this post was submitted on 11 Feb 2025
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Hey! It's my first post!

I have a few websites that are hosted in the USA. I'm going to move them all to Canadian hosts. I'm looking for recommendations for hosting companies in Canada that are owned by Canadians. I've look at a few but first hand experience is always welcome.

Most of my sites are just basic html/css/javascript but one of them is a wordpress storefront. I specifically need the Wordpress site to be as fast as possible - a difficult task for wordpress, I know.

Also, glad to see this community! Great stuff!

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[–] jnb@lemmy.ca 1 points 32 minutes ago

If you're fine to either get your hands dirty, or a kind friend's, check out Xenyth Hosting

[–] AlolanVulpix@lemmy.ca 14 points 1 day ago (1 children)

Here's a great company! Peaceworks Technology Solutions

  • Living Wage Certified
  • B Corp Certified
[–] Echofox@lemmy.ca 4 points 1 day ago

I hadn't come across this one when I was searching around, thank you! They look cool!

[–] PistolPete@lemmynsfw.com 3 points 1 day ago (1 children)

Have a look at CanSpace.ca. I transferred my domains from GoDaddy last year.

They have been reliable and I feel good that I am supporting a Canadian shop.

When I needed to contact CanSpace support, they were responsive, friendly and knowledgeable.

My requirements are basic, so I can't comment on WordPress performance. With this being said, my experience with everything else for me has been awesome. No regrets!

For any others considering making the switch, do your homework but they're a good option.

[–] Echofox@lemmy.ca 2 points 1 day ago

At this point I've decided to migrate away from WordPress. I should have a while ago.

CanSpace.ca looks really cool, thanks for suggesting it!

[–] cyberpunk007@lemmy.ca 8 points 1 day ago (2 children)
[–] Showroom7561@lemmy.ca 1 points 1 day ago

Yes, been using them for years. No real complaints. They are very quick to get back if you need support.

[–] Echofox@lemmy.ca 2 points 1 day ago

This might be my choice. I'm going to do more reading.

[–] sik0fewl@lemmy.ca 2 points 1 day ago

Someone had mentioned Websavers.ca in a previous thread.

[–] Windex007@lemmy.world 4 points 1 day ago (1 children)

I've worked with hostpapa on very small projects years ago, so I can't speak to their capacity to operate on high powered commercial projects... But they've been around for a long time,at least. My experience with them was good!

[–] Echofox@lemmy.ca 1 points 1 day ago (1 children)

The sites I run don't get too much traffic, but performance is still important. When I looked into hostpapa I saw a lot of bad reviews online. You can't believe everything you read, though it's enough to keep me cautious.

[–] Windex007@lemmy.world 2 points 1 day ago* (last edited 1 day ago) (2 children)

I looked into this, because I was curious.

Sounds like the common thread in all the complaints revolve around HostPapa being unable to handle the constant barrage of pen-testing that a WordPress site gets exposed to, and trying to alleviate by forcing WP sites off shared hosting.

So, ya, if you're running a WP site, would not recommend. By my read, it's probably a legitimate issue and users are probably not overreacting.

I've never ran anything aside from bespoke PHP on hostpapa, and I had no issues with that... But honestly my read of the WP situation would scare me off HostPapa for sure.

[–] Echofox@lemmy.ca 1 points 1 day ago

Sounds like I need to migrate away from wordpress. Which I kind of already knew.

[–] SreudianFlip@sh.itjust.works 1 points 1 day ago

My experience as well. Other hosting providers as well though. WP is the big target. I haven't recommended it for a decade.

[–] LimpRimble@lemmy.ca 3 points 1 day ago (1 children)

Which ISP service does lemmy.ca use?

[–] MapleMan@lemmy.ca 1 points 15 hours ago

Well their name servers point to CloudFlare based on a quick DNS lookup on whois.com

[–] Greg@lemmy.ca 3 points 1 day ago (1 children)

Have you considered hosting from your home? Or do you have uptime SLOs? I host from home on Bell and I maintain 99.9% uptime.

[–] Echofox@lemmy.ca 4 points 1 day ago

I have considered this! And I used to back in the day! I haven't completely ruled it out, and I probably could cobble together a Frankenstein box, though I'm not sure the performance would be enough (the only extra MOBO/CPU I have is an ancient Core2Duo). Also, I wonder if the electricity cost would be more than $10/month. I should do some math..

[–] JohnnyCanuck@lemmy.ca 3 points 1 day ago (1 children)

Was there anything wrong with the ones you've looked at?

[–] Echofox@lemmy.ca 6 points 1 day ago (1 children)

Probably nitpicks, but I found a lot of the ones I came across charged an extra $50/year for a LetsEncrypt SSL cert which rubs me wrong since LetsEncrypt is free. A few others I found claimed to be Canadian and even had their offices in Canada but were ultimately American owned, which is a dealbreaker for me.

I do have a shortlist of a few, but I want to be thorough since whoever I pick I'll probably be with indefinitely.

[–] JohnnyCanuck@lemmy.ca 5 points 1 day ago (1 children)

I think I have LetsEncrypt at no extra charge with mine (zenutech.ca) They're based in New Brunswick and as far as I know they're Canadian owned.

[–] Echofox@lemmy.ca 4 points 1 day ago

I hadn't found that one yet! Thank you!