What's the easiest hosting provider?

[WombatCombat]

I want to start a forum and I've decided to go with XenForo. I don't really have a budget but I'm looking for a good hosting provider and it'd be nice if they can help with installation/setting up/putting the theme, etc, I am a dev so it's not like I'm completely oblivious but I've never touched PHP or an actual pre-built system. Most of what I do is build sites and host them on Heroku lol.

I found this theme : https://www.themehouse.com/xenforo/2/themes/ui-x

And I thought it looked pretty cool and noticed they offer hosting as well. Would it be better to just buy their theme and get hosting elsewhere or is it okay to do hosting with them too?

Also regarding pricing, I see addons for like $25, $35, etc. Is this buy once and there forever or is it a monthly recurring thing?

Thank you!

 

[Matt C.]

1. ThemeHouse has shared hosting. I'm not sure if they have VPS/Dedicated, correct me if I'm wrong. This is fine for a small forum starting out, but if you become bigger, it's better to move to a VPS. I've never used ThemeHouse as a host, so I can't speak if they're good or not. The host I use is KnownHost with a VPS. It's a tad bit pricey at $35/month (VPS), but they do a great job.

You can find many host offerings here: https://xenforo.com/community/forums/third-party-services-offers.42/

2. XenForo has an installation and upgrade service for $50. A XenForo representative will install XenForo onto your server, provided it meets the server requirements. You could also hire a third party to do the installation for you, including setting up themes and add-ons.

You can find third-party offerings in the same forum as above: https://xenforo.com/community/forums/third-party-services-offers.42/

Side note...It's really not that difficult to install XenForo, themes, add-ons, etc. Since you said you're a dev, it shouldn't be too hard for you. Just follow the XenForo 2 manual and you're all set.

Getting started | Manual | XenForo

End-user documentation for XenForo

xenforo.com

3. Most commercial add-ons in the XenForo resource manager follow the following pricing structure:

1. X price for buying the add-on. Includes one year of updates and support.
2. You can choose to renew for X price (typically lower than the first buy in), for an additional year of updates and support. Some add-ons do 3 months/6 months/1 year.
3. You do not have to renew. You can continue using the add-on, but you can't update it. This is usually fine unless there is some critical bug fix or a new feature you really want.

 

[WombatCombat]

1. ThemeHouse has shared hosting. I'm not sure if they have VPS/Dedicated, correct me if I'm wrong. This is fine for a small forum starting out, but if you become bigger, it's better to move to a VPS. I've never used ThemeHouse as a host, so I can't speak if they're good or not. The host I use is KnownHost with a VPS. It's a tad bit pricey at $35/month (VPS), but they do a great job.

You can find many host offerings here: https://xenforo.com/community/forums/third-party-services-offers.42/

2. XenForo has an installation and upgrade service for $50. A XenForo representative will install XenForo onto your server, provided it meets the server requirements. You could also hire a third party to do the installation for you, including setting up themes and add-ons.

You can find third-party offerings in the same forum as above: https://xenforo.com/community/forums/third-party-services-offers.42/

Side note...It's really not that difficult to install XenForo, themes, add-ons, etc. Since you said you're a dev, it shouldn't be too hard for you. Just follow the XenForo 2 manual and you're all set.

https://xenforo.com/xf2-docs/manual/

3. Most, if not all, add-ons in the XenForo resource manager follow the following pricing structure:

1. X price for buying the add-on. Includes one year of updates and support.
2. You can choose to renew for X price (typically lower than the first buy in), for an additional year of updates and support. Some add-ons do 3 months/6 months/1 year.
3. You do not have to renew. You can continue using the add-on, but you can't update it. This is usually fine unless there is some critical bug fix or a new feature you really want.

I see, thanks for all the advice! I'm not too sure how much people I'll be having on my forum, but eventually I want to grow it to be huge. Do you suggest I go with a VPS like DigitalOcean or something from the get go or start with dedicated? Also, if I do decide to go the dedicated route, how hard will it be to move all of it to a VPS down the road if I feel the need to.

As for add-ons, this means that I can pay the $25 or so one time and I can never pay again but I just can't update it?

Also regarding add-ons and general page related stuff; say I want to add a new page where it's a gallery or has some kind of functionality, would I need to actually dive into PHP to accomplish this or is it sort of like WP in a sense?

Thanks for all the help!

 

[Matt C.]

I see, thanks for all the advice! I'm not too sure how much people I'll be having on my forum, but eventually I want to grow it to be huge. Do you suggest I go with a VPS like DigitalOcean or something from the get go or start with dedicated? Also, if I do decide to go the dedicated route, how hard will it be to move all of it to a VPS down the road if I feel the need to.

As for add-ons, this means that I can pay the $25 or so one time and I can never pay again but I just can't update it?

