Shared vs Reseller - How to Choose

[thunderwalks]

Hello!

My current reseller is.. well abysmal. Therefore I am in search of a better one.

From the reviews, it looks like Hostgator is the option to go for, but now I'm stuck trying to decide between reseller and shared.

Background:

Currently I have a reseller account. But I don't sell domain hosting. I am a web designer and host sites I design on my account. I make all the modifications on the back end. I figured that wouldn't be an issue on a shared plan.

However, I do have two accounts that use FTP to upload their web pages (they never go into Cpanel).

Questions:

1. How hard would it be to transfer 9 individual cpanels to one shared cpanel?

2. Can I setup separate FTP accounts pointing to the domains where the clients make their own updates using Frontpage/Dreamweaver?

3. Given my situation, should I go with a shared hosting plan or a reseller plan?

Thanks so much for your input -
Kristy

[GatorJLavoy]

Hello,

I'll answer your questions in order for convenience.

1) This would probably take several hours depending on how many custom configurations they have setup in cPanel. Our transfers team can do this, but it would be billable hourly for admin time.

2) Yes, this is included automatically when the domain is created or you can set up separate FTP accounts and point them wherever you like.

3) If it were me, I'd go with a reseller to be honest. It gives the clients access to cPanel should you wish to give it to them, and makes the whole migration process extremely simple. If a client ever wants to leave, hit the generate backup button in cPanel. If you get a new client coming from a cPanel provider, upload the backup to their account and let us know so we can restore it for you. Keeping the accounts separate makes moving those accounts around extremely simple, and mostly automated. Rather than have to manually take all their settings and files apart and manually configure them inside the shared account.

I hope this has been helpful.

[eurgbp]

I would even go further with VPS Virtual Private Server. It is much more stable and reliable than reseller or shared hosting and gives you freedom to do whatever you want to do. Can't go wrong with that choice. And price to value ratio is perfect.

[weserver]

Hi Thunderwalks.

Allow me to "pitch in" on this thread.

I own a danish webdesign company, delivering websites to customers here in the western parts of Denmark. Many of my clients are good at what they do, but need help with the technical "stuff" = hosting, anytime their mail is down, upgrading/maintaining their website and sometimes also the content on their websites. So I think maybe we have same kind of business ?

I host many of my customers on my VPS.

Hosting clients on a shared account is troublesome, because you risk ALL client sites, if(when) one is infected. Why would you/one do that to their own reputation as a great and trustwurthy provider?

When I arrived @ hostgator I had a reseller account. Nice to be able to separate my customer accounts, even though that my clients NEVER needs access to cpanel.

After approx. 1 year I upgraded to a VPS level 3 with whm/cpanel (managed) = the 49,95 usd option. I have NEVER looked back. You get:

A VPS that gives consistant results = you can count on that the websites are beeing served up quickly and reliable, any time of day, any day of the week.

You get complete control and even though you may not need that you might want to tweak settings after a while (like increasing php memory limit for cms & scripts that you might have).

You get rid of the 500 mails/hour limit per domain. And all sorts of stuff.

You get automatic backup every night, with possibility to setup daily, weekly, monthly automatic backups !. I have a Qnap at home with FTP access and whm automatically sends me each and every cpanel backup every night. I check the logs (send by email) every morning. It's there every time :-) Now I don't have to worry about doing backups regularly, they are just there. Nice !

So I recommend you to go with a VPS. with level 3 or higher (and selecting the whm/cpanel option) you get a fully managed, supported server 24/7/365. Have any problems with it, you just chat with HostGator or put in a support ticket. They will help you out.

Again, first year a reseller account, now on VPS. Never looked back - having tried more than 20 different webhosts over the years. Not going anywhere now!

[jashimesmia]

Calgary Web Design, Calgary CRM.
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[tiaka]

Just wanted to check with fellow HG resellers that use WHMAutopilot. Is anyoine else having trouble accessing their admin area in autopilot. Ever since there site went down this week I have been unable to access my admin panel. This sucks there development has been stalled for about 2 yrs with the latest version upgraded December 2009. Anyone know whats going on?
You would think HG would have some course or direction but I'm not hearing anything from them at all.?
Anybody?

[GvilleRick]

Posting multiple threads will not help you get an answer any faster. As for the question on WHMAP, it is a third party program and HG does not have any control over it as far as I know.