I’ve been learning C# with .NET Core and would like to start hosting my projects online, everything I’ve done is locally so far.
I don’t THINK I need a Windows Server host, they seem to be expensive, I think .NET runs ok on a Linux server? But when searching for a .NET hosting provider I see windows everywhere.
I’m hoping to find as low a cost option as possible. It will be mostly for hosting projects to show potential employers / clients etc.
where do you generally host your .NET projects? I’ve seen AWS / Azure / Linode recommended, but I think costs can spiral quickly?
.NET core is supported on Linux. There is some stuff that won’t work on Linux, like WPF, but it doesn’t sound like you’re using that.
If you are searching specifically for “.NET hosting” you are bound to come across a bunch of Windows results, so I wouldn’t recommend that.
Any Linux virtual server provider will work just fine, provided they support a Linux distribution that runs the .NET core runtime, (which includes all the major ones). I’d avoid AWS or Azure. Those are a good way to run up a big bill pretty quick, and their service offerings are quite complicated.
A $5 vm from the likes of Linode, Digital Ocean, Vultr, etc, will get you started just fine. Typically the costs won’t be able to “spiral out of control”–you’ll be allocated a set amount of CPU, memory, disk, and network usage.
You will have to configure the web server & .net yourself.
I am assuming from your post that you don’t have a lot of experience with Linux. You can try setting it all up from home too if you have an old PC or laptop lying around (either for practice, or to self-host long term). Download a linux distribution and give setting up a server a shot.