berry sorry sir, you’re - you’re having truble wiv your squeal?

...Man, I hate call centres.

LOL! That is so funny about the "squeel"... hehe. Anyway, I understand your pains about call centers. More importantly, I understand everyone's pains with hosting in general.

Let me just share with you my thoughts on the hosting matter. First off, hosting is a problem for EVERYONE! This is like solving which came first, the chicken or the egg. We, as customers want a good quality hosting with no issues at affordable rates. We go to the cheaper ones and usually it falls short. The expensive ones are like pradas and gucci stuff... do you really need them? Not really. Because there are very solid hosting companies out there. Maybe not the best, but really good. I love ferraris, but Acura NSX to me is just beautiful. You don't have to share the same ideas on pradas and ferraris, but you get the point.

Here are list of companies I've been with or have researched and want to comment.

I've been with Go Daddy. They ARE slow! Many, many people using Joomla CMS say the same. Research and check for yourself.

I've also used Bluehost. They are not bad. Faster than Go Daddy. And, you probably do get more CPU. However, our website was constantly getting CPU exceeded errors. Bluehost support staff were basically useless: they could not and would not tell you nor give you ability to figure out what's using all the CPU. Still, for smaller websites that are not too resource-intensive, Bluehost is probably one of the better shared hosting companies out there. At the time of hosting at Bluehost, our site TANHIL.mn received about 400-500 visitors a day viewing 7 pages/visitor. We did have shoutbox extension on EVERY page, which needless to say was VERY resource intensive. We have killed it and have not used it. Even just the use on homepage required to much resource.

Anyway, I spent about a week researching tons of hosting companies last year and also recently. Hostgator also seems to get decent reviews and feedback. So, I would look at those two: Bluehost and Hostgator for smaller Joomla or other CMS-driven sites. Other shared hosting, such as 1and1, dreamhost, site5, siteground, hostmonster, etc have not received as good feedbacks.

Everyone seems to agree Rochen hosting has AWESOME support, but very and very pricey. I think the Rochen guy made a great sales pitch about 30 cents a day hosting, but realistically I cannot think of any site I that I can actually host there. Well, my company site WEBGURU-CO.com is a candidate, but that's only because we are launching that site as we speak. I suspect the traffic on that alone will very fast outgrow the basic offer... I mean, TANHIL.mn now receives about 1,100 visitors a day with 6+ pageviews per visitor does not fit into any of their reseller plans. Only the VPS seems a candidate. However, their VPS is $150!! You can get your own dedicated server for that amount! Seriously, Rochen! You are wonderful, but way overpriced. The VPS option at $150 will be outgrown within about one month because TANHIL.mn traffic is going to double or triple over the next month. 200GB bandwidth is NOT going to be enough. I am interested in seeing their server pricing, but then again I am scared to hear the price.

Yeah, I'm griping about their price, but maybe I might host my company site there IF their servers are fast. I'm not worried about their support, which seems world-class. The thing is... their servers are at THE PLANET. Yes, THE PLANET is wonderful and many Fortune 1000 companies and even HostGator buys and have their servers at their server super centers, but still... for the price they charge, can't Rochen afford their OWN servers? I mean 15 pings to get to their website from Mongolia? This is 6 more than ServInt, my last hosting company. My websites loaded FAST!!

ServInt, by the way, has THE BEST support staff I have experienced to date. The only problem? They are allergic to Joomla. I was using 1/5 bandwidth and 1/10 storage limitations, but my websites were starting to be worn down in speed and performance on the essential VPS package from the increased traffic this year. You have to get to the engineers to get the deep answers... although regular 24/7 support is FAR MORE knowledgeable than most commercial shared hosting companies.

In any case, ServInt had their OWN servers. And, they were blazing FAST! So, maybe if you have websites that are not as resource intensive, maybe you should consider ServInt. If so, make sure to have them install suPHP if you go with cPanel. We spent 3 freaking months dealing with file permissions issues. Wow, the issues took up all our time!

