It is fascinating to note how web hosting services have evolved so rapidly in the last few years to cope with web applications that are always on the look out for more resource allocations, faster processing speed and scalability. While shared, managed or VPS hosting services are still popular choices, it is now more common for developers to opt for developer-friendly web hosting, platform as a service (PaaS) or CMS-specific web hosting services.
These trending web hosting services allow developers to easily create, deploy and fine-tune their web applications without dealing with much sys-admin. They come preinstalled with a variety of developer-friendly tools like one-click staging, versioning, full shell access and some would even offer coding environments. Some hosting company will even allow you to choose your own software stack whereby which you can easily deploy your development environment like
Python, Ruby, Django,
Node.js and more.
This article takes a look at some of these services including the tools they provide and their base pricing.
DigitalOcean
DigitalOcean provides cloud hosting services especially tailored for web developers. You can deploy your own SSD cloud server in less than a minute by choosing your own Linux distribution. DigitalOcean also provides you to choose from a selection of data centers and comes with a simplified control panel with one-click install for popular applications. Finally, it has a very robust API that gives you total control over your virtual private server.
Pricing starts at $5/mo for 512MB, 1 Core Processor, 20GB SSD Disk and 1TB transfer.
Thexyz
Thexyz is a premium Node.js application hosting platform. It enables you to go from code to live application in minutes. Never worry about how your application is going to scale again. Integrated modules means you can have your entire technology stack under one roof. Finally, know exactly how your application is performing by using the built in performance statistics.
GearHost
GearHost is a Platform as a Service (PaaS) cloud built for .NET, PHP and Node.js developers who need to launch and scale applications quickly. GearHost offers free account that you can use during your development and then upgrade to their paid plan when you’re ready to go live. Pricing for paid account is flexible and starts at $5/month.
Kodingen
Kodingen is a cloud development environment combining an online code editor, cloud hosting along with both web based access to file-system and FTP. It is free and provides developers with a feature-rich collaboration and social coding tools along with integration with a wide variety of existing frameworks and third party APIs. Kodingen also offers one-click installs for popular open source scripts like Drupal, Joomla and WordPress – great for testing something in a safe sanbox.
Modulus.io
Modulus is a premier Node.js application hosting platform. It enables you to go from code to live application in minutes. Never worry about how your application is going to scale again. Integrated MongoDB hosting means you can have your entire technology stack under one roof. Finally, know exactly how your application is performing by using the built in performance statistics.
Windows Azure
Windows Azure is Microsoft’s cloud services operating system that provides developers with on-demand compute and storage to host, scale and manage web application through Microsoft’s datacenters. The Windows Azure platform supports multiple languages including ASP.NET, Java, PHP and Ruby along with standards and protocols like SOAP, REST and XML. Other than its scalable hosting environment, Windows Azure also provides durable storage in the cloud and a content delivery network (CND).
Amazon Web Services
Amazon Web Services (AWS) is a collection of different web services platform in the cloud. With AWS, developers can requisition computer power, networking, storage and other services. AWS provides the flexibility to choose whichever development platform or programming model you want to use. Amazon Web Services’ offerings are accessed over HTTP, using REST and SOAP protocols. All are billed on usage, with the exact form of usage varying from service to service.
Google App Engine enables you to build and host web apps on the same systems that power Google applications. App Engine offers fast development and deployment; simple administration, with no need to worry about hardware, patches or backups; and effortless scalability.With App Engine you write your application code, test it on your local machine and upload it to Google with a simple click of a button or command line script.
Database.com
Database.com from SalesForce is an enterprise cloud based database service designed for developers who build online applications regardless of the language, platform or device they use. Developers will also be able to use Database.com plug and play storage with other cloud based services like Amazon EC2, Windows Azure or Google AppEngine. Some of its features include user management, row-level security, triggers, authentication, API and stored procedures. Databases are also automatically tuned, upgraded, replicated and backup to other remote data centers.
GridGain
GridGain is a cloud application platform that enables development of highly scalable SaaS based or traditional enterprise applications that work on any managed infrastructure. You can develop with GridGain using Java or Scala programming languages – both of which are supported natively.
Codeita
Codeita is a powerful, easy to use, cloud-based, web development environment. It’s a powerful code editor, an advanced svg image editor, and an out of this world project management and collaboration tool. It allows users to code, develop, brainstorm, communicate and then publish projects and files to your web server. No more hassles with backups and syncing your laptop with your desktop. Or your personal laptop with your business laptop. Complete with code highlighting, local/live editing, project sharing, image editing and more.
CodeRun
CodeRun Studio is a cross-platform Integrated Development Environment (IDE), designed for the cloud. It enables you to easily develop, debug and deploy web applications using your browser. CodeRun features native support for C#/.NET (3.5), PHP (5.1), JavaScript, HTML and CSS. C# support includes ASP.NET, WCF, Silverlight and WPF browser application development and deployment. Database support includes SQL Server 2005 and Amazon SimpleDB.
Heroku
Heroku is a cloud application platform for Ruby. It provides a new way of building and deploying web applications by allowing developers spend 100% of their time on their application code, not managing servers, deployments, ongoing operations or scaling. One of the most powerful features of Heroku is its support of addons that allows you to add functionality to your apps with ease.
Engine Yard AppCloud
Engine Yard AppCloud is an ideal Platform-as-a-Service for a range of Rails applications, from smaller-scale web applications that run within a single compute instance, to production applications that require the elasticity, scalability and reliability of a Rails Application Cloud. With Engine Yard AppCloud you only pay for what you use—there are no setup or environment fees, and you don’t need your own Amazon account.
