WestHost: WordPress hosting done right

02 March 2009 Joost de Valk 180 comments, leave your own!

So in the last couple of weeks I had a bit of an issue with my server. Automatic plugin updates didn't work as I wanted them to, WP-Cron didn't work, and although I was able to fix all those I felt unhappy. I want my hosting party to take care of that stuff, and not think about it myself, so I started looking around. Turns out, WordPress hosting has become a fairly popular business.

WestHostI was checking the list of WordPress recommended hosting parties (you can find that here), and noticed one that I hadn't seen on there before, called WestHost. Turns out these guys were #1 most reliable hosting provider according to Netcraft four times in 2008, including November and December.

Their admins and support people also are top-notch (and all US based), I've never seen a migration handled as smoothly as they did. So, I can now honestly say I can recommend you to use WestHost for all your WordPress hosting needs, at $6.95 a month for their blog package, which even includes one free domain, they're not exactly what I'd call expensive either.

So, if you're wondering about which WordPress hosting package to go for, here's the answer: go for WestHost.

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Categories: WordPress

157 Responses to “WestHost: WordPress hosting done right”

  1. By Chung Bey Luen Mon, March 2nd, 2009 at 13:46

    Never heard about this web hosting company. Anybody try it before?

  2. By Rob Mon, March 2nd, 2009 at 14:26

    Were you with mediatemple before or did I imagine that ?

  3. By Henry M. Mon, March 2nd, 2009 at 14:42

    Why are you using a redirect to your external link? I always thought that it was only affiliates doing that, camouflaging their links.

    • By Joost de Valk Mon, March 2nd, 2009 at 14:47

      It is indeed an affiliate links, although the redirect is not in any way meant to camouflage for you the guest, it is for search engines though, no need for my affiliate links to be indexed. Hosting is one of the few things on this blog I'll show affiliate links for, do you can rest assured that I would never give out an affiliate link for a product I wouldn't recommend if I were not an affiliate. In the end, you, the visitor, are more important to me than money will ever be.

  4. By archshrk Mon, March 2nd, 2009 at 15:59

    Who do you recommend for the Domain Registration?

  5. By Coen Jacobs Mon, March 2nd, 2009 at 17:13

    One question that remains unanswered I guess; is it capable of handling a post on the Digg frontpage (with proper WordPress tweaking)?

  6. By Brad Mon, March 2nd, 2009 at 17:13

    I assume this means westhost has fixed the cron problems. I was having the same issue on host gator, who up until the cron issue came along giving tweetbacks problems did very well for me.

  7. By Michael Martin Mon, March 2nd, 2009 at 17:31

    @Joost

    Do you have a referral discount code for Westhost?

    Thanks,
    Michael Martin
    Google And Blog

    • By Joost de Valk Mon, March 2nd, 2009 at 18:17

      Hey Michael, good question! My links send you to a page with already applied discounts - you can't reach that page through their homepage and the prices are significantly lower than their listed prices at westhost.com.

  8. By Zack Katz Mon, March 2nd, 2009 at 17:32

    Based on all the Powered by MediaTemple hullabaloo a couple of years ago (and still going on today), I was surprised and disappointed how often their servers are taken down for maintenance or just don't perform well!

    I am now a reseller at hostgator.com, and they're great. I did tests and they're consistently faster than (or as fast as) any other reseller out there.

    WestHost is old-school if I remember, they've been around for a while!

    • By Nick Nelson Mon, March 2nd, 2009 at 20:17

      WestHost is old school - yes. Since 1998. It's now backed by the UK2Group.com, though still 100% independently operated in Logan, Utah. It's quite an interesting operation since 60% of our 50+ employees are all Utah State grads, and many have been there for the long haul.

  9. By Oriontool Mon, March 2nd, 2009 at 18:14

    Joost,

    Which hosting plan are you using? Also, how long did the migration process take once you signed up?

    Thanks!

  10. By lweeks Mon, March 2nd, 2009 at 18:22

    Many people have been using WestHost for Wordpress, and if I remember correctly, WestHost will be converting over to cPanel in the next few months.

    • By Michael Martin Mon, March 2nd, 2009 at 18:41

      WestHost isn't using cPanel yet???

      I have been using Siteground and it has great uptime, speed, server space, bandwidth, and low cost.

      • By Nick Nelson Mon, March 2nd, 2009 at 18:48

        WestHost recently announced plans to introduce cPanel to the offerings. I can tell you though - what makes WestHost superior isn't the technology (although that doesn't hurt) it's the staff, and dedication. The fact that every one of my coworkers is in the same office in Utah, nobody outsourced to India, or similar, is key.

        As Joost said - the migration was done nearly perfectly, better than he's seen - we have no secret sauce that helps us migrate clients, it's simply attention to detail, and knowledge of doing this for over 10 years (longer than MediaTemple even!).

