Looking for a fast & unlimited hosting with SSL, IP address, subdomains, recent PHP version, etc.

Hey guys,

I'm looking for an unlimited hosting which as the following:

- unlimited number of websites (or at least more than 10)
- ability to host my own SSL certificate (which requires an IP address afaik?)
- unlimited subdomains for all my domains hosted there
- ability to choose a version of PHP (or at least provide the latest one)
- it has to be at least decently fast
- no bullshit bonus programs with ads and stuff, like hostmonster and hostgator do

Bonus points if it has:

- SSH access (not really that important, but nice to have)
- no cPanel - while this is not a dealbreaker, I have yet to find a good quality hosting that uses cPanel

I already own a couple of VPS servers that I use to host larger apps, but I don't want to use those for simple things like static websites and blogs (WordPress). I'd like something simple to setup, where with a few clicks I can get a new subdomain running, FTP setup and possibly even upload my own SSL cert.

 

What is your budget? No shared hosts offer free dedicated IP address along with a shared hosting account, unless they charge it too high. But most of the providers can put your account on a dedicated IP address to host your SSL certificate with a small rental for IP address. Anyway your other requirements look standard and you may get recommendations based on your budget. Also do you have any location preference?

 

My buget kind of depends on the quality of the service. So far everything seems to point me in the direction of just buying another VPS. I found one local hosting provider that does give out IP addresses, but they have other issues preventing me from using them.

 

I see...DO would be a good choice for you if there is no additional IP requirements. Anyway check with any of your current VPS providers if you are satisfied with them. if you need any additional suggestions, please comment.

 

What is your budget, and space, BW requirements ?

 

Why specifically are you trying to obtain "unlimited" hosting? I should remind you, that there is no such thing as Unlimited (when was the last time you purchased a Hard Drive for your home computer with UNLIMITED storage?).. What I would recommend is looking at the resources you are currently utilizing and double or triple them depending on the rate of growth that you are seeing. The average website will use between 100MB and 1GB of storage, while larger websites will of course use more.

How many websites are you looking to host? Who is your current provider?

Also keep in mind that SSL no longer requires a Dedicated IP Address, using SNI capabilities in traditional web servers the capability to host a SSL Certificate on a Shared IP is possible, and is trusted by 99.9% of browsers available. Due to IPv4 Depletion, most hosting providers will require you to provide IP Justification for the addresses you request and SSL is no longer considered a legitimate reason for justification.

Next off as for your cPanel issue; the reason you haven't found any quality cPanel hosts is because you are more than likely going by those "Top 10 Host" lists, which are created by EIG (Endurance International Group) who owns a wide variety of WebHosts; all of which are of poor quality. My recommendation would be to steer clear of companies such as HostGator, BlueHost, iPage, Avrixe and so many others.

 

I'm currently using DigitalOcean and Linode, as most of my apps require a custom VPS. But I don't want to use those VPSs for static websites, since they're usually simple and it's pain to setup permissions and stuff. I know "unlimited" is never really "unlimited", but for things like subdomains or a number of websites it makes no sense to limit those (up to a reasonable point.) Same thing goes for bandwidth, because most hosts will have shitty connection, which even when used at 100% 24/7 will amount of few TB of traffic (cheapest Linode has 2TB included.)

I have to disagree with the need for justification. Every VPS I ever had had its own public IP, and cheapest DigitalOcean VPS costs $5 (see https://www.digitalocean.com/pricing/) and you get your own IP. This is the same price as a shitty HostGator/BlueHost/HostMonster.

What I want is a high quality hosting that doesn't try to rip me off. If I can get a complete server (which ends up being 50 times faster than HostGator, etc.) for $5, I don't really expect to end up paying $20 for a static website hosting. I want something where I don't have to think if I want 10 or 20 websites, and where I can just click to add new one, without having to pay extra money.

Currently I know only one that satisfies most of my requirements, which is https://www.virtufy.cz/ (sorry it's not in english), but they're fairly new and have tons of bugs to fix yet (TL;DR it's a $5 unlimited hosting with SSD, IPv4, SSL and quite nice connectivity.)

edit: I also don't want to end up paying extra just to get a "managed" server, as the Rackspace guys (and many others) try to do. As for the "unlimited" disk space ... well, I don't mind if I'm capped at 50-100GB, but getting 10GB these days is like nothing, given how cheap HDD storage is (I'm willing to go lower with this if it's SSD hosting).

 

Well obviously you've got some pretty high expectations for the price range you are looking at. The 5$ VPS you are speaking of has what, 512MB of Memory; Now calculate the resources for the applications utilized to power the webserver (Apache, PHP, MySQL) you are left with very little, heck, it would probably be better to just go with HostGator.

It is understandable that a VPS has a dedicated IP address, but they are in a whole different class of services and require a forward facing IP to be functional, and that is justification in its own. Next on to your final statement; sure storage can be pretty cheap these days, that's a completely valid statement. However, the cost of Support, Management of Systems, Software Licensing, DDoS Protection and top-level Network Uplinks are not, and that cost is transferred into the price of services.

Lets do some calculations here, an "unlimited" host may have a server with 2TB of Disk Space available to its customers; that host then sells 3,000 accounts at low price with "unlimited" disk space in hopes of recouping the costs I mentioned previously. Said host then hopes and prays that the average customer will only use 100-500MB of disk space each, and a maximum of 250,000 inodes. Now, what happens when a customer utilizes more than this projected amount? The host may let it slide for 3, maybe 4 or 5GB until they decide that you are over-using the product they are offering and suspend your account. Also, most of the "unlimited" plans are capped low for Concurrent Connections. Now you've got this account, with this awesome website (or multiple websites as you are claiming) and you can only have about 40-50 visitors directed to the account at any given time. In the end, is it really worth it to go.

Next we have those web hosts that offer 10GB of space to their customers at a price that you would consider absurd due to the cost of hard drives these days. That cost is being used to offload the cost of the Support Staff that is available to answer your questions when you need them answered, the cost of the Technical Team that manages the servers that your website is on making sure that they are all up to date, running smoothly and have the latest security patches applied.. What about DDoS Protection, maybe the provider offers it, which is expensive and a great thing to have in the event someone on the server gets attacked, protecting you from feeling the effects. And who knows, more than likely this host isn't using a Cogent/HE blend for their bandwidth, maybe they utilize networks like Layer3, nLayer, etc....

I guess I went off on a bit bigger of a rant the I expected..... But don't take it as personal either, it's intended as a bit of information to consider. In the end you will make your choice and go with a provider that best suites your needs. I just wouldn't recommend going with an "unlimited" hosts; the vast majority of our customers have switched to us from an "unlimited" host that they had nothing but problems with for as long as they were with them, and have never been happier.

 

Most hosting companies have to put fixed quotas on websites. However, if you did go with an all-purpose linux virtual machine with CentOS then you could easily be supported and you could do whatever you wanted with it. Ideally, you would use this VM for all your little websites. A hosting company should allow you to use your own SSL certificates, offer unlimited subdomains, and allow SSH access.When it comes to the PHP issue, if you use a VM you can use whatever version of PHP you want.

In conclusion, to get the flexibility you want it seems that a dedicated linux instance with fixed/committed resources would be the best way to go in the long-run.

 

Well, take a look at cddhosting.com deals. They might fit all your needed specs.