Hosting Spotlight: WebFaction

I recently comparison-shopped for web hosting, and settled on WebFaction. I've had a great customer experience thus far, with features that are hard to find in a budget hosting service, including Python and Ruby support with one-click installers for popular web applications and content management systems like Django, Rails, and Drupal. My account was up within literally minutes of payment, and the DNS transfer from my domain name registrar went through in under a minute. By this, I mean I could browse my mapped domains from my home connection in that amount of time!

WebFaction's support of custom compilation of server-side languages and components, a service usually only available on high-dollar virtual private server hosting, really impressed me. I feel that this is a service that can grow with my business needs. I'm also impressed at how the servers don't seem to be oversold, unlike virtually all shared hosting I've come across. The datacenter is in Texas, which appeals to me since my potential clients are likely to be in-state.

Overall, my experience has been good, and their tools have already saved me at least an hour or two. For full disclosure, I will receive 10% of any hosting fees from referrals (if you click the link at the bottom of each page or in the body of this blog post), but I could not make this recommendation in good conscience without approving wholeheartedly of their service.