  11. By Nick Nelson Mon, March 2nd, 2009 at 18:36

    If anyone has any specific WestHost questions - I'm a frequent reader of Yoast and the Global Commercial Director at WestHost and would be glad to answer them.

  12. By Evan Mon, March 2nd, 2009 at 19:25

    Thanks for the recommendation. I was just thinking of moving a wordpress.com-hosted blog over to something that gives me some more control, and this fits the bill perfectly!

  13. By Michael Martin Mon, March 2nd, 2009 at 19:37

    @Joost

    How do you set that when you reply that you get the blue shading?

    I am assuming you are using the Brian's Threaded Comments plugin but I don't see that option in it.

    Please advise.

    Thank You!

  14. By Gustavo Leig Mon, March 2nd, 2009 at 20:55

    Joost, isnt soon to recomend them? Like yesterday you recommended MT. What really happened? Was only support or also software/hardware problems? Do you have any response from MT guys?

    • By Joost de Valk Mon, March 2nd, 2009 at 21:17

      I understand why you you think that. To be honest I'd rather not go into the issues with the MT guys, they did try hard to solve my issues and it's not that they're that bad, it's that WestHost has been this good. It is soon, but my experience with them is so overwhelmingly good that I can do nothing but share it...

  15. By Christoph Tue, March 3rd, 2009 at 09:50

    Hi Joost!

    I just realized that the "Welcome Googler! If you find this page useful, ..." is not an ad banner at all but a message to me... :-)

    Thing is: I already have your RSS feed on my iGoogle page - as I really like your blog! - and that's where I am coming from. Pleeeeaaaze adjust that greet_block and either remove it for me coming from iGoogle start page or at least don't make it look like an ad banner.

    And thanks for all the effort you are putting into your articles. Great stuff!

    Regards from Austria,
    Christoph

  16. By Iambetterthanu Wed, March 4th, 2009 at 16:12

    I have been having a lot of problems with media temple as of late. Their was a problem with my SSL, a problem with a router on their end etc etc.

    Does West Host offer a good VPS or are you on a shared hosting plan?

  17. By Kampanye Damai Pemilu Indonesia 2009 Sat, March 7th, 2009 at 19:02

    thank you your sharing for host :D . this aricle can help me

  18. By Michael Tchong Sat, March 7th, 2009 at 20:43

    This is a great deal, thanks Joost! And I'm having loads of problems with Media Temple too, so need to move. :)

  19. By Robert Sun, March 8th, 2009 at 21:44

    I was ready to go, then spoke to a CSR and was told they will not handle the transfer of my blog files over to them. Looks like I am staying put since I am not proficient in completing a site migration.

  20. By Steve Mon, March 9th, 2009 at 19:48

    Before Media Temple, I was with Host Gator, which was great until I discovered that they allow 25 percent CPU load per site on a shared hosting plan. When my site started to receive traffic spikes, Host Gator would simply shut down my site because it was crashing other sites on a shared server. I moved my site to Media Temple, which can handle huge traffic spikes (like over 25,000 hits a day or more without cashing), but Media Temple’s service is not stable, so I am thinking about moving to another host.

    My question is: Can WestHost handle unpredictable traffic spikes without cashing? My sites gets about 10,000 hits a day, but on some days, it can go over 20,000 or more hits. Can WestHost handle that kind of traffic on, say, Business Value plan without cashing?

    Thanks,
    -Steve

    • By Nick Nelson Mon, March 9th, 2009 at 21:09

      Steve,

      It depends a lot on your site - if you send me your domain, I can check it over and give you my opinion. But WestHost and HostGator are much different since WestHost is a VPS product.

      • By Steve Mon, March 9th, 2009 at 22:40

        Hi Nick,

        Okay, thanks, I will send you the URL. Meanwhile, could you elaborate a little on what happens on your end when a site is getting overwhelmed with traffic? Do you temporarily suspend the site like Host Gator does, or do you have something in place to handle a situation like this? I am not talking about a blog that runs on WordPress. Usually, the problem is that SQL chokes under load. At Media Temple, for example, they scale your db resources so that it can handle increased load. How do you deal with it?

        Thanks.

      • By Steve Mon, March 9th, 2009 at 22:43

        Sorry for the typo, I meant to say "I am talking about a blog that runs on WordPress."

    • By Nick Nelson Mon, March 9th, 2009 at 22:53

      We're not cloud based - so we don't "expand" your resources. It's really apples to oranges. We contact the client and attempt to upgrade them to a more appropriate plan. But again, we're not HostGator. We're a VPS. You have dedicated resources. So if you're comparing HostGator and MediaTemple. We would be in between. Best of both. :)

      • By Joost de Valk Mon, March 9th, 2009 at 22:55

        And I can tell from my own experience that stories of companies like MediaTemple don't always match with the reality... I've been on GS for a while and they moved me off because I got too much traffic...

