Thursday, May 31, 2007

Free lunch

Have been scouting for a free web hosting which support Ruby on Rails for sometimes. If you Simply google for it, most likely you will come to names like RailsPlayground, HostingRails, AmbitiousLemon, FreeOnRails, XMG, soyhost, profuse.net., etc. And you would thought, hey, there is free lunch after all.

But the journey of finding a free Rails web hosting, is not necessary a good one. So I thought, I might as well write it down here, could be a handy guide in case someone are in the same situation. Or better still, if someone could chip in and help out on this.

Out of the names listed above, I have tried a few of them. Since I don't have much time to go through everyone of it, the outlook of their site quickly become one of the most important factor on whether I wanna try my luck with it. I know judging a book by it cover is a bit swallow, but site that cluttered with flash adds, text links can't help but make you feel a bit cautious...ha, I know this might even look to you as one of those "10 Most Visually Appearing Free Rails Web Hosting site" from Smashing Magazine. :-)



Soyhost first impression really..impressed me.
Its simple design immediately make you feel comfortable to try out their service. Submission of application seems really easy, just put in your e-mail address and click the "make it happen button".tata....err.. I have tried more than 20 times, on different times and days as well, but the "make it happen" button just didn't make anything happen. It keeps on showing you the same old error message "File not found. Change this error message for pages not found in public/404.html."And the worst thing is, there is zero contact information in the page, no mail address, no link to a blog or something. You just feel like being left in a dessert, hopelessly.



AmbitiousLemon is another one with simple and neat webpage design.
The application process seems easy enough, only that "AmbitiousLemon is currently not accepting new members, please check back soon". And I have seens that message for months, so I am really not sure if they will ever open it again. Just keep your finger crossed.



If I remember it right, FreeonRails and HostingRails both offered some special promotion with Dreamhost, sometimes ago.










Where you could sign up with them for free hosting, then signup a Dreamhost promotion account that gave you free domain name , put in some promotion code from this sites to counter off the charges for the Dreamhost account, then tata..you get a free hosting plan with free domain name. But the thing is, Dreamhost no longer offer such deal. And FreeonRails didn't give you free domain name, not even sub-domain name. And the site's latest news last updated on February 11, 2006, and I didn't tried to apply for an account yet, so I am not sure if it still valid. As for HostingRails, well, just say the free hosting plan no longer available.



RailsPlayground is the same case, no more free hosting plan. The closest I can find in their front page is "Free setup", duh.



ProfuseHost website has a rather busy design, with ads visible almost on every possible white space.
But heck, after the disappointment of being deceived by good look, I don't believe in clean-simple design anymore. After all, I do understand the need to generate revenue for their business, especially they are offering free hosting. The application process is relatively much more complex, other than standard stuffs like password, username, email, etc, they would like you to give them a valid reason why you need a free hosting plan. I almost feel like filling in a immigration form before entering a foreign country. And so I happily filled in the form, and waited for 2 days for their decision. Well, it has been rejected, reason is my application didn't really comply to their policy. I am a bit disappointed of course, but understand that there might be somewhere in my application which might have just violated their policy. It is more to I didn't have time to read their policy in details than anything else.



XMG hosting look much like profuse, and their application process work almost the same as well.
Well, I signed up by filling in all the information, plus the reason of course. That is yesterday. Still awaited for their decision if I will be accepted. So, wish me luck.

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