Goodbye WebFaction Django Hosting – A Reflection

So the time has come for my Django projects to finally migrate to a dedicated server. The decision is mainly aimed at saving $7.50 a month. When I migrated Arkayne a few months back I kept my blog and other sites like JoostList on the WebFaction shared plan. Last week I migrated the remainder of my projects and scripts to the new server. Lets be clear, I do not work for WebFaction and I only post recommendations I believe in on my blog. So my final thoughts on WebFaction.

Django Hosting – 4 Stars

I’ve only tried Django hosting on WebFaction but I can honestly say its the easiest setup I’ve seen, and Django is fairly easy to begin with. I’ll give them 4 stars because the first Django setup required some digging through their control panel. The panel is not documented all that well outside the forums so it takes a bit of trial and error to set things up. Plus their method of serving static content is a bit
confusing. Overall I think the first setup will take about 2 hours (frustrations and reading included) and sequential installs will be about 3 minutes. Once you figure out the control panel things get fast, really fast. To get 5 stars WebFaction should include a Django specific setup page, not just the forum.

Django Support – 5 Stars

Like I mentioned in a previous article when I first started with WebFaction, they are awesome when it comes to support. Every issue I’ve had their admins have been so very patient and proactive in helping me resolve my issues (many my fault). Each issue begins with a ticket and winds up being an email conversation with a specific person. They have a fast turn around time and are willing to gather feedback to improve the experience for others. If you’re starting out in Django and dont want to deal with the Unix admin side of things I strongly suggest hosting with WebFaction.

Pricing Strategy – 5 Stars

Seriously you cannot beat $7.50 a month with unlimited domains. Your only minor limiting factor is memory, CPU, and bandwidth. I say minor because for most of you running a blog or ramping up a new Django project you don’t use anything significant. The unlimited domains was the biggest seller for me, I like to write one Django application and then deploy 10 variants under different domains. For $7 a month
WebFaction lets me ramp up my projects without going bankrupt. If you must throw some ads up on your pages and pull in $0.24 a day to break
even on the hosting, thats nothing. For the last month or so I’ve actually used WebFaction as a development server, $7 a month for complete Unix tech support is worth it. Oh yeah no setup or cancellation fees, pay monthly.

Conclusion

If you’re starting any project or interested in shared hosting for any reason at all save yourself some time and research and go with WebFaction. I spent the time looking around, I’ve used them for a year, and I’ve had experiences with others, WebFaction is awesome. That is 100% why I run a WebFaction ad on my blog, I believe in their product. I hope this saves someone some time and agony out there, I know how hard it is to find a host. As always I and the community welcome alternatives so if you know something better leave a comment.

More from Aware Labs

• Everything A Django Developer Needs To Create Logins
• When Django Apps Grow Up
• WebFaction Hosting Is Awesome
• New Django Site For Porsche Enthusiasts
• Porting Aware To Django

Aware Labs Recommends

• Popularizing Django — Or Reusable apps considered harmful. (USwaretech)
• Django’s tipping point (Antonio Cangiano)
• An Interview with Jacob Kaplan-Moss – Creator of Django (USwaretech)