        • By seo Tue, October 20th, 2009 at 03:44

          can you clarify more what do you mean by "moved you off"... ?

          because they say in FAQ:

          "What are the charges if I exceed my bandwidth?
          If you go over the bandwidth included with your hosting plan you will automatically be charged for overage at the rate of $0.50 per GB. Please note, we constantly monitor the bandwidth usage of every client on our network. Once our bandwidth monitors have projected a potential overage for your hosting service you will automatically receive an email notification containing additional details. You may also view a report of your current and projected bandwidth usage during any billing cycle directly inside the AccountCenter."

          so they will notify you, and if you don't act and exceeding happens, they will charge you for overage at the rate of $0.50 per GB.

      • By Steve Mon, March 9th, 2009 at 23:18

        "I've been on GS for a while and they moved me off because I got too much traffic..."

        Wow, really? That is interesting. How much traffic is too much traffic?

      • By Joost de Valk Mon, March 9th, 2009 at 23:20

        That was basically a frontpage of Reddit, Digg and a Stumble rush at the same time, about 30-40k uniques if I remember correctly.

  21. By Robert Barr Mon, March 9th, 2009 at 23:11

    To all,

    I was interested in WestHost's program just like you after reading the post. I was contacted by Nick after I posted a comment about transferring my blog saying he would check with the office and see what he could do. This was at 10pm on a Sunday night mind you.

    We went back and forth with some pre-sales questions I had and he responded immediately. He told me I would hear from someone today (Monday) and I did (Clint) who took my questions to Nick a step further and provided even better answers.

    Unfortunately for me, I won't be able to use WestHost as I would ping their "resources usage" meter from the Stumble Upon and Digg effect. I will say this, if their after-sale service is half of their pre-sale, you guys are all in good hands!

    The one concern I do have is after subscribing to the comments for this post, they arrive in my junk folder, so if Yoast is on WestHost and using the email servers, I am getting these messages as spam. :(

    Nick, thanks for trying to go above and beyond for me, I appreciate it! If you guys ever provide guaranteed resources with any kind of "burst" or "Digg effect" safeguard, I am in!!!

    • By Joost de Valk Mon, March 9th, 2009 at 23:22

      Honestly, WestHost is the best you will receive at $6.95/mo. Hands down. Nobody can guarantee you they will protect you against digg, stumbleupon etc. at that price, the only difference with WestHost, as you can see from Nick's replies in this thread, is they are honest enough to tell you that ahead of time.

      I don't know who you're going to now, I hope they serve you well!

      With regards to the email, can you send over the headers? Please email them joost at this domain, I'd like to examine them a bit more!

  22. By Matej Tue, March 10th, 2009 at 01:13

    With 20k-35k page views a day, which hosting package you should recommend on WestHost? Some people say that they handle it with shared hosting while I'm having big troubles with VPS ( Miphase - Gold VPS - 70$ month). Should I switch on dedicated?

  23. By S.K Tue, March 10th, 2009 at 12:13

    I use Hostpc.com for 4 of my WordPress installations. Good support and cheap - suited me! :)
    They use DirectAdmin, not cPanel. Good folks, straightforward.

    S.K

  24. By Nima Tue, March 10th, 2009 at 17:44

    we've been on westhost for a few years. we got the reseller package with 7 VPS. great web host. especially when coming from ipower and then ixwebhosting which both sucked. ipower was doing every scam in the book and ixwebhosting had security issues. they wouldn't update their software.

  25. By Conrad Theart Wed, March 11th, 2009 at 12:42

    I'm also with WeshHost and I'm so happy with their service. I live in South Africa, so the online chat support is priceless!

  26. By [Keyword deleted] Thu, March 12th, 2009 at 22:08

    Wordpress has become the most popular used platform in its category. A recent search i conducted on Alexa found wordpress.com to be number 22 in the top most visited websites "globally".

    Wordpress not only makes it easy to create a blog but it has also been used to develop websites, simply because it makes it so easy to update.

    Regards,
    Richard

  27. By Laurence Flynn Sat, March 14th, 2009 at 06:41

    Joost, to be honest a few weeks isn't enough time to make a solid recommendation. All they did was a smooth migration and so far so good. And this blog has a very low Alexa rank so doesn't get huge traffic (maybe you have other sites). Also the #1 on Netcraft means that Netcraft monitored their website and has no bearing on their server's uptime or performnce.

    Just some perspective.

    • By Joost de Valk Sat, March 14th, 2009 at 09:40

      Laurence, do I feel some jealousy here? :) To put some perspective to what you're saying here:

      - this site runs quite a few complex scripts and has quite some demand, so "just" a smooth migration is a feat in itself, especially in the time frame they did it in
      - their service has been absolutely fabulous so far, which is most important to me, and probably most of my readers
      - Netcraft actually measures a lot more than that, and you should probably go read those reports
      - Alexa ranking doesn't say a whole lot about a site's traffic, and resource demands. I've been doing Online Marketing for years now, and I've never seen a site where the Alexa ranking was anywhere close to the "real traffic" that site got, and Alexa's been wrong in both directions. That said when Google released the new FriendConnect API thursday and this blog got a TON of traffic, WestHost held up with ease, even when I disabled caching because I was fixing some bugs in my theme.

