Choosing a host

Simply put, WordPressMu is software intended for those who wish to run a site similar to WordPress.com. As such, a shared hosting plan will quickly run out of resources and you will be asked to leave long before you run out of bandwidth or storage space. It is not like running one blog setup with hundreds or thousands of users; it’s like running one account with hundreds of thousands of individual blogs – and all off of one database, which alone will cause many shared hosts to suspiciously eye your account.
It’s true, may hosts say they will allow WPMU to be installed, what they don’t tell you right away is that it is quite possible that elsewhere in their TOS they do not allow you to give away free blog space or free webspace. So if you are already on a shared hosting plan, and just wish to test Mu out for a while and get a few users signed up, eventually planning to move to a bigger host, it would be in your best interests to discuss this fully with your current host.

It is generally reccommended to go with a small VPS at minimum, and preferrably a dedicated host if you have or expect to have at least a few thousand blogs. Andrew has compiled a list of hosts here, and searching the forums always yields information.

VPS and dedicated hosting, managed or unmanaged, is more expensive than your average shared host. But running a site of this nature is almost akin to a full-time or at least part-time job, and many site owners monetize their sites to at least cover hosting costs.

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