Q: From the comments below, I learned that SimplyCDN is closing down.
You recommend using BunnyCDN to host static websites. Additionally, you plan to make your SimplyCDN configuration open-source. This will enable handling the entire configuration within BunnyCDN for our websites. It will include creating edge rules for caching, redirects, mapping domains, RSS feeds, proxy comments, and more. Is that right?
Furthermore, I discovered that you are suggesting using a free LocalWP (if connections to WP dynamic content is not required) or SpinupWP ~ 150$/y (cPanel user-friendly alternative for VPS hosting) with Digital Ocean VPS ~ 70$/y for (Shared CPU Basic, Regular 1GB, 1CPU, 25GB, 1TB) that can handle roughly 50k monthly sessions, maybe more. This is more capacity than 99% of small business websites need.
However, I am curious about the Email hosting service. Which provider would you recommend? I am aware that some web hostings partner with Titan.email, but it has received negative reviews. Could you suggest alternative options for email hosting?
I am a bit concerned that the total cost of all these services together SpinupWP + Digital Ocean VPS + Email hosting may become comparable or even more expensive that Hosted WordPress services like NameSilo Turbo (10 websites, Titan email, cPanel) = 100$/y or SiteGround GrowBig (unlimited sites, email, nice interface, advanced management tools, 100k monthly visits) = 360$/y.
Patrick_SimplyStatic
Jun 27, 2024A: Thanks for your questions!
SimplyCDN:
That's true.
When we created SimplyCDN as a static site hosting offer, the market was entirely different- many hosting providers were restrictive or too complex to use, but fast forward 3 years later, it looks completely different.
BunnyCDN (which we are using as a provider for SimplyCDN) got huge VC funding and now offers 99% of the features at a price point where we can no longer compete (basically, our monthly price is their yearly pricing now).
We already share our configuration within support for existing customers (sadly, there isn't a simple export/import for these), but we plan to offer generating them as part of the "deployment configuration" within the plugin.
WP Hosting:
I think the numbers here are completely overkill, honestly 😅
SpinupWP is quite handy but not required—pretty much every basic hosting provider will do it.
You also don't need to think about sessions at all, as all of the traffic will go to your static site instead.
However, I would avoid those "specialized WordPress hosting" companies at all costs (especially Siteground).
They are insanely overpriced and do more harm than good with their drastically limited configuration.
E-Mail Hosting:
I think that's up to personal preference.
If you are looking to convert simple websites and reduce the overall costs, I would go with a general hosting provider like GoDaddy, which includes domains, emails, and basic WP hosting all in one.
I prefer to keep domains, web hosting, and e-mails separated for security reasons (I don't like the idea of a single point of failure), but that might be too complex for most use cases.
I use Cloudflare for the domains/DNS, SpinupWP (with DO) for WP, and mailbox.org for the e-mail server, but again, that might seem overengineered for most users.
meshPLUS
Verified purchaser
Thank you. Very useful information. GoDaddy is insanely expensive as well. I am moving from GoDaddy domain hosting to NameSilo to reduce .com renewal costs from 24$ to 14$. I moved web hosting from GoDaddy to SiteGround 2 years ago to save a lot on WordPress and email hosting, security, CDN and SSL until now when SiteGround asks 360$ for renewal which is still cheaper and better than GoDaddy I am looking for more affordable WP hosting considering that production websites will be hosted on BunnyCDN. I have action found an interesting option for both Domain and WP hosting including email - Speedypage. They use BunnyCDN as well and also offer VPS with VirtFusion panel. I guess SpinupWP will also work with them under Ubuntu 22.04.