Hosting services specialised for Drupal

Drupal works on most hosting providers that support PHP, MySql and related technologies. However, I would not recommend using a general shared hosting solution to anyone. At AGILEDROP we have two practices: either we set up a bespoke hosting environment or deploy websites to hosting platforms that are specialized in Drupal.

Why specialization matters?

We like to work with companies that have specialized in hosting Drupal web applications. 

Specialised companies provide:

• Best results. If hosting companies are specialized in one technology, they are are going to do that best because they understand the in’s and out’s. 
• Support. Most of the Drupal infrastructure providers also understand the application and can so help us, developers and clients.
• Performance. Their server infrastructure is optimized to run Drupal's web sites as it was designed.
• They give back to the community. They get involved in the community and help the community grow. 

 

Who do we like to work with

The order of companies is alphabetical as we do not favorize any of them. We encourage our clients (agencies) to use any of those businesses as all provide outstanding services.

Acquia.com

If you want to create and host Drupal websites, the Acquia Cloud platform is everything you need. You can easily update your code base the Acquia Cloud manually, and there is no need for using external CI tools. It is the platform that provides the whole digital experience.

We like Acquia because of their enterprise-level support and tools that enable end clients to keep an eye on their websites without any deep technical knowledge.

Pantheon.io 

Pantheon is a platform for Drupal and Wordpress websites. It provides you an easy update of your hosting environment. There is no need to use any other CI tools. Pantheon also provides a CLI to execute commands by remote. The benefit is a shorter period of deploying updates.

We find recommending Pantheon to many agencies who have multiple clients running both Wordpress and Drupal websites. Their packages are affordable for entry level and can also handle heavy traffic platforms. 

Platform.sh

Platform.sh is very useful for testing updates in separate branches. The infrastructure is developed to build feature branch instances by using their API, which allows users to test their updates. If you are deploying updates continuously, this allows you to have more reliable quality assurance process. The benefit is shorter period of time of deploying updates. 

Platform.sh has a great development environment. It's is great for projects and website with complex development cycles with multiple branches going at the same time. Because they are a French company, they are also attractive to clients looking to keep all of their data in EU.

As I stated at the beginning, we only recommend hosting companies that specialize in Drupal or a custom setup. The last option is often more expensive as servers are not "set it and leave it" kind of project. If you are looking for a new hosting solution don't hesitate to reach out to us, we can help you pick the right one.