Found a potential web host called PostHog, but I dunno if it's any good

[Rubbereon]

I've made a thread discussing alternatives to neocities like nekoweb, worlio, ichi.city, etc and I've come across a website called posthog.com today that seems like a good fit for the thread. First, it's free. Second, there are forums which covers the social aspect.

Now, for all the good this site may seem to be, it feeling a little weird, a little indie and stuff, there's a llm sized elephant in the room. In the home page of the website they advertise ai and I have mixed feelings about that. Oh and I think the cliparts on the page is ai too, they have the distinctive piss filter.

It's also not clear how much I get on the free option, they say I get a cloud (nerd speak for web hosting, but could also mean a directory of files like google drive or a single webapp like what vercel does which is ai-junk too so I'm not touching it anyway), but I'm not even sure I get a full website for myself due to the lack of clarification, they are really hellbent on telling me how much it's easy to make and deploy apps using ai if anything.

A fun fact to add into the confusion, it shows up in a self-hosting directory which implies that it can at least register domain names like porkbun.

Does anybody use this thingy and can you tell me if it's worth bothering it?

[Dan Q]

PostHog are a wonderful company doing innovative things in a variety of sectors and I'd love to work for them someday. Everything I've seen, used, or experimented with of theirs has been solid gold.

Their "hog" art isn't AI, I believe. I think I've corresponded with one of their artists.

That said: I don't think - or at least, I didn't know - that they offered Web hosting. Are you sure?

Update: I've just looked at their website, and I still don't think they offer Web hosting. What makes you think that they do?

[Melooon]

I have no opinion on this service at all, this is the first I've heard of it, but its super interesting to see companies cloning indie-web design ideas like imaginary OS interfaces. I kinda always expected to see that happen, but actually seeing it in the real world is still wild   

I would put this in the same basket as other smaller VC-style hosts like Bunny.net, it just happens to be using indie-web design ideas too.

[Noah_S]

I've never heard of them, but I looked at their website and I don't trust them. They're bragging about how you'll be able to replay exactly what your visitors do, including scrolling. I don't trust that. AI is not just mentioned once or twice, it's all over their menus. I'm failing to find any info about what's included. What's the monthly bandwidth limit? How much storage space do they offer? Which version of PHP do they support? They talk about SQL, what kind of database do they offer? How many databases are included?

While these things may not matter for every web project, a host not being forthcoming is a red flag. They're really not saying anything except "join for free and then upgrade to pay as you go with no upper price limit, we have AI and will track your visitors".

Also, that cookie banner.. I checked, they're based in the US. So why is their cookie banner talking about being legally required even if they don't use third party cookies and how an EU politician would be proud? You don't have to have a cookie banner if you don't use third party cookies or sell user data, so that's another red flag. And when you combine it with their tools even tracking how visitors scroll.. I don't trust them.

Edit: If Dan Q is correct that they don't offer web hosting, some of these things may not be red flags. I'm still gonna leave it here in case someone wants to read about when not to sign up with a webhost.

[sunnyp4rk]

I'm with Dan on this one. I don't really see the "web hosting" aspect of it. This seems a lot more focused towards development of apps than for websites. The forum also doesn't seem to be for websites either...I don't think I'd focus on this one too much for hosting a website.

[Rubbereon]

I've just looked at their website, and I still don't think they offer Web hosting. What makes you think that they do?

It says so at the bottom of the page "PostHog Cloud" and "Select your cloud" with 2 clickable buttons: "US (Virginia)" and "EU (Frankfurt)", I was thinking it might be a vps for this reason.

[Noah_S]

I feel rather foolish having spent 20 minutes searching their website for clarity about what webhosting services they offer if they're not a webhost

[Melooon]

and I still don't think they offer Web hosting. What makes you think that they do?

What should we call these "auxiliary web app service providers"? They seem to be popping up more and more and its understandable that they are confusing people who can't figure out what they do without developer knowledge; saying they are a "host" is misleading although not inaccurate, its just not web hosting they offer.