I guess you won't have any issues like that at Rochen, which in the end, I guess is worth it. But for most of us, we still want to see more affordable pricing and/or faster hosting. Your own servers, please!! 15 pings?!!

...

Anyway, long story short... I am now at InteractiveOnline.com. Their website did throw us off a bit at first, because out of ALL the hosting company websites, InteractiveOnline and most other "Joomla" hosting companies had amateurish look and feel on their website designs. (I'm talking about hosting companies listed at that link that shows hosting companies with 300+ comments here in Joomla forums.)

It's been about a week at InteractiveOnline. Their support has been anything but amateurish. They are very professional and fast. Sure, there aren't many options for contacting them, but if you don't mind emails or support tickets, they are FAST and RESPONSIVE. And, I have not had any major issues.

All seems good. I do like their professional and fast responses and lack of major issues. However, there is one small thing to caution. I am a bit concerned about their unlimited and unlimited sales pitch. Why go that route? I mean, come on! You have to limit resources somehow, so that current customer website performances are not compromised.

InteractiveOnline currently offers unlimited storage and bandwidth for something like 6.95 right now. I just hope that they put some limits and restrictions for two reasons: a) it's not possible to host something like BBC.com not because of the unlimited limitations, and b) it takes away from the professionalism and the good hosting they have been for us.

So the final jury?

Best shared hosting goes to InteractiveOnline.com - they are well-versed in Joomla hosting!
followed by Bluehost and HostGator - if you can deal with some issues and shortcomings, maybe consider these guys

Best Joomla hosting for the price-unconscious or those with small storage and bandwidth requirements: Rochen.

Best of luck, everyone! Please feel free to let your comments come to me! I may have been a bit blunt and a bit tough, especially on the Rochen folks! hehe

ps: here is a free plug for joomla hosting reviews folks. there are many hosting reviews out there. most are crap! they just want to sell hosting that offers biggest bucks. while these guys still make money from affiliate clicks, they are at least honest in their reviews. http://www.joomlahostingreviews.com/

ps2: InteractiveOnline has the same customer reviews posted in at least a dozen different sites. they again take away from their professionalism and building rapport, but ignore them anyway. they have not been major issue for me so far. i will update this post if there are!

CHEERS!
MC

[moderator note; url's removed, self promotion]

[davetanguay]

I am a bit concerned about their unlimited and unlimited sales pitch. Why go that route? I mean, come on! You have to limit resources somehow, so that current customer website performances are not compromised.

InteractiveOnline currently offers unlimited storage and bandwidth for something like 6.95 right now. I just hope that they put some limits and restrictions for two reasons: a) it's not possible to host something like BBC.com not because of the unlimited limitations, and b) it takes away from the professionalism and the good hosting they have been for us.
So the final jury?

Unlimited storage and traffic doesn't mean unlimited CPU and memory usage. There are limits to resource usage on the shared servers to protect the performance of the servers. This is true for every unlimited host liked Bluehost who also offers unlimited storage and traffic.

ps2: InteractiveOnline has the same customer reviews posted in at least a dozen different sites. they again take away from their professionalism and building rapport, but ignore them anyway. they have not been major issue for me so far. i will update this post if there are!
CHEERS!

As for the reviews being posted on multiple sites we got the permission from the customer to post those reviews on those sites. All of those reviews are real reviews and are not affiliates creating false reviews to boost traffic which is what the majority of bluehost affiliates do. Do a search in google for "blue host review" and you will see nothing but reviews that use affiliate links. That in my opinion is unprofessional. We at least post real reviews.

[Rochen]

The thing is... their servers are at THE PLANET. Yes, THE PLANET is wonderful and many Fortune 1000 companies and even HostGator buys and have their servers at their server super centers, but still... for the price they charge, can't Rochen afford their OWN servers?

This is not correct

Our own website is hosted off of our network at The Planet to ensure that if we have a network outage (we have not had any network outages since September 2006) then customers will still be able to reach our forums, help desk etc. I think this is a responsible step to take as too many companies host everything in the one place.

