VPS.net – WordPress Hosting

So, Yoast.com is now hosted on a VPS.net Cloud Server (you might remember me posting about playing with VPS.net earlier). They’re actually a sister company to WestHost, both part of UK2Group, which has a couple of other awesome labels. Now we have tweaked that VPS a bit, but (and this is a big but for me) in ways you can tweak your server too. Let me run you through it:

* we got ourselves a cloud server at VPS.net, (7 nodes at the moment, though 4 would probably be sufficient);
* we installed a clean CPanel image, and picked the Chicago cloud as the location;
* we replaced Apache with LiteSpeed;
* we installed APC so we could do database and output caching with the help of Frederick’s awesome W3 Total Cache plugin;
* we set up our CDN, NetDNA in my case but VPS.net has a great one as well, again with the help of W3 Total Cache and a so called “origin pull” set up.

That’s it! Looking at it, fast WordPress hosting is easy, due in large part to Frederick’s work with W3 Total Cache.

So why didn’t we use a dedicated server? Well, that’s pretty easy to answer: how easy is it to scale a dedicated server? Scaling this server is as easy as going into my VPS.net control panel, and adding a couple of nodes. Either for eternity, or just for a couple of days, it’s all possible. Let me tell you this though: I was on another “cloud based” WordPress hosting solution before I started working with the VPS.net / WestHost guys, and I didn’t like it one bit, when my site got too big, they moved me off to what they call a Dedicated Virtual Rage, and that was even more painful. This experience has been entirely different.

So, to conclude all this: I know WordPress hosting can be painful, when it shouldn’t be. I’ve been with my own fair share of bad WordPress hosts, and I’m done with them. I’ve chosen to ignore the offers and stop thinking about the larger amounts of money I could make by sending people to other (WordPress) hosting companies. I’d rather make less money and receive e-mails like the ones above.

My own VPS.net set up is as I put it down above, and yours could be that way too. If you only have to host a small WordPress blog, I’d still recommend you go with WestHost, and if you click on either of those links, yes, I still make money, and you still support me in blogging about WordPress hosting and WordPress optimization. But at least you know that now, and I feel an awful lot better for it. So, happy holidays, and good luck with choosing a WordPress hosting solution that works for you!

Update: by popular demand, VPS.net now offers a service to set up the exact same setup I use on VPS.net. If you use at least 6 nodes, they’ll set it up for you and move you over for free. If you want to use that offer, email Nick Nelson!