Web Hosting?

[ArtOfWarfare]

I want 3 things:
1 - My own domain
2 - The ability to setup several (at least 2... maybe as many as 20?) email addresses for sending and receiving email.
3 - The ability to completely control a website at my domain. I'd like the ability to make a form on the website and have visitors (at least 200... maybe as many as a few thousand?) be able to fill out and submit the form. This means I'd like to be able to write my own HTML/CSS/JS for displaying the website... and I guess I'll probably need to be able to run SQL for a database or something to store the data visitors submit.

In a few months I'm planning on just setting up my home network and a Mac Mini to handle all of this, but I'm in a tight spot fiscally right now so... does anyone have an inexpensive solution (I'm aiming for around $20/year?)

 

[S.B.G]

$20 per year for all that? Good luck!

You can achieve all of that via several methods. I get my web hosting from www.harddrivehotel.com where I have a dedicated server to host all of my sites.

I use www.WordPress.org for most of them and for my form data collection purposes, I integrate www.jotform.com forms into my sites.

I also use www.cpanel.net for all of the back-end management and MySQL database functions.

Between all of that, my packages of choice from harddrivehotel, license of CPanel, SSL certificates, dedicated IP's and such, I pay $140 per month.

Look at harddrivehotel's offerings for hosting and you may find something to fit your needs for less than my setup.

 

[ArtOfWarfare]

If you're spending that much you should seriously consider moving off of someone else's servers and onto your own, I think...

I'm looking at 1&1 right now...

For $20 they'll give me the domain I want ($8) plus 1 year of using up to 250 email accounts with 50 GB shared between them. They'll also host up to 5 SQL databases and let me upload my own HTML/CSS/JS, unless I'm missing something. That costs $1/month, so $12/year.

One catch: those are all first year prices. But as I'm planning on moving everything to a MacMini next summer, I don't care as I'll be switching away from them before they raise their prices on me.

 

[S.B.G]

If you're spending that much you should seriously consider moving off of someone else's servers and onto your own, I think...

That is my own server, hosted at their location. I can't get, nor probably afford to house my own server at home where I'd need lots of bandwidth available to deal with web traffic.

 

[rocknblogger]

If you're spending that much you should seriously consider moving off of someone else's servers and onto your own, I think...

I'm looking at 1&1 right now...

For $20 they'll give me the domain I want ($8) plus 1 year of using up to 250 email accounts with 50 GB shared between them. They'll also host up to 5 SQL databases and let me upload my own HTML/CSS/JS, unless I'm missing something. That costs $1/month, so $12/year.

One catch: those are all first year prices. But as I'm planning on moving everything to a MacMini next summer, I don't care as I'll be switching away from them before they raise their prices on me.

Running a server is more than likely against your service provider's ToS. I'm am almost 100% sure of it.

 

[960design]

I flip between several hosting companies. The ones I like best:
JustHost.com
HostGator.com

Right now JustHost is running a special ( just like they all are, from time to time ). I think it's something like $2.25 / month ( 48 month required ) and free domain registration.

So it'll be a little more than the $20 a YEAR but they have tons of extras. The best thing, and a complete requirement for me. Money back guarantee! Try it out if you hate it go for hostgator.com

Good luck

PS I run two 8core webservers from my house. It is against TOS to run them on a typical consumer line. I have a consumer line 2GB up / 18GB down ( for me, netflix, games, ect ) and a separate business line 3GB up / 20GB down for twice the price. Bleh!

 

[firedept]

Maybe consider pairLite. I am not affiliated with them in any way.

pairLite.

One hosting plan.

Hosting for Hobbyists &
Tech-Savvy Webmasters

-50 GB of Transfer/Bandwidth per Month
-10 GB of Disk Space
-10 MySQL Databases
-50 Mailboxes + Forwarding and Autoresponders
-Host up to 10 Domain Names (no extra fees)
-Access via SSH, sFTP, and FTP

-One Domain Name Registration Included *
-Fixed Limits - No Overusage Fees
-3, 6, and 12 Month Contracts
-Perl, PHP (module), Pugs, Parrot, Ruby, and more...
-E-Mail Customer Support Only
-30-Day Limited Money Back Guarantee **

It will run you about $75/year for the pairLite plan. They are very dependable and have great tech support. I use their parent company pair Networks, but they are much more expensive. I manage 6 sites and it cost me approx. $40/mth.

 

[TonyK]

Before I would go with 1X1 I would check for reviews. Yelp! does not seem to hold them in high regard and another review site only gives them 2.5 stars.

Here is the link to the Yelp! reviews. http://www.yelp.com/biz/1-and-1-internet-chesterbrook

Here is the BBB information on them: http://www.bbb.org/washington-dc-eastern-pa/business-reviews/internet-services/1-and-1-internet-inc-in-chesterbrook-pa-1040770/

$20 annual is not going to go too far, especially with the requirements you currently have. Also think about how much it will cost at renewal time because the prices go up and the introductory prices are gone.