Sunday, March 19, 2017

Azure Web Site versus GoDaddy

Over the years GoDaddy has build a terrible reputation
But I have been with them for years and changing hosting create issues.

Anyway I was not very happy with the performance of the hosting plan:

"Economy Windows Hosting with Plesk"
It took about 10 seconds to access my web site, when it was shutdown. And it only remains in memory for about 5 minutes. I probably got a good deal for the first year for hosting and 1 domain name.

But this week it is renewal time and here are the prices
  • Economy Windows Hosting with Plesk $95.88
  • For the name MadeInTheUSB.net $16.99
That is close to $113 per year, for a domain name + hosting that perform really slowly.

I already use Azure Storage for backup, so I decided to try the Azure free plan and well it is free, but there is no wait time to access the web site.
Try it.
There are limits though
  • The free plan is limited to 60 minutes of CPU/Day
  • The shared plan as I read it should have been: 240 minutes of CPU/Day, cost $0.013/hour,  240/60*0.013*31 == $1.6 per month, Sound great but. (Required for SSL and domain name).
    But in reality you are charged for 24 hour per day, therefore 24*0.013*31 == $9.6 or $116 for the all year.
    See: App Service Pricing
  • So Azure Share Web Site is more expensive than godaddy 'Economy Windows Hosting with Plesk', Azure Share Web Site also perform much much much better.
I used the free plan and the shared plan, I am now back on the free plan.

Conclusion

Now I need to learn if I can find cheaper domain name and how to transfer my domain names.
Capitalism is not about monopoly, it is about competition.