Question

Regular website hosting with DigitalOcean?

Posted October 20, 2014 34.3k views

Hello, everyone!

Is it acceptable or normal to host a regular portfolio website with DigitalOcean? I’m asking this question since I’ve seen a lot of you guys hosting bigger projects, that requires advanced stuff.

Would you do it? Or are hosts like HostGator better for my purpose? And how should I do it, I can’t find any tutorials that explains how to host a simple website. I have seen a lot of people hosting WordPress websites, and it’s kinda the same scale…

Thanks in advance.
Andreas Holt

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2 comments
  • gparent October 20, 2014
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    Why would DigitalOcean prevent you from hosting smaller sites?

  • holt October 20, 2014
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    I’m not saying they would prevent me from hosting smaller sites, I’m just asking if it’s a smart move.
    Also I’d like to know if it’s beginner friendly, if someone could link me some tutorials it would be awesome!

    I’m hoping I’m just asking to many questions…

    Thanks!

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2 answers
wiak October 20, 2014

with DO you get your own virtual private server, hostgator gives you ftp/sftp + mysql database
it all depends on what you need to run, DO is perfect if you have your site based on nodejs like the ghost blogging platform

if you are willing to learn linux then DO is perfect

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  • sierracircle October 20, 2014

    “..if you are willing to learn linux then DO is perfect”

    +1 for this.

    There are loads of tutorials available.

    • You need a LAMP (Linux Apache MySQL and PHP) server.
    • You need a way to SFTP and SSH into your server (just depends on what OS you use at home)

    If you are willing to learn, you will be much better off because you will have full control over your webserver. The price is lower than shared hosting for a $5.00 droplet.

    But if you dread messing with that stuff, you will be better served by HostGator or some other shared hosting service.

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  • holt October 20, 2014

    Thanks guys!

    Yeah, $5.00 is pretty damn cheap.
    I think I might just create a blog with the Ghost blogging platform, just for the experience, and the fun.

    I have a $10 code too, so that’s $15, enough for 3 months.

    Holt

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  • wiak October 20, 2014

    you can find a guide based on DO, Ubuntu here
    http://nwgat.ninja/quick-easy-ubuntu-server/

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  • alexjpanagis June 9, 2018

    Or you can always use something like Runcloud or ServerPilot which means that a beginner can do it (if they’re willing to put in the effort). Plus, like that you don’t have to learn Linux!

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mikeapollo February 22, 2016

Absolutely! I’ve been running my own webserver and mailserver for several years and have recently switched to DO to free up my own local server for some development work. I’ve personally found DO a fantastic platform to spin up any type of server you can dream of - and the one thing where DO excels (for me at least!) is that I can “grow” and shrink the server depending on the load and what I’m expecting it to do.

You do need to have some understanding of *nix to utilise DO safely and effectively - but there are loads of tutorials to help and of course if you want to “play” with changes you can spin up a second server based on a snapshot of your first, allowing you to try new code or major changes without effecting your ‘main’ server.

Don’t forget you can spin up a basic LAMP environment in one click on your droplet too.

So yes, DO really can be a perfect platform for a simple website with the advantages of having SSD storage and being able to increase processing power and storage as your needs change.

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