Drupal, Backdrop and WordPress Specific Platform
Drupal, Backdrop and WordPress can run on virtually any hosting environment from the very inexpensive shared hosting plans all the way to dedicated servers, and everything in between. However, some of Drupal, Backdrop and WordPress features require specific Apache, PHP, MySQL, SSH, GIT, drush, brush, wp-cli, Apache Solr, Varnish, APC, Memcache configurations that may or may not be available on any given hosting environment. AltaGrade supports all the features that Drupal, Backdrop and WordPress and contributed modules, plugins, libraries, themes require.
Factual Comparison
There are thousands of hosting companies in the United States and around the world, and as the demand for websites grows so does the number of hosting companies. They all have different business philosophies, pricing models and ranges of customer-tailored packages.
It is difficult to provide “pros and cons” or “advantages and disadvantages” comparisons for the vast array of hosting companies because their business goals and approaches vary, just as their target customers do. Any such analysis will be highly contextual and unnecessarily take us into the area of opinions and judgments.
Instead, we have compiled factual information for you, as a potential customer, to make an intelligent decision as to which hosting company will best serve your needs. The graph below presents facts and quotes pulled from the websites of three leading Drupal specific hosting companies. These are unavoidably general categories that provide a glimpse into the companies’ nature, business and pricing approaches. For more information and your own research, please refer to the companies’ websites and Drupal forums.
Comparison Chart
| Acquia | Pantheon | AltaGrade | |
|
Platform support |
Drupal only |
Drupal and WordPress |
Drupal and anything |
|
Target market |
Large-scale companies and developers |
Large-scale companies, developers, and consumers |
Developers, consumers and any-scale organizations |
|
Free services and/or hosting provided for |
Developers |
Developers |
Non-profits |
|
Involvement in managing client sites |
Mostly self-managed, tiered add-on fees for fully-managed |
Mostly fully-managed, included into package price |
Free self-managed, fully-managed included into package price |
|
Stack |
LAMP |
LEMP |
LAMP |
|
Minimal cost of hosting one Drupal site/mo |
$165 |
$100 |
$8.46 |
|
Minimal cost of hosting 10 Drupal sites/mo |
$316 |
$1000 |
$42.46 |
|
Optional SSL support with dedicated IP, per certificate/year |
$360 |
$360 |
free |
|
Minimal monthly cost of a comparable business plan* |
$675 |
$400 |
$42.46 |
*These prices are for the most widely used hosting package, referred to as professional/business/standard. It is designed for small and mid-size companies and organizations that can expect moderate to high traffic on their websites.
Professional/Business/Standard Package Features
| Acquia | Pantheon | AltaGrade | |
|
Disk space, GB |
50 |
30 |
60 |
|
CPU |
5 cores |
Multidev |
4 cores |
|
RAM, MB |
1700 |
512 |
1536 |
|
SSL |
Not included |
$30/mo additional |
free |
|
Number of sites hosted |
Up to 10, additional fees per site |
No limit, fee per site |
Unlimited |
|
Ticket support |
Limited | Included but prioritized |
Unlimited |
|
24/7 on call |
None |
None |
By client request |
|
Monthly fee |
$425 + $250 for mandatory Acquia Network package |
$400 |
$42.46 |
|
One-time setup fee |
None |
Not specified |
$29.95 |