Rochen own and manage all of our own shared/reseller/MVS servers, switches and other infrastructure. While there is nothing wrong with Host Gator leasing servers from The Planet (they are their largest customer) we prefer to take the route of owning and managing our own systems. This effectively cuts out the middle man and also gives us a far stronger balance sheet postilion financially. We have zero debt attached to the company and don't finance any of our hardware.

When we launch our UK hosting operations out of London later this year then all of our hardware will be wholly owned by Rochen as well. We will basically duplicate our US setup.

I have attached a close-up picture of one of our cabinets. You should be able to pick up the "Property of Rochen Ltd." label on the boxes

- Chris

[biggalootmon]

Greets all,

Here are my observations and wish list on the "Best Joomla Hosting" topic:

I am building a portal website for my city. (I will share my model with any hosting company that is interested in helping me make an informed decision about their company).

1. I need a dedicated joomla-aware hosting company. If I break something, I don't want to have to rely on a third-party freelancer to make changes, fixes, restore backups, etc. I want to rely on the company that hosts me, even if I have to pay additionally for non-traditional tech support.

2. I know I will have a lot of media, static images, audio & video. Streaming capabilities will be required. I have found several hosts that won't allow that, even on a VPS. (I cannot justify the expense of co-locating yet.)

3. Concurrent with #2 above, I know I will need more disk space and bandwidth than Rochen (my current host) can cost-effectively offer me.

4. I need to know about "stupid" imposed limits before I sign up. I have not found one host that has a "what you don't get" FAQ, i.e. my gripe about SiteGround suspending my reseller's clients e-mail accounts because their e-mail boxes were over 200mb. What a crock.

5. I need support that I can chat or speak with. Firing e-mails back and forth is just not an effective project management style for me. I am certainly not a noobie, so I don't want to be treated like one. (See 1&1 comment somewhere above.)

6. Small companies like mine have a budget for web hosting. And it's more than $8.00 a month. I would consider companies who believe they have the support and strength of a group like Rochen if they offered "better" (more storage and higher bandwidth) packages at a higher-than-$5.95/mo. rate, if I thought I would get better support. It's a shame there is such a BIG gap between the "SiteGrounds" and Rochen.

Conclusion: I interpret InteractiveOnline and DreamHost as the "Joomla-centric" companies who are more in tune with the mid-level client. For instance, InteractiveOnline offers ExhangeHosting, which I have clients asking for, and DreamHost let's a user increase their memory allocation on the fly. Two feature-rich offerings for resellers or power-users.

WISH LIST: I have two potentially smashing domains to develop. One is a three-digit domain I bought years ago, and the other is my HometownState.com and is in process development right now. I have actually been hesitant until Joomla 1.5 because I need a greater granularity in the ACL for the membership/user model I am developing, but at the same time, I really haven't found a host that understands what I need. What's sad is I AM the mid-level customer; I AM the strongest potential for increased revenue based on a la carte add-ons and services; and I AM willing to pay more to get more.

I perceive Rochen as the leader in targeting me, but their storage/bandwidth numbers are just completely unrealistic based on the similar-situation comparisons and research I have done within my industry.

Sure, I'm going to co-locate someday, maybe even have dedicated staff assigned to the technical aspects of my hosting, if I get as big as I want to be. But for now, I just want a host that has credibility/sustainability, (track record) the ability to anticipate my needs through current product/service offerings, and support that will talk to me, not over me, and in English. (Sorry, my Hindi is okay, but not good enough to talk to Acer Tech Support.)

So, if you're a Joomla Hosting company and you want a client that will sing your praises, I will be happy to forward my RFP/needs. Just IM me here.

And Brad, I love your moderation of these boards, but I do think you give preferential treatment to Rochen, (sorry Chris). Empirically, you may not be, but it always looks like you are... if only because you are in tune with the do's/and don'ts, and capitalize on them with greater efficiency that other host-posters. [Seems like the Rochen mantra.]