Also regarding add-ons and general page related stuff; say I want to add a new page where it's a gallery or has some kind of functionality, would I need to actually dive into PHP to accomplish this or is it sort of like WP in a sense?

Thanks for all the help!

I do not suggest DigitalOcean, unless you know what you're doing. You do everything from the command line. In my opinion, It's a pain to run a forum on DigitalOcean. The only benefit is that it's extremely cheap. I do not suggest dedicated either. That gets pretty expensive. Most of them start at $70/month. If you find a cheaper one, it's probably not very good. Unless your site gets extremely huge, 100's or 1000's of visitors, you probably don't need a dedicated server.

I would recommend starting with shared hosting, because it's cheap and easy. And it's pretty easy to move a forum to a new host. You can also get someone here to do it for you.

Yes, you can pay for an add-on once one time, and never update it.

Regarding your gallery question, XenForo has a Media Gallery add-on, which you can view here. This allows your users to submit images, videos, audio, etc.

 

[WombatCombat]

I do not suggest DigitalOcean, unless you know what you're doing. You do everything from the command line. In my opinion, It's a pain to run a forum on DigitalOcean. The only benefit is that it's extremely cheap. I do not suggest dedicated either. That gets pretty expensive. Most of them start at $70/month. If you find a cheaper one, it's probably not very good. Unless your site gets extremely huge, 100's or 1000's of visitors, you probably don't need a dedicated server.

I would recommend starting with shared hosting, because it's cheap and easy. And it's pretty easy to move a forum to a new host. You can also get someone here to do it for you.

Yes, you can pay for an add-on once one time, and never update it.

Regarding your gallery question, XenForo has a Media Gallery add-on, which you can view here. This allows your users to submit images, videos, audio, etc.

Yeah that sounds like a plan, I'd probably start with shared hosting. I know there's lists and lists of shared hosting out there, but is there definitive handful which are great that I can look into and choose?

I just realized KnownHost also has a shared hosting section, this should be okay I assume right? And as for installing/theming I just have to follow the manual on XenForos website?

 

[Matt C.]

Yeah that sounds like a plan, I'd probably start with shared hosting. I know there's lists and lists of shared hosting out there, but is there definitive handful which are great that I can look into and choose?

I can only recommend KnownHost, because that's what I use. But I would recommend looking into the Third Party Services forum and read the comments of each host. The only reason I chose KnownHost was because I read the comments in their thread.

Maybe someone else will chime in with their recommendations.

 

[WombatCombat]

I can only recommend KnownHost, because that's what I use. But I would recommend looking into the Third Party Services forum and read the comments of each host. The only reason I chose KnownHost was because I read the comments in their thread.

Maybe someone else will chime in with their recommendations.

Awesome, thanks for all the help! I have one last question, apart from the forum, I'd like to create a seperate section where users can create threads and review products with ratings and have the stars show up and such. How would I do something like this, would I need to code this in or are there plugins or anything that does this? Likewise, there's some small other type of pages I'd like to have like a page full of pictures where when clicked takes them to the corresponding thread, etc. This isn't a user generated page, this would be a page where I put let's say logos of shoes and when clicked it will take them to the corresponding thread about the shoe.

How would these be done?

 

[HJW]

I don't think digital ocean is that hard. You click to install the lamp then it doesn't take long to Google the command line functions for anything left to install.

Not the easiest of course, but for the price and speed it's the best choice. The $5 a month plan is fine untill you get hundreads online at the same time.

 

[Matt C.]

I don't think digital ocean is that hard. You click to install the lamp then it doesn't take long to Google the command line functions for anything left to install.

Not the easiest of course, but for the price and speed it's the best choice. The $5 a month plan is fine untill you get hundreads online at the same time.

Yes, but it's very easy for someone who doesn't have experience to screw something up in the command line.

 

[Ozzy47]

I don't think digital ocean is that hard. You click to install the lamp then it doesn't take long to Google the command line functions for anything left to install.

Not the easiest of course, but for the price and speed it's the best choice. The $5 a month plan is fine untill you get hundreads online at the same time.

Some people have trouble admining forum software, so for them it's best not to mess about with command lines.

 

[Matt C.]

Yeah that sounds like a plan, I'd probably start with shared hosting. I know there's lists and lists of shared hosting out there, but is there definitive handful which are great that I can look into and choose?

I just realized KnownHost also has a shared hosting section, this should be okay I assume right? And as for installing/theming I just have to follow the manual on XenForos website?

Yes that will be okay for starting out. Follow the XenForo 2 manual and you'll be all set.

 

[WombatCombat]

Yes that will be okay for starting out. Follow the XenForo 2 manual and you'll be all set.

Thank you so much for all your help so far! Thing I'm going to buying this very soon and am pretty excited!

