My latest article for teachers and IDs: Free and low-cost Moodle hosting options

Free and low-cost Moodle hosting options - not always smooth going...

by Sam Mudle -
Number of replies: 4 
I can't find a good argument for not using a decent web host such as hostgator or gogethosting.

I've used various inexpensive webhosts over the last 10 years with moodle.  Yes, it's getting easier and easier for the regular person to rent one of these $8/month hosting services and get moodle up and running.  I won't give you a good argument for not using bluehost, hostgator, site5, goDaddy, 1&1, Fatcow, etc, but.......

A few thoughts:

  1. You get unlimited bandwidth, diskspace, but the most important is the limited PHP processer load. 
  2. Shared hosts really limit how much php processer time you get.  So yeah, five concurrent students taking a quiz is no problem, but a classroom of 30 with immediate quiz feedback can make your hosting provider shut you down.
  3. When hostgator shuts you down, they will be happy to hard upsell/upgrade you to a $60/month VPS. (yeah i know about the $25/month VPS, but installing Centos from scratch is no picnic.
  4. The newest version of Moodle always seems to use a version of PHP that is a year newer than what a shared host has installed.  This makes sense, if you are hosting hundreds of php apps on a machine, you don't want to immediately update php in fear of breaking things.

Again, I've jumped around as not all hosts run the same, but this is just food for thought.  It's really hard to find a site that reviews hosts, because they all all so fluid in the services they provide and it depends on demand.

Most hosting providers have a web app one click install for Wordpress, Moodle, etc, which makes it really really easy.

Thoughts?


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In reply to Sam Mudle

Re: Free and low-cost Moodle hosting options - not always smooth going...

by john Simpson -

Thank you,Your post as it  is food for thought. (in future terms)

I have just started with two hosts using Moodle, and not yet fully functioned with a lot of students. But I still believe that using a low cost host is the best way for independent starters who cannot afford large fees.

If and when the time comes that there are problems of having too many students on your Moodle site at the same time, will be the time to move on to the next stage of upgrading or using the services of a moodle expert for example. When this time comes, I would assume that due to the amount of income received by these students, we would have a budget to pay for these extra costs.

So, using a webhost is good for a self starter, and also when this time comes , we would have gained a lot of experience using Moodle.

You need a  website anyway, to promote your courses as an independent.

I will certainly inform this forum If I do come into problems of using a web host, but $60 a month for example wouldn't be a big deal if you have 1,000 paying students enrolled.

You do have to chose your web host carefully, not all of them support the latest Moodle, and if you use an old moodle, then you have to upgrade earlier than necessary. And you don't have to use the one click install, you can install moodle yourself  and I have already given you the youtube tutorial link above on how to do that.

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In reply to Sam Mudle

Re: Free and low-cost Moodle hosting options - not always smooth going...

by john Simpson -

There was a post here way back that was doing a survey of webhosts, possibly written by one of the moderators here, it was worth being a sticky.

with a chart of what hosts offer, which was intended to be constantly updated, but wasn't. It might be useful to contribute and update this post. If I find it again, I will let you know. Bluehost had good statistics at that time.

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In reply to john Simpson

Re: Free and low-cost Moodle hosting options - not always smooth going...

by Mary Cooch -
Picture of Documentation writers Picture of Moodle HQ Picture of Particularly helpful Moodlers Picture of Testers Picture of Translators

The section on How do I start using Moodle? in the documentation About Moodle FAQ might have the link you are looking for, and sending teachers looking to use Moodle to About Moodle FAQ is a good starting point anyway.

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In reply to Mary Cooch

Re: Free and low-cost Moodle hosting options - not always smooth going...

by john Simpson -

Useful and interesting section, and it does mention that you should take care and trust your host. I'd be weary about freebies, if you are like me who actually has to make a living in this business. They are likely to have ads, or give you one of their sub domain addresses, or will only allow you to give courses free of charge, or even worse, steal your students and use your courses for themselves.

What I saw was someone starting a thread with a chart showing various specifications oof webhosts, for example bandwidth, price, PHP, myql, etc. It was asking fr others to support and give specification of others. Obviously such a post would need a lot of support coming from other forum members.

If there is anybody out there who has used a web host for about a year, has about 50+ students, and is satisfied with their service, or who has had a bad experience, please let us know.

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