Hello,
What is the best place to go for free Ruby on Rails web hosting? I'm starting my project and I don't need a really good package for hosting, but if my project begins to grow then I'll pay for the best! Thanks.
+58
A:
Heroku is what you're after. They're widely considered one of the finest commercial rails hosts which offers a free account option.
Bayard Randel
2009-06-28 20:41:40
Thanks Very Much!!
Nathan Campos
2009-06-28 20:54:46
Exactly what I needed to get my pet project running in test mode, thank you!
Toms Mikoss
2009-06-30 07:35:09
+7
A:
Rails Playground isn't free, but it offers a decent hosting plan for developers at $5/month.
If you're doing any kind of application development, I'd recommend you go for a VPS like Slicehost. Having root level access to a server makes things like application deployment, configuration, and other related development tasks a lot easier.
Damien Wilson
2009-06-28 20:47:46
Slicehost is an excellent option (along with Heroku, EngineYard, Rimu and a few others) when you're ready for a paid rails hosting account.
Bayard Randel
2009-06-29 20:44:07
+10
A:
I know you said free, but I tried Heroku, switched to Slicehost, and it has been great.
Their minimal package is around $20 and is enough to get started. The advantage of Slicehost over Heroku is that since you're paying, you have the right to complain if something goes wrong (although I've never had that happen in over a year of hosting with them). Another advantage is total control of your system. Use whatever DB suits you, install any gems you want, get data in and out without special tools, install any other daemons you may need such as a search daemon. Heroku puts you on PostgreSQL and that's that.
Another thing about Heroku is that, OK it's free, but then the next "recommended" level up above free is $51 ("Koi" with two dynos). With Slicehost, you can get pretty far with $20, then the next level is $40.
Slicehost's server management tools are really well-designed and easy to use and their forums are very active.
If free is a definite requirement, you could also look at Google App Engine. You can run Rails apps there under JRuby.
Ethan
2009-06-29 05:49:03
Technically, you still have the right to complain - they are just not obliged to do anything about it. I've complained to free hosts before and some of them have been remarkably tolerant and friendly, fixing my problem.
Lucas Jones
2009-06-29 22:36:41
You can think of Heroku in a way that you're paying for administering the Nginx, Varnish, Postgres, Rack, ..., for you. No wonder another level costs a bit more. Still many dev folks love it as they can focus precisely on coding.
Wojciech Kaczmarek
2009-12-19 13:49:36
+2
A:
Slicehost - good performance, vps (install everything you want), cheap, rock solid uptime and great admin panel (dns zones/records managment is ease).
lego
2009-06-29 06:30:55
+1
A:
Free hosting service for rails is now provided @ http://herokugarden.com
Step 1: Create an account in herokugarden.com
Step 2 : Create a new rails application
Step 3 : Edit your project settings and export your project and migrate your migration files
Step 4 . Url of your application will be "http://projectName.herokugarden.com "
Step 5 : Share this link to show your local rails projects to your friends
Good luck !!!
YetAnotherCoder
2009-06-30 12:27:20
And if i want i can do a free domain to my project, that redirects to my heroku's project. Thanks!
Nathan Campos
2009-07-14 20:43:57
+1
A:
Sorry to repost, but wanted to share what solidified SliceHost as my choice was their resources:
http://articles.slicehost.com
Sure, it's $240 bucks a year for a base slice, but I definitely saved countless hours by having those articles and the user comments when administering the server. The resources were worth alot more than $240 to me in time savings...
**edit: I just deployed my first heroku app, and realized heroku has better organized documentation. If you don't run any custom processes, heroku is the way to go.
ajhit406
2010-01-09 17:55:13