Question: I have developed a site with google app engine using python and django, now I have another similar project to develop.

Well I have got some well-known problems using the datastore:

* query: there's no "LIKE CLAUSULE" and GQL is not Sql
* documentation is not so clear and easy to find
* backup database is not so trivial
* django support is not so great (I use google app engine patch)
* I'm just a little scared about when my traffic go "into pay mode"

Now, I hope that this site will have a great number of visitors in my optimistic prevision :) so the question is, can an alternative hosting service offer me a professional service like google app engine?

Is it possible to make a professional web site that works starting from a 'conventional' hosting service?

An other stupid question, but I site like this where is hosted??

I'm a little bit confusing about which kind of hosting chosing...

Thanks for help :)

Answer: 
My individual opinion is that App Engine is ideal for prototyping for these reasons:

* Free. Nowhere else can you run a web app for $0
* Deployment and upgrading is extremely simple
* You don't have to worry about backups or networking or anything besides programming
* GQL is no problem. There are workarounds. It's a reasonable price to pay for free hosting and scaling.

However, once you think your site is popular, and *especially* if it becomes profitable, App Engine is not ideal.

* Yes it scales. But as your site grows, you always wanting new reports on your data to gain knowledge. This is extremely tough in App Engine. You need case-by-case programming and possibly database changes. That takes time and resources. This is my #1 problem for App Engine for startups or small companies.
* You want to control your backup and restore process
* It is bad business to be locked in to a sole hosting provider
* There is nobody to contact if something goes wrong. Forums schmorums. That's for hobbyists and discussion, not for time-critical problem-solving.
If you plan on having something you think will grow decently, maybe you should launch on something like [linode](http://linode.com) or [slicehost](http://slicehost.com), where you have a VPS. That you, you control the instance of django, and have full control over your server. That way, your app doesn't have to contain some of hosting-specific code.

Yes, the initial setup for both may be a little bit of a headache, but you'll be able to create something that is a little more portable