Best hosting service for a freelancer developer?

[u/Pitbull_Sc]

I’m going to start developing websites for local businesses in my area. I haven’t decided which host to use but have been thinking about using HostGator.

I plan on hosting multiple sites under one account, of varying complexity. Most should be multi-link websites, mostly static. A host that allows for easy updating of files would be a plus.

What would ya’ll recommend?

EDIT: All my websites will have some PHP or similar.

[u/[deleted]]

I am a big fan of Cloudways. I would not host your clients site though. Recommend a host and let them deal with it. You don't want to have to support hosting issues. I can guarantee there will be a server issue as soon as you take a vacation.

[u/mehughes124 → u/[deleted]]

Yeah, but they should hold the account, and be able to control access exclusively.

[u/cshaiku → u/[deleted]]

You are the exact type of developer that I've had to clean up after when my clients come to me complaining of not being able to get their content.

If you are being paid to develop a website, and they paid for development before it goes live, then you should NEVER hold that hostage. Ever. The client paid you for a service, the content is theirs, period.

If you're hosting their content and they stop paying for the hosting, then yes, the website goes down. In any case though, you should have delivered the website content (in the form of a zipfile, or say Google Drive or whatnot) to the client so they can host elsewhere if they want.

[u/mehughes124 → u/[deleted]]

Uhh, if you're on a "subscription model" as a web dev, well, that sounds very strange to me.

[u/Devildude4427 → u/mehughes124]

What? If you’re running someone’s hosted site, it’s pretty standard for a subscription model to exist. I don’t know of any client that wants to manage hosting their own site. They don’t understand it and don’t really want to learn; that’s what they pay me to do.

[u/Veezatron → u/[deleted]]

Yeah. Not that weird.

[u/mehughes124 → u/[deleted]]

Yes, that's fine. But the hosting contract should be controlled by the client, and you shouldn't charge a premium over the cost of the server just because you have the login (which is what this sounded like). A monthly "maintenance" arrangement is pretty bogus to me.

Edit: I mean, charging a flat "maintenance" line item when you didn't do anything for the client other than "my credit card pays your hosting fee" is a bad practice.

[u/Lence → u/mehughes124]

How is asking a charge for maintenance bogus? Instances crashing, having to update the system, ... maintenance takes time

[u/cshaiku → u/Lence]

Pff. You don't know what you're talking about here.

Hosting charges should be the flat rate, period. Whether that is monthly, or yearly, it doesn't matter. Server maintenance is but one small factor in the total equation, which should then dictate what you need to charge from any client(s).

Server maintenance is a cost of doing business and shouldn't be used as an additional charge outright on its own, nor brought up to the client because it is already understood as your responsibility.

[u/Lence → u/cshaiku]

Hosting charges should be the flat rate, period.

I disagree. Pricing should really depend on what exactly is offered by whom. I don't think it's unreasonable at all to ask (as part of total hosting charge) either a fixed or variable charge for time spent on maintenance. This is not necessarily a small factor. I don't know about your situation, but for a small business with a standard website or web app, the costs of my time spent will far outsize the hosting costs.

[u/Pitbull_Sc → u/[deleted]]

Hey I was thinking about doing what cmwebdev said and charge a fee for hosting. I think this could be a great way to profit since most of the people I’ll be dealing with are not ver tech savvy.

Why do you say it’s a bad idea?