How to find the Perfect ColdFusion Hosting Plan
I am a ColdFusion addict. Besides programming in ColdFusion, I also spend time reading about ColdFusion (and not enough - yet - reading about other languages). I check up on CF-Talk at least every couple of days and follow ColdFusion lists on LinkedIn and sometimes on Facebook. I follow several ColdFusion programmers on Twitter and even visit the Adobe ColdFusion Forums sometimes.
In all of these forums, one question seems to come up more frequently than any other: "Where should I host my ColdFusion web site?". After reading that question dozens (maybe hundreds) of times, it finally dawned on me that this is a demand that needs to be met. People need a good resource for ColdFusion hosting.
For myself, what I always wanted was an easy way to see which ColdFusion hosting plans met my specific criteria (for example, a ColdFusion plan that supported SQL Server and allowed CFEXECUTE). Doing that proved to be quite difficult, actually - especially as the number of criteria increased. So, I built what I wanted to exist.
Introducing CFWebHosting.com
I built this site to allow anyone to search for ColdFusion hosting plans by any combination of criteria that I could think of. Right now it lists 23 ColdFusion hosting plans across 8 different ColdFusion hosting companies. I hope those number continue to grow. Listings are free as are searches.
As I am just now (with this post) launching the site, it doesn't have any reviews yet. Hopefully, however, it will soon.
I need your help
Spread the Word!
If you think this resource has value (or even potential value), then help me let others know about it. If you can give me some Google-juice by linking to it with a phrase like "ColdFusion hosting", that would be ideal. But anything helps.
If you are a ColdFusion hosting company, I would love to have you listed on the site. Just go and sign up for an account. It is free as are listings.
Post Reviews!
Right now the site has no reviews of hosting companies, but it needs them. If you have used any of the ColdFusion hosting companies on the site, then post a review of your experience (good or bad) to help others. If you want to review a company or plan that isn't listed, then encourage that company to add that listing.
Give Feedback
I am sure that the site has plenty of areas in which it could be improved. I have thought of some myself already. If you see any, I would love to hear about them.
I am really excited about this site. Hopefully others will find value in it as well.
Happy ColdFusioning!
Um, what I really need is to host my own site to have a true development environment.
Yeah, I am a bit concerned about how much time this is going to take up. Hopefully I have written it in such a way that it won't require too much upkeep, but we'll see...
Agreed. Local hosting is a must as well. Not sure that I can help people with that though...
Although it might actually be helpful to link to some instructions on how to do that from the site. I'll have to look into that.
I've just never figured out how to setup a regular server that serves up html pages to the public.
I could blame lynda.com cause they don't have a course on IIS, but I'm just poking fun... Lynda.com is how I've learned almost everything else!
I'd like to do some things that are not available via a shared server, and I don't want to go to the expense of a VPS.
I leave my desktop on 24x7, so I'm thinking "why not?" run my personal site(s) off my development server.
Now that I'm voicing it however, that does seem kind dumb.
I guess I do need to pony up the money and move everything for a shared environment to a VPS.
Maybe when cf10 comes out...
It is interesting that you mention that. I know of this web site where you could enter all of the features that you want for your web sites and get a list of hosting plans sorted by cost (cheapest first)...
Indeed. I often forget how much stuff is listed in CF411. Every time I look there I am surprised by the depth and breadth of information contained within - really good stuff.
Charlie,
Thanks much for the link! (and, of course, for your ongoing efforts to maintain the resource itself).
http://www.forta.com/cf/isp/
@Russ, good point. FWIW, I'll point as well that in my cf411 site section on CF hosts, I do also at the end point to other such lists of hosting alternatives, like Ben's (and more, including Steve's here).