I know this will be the time where I get pointed to an already existing FAQ but since there’s a lot going on and development never stops, I still want to check - is there a way to install Ghost on a shared server?
I am hosting a very lightweight blog with GreenGeeks and I would like to swap from Wordpress to Ghost but I’m also sick of changing hosting providers since that’s all I’ve been doing lately. I know that I can do it with them if I get a VPS but to be honest I am paying $2.90 a month now so I don’t see myself swapping to about $40 a month.
I’m assuming the answer to be no, but is there any way I can run ghost with GreenGeeks on their shared hosting? Ie has anyone come up with a solution for running ghost without root access or is that strictly what just can never happen because of how the system works?
@denvergeeks Thank you so much for that. I did read all of it yet I’m still a bit confused :)
I see you’re referring to a super easy and cheap one click provider and that’s fine I was however more into finding out if I can actually run Ghost with my current hosting provider. I understand I can run it in different places with different levels of managed unmanaged type of scenario. I’m a bit of techie myself so I don’t mind getting my hands dirty setting things up in command lines but my eternal struggle here is that I would like to once and for all settle with what I’ve got with GreenGeeks which is an absurdly cheap hosting and turn my Wordpress into Ghost on there. However, I think there is currently no way to do this as they only do shared servers and don’t allow root access.
If I skipped something important in the article please let me know
Thank you again!
@radimo I found no other shared hosting that runs node.js (or allows running node.js applications) on their shared hosting servers, except for FastComet Shared Hosting, which does, including their $2.95/month plans where you have a cPanel and Terminal access. (Of course you can SSH in as well to install and manage Ghost instances using command line if you prefer. You do not have to use their provided one-button installer at all.)
See here I use Terminal in cPanel to run ghost update and other commands from the Ghost CLI without root access.
I did check the GreenGeeks Shared Hosting plans in my thorough research on Ghost hosting options. At least as of that time, GreenGeeks did not run, nor allow users to run node.js applications (such as Ghost) on any shared plan below their VPS servers.
@denvergeeks I diverge a bit what’s your experience and would you say value for money - I know you’d be biased to say but if you had to pick between Digital Ocean and FastComet Is there a difference in what they let you do in the background and the loading speeds for example? Like for a small time blog getting couple hundred viewers a day maximum. I just need that last push to decide on how I want to host and then I’m switching from clunky Wordpress
@radimo I did thorough, in-depth comparisons among many platforms, including Digital Ocean.
I run my mission-critical Ghost sites on FastComet’s Shared Hosting – specifically the FastCloud Extra plan. I can tell you after a year now, the following, in comparison to my several months running Ghost on Digital Ocean:
For me, the ability to simultaneously run multiple additional instances of Ghost (6 or so separate and discrete instances of Ghost that I use for development, testing, and experimentation, and theme comparisons), in addition to my stable, live site, all on the same, cheap plan on FastComet provides huge benefits and flexibility for me. (I run the Ghost-O-Matic site and all of its subdomain sites on that hosting plan.)
Since I also have a VPS on FastComet (the Cloud 3 VPS plan), I have done many identical site comparisons, and I can say that the identical sites deployed on the Shared Hosting actually perform better on the Shared Hosting than they do on my VPS. This is because of the precise optimizations for Ghost sites that FastComet maintains on their shared hosting servers.
FastComet support tickets are consistently and quickly (usually within 5-10 mins.) answered and resolved. Digital Ocean provides no support whatsoever, except through their forums, and my experience was consistently no help at all, even through the forums.
Also of tremendous value to me is the option (rather than the requirement) to use command line any time I want. I love using the web-based file manager for most things.
Auto-SSL and Cloudflare, and domain functions being built into the button-click back-end interface is also a huge time and brain-damage saver for me.
Also, one-click email account creation, forwarding functions, and management all in one place is important to me because I have more than 700 domains.
There are so many other tools that I would not otherwise think to use (ones that I find, and then learn about by trying and testing them in the interface), all in one place accessible from the cPanel (and the WHM as well on the VPS).
Of course your needs and preferences are totally different from mine. I would suggest to try them both, simultaneously, for a month.
BTW, I also host and manage multiple Wordpress and Drupal sites for some of my clients on my FastComet Shared Hosting account, right along side my Ghost sites.
Oh one more bit of info – FastComet runs on the Linode infrastructure, if that helps at all.
Amazing! Thank you so much. I never heard of FastComet (granted I live in Europe) so I’m a bit inquisitive of a new super cheap host
Are you running everything on their one-click set up?
Everything you’ve said about Fastcomet’s shared hosting is entirely untrue now. They can’t update ghost properly in their shared environments and will try to move you to VPS after 1 major version update (like v3 to v4), citing shared environment (catered for wordpress) no longer meets requirements.
Ghost sites on fastcomet shared hosting constantly 503, to the point that they show up in google search console and you get unranked.
To anyone reading this - fastcomet is bad advice. I actually followed denvergeek’s advice and fastcomet might as well have taken a trolley bar to my ghost site with the bad service, and it all stems from lumping ghost in a shared environment engineered for wordpress, instead of actual dedicated ghost shared hosting.
Is there a difference in what they let you do in the background and the loading speeds for example? Like for a small time blog getting couple hundred viewers a day maximum. I just need that last push to decide on how I want to host and then I’m switching from clunky Wordpress 