David.dev

A little over a month ago I have purchased a blockchain ⛓ hosting package
and even a .ETH domain.

Whilst I don’t regret trying and experimenting (after all this is what technology and this blog is about) but I thought I would disclose
that I am not happily back to Vercel and probably here to stay 😁.

Why ? I think the main reason is because there are some misconceptions about hosting your site in the blockchain.

You are not Really in the Blockchain

Obviously the title is very catchy but, in reality, you can’t host your whole site in the blockchain. The costs and efficiency of doing so
would defeat the purpose. In my previous article I did buy an hosting package with Fleek that takes care of taking your static site, uploading it
on IPFS or internet computer, and display it.

But here is the catch: IPFS is just a distributed file system, not really the blockchain. Additionally, IPFS files come with the liability that,
unless are pinned (something that fleek does for you) they simply stop being replicated by the nodes.

Last but not least IPFS is very slow and this is why Blockchain hosting providers will always use a CDN.

So the whole idea that your site will be around forever because is in the blockchain is not accurate because:

1. First you need a provider to pin your data and manage the CI process, so you need in this case to pay Fleek to do that;
2. Without a CDN in front of your IPFS files your site will be stone slow.
3. You also need a provider to link the IPFS files to your domain etc.

Other problems are highlighted in this article

All these points should illustrate that whilst you think that your site “decentralised” is is really not.

There other Web3 hosting solution like 4everland the internet computerbut I would approach all these solution with care.

In the case of all these decentralised someone has to pay in crypto to keep your site up, maintain the CI etc. so you are not more independent
than by using a widely known and tested provided like Vercel.

Go for the known unknowns and not unknowns unknows

This brilliant presentation gives you a glimpse on why, if you are looking for reliability, go for the boring
technology. Indeed deploying your website on one of the tried and tested static sites hosting might not be as exciting but you do face only known unknowns.

Things can go down, there can be a service disruption but I think it is a far more stable (and cheaper) solution that hosting your site in an
unknown unknown.