Thanks for reading,

~SCOT

[mergen]

Scot,

Have you considered moving the storage/bandwidth intensive items off to other websites? For example, videos are better hosted at [youtube] than your website; users will still think they are viewing the videos on your site, but you are saving big bucks on hosting.

Ditto on the Rochen. World-class service, but price is a class all on its own.

Mergen

[River99]

Don't believe hosts that have unlimited everything in bold letters across the frontpage. They are overselling their capacity. Also, I believe the Hostgator ceo wrote in his blog that they have jumped on the unlimited everything train but he admitted it was not true!!!! It's just a sales tactic.

If anyone would start eating up a lot of bandwidth for a host promising unlimited bandwitdh for example, that customer would be banned for cpu overusage instead. It's that simple.

I would advise people to get a host that doesn't promise unlimited but still offer good specs. I chosed this one because it offers preinstalled joomla without any extra charge and I am quite happy with them so far: http://axohosting.com

[davetanguay]

You're right River99, there's no such thing as UNLIMITED EVERYTHING.

Unlimited Storage and Traffic doesn't mean Unlimited CPU and Memory Usage. There is always going to be a CPU and Memory limited (hard or soft) whether you are with an unlimited host or a host that sells you 100mb. If you're using 50-80% cpu on a shared account you probably should be upgrading to your own dedicated server. Most websites on a shared server aren't a problem and if they are a high resource user any host (unlimited or limited) will shut the site down if it is effecting the performance of the server.

It really comes down to how much CPU and memory you are using. With today's current technology those can't be 'unlimited'.

[swg]

I use and would highly recommend media temple - http://mediatemple.net/ - been really great for me, great support and uptime. Plus you have far more control then similar hosts

[Terp]

...add me to the 'Rochen Rocks' fan club; Hotgator is my plan B backup. I don't think you can go wrong with either, but I recommend the former over the latter.

[biggalootmon]

I genuinely appreciate the feedback.

I have learned so far that the host needs to offer and stand by "Joomla core support". These are three big words if you're running a Joomla site.

Essentially, if the host's support department can't help you out with the basic functionality of Joomla, then you might as well host with anyone. Don't get me wrong, I have an account with Rochen, but I am considering hosting the gallery/audio/video files elsewhere.

Also, I have found that some Host's C-panel does not have the "Backup" feature installed. For instance, SiteGround charges a one-time fee for installing a backup script, and guarantees nothing. I know there are other backup methods, but why remove features from C-panel unless it's just to charge for them. Tsk, tsk.

[jgstyle]

I've been with Dreamhost for several years now, and I've never been completely satisfied with the speed of my site. It always seems a little bit slower than I would like. I've talked with tech-support many times and they assure me that there's nothing wrong.

Since my site is pretty much a hobby portfolio with relatively small traffic it wasn't too big a deal. I just figured that's what you get from cheap shared hosting. After having several sites on Dreamhost (some mine, some for family/clients) it's apparent to me that your Dreamhost experience rests heavily on which server you are assigned to. End up on the wrong one and you have a rough ride ahead.

But now I have a more serious project, and when I set up the account in Dreamhost, this new site seemed even slower than ever. Plus I had a bad experience in the last couple of years when one of their servers was down for weeks, and another time when they accidently charged all their customers for a year of service all at once.

Anyway, with the new site -a stock Joomla install, pages were taking at least 6 seconds to load. Ouch. Installs were not going well at all. Community Builder kept timing out, and couple of others timed out on me as well. At that point enough was enough.

Based on some of the info in this thread I checked out Rochen. Yeah the price ratchets up fast but the basic offering is good enough for me to try it out. I opened an account and installed Joomla. Their install was quicker than Dreamhosts, too.

I was immediately impressed with the speed of the site. Lighting fast. Extension installs went smooth as butter. I've rarely had them go like that at Dreamhost. Now THAT's what I'm talking about.

