Best cheap/fast host for Vanilla? (~$5 a month)?

totalnoob

Hi,
I'm interested in using vanilla as a forum but am not particularly smart with this stuff.

I also see some hosts are called web hosts, and some are called VPSes - which one is better for vanilla forum? I've found both VPS and regular hosts in the same cost range.

I've heard people say running memcached is going to make the forum A LOT faster. Are you realistically only going to have that run properly if you buy a VPS?

Do I need to find a host with a certain amount of ram in over for vanilla to work properly?

---

Also if you have any suggestions for a host please let me know. Really looking for things in the < $10 a month range, pref even $5 ish.

I don't expect a ton of views overall but I hope to have a small and active community... so because of that I am prioritizing:

THINGS I WANT: Data speed, Ram (hopefully 1 gig), CPU "power"(?)...

THINGS I'M OKAY WITH GIVING UP: I'm fine with low total bandwidth (e.g. I don't need 1 TB of data a month), and I'm fine with low disk space (e.g. I don't need 50 gigs of storage)

Thanks

whu606

Personally, I recently switched out from Bluehost to Digital Ocean, who offer a $5/mo plan which is more than adequate for my Vanilla needs. (If you're in Europe you'll have to add in your local VAT rate.)

The advantage of VPS is you have total control.

The disadvantage is you have total responsibility - installing and setting up server software, including OS and web server, security, managing backups, updates etc.

I don't know about other hosts, but I couldn't get memcached on Bluehost.

For me, if you have even a passing familiarity with any flavour of Linux (or if you are happy to read instructions carefully) VPS is the way to go.

If you just want to get going and not think too much about it, go hosted, but make sure you can get CloudFlare (free).

Shadowdare

With shared hosting, the resources you're provided with, such as the disk space and memory, are shared with other web hosting clients. It's up to the host to set up the server software you need. You won't have access to lower-level system resources so you wouldn't be able to use software such as Memcached.

On the other hand, it takes a bit more know-how to set up a website on a VPS server, but the effort is worth it when you get more control in return. The resources are virtualized in that, from the administrative side, the computer has a dedicated amount of disk space, CPU power, and memory that it can utilize more efficiently. Also, you can install any version of PHP and set up Memcached. You would be able to tweak PHP and web server settings to the way you want it to run.

I recommend Linode's VPS servers, but their VPS servers start at $10/mo according to their website. They had good up-time and many tutorials for getting started when I hosted a website with them.

Another company I have hosted with is BeastNode. I ran a video game server on a VPS hosted by them, but you can run a website on their VPS servers too. They were decent and it looks like they have a VPS plan for $5/mo.

x00

You aren't going to get much for $5 a month.

They will promise the earth but deliver very little. Most importantly their support will suck. Idiots reading off a script, with not the first clue how to manage a server.

Don't get taken in by "unlimited", that just means you have no idea what you are getting. They will use throttling to control usage, which is an algorithm you have no idea what the parameters are.

These kind of packages, they don't care once you are signed up. It is all about sales. Most likely if you have a problem they will tell you to upgrade, which is your que to leave, becuase it is usually very poor value. That is a mistake many people make assuming that the upgrades from cheap webhost are any good.

Btw these threads attract spam like flies to shit. There are bots searching for titles like this across the web. So take recommendations with a big pinch of salt.

whu606

It's not hard to check out who is a regular poster on here and who is just spamming for hits.

Personally, with DO for $5 + 23% VAT I get everything I need to run a fairly active forum, even with just 512MB memory.

I'm sure there are other VPS providers as good, if not better, I'm just talking about my own experience.

hgtonight

These are all great points.

Please stay away from GoDaddy and any host that offers "1 click installers" for vanilla.

lament

A Small Orange. Been using them for a few years now. Customer support is solid.

Their $5/month plan is 5GB storage, 50GB bandwidth. More than enough for what you need.

I get about 9000 sessions a month on my site.