It seems that it’s obligatory, these days, to love one’s hosting provider. Not just in the sense that you would acknowledge them as they pass you on the street. More in the sense that you would willingly purchase t-shirts emblazoned with their logo. Buy them a coffee, even an XXL triple shot mocha. Invite them into your house without question when they stop by without calling first, because they just know they can do that. Send them cards for the holidays. Put their logo on your website. Sure, you are only really doing this because it’s secretly an affiliate link, but partly it’s because of how special they are.
I’m using Dreamhost. I’m quite happy with the service… it’s worked very well so far. The few technical issues I’ve had, I’ve been helped promptly upon logging the ticket.
I did use MediaTemple for a short while. I think there’s a lot to like about MediaTemple, but I did not really enjoy the hoops I had to jump through to create Rails applications in their Rails container. (That memory may be partly colored by the fact that I was also completely green in the world of Rails, rather than just light green, as I flatter myself that I have become.) Also: they are more expensive.
So, yes, I will admit it. I’m very happy with Dreamhost. Dreamhosters, if you all stop by Minneapolis, I may even buy you a coffee. But just one. All of you will have to share it. Much like I share space on one of your servers; see how that works? :-)
However, I do feel compelled to qualify my statement of corporate devotion with a quote:
Would I ever leave this company? Look, I’m all about loyalty. In fact, I feel like part of what I’m being paid for here is my loyalty. But if there were somewhere else that valued loyalty more highly, I’m going wherever they value loyalty the most.
Dwight Schrute, The Office
So, until some web hosting provider values my loyalty more than the fine geeks at Dreamhost; long live Dreamhost!
I always like my host until outages and other problems come up. I’m on Media Temple currently, and during recent outages, they redunded customers for one month of service, which was a nice consolation. However I’m looking to deploy my first Rails app in the next couple of months and I’m crossing my fingers that it won’t trip me up too much.
Rails is doable on MediaTemple… but it’s a bit more involved, and I found I was always forgetting the steps and searching for them in the FAQs over and over. You may have better luck. Tip: when you find the page you want in the FAQs, bookmark it! ;-)
I usually stay with a host until I see a better deal elsewhere. Dreamhost, so far, is the best value I’ve found for a system that does what I want. The speed leaves something to be desired sometimes, but overall it’s pretty kickass.