Long back when I started looking for .NET 4.0 hosting, I was
very surprised to see that Discountasp.net had support for it.
This is way before any other hosting I knew at that time
supported .NET 4.0. The same happened when I wanted hosting
support for Node.js on the Windows Platform. Guess what,
Discountasp.net had it. I even remember asking them a question
about deployment where they helped me to an extent of fixing
my web.config (which was obviously my problem not theirs). Not
only the support was quick, they owned the problem, fixed it
and didn't even complain that it's my problem. For $10-20 a
month this was unbelievable for me and I turned a fan
overnight. Don't be surprised when I tell yo that they are
supporting WebSockets too.
Control
We are developers and we love control. Perhaps Discountasp.net
is the only one on Microsoft platform that gives you a great
amount of control. Their control panel has cool functionality
- start/stop website, recycle app pool. They also support IIS
Manager. Just to let you know the experience of a fellow
developer - "IIS tools at Discountasp.net are easier to use
than the regular IIS installed on your server". That says a
lot. I love the flexibility they give you given it's a shared
hosting environment. I remember how much time I save now than
having to go talk to a Tech Support rep at my previous cheap
hosting company :).
Database
This was the most seamless of all database options I have used
in shared hosting environment. I could connect via Sql Server
Management Studio and use it as I am using my real database.
Compared to the previous hosting provider I used, I could
chose an add-on of my choice, I was able to upgrade from Sql
Server 2008 to 2012 very easily (which btw was not even an
option with the previous provider. They wouldn't support
2012). They have an Attach MDF File tool that is awesome. And
they support SSL encrypted SQL connections.
Staging done Right
SnappHQ.Com has a new product from Discountasp.net. Guess
what, Go from Staging to Production in just one click. Yes,
that's right and what's more awesome? They are actually
offering it free. Till when? Not sure, however I signed up at
a good time. Hope you take the advantage too :).
Some other cool features:
Speed
I checked the load time of the my website from my
previous hosting provider vs Discountasp.net.
Discountasp.net site loaded much faster. They also let
you do a Monthly data transfer of 80 Gb. Guess What?
Planning to move my podcast
Chander Tech Podcast
Isolated App Pool
Each website is hosted in an isolated App Pool and they
support full trust.
.NET Community supporters
This is probably the best reason I will chose Discountasp.net
over anyone else. There are people who promise and then
deliver. Discountasp.net delivers even without promise. They
are always out there supporting the community, taking the
feedback and then applying it really well and enhancing their
products. Snapp is a great example. It came up after
discussion with devs and they put in a lot of investment both
time and money and created an offering for the community. We
all know that Discountasp.net is one of the first ones to
sponsor any user group and has offered Generous Free 6-month
hosting plans to attendees. I remember distributing about 600
of those at www.DallasDayOfDotNet.com last year. I actually
ran into the Discountasp.net staff at a code camp in San Diego
so it was nice to catch up with them. I know they provide free
hosting for .NET user groups and events so if you are
organizing one, you should contact them about this.
Special Thanks
We recently launched
Chander Tech Podcast.
and had more than 10k downloads in just 3 days.
Discountasp.net guys happened to listen to the podcast and
they approached me to sponsor the podcast as they realized
that the content was helpful for the community and they wanted
to encourage initiatives like this. Michael Ossou of
Discountasp.net also invited me to his webcast series recently
and Takeshi Eto and Frank Cheung have done a great job taking
the developer feedback that I've given to them over a period
of time and implement it to make great products.