Magento

Hi everyone,

We are looking for a new great shared hosting solution for our new Magento shop… We are currently using Godaddy.com for other sites and haven’t had any problems - will it work with Magento too, does Godaddy support this? What about register.com?

Any ideas + input would be greatly appreciated

Thanks,
Soreng

GoDaddy shared hosting is unlikely to work with Magento based on my experience with their $15 Linux plan.

Trying to objectively compare GoDaddy, SimpleHELIX, Site5, and WebFaction based on hands on installation of the default Magento install, my opinion is (in alphabetical order):

1. GoDaddy shared Linux hosting is unacceptably slow for a Magento store of any size.
2. GoDaddy VPS (or VDS), and dedicated plans require an in depth understanding of security and configuration issues that are expensive, if properly implemented, and a dangerous road to travel unless you really, seriously know what you’re doing.
3. SimpleHELIX at $20/month works, is acceptably fast, and the easiest to configure for a down and dirty, get up and running fast, Magento store.
4. I have not been able to install Magento without requesting special settings from Site5 support. Right now I don’t have the time to mess with that. Speed is unknown since I’ve been preoccupied with the click and go hosts (SimpleHELIX & WebFaction).
5. WebFaction (my personal favorite) is neck and neck with SimpleHELIX in terms of speed, and would probably be a smidge faster with proper configuration. Also, WebFaction has some nice one-click development tools (i.e., Subversion, Trac), which is great for yours truly (MisterOriginal) from a site development perspective. Also love the priority WebFaction places on Security.

SimpleHELIX is dedicated to Magento and will give you your money’s worth at $20/monthly plus $2 annually for a dedicated IP address. You need the dedicated IP to install a trusted SSL certificate. I used one from GoDaddy, and was able to install it myself (dumb as I am) after a bit of research.

Edit to add: SimpleHELIX.com will be more than happy to refund your money within 30 days if you are not satisfied. WebFaction.com offers 60 days for complete satisfaction, or your money back.

You can set up a decent Magento site on WebFaction for $9.50 monthly plus $5.00 monthly for a dedicated IP address, which you need for the trusted SSL Certificate. WebFaction is not in the SSL certificate biz, so they were more than happy to install GoDaddy’s certificate for free. Don’t get me started on my opinion of SSL ripoffs (requires a whole, new thread). Despite the memory limits for the various plans, they currently do not count PHP against those limits. Those are for the long-running processes of Python and Ruby on Rails. You can get an even lower monthly rate if you purchase multiple months/years.

I hope to be able to examine more hosts, but SimpleHELIX and WebFaction are the only two I can recommend at this time.

Heh, thanks for the comments.
You are not such a bad guy afterall =)

So I’ll also recommend WebFaction, in good spririt to our friendly competitor. =)

@SimpleHELIX
Just calling it like I see it from a developer’s point of view. Can’t fraternize too much, though, because I need to be objective. Don Quixote wouldn’t have it any other way.

It’s a little frustrating that a PHP app requires so much diligence from the web host. I’m guessing that 90% of the PHP hosts can not handle Magento, but that’s just a guess. The good news is it appears to be absolutely possible to find a web host for an entry-level store for $20 or so a month, IFF the host supports it.

@soreng
Magento is way cool, and well worth the small amount of extra effort. The architecture is a dream compared to the other options out there.

Everyone,

EXCELLENT help! I really want to thank for a completely unbiased and great advice. I’ll look into these hosts.

Once, again, thank you for the extensive answer.

Cheers,
Soreng

misteroriginal,

you should know that all php application have a memory limit, as specified per host.

post your phpinfo(); it should be in there somewhere.

I just wanted to add my vote for Simple Helix.  I haven’t had experience with WebFaction, but the speed of my site at Simple Helix has been great, and the support is fairly responsive.  I have also tried HostMonster, which is cheap, and also has good support, but the speed of Magento there was spotty.  At times, it would be acceptable, but every now and then the response time went through the roof.

We have had great support with our dedicated server from aplus.net - we decided on aplus after reading CNet user reviews and they have worked quite well for us so far.

you should know that all php application have a memory limit, as specified per host.