      Just some perspective from my side.

  28. By Ray Sanchez Wed, March 18th, 2009 at 21:49

    I actually use IX web hosting. They are a decent web hosting company and have not given me any problems, yet. As for WestHost, I have never heard of them. Are they any good?

  29. By JonathanDingman Mon, March 23rd, 2009 at 01:18

    This company is based down the street from me, I see them as I drive by quite often. But, I've never been a fan of their service.

    I've used over 20 web hosts in the past 5 years, but finally found one that was rock solid -- LiquidWeb.

    Hosts that have really let me down are Site5, Dreamhost, and LayeredTech.

    Westhost is overpriced for what they offer and I've just never had a good experience with them as a company.

  30. By Michael Mon, March 23rd, 2009 at 20:12

    I have never heard of this host before and have always used http://www.avekhost.com for my webhosting. I have 3 sites with them which are all wordpress sites and the updates and plugin auto installs work like a charm. I used a cron job once for emailing articles to be posted automatically and never had a problem with the cron job either. I think if you use coupon code "freebasicmonth" you get the first month of basic web hosting free. Oh and the uptime has been great! Hope it helps!

  31. By Josh Tue, March 24th, 2009 at 06:11

    Hey Joost! I'm looking at Media Temple for their (dv) plan, as I've heard lots of complaints with the (gs) service. Did you ever upgrade to the (dv) service, and if so, do you have any specific "gotchas" I should look out for? Thanks!

    • By Joost de Valk Tue, March 24th, 2009 at 09:22

      I wouldn't do it... It's simply not worth the money. Stuff like wp-cron and plugin updates don't work on their default config, and it's not THAT fast.

      • By Josh Wed, March 25th, 2009 at 08:47

        Were these problems on the (dv) setup? Good to know that there are some incompatibilities, but I'm pretty knowledgeable about the server ins and outs. Also, the cost isn't an issue as I will be reselling space to some clients which will cover it. Thanks for your input, and I love your site-- it's helped me lots with my own blog!

  32. By George Wed, March 25th, 2009 at 19:21

    We are preparing to switch our subscription service from FeedBurner to using the great Subscribe2 plugin. Is there a limitation to how many emails we can send to subscribers on the WestHost platform? Many hosting companies limit how many outgoing emails can occur off the server/hour to minimize spammers. We are in the process of building a large subscription eNews base of subscribers. A limitation could pose problems for us.

    In advance, many thanks for the input! :-)

    • By Joost de Valk Wed, March 25th, 2009 at 20:06

      If a lot of people forbid you something it's probably not a good idea, is it? :) If you're going to build a large list, I'd HIGHLY recommend you go with a professional mail service provider, for myself I've chosen aweber.

    • By Nick Nelson Wed, March 25th, 2009 at 20:09

      I'm checking with my guys now on the exact number. But as Joost said - it makes much much more sense to go with a professional mailing service - aweber.com is good, I also recommend mailchimp.com, who is free up to so many users, and very affordable otherwise.

      • By Nick Nelson Wed, March 25th, 2009 at 21:53

        Straight from the support manager...

        "There is no a limit currently imposed in our platform. However I will mention this: E-mail, or large volumes of it, can easily cause load. If the client sending mass e-mails begins to cause load and is found to be utilizing too many resources (cpu/disk IO/RAM) they will be contacted by our Hosting Systems team and asked to resolve the issue causing load or to upgrade to a more suitable solution that we offer."

      • By George Wed, March 25th, 2009 at 21:58

        Hey Nick. I appreciate your getting back to me. This information is very helpful. I want to again thank you for your previous suggestion re. mailchimp.com as well. Have a good rest of the day.

      • By Michael Orta Thu, March 26th, 2009 at 00:43

        ConstantContact.com has been around for quite some time and I had success with them in the past. If you have an extremely large list; I would recommend getting a dedicated server. It is a heck of a lot cheaper than using a list company and you could find some pretty decent mailing scripts on hotscripts.com that can manage multiple lists. Most hosting companies won't bother you because it is a dedicated server. Just some food for thought!

        • By Joost de Valk Thu, March 26th, 2009 at 09:14

          Hey Michael, how has moving to a dedicated server impacted your delivery and open rate, and what would you call an "extremely large list"? With the pricing of Aweber, like $149 a month for up to 25,000 recipients, I think it'd be hard to compete with that... Email parties like Aweber, ConstantContact and others are way better in preventing your email of ending up in the spambox in my experience...

          • By Jonathan Dingman Fri, March 27th, 2009 at 07:54

            I want to throw my two cents in and agree that Aweber is great. They don't treat their affiliates the best, very picky about domains and how the service is promoted, but overall, their service as a whole is great. I've been using Aweber for close to a year now and been extremely happy.

