This is only our opinion and our example context:
→ Our Customers are mostly from Portugal
Our Preferred Service Provider:
PTISP.PT (PTisp | hosting, alojamento, VPS, Cloud, Servidores, Domínios, certificados SSL.)
Linux base BD mysql
CPANEL access
FOR:
Mostly websites, e-commerce and web applications in Yii2, with CMS and PWA
We prefer linux based shared hosting, the ones with the Datacenters that are closest to us.
Why?
→ Shared because they are usually managed and give enough autonomy to the customer.
→ Datacenter Nearby and located in the customer’s country, it gives him more confidence and assure accordance with the local rules and laws.
How do we choose or help the client to choose?
-
The first factor of choice goes to that provider that gives the best support service with phone call support 24/7 and not only email. This is in our opinion and by extensive experience the most important.
-
After that, disk space is relevant and will depend on the application developed, usually 30 G is more than enough and if it is SSD so much the better.
-
The service and creation of emails and databases should be unlimited or sufficient for the purpose.
-
Bandwidth should be unlimited, the service being down for exceeding bandwith is just unacceptable.
-
Finally, Security and Uptime are almost the same in all, with slight variations, at least SSL is required. Machine power and RAM memory are not so relevant also, 1G of RAM is enough in most cases.
Free services and cheapest services are usually too limited and with many constraints:
In fact, they even become more expensive in the long run because they mostly result in a waste of time in solving problems and restrictions.
Hostinger, Namecheap, HostGator. are, in our experience and for the purpose we need, very weak at support services and we advise against them.
Therefore, our opinion is that you should first seek the services of a datacenter that you know their location and preferably one that is the nearest to your services or your client, so that you can be assured that their services are in accordance with the rules and laws of the country where your application is based, and above all that they provide a call-center service so that you can address any urgent issues. These are the most important things, location and support. At least, if location is not relevant, a good support will always be the Key Factor.
We hope that this is helpful.
