ben robison

Good & Cheap Rails Hosting?

Can anyone tell me where to find it?  Does it even exist?

I’ve been looking for a good Rails host recently, one that’s running Apache/Mongrel or something business class.  Apache mod_ruby was a terrible at best, FastCGI was better at handling threads and serving content, but now that we’ve got a native Ruby solution, that seems the best way to go.

But it’s so expensive (at least for a personal blog).  I’ve looked at MediaTemple, which looks like a great option, but the basic Ruby package is $20/month.  In the days of cheap hosts that seems quite a high monthly price.

Then there’s HostingRails which has a basic Ruby package starting at $3.79/month, but if you want the Mongrel package, that’ll cost you $9.79/month.  That’s obviously a better deal, but they claim to be RoR developers since 2005 and their website would suggest otherwise.  It’s not too badly designed, but I typically expect a much better look from a Rails developer.  It’s just not the kinda place that I feel like I could trust with my credit card number.

So have I missed something?  What’s the cheapest Mongrel-running host I can find out there?  Does HostMonster support Mongrel?  I know Bluehost doesn’t.  Does anybody have experience with lunarpages,  MidPhase, or An?  Please help me out in the comments below.

Google Analytics the Best on the Planet?

In my search for quality analytics blogs, I apparently missed one that produced a rather interesting article about Google Analytics being a quantum leap above any other analytics products on the market. So while I work on finding the time to create my own analytics blog, I thought I’d post this up here for a little entertainment.

I found the original post here, when Eric Peterson of the Web Analytics Demystified blog ran the refutation. I’m not in the business of copying content, so I’ll let you read the posts for yourselves. Hope you enjoy the strangeness as much as I did. Mom, you won’t enjoy this one =)