            Easy to use, easy to setup, and very cheap. I'm still on my $19/mo package and it's been more than enough for me.

          • By Michael Orta Mon, March 30th, 2009 at 05:05

            My list size is 160,000. Most list companies charge around 600-700 monthly for a list of this size which is the reason why I went the dedicated server route. My open rate actually increased but was likely a change in our marketing strategies with subject titles and content. Honestly, I can't say we have seen any draw back to the fact we now use a dedicated server for our mailing list.

  33. By George Wed, March 25th, 2009 at 20:31

    Many thanks for the thoughts and suggestions Joost and Nick! Have an awesome day...

  34. By George Thu, March 26th, 2009 at 01:09

    Michael, awesome advice! Many thanks. I really appreciate it. Have a great rest of the day.

  35. By Andrew Sat, March 28th, 2009 at 18:53

    Just ordered a hosting package thanks to your review.

  36. By Jason Saggers Tue, March 31st, 2009 at 12:11

    American hosting beats Australian hosting that is for sure.
    Hosting in Australia with that kind of storage space and bandwidth would cost $1000AU each year.
    I pay $14.95AU a month for 500mb storage and 5000mb of bandwidth, I have all ready used 150mb since the 26th and my site is getting bigger each month so 5000mb isn't going to cut it.
    I did want to store my site in this country (Australia where I live) but I don't think it is going to happen.
    Any advice.

    • By Joost de Valk Tue, March 31st, 2009 at 12:12

      Hey Jason,

      Which audience are you targetting? If you're targetting the entire English speaking market, I'd go for US hosting... The biggest part of your audience will be there...

  37. By Gaj Tue, March 31st, 2009 at 13:48

    Hi there,

    I can't find webhost on the wordpress recommended list, is there a reason for that? I'm currently weighing up mediatemple on recomendation and now after reading this webhost but just worried why your not on the temple media list anymore.

    Thanks,
    Gaj

    • By Joost de Valk Tue, March 31st, 2009 at 13:51

      Hey Gaj,

      don't know, they took it off apparently, and their ways there are unknown... Search through the WordPress support forums and see for yourself which hosts are better, they're definitly not the ones listed on the wp.org list, unfortunately...

    • By Nick Nelson Tue, March 31st, 2009 at 14:33

      I won't go into why we're not listed on wordpress.org, but I can assure you it's not technical nor our customer service. :)

      • By Gaj Fri, April 3rd, 2009 at 16:17

        Hi,

        Nick,

        I'm a UK based site, what I like about MT is that they have a UK number I can call for support, however unless I'm US based I can only email you guys is that right.

        I've just looked at all the downtime MT has been having and it really has put me off, they had had so many hardware failures recently is shocking.

        Nick do you have any uptime stats?

        Thanks,
        Gaj

      • By Nick Nelson Fri, April 3rd, 2009 at 17:05

        Gaj,

        We are monitored by Netcraft.com, November and December we were the most reliable provider on the internet - we're routinely in the top 20. It's definitely 99.99% and above.

        As for other ways to communicate with us, we offer a very reliable livechat solution - and I'll pass on the suggestion of getting a UK number for our UK clients, not sure how that would work :)

        What about Skype? I believe there's a very affordable way to call US numbers through Skype

      • By Gaj Fri, April 3rd, 2009 at 17:14

        Skype etc is fine only problem is it mean I have to find an internet connection, you can buy a UK phone number and have it redirected using voip and I think this is what temple are doing.

        The amount your service costs its kind of risk free so I'll probably purchase it today :) If you could get a UK phone number I can call that would be great and would complete the service.

        I did purchase templemedia last week and I'm already having problem, my FTP is running dog slow. So I'm gonna cancel it.

        Cheers,
        Gaj

      • By Nick Nelson Sat, April 4th, 2009 at 20:04

        Gaj,

        I see you signed up - enjoy our services, if you have any problems don't hesitate to let me know. But I have no doubt our team in Utah will take great care of you.

      • By Gaj Sat, April 4th, 2009 at 20:15

        Hi Nick,

        I have, I've just started migrating things across now. I've managed to stack up alot of data over the last couple of years its taking its time.

        I'm finding the online documentation hard to follow but with the help of your team things seem to be progressing. Fingers crossed I should be able to switch soon. Is there any chance you could email me when your back in the office, I just had a few questions.

        Thanks for the help.

        Gaj

    • By Gaj Wed, April 8th, 2009 at 08:36

      Hi Nick,

      Your team are great and try there best to help.

      I did want to say though my migration hasn't been so smooth. I kicked off the DNS migration on Sunday morning and as the site got busier the site just started to grind to a halt. Trust me my site is a small fish, I get a fraction of Yoasts visitors, with the problems my stats show I had 900 all day.

