My selection for best grid host goes to Media Temple, the same folks who run hosting for ABC, NBC, Adobe, Sony, Warner Brothers, etc.
By the way, I make no money sending people to Media Temple, but I wouldn’t be able to sleep at night sending you anywhere else if this is the type of hosting that you need. Their customer service is fine. They aren’t the easiest host to use. But they are what they are. When push comes to shove, all that matters is performance, availability and power. If you have stars in your eyes and are ready to go big, go to Media Temple.
I run some 20 50 sites on the same Media Temple account for $20 per month. Most of the sites get little traffic, but a couple bring in major visitors. The sites are fast, always up and deliver what Media Temple promises–world class hosting.
You can run sites on Media Temple by designing them yourself and using an FTP account to upload them to the server, or you can one-click instal WordPress, Drupal or ZenCart.
Another Choice:
There are other choices out there, but the only one I feel comfortable recommending is GoDaddy’s beta grid service. I’m using it on a couple of my sites and it does fine. The thing with choosing GoDaddy for grid service at this point is that they are still in beta and it requires a little bit of a leap of faith. Right now, they are only $4.99 per month, which is tremendous, but you can only put one site there. If that’s all you need, go for it. You can’t beat $4.99 per month for grid service. When they leave beta stage, they have assured me that you will be able to host multiple sites on the same account, though of course the price will increase. They are planning on that price being $19.99 per month, basically the same as Media Temple.
So why might you choose GoDaddy grid over Media Temple? For now, they are cheaper, of course, but they are also easier to use than Media Temple. GoDaddy is used to working with lower-level customers looking for free or shared service. As a result, they’ve become accustomed to providing lots of “bells and whistles” that Media Temple doesn’t bother with. For instance, you have FTP built into the service, and you can do things like software and SSL certificate installation effortlessly.
I wouldn’t blame you at all for taking a small roll of the dice and picking GoDaddy.
Skip that. Just go to Media Temple.