Just incase you missed what I mentioned above, I have one final question that I've always wondered about these preset themes and services such as this (as opposed to coding from scratch)

I'd like to create a separate section where users can create threads and review products with ratings and have the stars show up and such, the rating will only be from the OP of the thread. How would I do something like this, would I need to code this in or are there plugins or anything that does this? Likewise, there's some small other type of pages I'd like to have like a page full of pictures where when clicked takes them to the corresponding thread, etc. This isn't a user generated page, this would be a page where I put let's say logos of shoes. I would pick 10 shoes to display every month on that page and will have their pictures and I will change the 10 every month, when clicked it will give more information, list threads that are available regarding that shoe, etc.

Is this hard to do?

 

[Matt C.]

Thank you so much for all your help so far! Thing I'm going to buying this very soon and am pretty excited!

Just incase you missed what I mentioned above, I have one final question that I've always wondered about these preset themes and services such as this (as opposed to coding from scratch)

I'd like to create a separate section where users can create threads and review products with ratings and have the stars show up and such, the rating will only be from the OP of the thread. How would I do something like this, would I need to code this in or are there plugins or anything that does this? Likewise, there's some small other type of pages I'd like to have like a page full of pictures where when clicked takes them to the corresponding thread, etc. This isn't a user generated page, this would be a page where I put let's say logos of shoes. I would pick 10 shoes to display every month on that page and will have their pictures and I will change the 10 every month, when clicked it will give more information, list threads that are available regarding that shoe, etc.

Is this hard to do?

You could use @Bob's showcase add-on for this. It's currently in the Release Candidate phase for XF2.

Here is a demo: https://demos.xenaddons.com/showcase/

 

[WombatCombat]

You could use @Bob's showcase add-on for this. It's currently in the Release Candidate phase for XF2.

Here is a demo: https://demos.xenaddons.com/showcase/

Oh wow that looks awesome, perfectly fits what I need! A quick add one question, I plan to buy a theme from a website, after I buy the theme am I able to add on whichever add-on I would like or am I restricted to only specific add-ons?

For example looking through the forum people seem to give good ratings to the UI.X 2 theme (https://www.themehouse.com/xenforo/2/themes/ui-x) but they only have a few add-ons shown on this page (https://www.themehouse.com/xenforo/2/addons)

 

[Matt C.]

Oh wow that looks awesome, perfectly fits what I need! A quick add one question, I plan to buy a theme from a website, after I buy the theme am I able to add on whichever add-on I would like or am I restricted to only specific add-ons?

For example looking through the forum people seem to give good ratings to the UI.X 2 theme (https://www.themehouse.com/xenforo/2/themes/ui-x) but they only have a few add-ons shown on this page (https://www.themehouse.com/xenforo/2/addons)

You can add whatever add-on you want and as many as you want. There are no restrictions whatsoever. There are many more add-ons than just the ones ThemeHouse provides. You are not limited to just theirs.

 

[WombatCombat]

You can add whatever add-on you want and as many as you want. There are no restrictions whatsoever. There are many more add-ons than just the ones ThemeHouse provides. You are not limited to just theirs.

Ahh I see thank you! I just noticed that the show case add-on is for XF 2, I've looked through the forum and XF 1 seems to have a lot more add-ons than XF 2 which makes sense but I was thinking of going with XF 2 since it's just newer but now I'm not so sure. Is there any reason to pick one over the other?

PS. I searched around but couldn't really find but do you happen to know of a show case esque add-on for XF 2?

 

[Matt C.]

Ahh I see thank you! I just noticed that the show case add-on is for XF 2, I've looked through the forum and XF 1 seems to have a lot more add-ons than XF 2 which makes sense but I was thinking of going with XF 2 since it's just newer but now I'm not so sure. Is there any reason to pick one over the other?

PS. I searched around but couldn't really find but do you happen to know of a show case esque add-on for XF 2?

I would start with XF2. XF2 has an abundance of add-ons, which are maintainted and updated regularly. Most XF1 add-ons aren't updated anymore, but I know @Xon still updates his on occasion.

 

[TPerry]

In my opinion, It's a pain to run a forum on DigitalOcean.

Actually it's quite easy if you use @eva2000's Centmin Mod on a system using CentOS. NGINX comes packaged with it and there is a text script that will allow you to do multiple processes.

 

[KSA]

Why would you go for a VPS? You could start off on shared hosting first which is very very cheap and reasonable since the forum would be very new and have no traffic aside from bots crawling your site. Installing XF, themes and add-ons is very easy to do just stick around and XF community would definitely help. Do not forget when choosing a host that the hosting plans do include SMTP which allows you to send emails. Stay away from crappy hosting providers like godaddy.

Welcome aboard.

 

[Xon]

Most XF1 add-ons aren't updated anymore, but I know @Xon still updates his on occasion.

My add-ons get updated as bug are reported, but most of my XF1 add-ons have generally been around for 2-3.5 years now, so a lot of the east to hit bugs are gone.

However, I definitely have stopped (free) feature development for them.