      Now, I have the latest version of wordpress and I switched off all my plug-ins and also run the wordpress default theme. I was told by your team that my site was using a high number of resources and was contained for a while whilst we investigated. I have been told many different things, from DDoS, to my .htaccess problems, to a high amount of content. every agen has told me a different thing. However one thing I forgot to do was switch off my forum, so the problem actually could have been that but really we all focussed on wordpress being the problem.

      On my current host I have a max 50 Mb disk space and 30Gb bandwidth, which I currently am on the brink of exceeding, so your hosting package is ideal however I've been given no options by you so I think I'm going to have to leave. Thats a real shame. If you think you can come up with a solution for me that would be great if not well I'll have to go :(

      Thanks,
      Gaj

    • By Nick Nelson Wed, April 8th, 2009 at 08:38

      Very interesting to hear Gaj, sorry you've had problems. I'm going to speak to the team to get the details tomorrow.

      • By Gaj Fri, April 10th, 2009 at 10:07

        Hi Nick, Any news on this, I haven't cancelled my account yet just in case the problems could be resolved. My site seems to be running fine again on my other hosting provider but I get a fraction of the bandwidth and disk space you guys provide. Speaking to your team I was happy to even upgrade to a semi-dedicated solution.

    • By Gaj Wed, April 8th, 2009 at 08:56

      I did ask if I could speak to you but you weren't around. I mean I have to say that your team are great and they did stay on the chat to talk me through what needed to be done but ultimately I was frustrated by hearing lots of different things.

      Current on my exisiting host if I get hit by Digg then my current host struggles with my DB connections but I have just moded my theme to reduce all this. So even I'm a bit suprised.

  38. By Frederick Thu, April 2nd, 2009 at 16:37

    Hey Joost i like your cloaked URL, how do you do that?
    I would like to cloak my affiliate links too.

    @Nick Nelson
    I'm waiting westhost to switch to cpanel before joining, is there a date when cpanel will be aviable for new registrations?

    thanks

  39. By Nick Nelson Sat, April 11th, 2009 at 08:35

    Curious to hear the feedback from anyone who's signed up for WestHost based on this thread - anyone?

    • By Gaj Tue, April 21st, 2009 at 23:23

      Well Nick, I personally would like to give you some feedback but would prefer to talk it over. Any chance of that, if you prefer I can leave my feedback here?

  40. By Barackoli Sun, April 12th, 2009 at 23:30

    westhost....how about the uptime?
    thanks for your information

  41. By Brad Wed, April 15th, 2009 at 23:49

    West host doesn't seem to be on there any more I wonder why! I have been using Tigersites for the last several months and they've been doing very well in terms of running my Wordpress site! No complaints!

    • By Joost de Valk Thu, April 16th, 2009 at 06:00

      Hey Brad, believe me: it has nothing to do with the Quality of Service that WestHost delivers. I won't go in to the details here, but that list is driven by money and politics, it seems...

  42. By Daniel Florien Fri, April 24th, 2009 at 19:59

    I switched to Westhost based on this recommendation, since we seem to have similar traffic.

    First day the site went down. Today it went down again because I got on the reddit.com homepage. It isn't reliable when you need it most.

    I'm even using wp-super-cache, but they have a limit of 25 processes which just won't work when you're getting heavy traffic. Too bad.

    Guess I'll need to start looking again.

  43. By Nick Nelson Fri, April 24th, 2009 at 20:29

    Daniel,

    Can you contact me via email (nick at aff dot biz) or skype (snickn)...

    No reason to move - we'll get it worked out.

    • By Gaj Fri, April 24th, 2009 at 21:59

      Well Nick I just cancelled too and I feel the same way. I even asked you to contact me so that we can work something out on dseveral occassions, Dan feel privileged you got an offer. I told your staff I'd be happy to have gone for a semi-dedicated or dedicated solution.

      I really don't get it, my site is tiny compared to most, I bet a tenth of Yoasts. I have held back from feeding back my thoughts but now I do feel like I'm being ignored, so don't be suprised if this sounds like a bit of rant, I personally feel its very mild.

      Its a real shame you have a great team of people working with you Nick but the fact that I took all the effort to migrate to you shows I was serious but then you turned me away.

      Dan, I had the caching plug-in on too. The problem with my site crashing was different speaking to different agents. Also what really annoyed me was that when I was internally transfered/quarantined my website was turning into a boat website whilst propagation took place.

  44. By Nick Nelson Fri, April 24th, 2009 at 22:02

    Gaj,

    I thought I responded asking you to email me - If anyone has issues with wordpress on westhost, please email me...I can definitely "make things right" one way or another. nick@aff.biz or "snickn" on skype. That's an open invite to everyone. :)

  45. By Al Mon, April 27th, 2009 at 21:56

    They offer 1TB of bandwidth for 6.95. I am afraid this is another overseller. Can anyone comment on this?

