Open Source Hosting

Who Hosts OSLiving?

Frequent visitors to OSLiving will know that the site is run on a non-profit basis by a group of volunteers who are passionate about Open Source software. The minimal revenue we receive through google ads goes towards hosting costs, as do any donations we’re fortunate to receive. Given that we run this site on a shoestring, we have no choice but to opt for cheap web hosting.

If you’ve had any experience with hosting your own site, you’ll know that budget hosting problems generally boil down to two things: down time and inadequate support. The problem is not a lack of cheap hosting options on the Web, the problem is a lack of reliable cheap hosting; and I say this as someone who’s been hosting sites since 2000. That’s where Hostgator comes in.

Why Hostgator?

So what’s up with promoting Hostgator you might be wondering? Well two things actually. First, it’s the web host that OSLiving has been with for the past two years, we’ve stuck with them because they’ve served us well (more on that in a minute). Second, and I’ll be blunt about this, if you choose to go with Hostgator too and use our coupon code (see below), we get a commission, and that will help the upkeep of the site.

The mains reasons I feel comfortable vouching for Hostgator are as follows:

1. Customer service. The support staff are reachable by phone, email and live chat 24/7 and all the queries I’ve put to them have been answered in a matter of minutes.

2. Reliability. I monitor OSLiving traffic on a frequent basis using google analytics and over the past two years there have been three outages and each one was explained in an email. Now for a lot of people that may sound unacceptable, but you have to bear in mind that with some of the competitor hosts I’ve been with, it’s been 3 times per month.

3. Price and spec. At $4.95/month you’re getting unlimited web hosting, but more crucial for us, Hostgator openly supports Open Source software (including WordPress) and has a solid record of giving back to the OSS community. Check out their blog for more details and their non profit web hosting page.

All in all it’s been a no-brainer for us. I couldn’t recommend the service enough. If you want to give them a try check out the special OSLiving discount code below. Don’t forget you have a 45-day money back guarantee period to try out the service.

Who else recommends Hostgator?

But don’t just take my word for it, here is a selection of other sites and companies that endorse Hostgator. First off, Hostgator ranks #4 of 25 in the prestigious TopHosts.com US ranking table up against hosting giants like Rackspace and Verio. TopHosts is the only reputable ranking service on the Web and this is what they have to say.

For more awards and accolades, check out the Hostgator review page here. I also recommend taking a look at the customer review page in the Hostgator forums. There you’ll get a fair overview of user satisfaction.

Hostgator Coupon Code

Hopefully this has given you some insight into why OSLiving chose Hostgator as our web host. If you’re looking for a hosting solution and like us you’re on a small to medium budget, then go give them a try.

Don’t forget! If you quote the coupon code opensourceliving at sign up you’ll get a discount on us and you’ll be helping us keep OSLiving going with a small commission. So it’s win win all round!

If you want any more info or advice on hosting, just drop us a line via the contact form, we’ll be happy to talk about our hosting experience. Happy hosting!