If you don’t already know, this blog is hosted on Google Compute Engine using WordPress as our content management system (CMS) platform.

The reasons we chose GCE was simple.. cost. I personally believe if you want the best web host to host your web content, then go with someone big and reliable as Google.

There are Amazon, Microsoft, Google and others who provide cloud servers to host your content. Among these providers, I find Google the easiest to work with, as well as fastest and cheapest per machine.

Prior to hosting our content on GCE, we were at 1and1 web host. There, our content were hosted on a virtual dedicated server at the cost of around $80 per month.

For $80 per month, we were given 4 CPUs (virtual), 8GB RAM (virtual), 500GB drive and 1TB bandwidth.

The $80 was a fixed amount. It didn’t change, whether our traffic were low or high, we always paid $80.

We were with 1and1 the for over a year, when we discovered Google Compute Engine. With GCE, you only pay for what you used. When our traffic were high, we paid higher.

When traffic are low, you pay lower bills. In fact when we switched to GCE, our cost for that month dropped by a whopping 50%.

We were paying $40 for the n1-standard-1 package. That comes with around 2 CPU (virtual),  4GB RAM (virtual) and unlimited hard disk space (you pay for what you use).

Anytime our traffic drops, the cost drops as well. If traffic increases so is our cost. For over a year now, our cost hasn’t gone over $46. It’s the cheapest when compared to other providers who offer dedicated servers.

Another thing, if you’ve managed any Linux server, Ubuntu or  CentOS then you should be comfortable with GCE. Pretty secured and fast. GCE is a great option for webmasters who want to lower their web hosting bills.

I have seen some webmasters spending $200 to $300 hosting their sites with managed host providers. That’s just crazy.

These managed hosting providers are promising caching, speed, security and CMS integration. Screw that. For $300, no way.

I will manage my site myself for $40 and there won’t be great difference when you compare your high-priced sites to mine.

I use optimized Nginx web server with PHP-FPM, WordPress with W3-Total Cache, few plugins and GCE.

That’s all you need. No high-priced hosts around here.

Enjoy!