I'm still in the early phases of the project, but if it handles the live traffic as well as it's working now, this host is a winner. I don't exactly have money to throw away, but if I'm paying for good service, I can deal with that. I just need to know that my site is going to work, and that I can develop quickly and efficiently and only deal with my own problems, not my hosts problems.

Anyway, once I get this project live and see how it fares, I may move my other sites over to Rochen as well. In just a few days, that's how much of an impression they made on me. Thanks to those who brought up Rochen, I think I'm really going to benefit from this.

[In Progress]

What are your thoughts on Network Solutions? I know they are a pioneer in the internet industry and thought they would be safe to go with...but, I haven't found any talk on this site about them. Please give feedback so we can make the right decision and not have regrets later. Thanks!

[Terp]

Does Network Solutions still steal domains when you do a search for a domain, see their crazy prices, then backout and leave the site....they used to manipulate the 72-hour window and try to sell the domain you searched for back to you for x5 the money. Nice business practice.


I'll see if I have my screenshot of networksolutionssucksmoose**** that was registered to, you guessed it, network solutions...after I searched for it.

[Terp]

...here's a little example of their business practices:

http://blog.domaintools.com/2008/01/net ... confirmed/

[davetanguay]

...here's a little example of their business practices:

http://blog.domaintools.com/2008/01/net ... confirmed/

godaddy does this too. What a shame

[Terp]

SInce when? I have had hundreds of domains with GoDaddy, searched some, came back days later, still there. They did when they first started, but haven't done that in years....

[davetanguay]

You might be right that godaddy doesn't do this anymore but I do remember my cousin having this problem with them a few years ago. She searched for a domain at godaddy and it was available. The next day she asked if she could buy it through me but godaddy had already registered it and put it up for sale for a much higher price. My cousin ended up registering a different domain name instead.

[Terp]

ICANN really needs to change the 72-hour rule for locking these in and force these companies to assume ownership of the domain for a year the moment it's registered...allowing these registrars to dump them up to 3 days later and not incur any expense is what allows Network Solutions and others to pull this crap, no?

[biggalootmon]

I think this thread has gotten a bit off topic.

[In Progress]

Hmmm, interesting, but HOW ARE THEY ON RELIABILITY and COMPATIBILITY? We really need our site to be DEPENDABLE since our clients will interact and be printing from the site.

[In Progress]

Please excuse my ignorance. As you can tell, I am NEW and GREEN. After more research, I found the natural host for Joomla is ROCHEN. Sorry, I did not know the score before now.

[davetanguay]

Hmmm, interesting, but HOW ARE THEY ON RELIABILITY and COMPATIBILITY? We really need our site to be DEPENDABLE since our clients will interact and be printing from the site.

I had a friend use Network Solutions before. I moved their site to our cpanel servers for him. I didn’t care much for their control panel. Cpanel is the best in my opinion if you are going to run Joomla or any other open source software. It comes with 1-click install of Joomla and provides for easy upgrading to the latest version. It’s also very easy to create & manage mysql database via Cpanel. My advice is to stay away from network solutions and find a reliable Cpanel host.

[Terp]

...will echo the cPanel recommendation, too.

I migrated over from asp.net and some windows hosting without any fancy dancy cPanel; it really does make account mangement easy and intuitive.

[pretten]

I used hostgator and so far the its doing good..

[jscutler]

I switched from Godaddy to InMotion hosting last year and I can't say I'm all that happy. We have a website for a weekly newspaper and I get these high resource usage warnings from Inmotion and occasionally get shut down altogether. This happened just yesterday without any warning or explanation.

I've begged them to explain why, but they just says it's taking too many resources, despite the fact that my bandwith and visit stats belie that.

I even took the step of blocking newsbots in my robot. txt file to prevent the googles of the world from taxing my site. The bottom line is that there's no way a small weekly newspaper website is causing. There's got to be some kind of issue with their servers.

Anyway I'm not happy with them and I'd like to hear recommendations from others.