During the Ruby hack fest tonight the topic of Rails web hosts came up again. This seems to be a frequent topic of discussion lately. The usual questions are (1) which host is the best, and (2) which host is the cheapest? I thought I’d post my own recommendations here for those who are interested.
I’ve hosted my small Rails apps at TextDrive for over a year now. Although I’ve heard from many people who seem to have no end of trouble with them, I’ve experienced nothing but stellar service from them so far. I average maybe an hour of down-time per month, which is perfectly acceptable to me. The control panel used to be slow as mud, but it’s pretty zippy now. With shell access and the flexibility to customize the environment to suit my needs, it’s a nice setup. It’s also $12.95/month for the basic package.
Other hosts that support Rails include DreamHost and OCS Solutions. You can read more about OCS on Soapadoo. I’ve never used either of these hosts, but I’ve heard good things about them from people who have.
So, what’s your favorite Rails web host?