I'm working on my first website for personal use where I'll be showcasing my projects and writing blog posts. I want to build everything from scratch with minimal use of web development tools. My main ambition is to create a custom admin panel that allows me to post updates and store information in a database. I'm looking for recommendations on web hosting services that would suit these needs. Price isn't an issue for me. I've heard positive things about Digital Ocean but would love to hear other people's thoughts before I make a decision.
5 Answers
I opted for a cheap Ubuntu VM from Digital Ocean for my projects. It was a bit of a learning curve with admin skills but actually pretty manageable. If you're interested in using cloud services, consider dockerizing your app to simplify things. I also wrote a blog about my deployment process that might help you out.
For a personal project like yours, I’d suggest looking into Cloudflare Pages. It's free, although the UI can be a bit confusing at first. If you're just starting out, their subdomain feature is also pretty neat! Plus, they’ve got solid options for static sites.
Also, don’t miss out on Oracle's free tier! They offer a pretty powerful AMD-based machine for free, which could work well for your backend. It’s a good way to leverage APIs with a static site as well.
I had a good experience with Greengeeks last year, it's been workign well for me so far! If you want a user-friendly hosting experience with decent support, you might want to check that out.
For domain purchases, I recommend Namecheap, followed by transferring to Cloudflare for DNS management. You can utilize Digital Ocean for containers and databases. I've experimented with a bunch like AWS and Azure, and these options have been the most effective for me.
Have you checked out Spaceship? Namecheap’s sub-brand has a better UX and lower prices, which might be handy for your project!
Digital Ocean is a fantastic option for full control yet easy enough for custom projects. If you need flexibility, consider Linode or Vultr as alternatives. For managed services, Ketch or Fly.io might be worth exploring too!
Totally agree! Digital Ocean is solid, especially if you're planning to use Docker. And I've heard great things about Hetzner too if you want alternatives.