I have had PowerDnn for a little over a year now. I had tried Gate.com for a few months prior to that.
Gate.com was ok, but their support was much less than I desired. I am currently re-evaluating hosting providers as my sites are going to grow. I am having a hard time finding anything that I feel like I can trust as well as PowerDNN.
The benefits of PowerDNN in my opinion:
1) Support - The support is the best. I had four support tickets in today just to ask questions regarding my future needs. All four were answered in less than an hour each. The last time I needed support was when I first started - also to ask questions- and they were answered in the same manner. I have never needed support due to a performance issue.
2) DNN specific knowledge/experience - PowerDNN specializes in DNN. I am a little afraid to go back to a Gate.com type provider who offers DNN but really doesn't know much about it.
3) They are a DNN Benefactor - When a new release comes out they have it installed and ready to use the day it is released. Plus the fact that they have been testing it for weeks prior to that. I'm getting to the point to where I can install DNN myself but the time savings and the fact that I don't have to hassle with it if there are issues during the install are hard to give up.
4) Servers/Speed/Access/Controls - With PowerDNN I have alot more access than I did at the Gate.com type providers. I can access the database with Enterprise Manager and the Plesk control panel is by far better than the controls were at Gate.com
The downsides to PowerDNN:
1) Cost - This really isn't that big of an issue. $20 per month vs. $4.95 per month - The difference in cost isn't as great as the difference in value/performance/access/support.
2) Disk Space - This is why I am kind of looking at what other choices there are. 1gb doesn't go very far - plus the upgraded packages are very light on disk space.
I would certainly like to know if anybody has any other options.
Greg