Ahhh! Good point.

SimpleHELIX (PHP 5.2.6)
memory_limit: 128M (Local Value) 512M (Master Value)

WebFaction (PHP 5.2.6)
memory_limit: 128M (Local Value) 128M (Master Value)

Most hosts talk about total memory, while WebFaction’s plans are based on long-running process memory. What I should have said is that the PHP apps are not counted against your long-term process memory limitations.

Soreng, if you have not yet selected a host, you can also have a look at this list of Magento compatible web hosts:
http://www.magentocommerce.com/wiki/general/magento-web-hosting

If you are only looking at shared hosing we use blue host to do our beta testing on. You can check out their magento performance using our site http://3amdesignstudio.com/store. (please note that site is beta and could be broke when you try it

If your serious about having a high traffic site then I would recommend a dedicated host account like RackSpace or ServerBeach

bluehost.com (super low cost, reliable, just what you want from a shared hosting provider ~$8 a month)
rackspace.com (dedicated managed !$500 a month, I used the guys they are great!)
serverbeach.com (dedicated self-managed ~$230 a month)

Thanks
Kerry

Bonjour, I would like to share my experience on my lastest webhost for Magento. I was with ASPIRATION HOSTING and was very pleased with them.

I find it was much faster than other shared hosting I have tried previously. For my need, the basic plan at 4.99 (1 GB) was enough, but they have larger space plans too.

Four other important points for me :
1) They have monthly payable subscriptions which for trying out is very useful
2) Also, since I am technically impaired , They installed Magento at no extra cost. (I had to pay 40 Euros with another company (Netaxo)
3) Customer service: it was fast & efficient communication.
4) The admin interface to manage your account is user friendly,

Finally, if for any reason you need to terminate your account (I had to terminate mine, because I chose to not use Magento no more), they will answer you fast, no fuss and will refund rapidly the portion not used.

So… All that being said, I recommend them greatly.

ciao!
Julie

Currently I am with Simple Helix.  I have had a few hiccups here and there with service issues, but their SLA is 100% uptime, sooo… if anything goes wrong you get your month’s money back.  I can speak from one person to another about the support, because it has been extremely responsive and fast.  I’ve messed a few things up on my own with Magento (Big Uh Ohs) and Simple Helix support has me back up and running in a matter of 15-20 mins, if not sooner.

Also, Simple Helix is very helpful even for the novice user.  I asked them to copy over one magento store to another location and they did it with no questions asked.  I contacted them about how I could do it myself the proper way (backing up and relocating my store somewhere else) and they wrote me a nice step tutorial over support e-mail.

Their speed is definitely lightning fast, but I have come across a few issues since starting hosting with them.  (Ones which were not my fault.) We’ve had occasional downtime so far. However, we did have a lot of changes made to our account as we are creating multiple store fronts.  The problems have been minimal.

As far as the back end, you will not find an easier way to set up all your applications.  I have looked into other hosts and not many if any have such an easy system as Simplehelix.  They use Installatron for Magento installations, and its EXTREMELY easy to back up and create new installations of Magento.  On top of that, it creates the database, the username and passwords and automatically plugins the information into Magento for you…

Please check out our websites:

Dormgear.net

HanginonHDTV.com

These websites are hosted on Simple Helix.  Our applications are nothing extraordinary but every second counts for SEO when it comes to Magento.

Please contact me if you have any other questions.

Regards,
Dave

I haven’t touch Magento for awhile and just found out they pulled the trigger for InnoDB.
My host, lunarpages, is no longer supporting Magento.
I found this wonderful comment by misteroriginal.

I tried to find out more about those two misteroriginal recommended.

SimpleHelix.com seems stop response to this board and I saw some post the company been sold to another. I have no prove, but just wondering is it true or not.

WebFaction.com sounds pretty good. I like those subversion and trac stuff.; however, I read people said the performance will slow down once you passed 2 month guarantee period. 

Could someone give me more advices what to choose? I am pretty much open right now.
I am down to a cheap VPS too.

Best,

<DELETED> SImpleHelix has fixed the situation.