After a long time, I decided to write something again. My job has been keeping me quite busy, but I will try to post stuff more often. Anyway, last month I moved my website and my blog from a Linux to a Windows server (shared hosting). I spent some time analyzing different Windows hosting offers, so I wanted to share my findings here.
A great site to help you find your ideal ASP.NET 4.5 host is Microsoft’s Windows Web Hosting Gallery. Here you can easily narrow down search results, depending on your needs, by using filters such as monthly price, storage space (GB), number of SQL databases, e-mail accounts, monthly bandwidth, etc. You can compare offers from hosting companies all over the world (although most of them are in the US), and you can read user reviews which could be helpful in making your decision.
I needed just a basic Windows hosting, with support for ASP.NET 4.5, MVC 4 and SQL Server 2012 to test my web applications, as well as PHP / MySQL to run this blog. First I stumbled upon WinHost, which seemed like an affordable option (Basic plan is $4.95 per month), but since they dont have European DataCenter, then I find other alternative, and I found HostForLIFE.eu. I find many good reviews about this hosting provider so I decide to try them.
Their Starter plan (3.00 EUR per month) includes unlimited storage space, unlimited bandwidth, support for latest Microsoft technologies, 1 SQL Server and 1 MySQL database. I have to say that this is surely one of the cheapest shared Windows hosts you can find out there, and so far I’m quite satisfied. The Hosting Control Panel is easy to use, and they have the best customer support that asnwer you promptly.
If you have much higher requirements than me, you can think about getting a windows cloud dedicated server or a dedicated server. Also, you might want to consider moving your site to the Cloud, where you can easily scale and manage your sites, virtual machines, storage containers and databases. Inside a Cloud environment, you can monitor the performance of your sites, and for example, change the number of CPU cores assigned to VMs, extend storage space and RAM, all according to your current needs.
In conclusion, I would recommend this provider if you’re looking for windows hosting that has Europe data center. For more information, please visit their official site, http://www.hostforlife.eu.