Since PHP is a popular choice for application developers it is not surprising to note that almost all hosting providers support PHP. The most ideal environment for hassle-free deployment of PHP application is when your hosting provider gives you access to LAMP stack. The LAMP stack includes Linux operating system, Apache web server, MySQL database system and full PHP support. Even after almost two decades, PHP remains the most common option for web development. Given this popularity, it is no surprise that almost every hosting provider supports PHP.

The common support architecture is a “stack”, an arrangement of software component that combine together to provide support for PHP.  Main hosting providers implement a LAMP stack that comprises of Linux OS, Apache (often supported by Nginx) web server, and of course PHP.

A downside of this universal availability of PHP hosting is that selecting the right hosting provider is a serious challenge for developers and agencies. I have compiled the following list of top php hosting providers so that the decision becomes easier for you:

DigitalOcean

DigitalOcean is a top tier infrastructure and hosting provider. DigitalOcean also offers dedicated cloud computing services for developers and the LAMP stack to enable an optimum environment for your PHP applications. DigitalOcean is among the top rated infrastructure and cloud hosting provider. It is the prefered host of more than one million users who use its infrastructure to host business and corporate websites. Since DIgitalOcean is designed for developers, the setup of the servers and deployment of services and application require appropriate expertise.

Amazon Web Services

Of course when it comes to hosting providers the mention of Amazon Web Services (AWS) is important. AWS is the most popular hosting and infrastructure provider for cloud computing needs. You can refer to their PHP resource stack setup tutorial HERE to begin with. Additionally AWS also offers the AWS SDK for PHP which is essentially an enhanced open-source PHP library that links your PHP applications with AWS services like Amazon Glacier and Amazon S3.

Amazon Web services (AWS) is perhaps the best known cloud computing and IaaS provider in the world. Its Amazon S3 has become the gold standard of high availability for PHP applications, AWS offer a developer-focused open source SDK that allows developers to access and work with AWS services without any additional layers.

One popular issue that non-techie AWS users face is the complexities of setting up, deploying and maintaining PHP applications on AWS infrastructure. The common solution is to hire an Amazon certified expert.

Google Compute Engine

Google Compute Engine (GCE) offers services similar to AWS and competes with it directly in terms of reliability and consistency. It is also a top choice for PHP developers. As you would expect, deploying PHP relevant resource stack is a pretty straightforward process as indicated HERE.

Google Compute Engine (GCE) is another popular PHP application host and cloud computing services provider. GCE is a vast platform that could be customized for any high availability and fault tolerant solution. This is why it is a popular choice for ecommerce, fintech, IoT and Big Data projects. As you could imagine, GCE is a complex platform that requires extensive skills for deploying and maintaining PHP projects.

Vultr

Vultr is another extremely popular hosting infrastructure provider known specially for its consistency in uptime. With its competitive pricing and 15 different cities to choose from for your server location, it offers good options for you. It also fully supports the deployment of LAMP components for PHP developers.

Vultr comes highly recommended within the PHP community because of its high reliability and uptime. Although the default Vultr server comes with a clean OS installation, you could easily setup your required LAMP stack within a few clicks. This means that you could easily setup a custom PHP stack with minutes.

Kyup

Worried about seasonal or sudden traffic spikes on your favorite PHP applications? Kyup, with its smart auto scaling options built on the dynamic linux containers technology, will take care of all those traffic spikes with zero downtime! Kyup fully supports all PHP applications and specially suits the ones that are prone to volatile traffic.

The Problem with Deploying PHP Applications - and the Solution!

Truth is, most cloud infrastructure and hosting providers do offer PHP support and include all the options you need to deploy your PHP applications. Every one of the five hosting and infrastructure providers mentioned above offer the resources for your PHP needs in some capacity, and layout out a systematic approach for their deployment and use. As a PHP developer however, the hassles can quickly mount when you combine the multi-step deployment of your LAMP resources along with all the other formalities and actions needed to set up your server and monitor it for performance.

This is where opting for a professional managed cloud hosting service like Cloudways jumps in! Cloudways supports the server infrastructure from all of the above mentioned vendors and with just a few clicks, can get your server up and running within minutes!  But there is another reason why Cloudways could be your best friend as a PHP developer.

Cloudways Thunderstack

Cloudways thunderstack comprises of a group of unique caching technologies engineered to deliver the most powerful PHP hosting stack to you! Thunderstack diverts the time consuming PHP rendering processes of the Apache web server to a smart ‘PHP-FPM’ caching mechanism that can boost your server performance and the speed of your PHP applications up to 300%! Thunderstack also fully supports PHP 7 which is up to 100 times faster than its predecessor PHP 5.6.

Your new Cloudways server hosted on your favorite infrastructure provider and enabled with Thunderstack is just a few clicks and some minutes away!