I have a new web design client, a food bank. This is a pro bono project, and I’m evaluating their current website situation.
They’re with GoDaddy, and are paying - I can’t believe this - $35 a month! They’re paying $10 a month for email!
I plan to move them elsewhere as soon as possible, but they just renewed everything. So I’m going to try to renegotiate some lower fees for the remaining time they’re on GD. Maybe switch the bucks for their rickyticky website builder over to Wordpress, or something…
My hosting plan has been with GoDaddy forever. And have started hosting elsewhere until all are cleared out.
I got ticked off with their sub-domain SSL fee for installation. Slowly been pulling client hosted domains away from for them starting this year. And have pushed most DNS-es elsewhere.
But their phone support is tops.
GoDaddy’s Webmail accounts are free … GoDaddy Workspace.
I have a virtual hosting server with a company where I host 100+ websites for clients. Godaddy bought that company sometime within the last 2 years and the service has gone downhill since then. I know that I’ll have to switch everything over to a new host soon, and I know that’s going to be a really bad day.
I’ve got three smaller clients hosted on bluehost, using Wordpress, and so far, it’s working pretty well. The starting price is very reasonable, something like $8 a month.
I also like dreamhost, but they’ve got too much horsepower for my small clients.
I do things a bit differently I guess. I basically buy a chunk of their server (for $50 a month or whatever) then distribute it between my clients for whatever price I want to charge them. It uses my branding and the clients never know the actual servers being used.
(It’s a reseller system, so not some sketchy scheme to rip people off)
That’s what makes it so tough, I’d have to reconfigure the IPs, security and databases.
So, a related question. If we switch to Godaddy’s Wordpress plan and build the new site in Wordpress… then how difficult will it be to migrate the completed Wordpress to another host?
I used to use Dreamhost, but there were way too many problems with email and site downtime. I finally switched to Lunarpages about five years ago and have been very happy with them.
Okay. This post has finally inspired me to find a new host.
I spent all day yesterday doing research, and one specification was that the server allowed you to run Node Js, which most don’t allow on all account types because it requires root access.
You probably know this, but if not it is always wise to check to see if any host you are considering is owned by EIG. They constaintly buy up smaller good quality Hosts then overload the shared servers and cheapen the hardware over time and cut down the number of support techs or farm it out to make more profit. Here is a list https://www.reviewhell.com/blog/endurance-international-group-eig-hosting/
Godaddy seems to do the same thing too. Anyhow besides Lunarpages as B mentioned, I like Hawk Host. I have a Reseller Server to host clients sites, and a Virtual Private Server with them and their uptime, and support have been top quality.
I won’t use GoDaddy, and I know hundreds of developers who’ve had issues with them and won’t use them either. I’ve used Pair for more than a decade for WordPress and non-WP sites. WP Engine and Flywheel are two other excellent hosts as well. Some other devs I know like Siteground too.