  46. By Charles Tue, May 5th, 2009 at 01:45

    I gotta say, a friend (not tech savvy) wanted me to set them up with a quick and dirty WP blog and I went with WestHost based on the recommendations here for customer service and ease of use. However, two immediate problems have arisen.

    1. The WP installer tool automatically puts files into the a /wordpress/ subdir, meaning that the entire install has to be manually moved into the root folder.
    2. The database name cannot be set upon creation. The default is "wordpress"... not exactly the most security conscious method of doing this.

    For a newcomer, this is not very user-friendly and, honestly, more than a little aggravating even for someone who knows what they are doing. I contacted customer support and was told:

    1. All applications install into their own subfolder, there is no way to change this default behavior in our current hosting environment. (seems this is being changed in a "future" version).
    2. Some of the applications such as phpBB allows changing of the database name, but most are set in the installer and cannot be changed.

    Disappointing to say the least and I have literally loved everything that you (Yoast) have ever recommended or written, I use many of your plugins. Just my thoughts.

    • By Nick Nelson Tue, May 5th, 2009 at 08:22

      Charles,

      We actually have seen those exact issues - next month "WestHost 4.0" is released, which includes a brand new auto-installer which addresses all those exact issues. The key about WestHost is the responsiveness and customer service.

      Look foward to 4.0 to fix all of that mentioned.

  47. By 51 Grand Thu, May 28th, 2009 at 14:09

    I have never heard of WestHost, but they do look fine. I am using HostGator, Bluehost, IXwebhosting and ThinkHost, but HG proved to be the best for me. 3 years in a row working with no problems!

  48. By Ana Monsanto Fri, May 29th, 2009 at 17:40

    Hi,

    I'm trying to switch servers from my windows based isqsolutions.com server. The reason is because I've tried about every fix and php.ini rewrite to fix the CGI error and 404 error. It's been a month and I'm considering switching to a different host. Will WestHost help me fix this problem? Is it even a server problem? or wordpress? If WestHost will work fine with my PERMALINKS than it's a done deal :)

  49. By gucci Wed, June 3rd, 2009 at 16:32

    Thanks for the recommendation. I was just thinking of moving a wordpress.com-hosted blog over to something that gives me some more control, and this fits the bill perfectly!

  50. By rebanto Mon, June 8th, 2009 at 19:08

    Isn't westhost just another site for Bluehost? Bluehost is competing with itself via other names like Hostmonster etc. I do like the company's features very much, but some of my wordpress plugins don't always work and I don't know if its the hosting, indexing or what...

  51. By john Sun, June 14th, 2009 at 17:03

    Who do you recommend for the Domain Registration?

  52. By Geoff Mon, June 15th, 2009 at 17:58

    I am reviewing hosting companies to possibly switch to and do not see this on the wordpress recommended hosting comanies page?!?!?

    • By Nick Nelson Mon, June 15th, 2009 at 18:04

      Indeed we're not on there anymore - but it definitely has nothing to do with the performance levels.

      Just politics :)

  53. By Evert Jan Wed, June 24th, 2009 at 09:24

    I just signed up for the Westhost WP package. Sounds like a good deal so I'm gonna give it a try. Waiting for them to set me up now... ;)

  54. By araya Thu, July 2nd, 2009 at 17:01

    Yeah, it must be nice.

  55. By Marc Mon, July 6th, 2009 at 20:02

    SPEED! and i mean RAW SPEED of your websites, that is the real reason why anyone should go for Westhost.
    This week i changed from Strato to Westhost and measured the speed of (more or less) the same Wordpress installation from 9 locations around the world to both sites. Westhost is 8 times faster than Strato: 17.3 Kbps versus 139.1 Kbps.
    I've read almost all above comments, but didn't find anything about speed. If you are researching hosting companies you won't find much information about website loading speeds, i recommend using internetsupervision.com for speed measurement because they use 9 test locations and it's free.
    Thanks for the recommendation, yoast, and yes, i did use your affiliate url for ordering the Wordpress package at Westhost.

  56. By Devere Marketing Tue, July 7th, 2009 at 02:24

    Thanks for the tip....

    I just signed up for the "Yoast Special". I look forward to getting my site up.

    In addition, I am sending a million + emails a month for another website. We used to have a dedicated server- that was a night mare and only for people who can afford to specialise in that area. We have been using MyEmma. Deliverablilty has been an issue for us, but they are not too picky about our lists.
    We are looking into other providers: Silverpop, EmailVision, Bronto, Mail Chimp etc.
    One thing I liked about EmailVision was their data base and segentation tools, i.e., the ability to send emails to a customer who: ex: bought brand x item, within a certain time frame, with an average order value of "x" etc.
    Now I'm thinking it might be better to segment that data first on another platform and then integrate it with a mail provider such as Mail Chimp.
    Any suggestions as far a tool that will take out customer lists/data base and allow me, the marketer, to segment it???
    Thanks in advance.

