I am building a website for myself. The website will deal with video (externally hosted), audio (unclear yet whether local or external hosting), and text. One feature I want to implement is the ability for the user to export the text to a PDF, but I need to build that PDF dynamically as some pieces of text will be optional, and some user input will also be included. I want to avoid PDF plugin subscription services, and the website is anyway to be managed by myself, so it seems installing one of the PHP PDF-specialised libraries is the way to go. As an addition, I get much more power to customise as I want.
But, I am still a client of Host Gator, where I host three other sites (all very low-visit, low-demanding). I have been with them for over ten years, most of which I’ve been considering switching to something better. Now, finally, I need to, as I can not install libraries in my shared hosting plan. Even if I could, the access speed is ridiculously slow too often, and this year I had an encounter with support, who wanted me to pay for restoring my databases after they accidentally deleted them (though they did restore the databases for free when I proved my non-intervention in the deletion, the trust damage was already done).
I still want to go budget, but to a better service that is hopefully scalable should my new site earn for rice. I am considering:
[Nixihost](https://www.nixihost.com/hosting/reddit), Basic Shared
[Gnu-host](https://gnu-host.com/website-hosting), Active or Hyper
[Krystal](https://krystal.uk/web-hosting#plans), Ruby
[Mechanicweb](https://www.mechanicweb.com/semi-dedicated-hosting.php), Prime
[Maxer](https://www.maxer.com/hosting-plans), Shared Plan 2 (don’t like bandwidth limit though)
[Siteground](https://eu.siteground.com/wordpress-hosting.htm), GrowBig or GoGeek
These are all around the $10/month mark, but I can go up to $15/month, or consider anything under $20 if it makes a difference.
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Summary: **I want to get budget hosting, where I want to be able to install a PHP PDF library extension, and host at least 5 domains. I have a self-imposed limit of $200/year.**
My main question is: do you know if it is easy with any of the providers above to install php libraries or extensions on a shared plan?
My secondary question is: should I look at something other, be it hosting plan or provider?
Note that I am not a beginner, but I also am not a pro: it is my first time dealing with installing an extra library / extension, and most of my code doesn’t come from my head, but from research. I fear services like OVHcloud & Vultr cloud servers may take too much from my scarce spare time to justify the advantages.
View Reddit by DrummingLimbs – View Source