Finding a Good Django Host
The Problem
In the process of launching statopia, I found myself stuck with the important but unexciting task of finding an affordable (i.e. not a dedicated server) but reliable hosting service(i.e. not some higher schooler running on an old PC using their parent's Comcast connection). Another constraint was the hosting service needed to support Django, the web framework I used to build the site.
The search for a good host service is not entirely trivial. My prior strategy of asking friends left me in a one year contract with service that ... uhhh ... sucked. Taking the "they're all the same, just pick one" strategy also didn't appeal.
The Strategy
Rather than exhaustively search the hundred or so Django hosting services list (not to mention the 35,000 other hosting services), I decided to reverse engineer the problem. Of the 575 sites listed Django sites, how many actually used the hosting services listed. If traceable, I determined which hosting service they used by and looking for commonalities in the last few hops at the top and second level name(i.e. webfaction.com in web12.webfaction.com).
The Results
| Hosting Service | Number of Sites |
|---|---|
| webfaction.com | 51 |
| dreamhost.com | 39 |
| theplanet.com | 20 |
| nextlevelinternet.com | 17 |
| textdrive.com | 16 |
| rackspace.net | 13 |
| datotel.com | 13 |
| ovh.net | 11 |
| serverbeach.com | 7 |
| secureserver.net | 6 |
| nac.net | 6 |
| eli.net | 6 |
| oneandone.net | 5 |
| gypsyhosting.com | 5 |
| xlquest.net | 4 |
| vpslink.com | 4 |
| recrutae.net | 4 |
| dallas-datacenter.com | 4 |
| carohosting.com | 4 |
| rimuhosting.com | 3 |
The Real Results
After doing some research on the plans, I decided to go with webfaction and have had no regrets. In relatively short order, I got this site up and running and have been happy with the performance as well as flexibility. Yay for good information!
Disclaimed and Disclosure
The methodology is admittedly flawed because it assumes a popular choice is a "good" choice. It also disadvantages "good" hosting services which block tracing. The method is functionally equivalent to asking a whole bunch of friends instead of just a few. In any event, I'm happy with the results.
As for disclosure, I'm not an employee of any hosting service and am not making any money. If you want to list me as a referral for webfaction, my user name is boyd or click here. Anyhow, hopefully this will make someone else's life a lot easier.
Essentially this the type of data I would like to see on this site.
Posted by Patrick on August 5, 2007