  57. By Satyajit Sat, August 8th, 2009 at 17:56

    I am currently looking for Good Webhost... had been researching a lot got to talk with few people, and checked with customer support as well.

    I have Zeroed down after all researching on Webfaction, until Westhost happened. And by reading every comment minutely, I feel Positive about Westhost. Both of there plans look Comparably similar. And Both have got really good reviews over the Net.

    Just wanted to ask whether Westhost accepts Paypal as payment option ??

  58. By Docee Wed, August 19th, 2009 at 05:14

    Joost, do you use WP bStat plugin in your blog ? What do westhost think about this plugin? Do they also forbid us to use it like hostgator does ? Or any experience about other hostings that allow us to use it ?

    Please, I need this information.

  59. By Beau Liening Thu, August 20th, 2009 at 06:22

    I currently use 1and1 for hosting. I have a developer package. I find it escrutiating that I have to set an option in my .htaccess files to use the latest version of php. I've been plagued with downtime problems being on a shared server (though not as much downtime this year as previous years).

    I think I'll check out westhost and see if it's the right choice for me. My blog doesn't get much traffic right now, but I'd like to build it up.

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  61. By Brian Sat, September 5th, 2009 at 20:29

    Hi Joost,

    Given the good reviews you have given about westhost I am just wondering if you have changed from WestHost - to hostingservicesinc?

    I recommended a friend to westhost (based on your comments and the reviews here). He had a dedicated server elsewhere and it brokedown over 8 times in 6 months. Not only that... but after signing up with westhost he was actually getting faster speeds using their semi-dedicated package using the same wp theme (with more plug-ins however!) than on a 'dedicated' server - go figure that one out! He checked the speed regularly using http://www.ismyblogworking.com.

    He seems to be happy, only one or two quibbles though... on their basic webhosting plan - semi-dedicated. It appears that you can only use a 6-8 letter/number password on the account. Given my friend is using a WP blog and has a lot of security related plug ins it is a bit dissapointing that he can only secure his hosting with a mere 6-8 letter/number password.

    Secondly, there is no ban ip after failed logins option to frustrate malicious logins through his westhost login panel. Surely this would be a good option/idea for wp users of westhost?

    Thats it... please keep up the good work on WP. People like me need people like you to light the way!

    Thanks
    Brian

  62. By Arturo Thu, September 24th, 2009 at 11:07

    Your website is indeed fast, but after some close inspection only 2 of 102 objects on this page are loaded from your host Westhost.
    Almost all request go to NetDNA.com, which is a content delivery network across the globe.
    Personally the real feel of your speedy website is due to NetDNA and less so because of Westhost.

    Still nicely configured, your website on ordinary hosting + NetDNA.

    But in all honesty Westhost costs $8.95 a month, while NetDNA costs $99 a month.

  63. By Devere Marketing Thu, October 8th, 2009 at 02:31

    According to this site, yoast.com is hosted with Hosting Services Inc., not WestHost!
    http://uptime.netcraft.com/up/graph?site=http%3A%2F%2Fyoast.com

  64. By Seotaal Thu, October 8th, 2009 at 14:58

    Hmmm, this looks really like an advertorial. If you get some sort of discount (like free hosting or an affiliate fee), it would be nice to mention ;).

    • By Joost de Valk Thu, October 8th, 2009 at 15:08

      Ehm well check out the sidebar. Of course I get free hosting and yes I also get an affiliate fee, but I could get that from any hosting provider, I've settled with WestHost because they're the best, for me and everyone else out there :)

  65. By breathalyzer Thu, October 8th, 2009 at 22:23

    westhost has been hosting our breathalyzer sites from day one. great tech support and high uptime!

  66. By Joe Fri, November 20th, 2009 at 20:48

    The WestHost WP offer is no longer valid.

  67. By easthost Fri, December 4th, 2009 at 06:46

    WestHost WordPress Hosting offer is gone!

  68. By Nick Nelson Fri, December 4th, 2009 at 06:47

    New plan coming VERY soon. :)

    • By easthost Fri, December 4th, 2009 at 08:09

      The comments here look weird, I barely noticed that you replied. My previous comment and yours should of been posted below the other comment below.

  69. By Les Sat, December 5th, 2009 at 13:41

    I made the move this week. Everything Yoast says is accurate. So far WestHost has been awesome!

  70. By Joe Sat, December 5th, 2009 at 23:50

    @Les - which plan did you end up going with?

  71. By Nick Nelson Mon, March 30th, 2009 at 05:09

    What software do you use on the dedicated server? Even on our monthly newsletter sendings, we get maybe 5 people click the "spam" button, and a few other random complaints. In my experience with dedicated server providers (being one, though we're not as harsh) even 7 complaints a month causes a little stir.

    But to each their own, I wouldn't know what to do without the MailChimp reporting stats - as well as split A/B testing, and various other enhancements.

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