As a developer who wants to maximize control in terms of hosting, what should I look for in a web host?

What are some web hosting services you would recommend?
For hosting a low to moderate traffice website, is a VPS generall enough?
What should I avoid if I want to maximize control?
Which web hosting services should I avoid?
What exactly is this cPanel thing I keep seeing?
Do I even want to maximize control?
What should I be wary of when choosing a host and a hosting plan?

As much as I've learned about developing a website, I'm still a bit clueless with respect to setting one up on anything other than the various free static site services around the web, such as github pages and similar.

Oh, and lastly, if I get into just playing around with a VPS, what are the general limitations of those services?

Actual lastly, do you have any good links to guides detailing this side of web development? Something meant for developers who usually have their head in the code, but whom are mostly clueless about everything else?

I recommend you DigitalOcean

Well, at the moment for me fits nice to my projects. Until now only have a personal page hosted there, but the UI and UX is pretty well, and for 5$/month you have a custom VPS to isntall whatever you want. If you have any problem can contact with support and have a lot of guides how to put services and all you need in the server.

Thank you for the response. Another friend of mine recommended digital ocean as well. I'll have to give that a look.

If you are new to hosting, please do not use a VPS, as you will only add another bot to a botnet that way. Securing a server is hard and you should first get to know more about security! I recommend setting up a server at home which you can use as NAS or development platform. I really recommend using Linux or BSD for the server OS, because that's the cheapest option out there and will have everything and more than needed. Use that intranet server to play around with the OS, with configs, with different security guides (setting up a firewall, anti-rootkit, AV, monitoring, anti-tampering, etc.). Once you feel confident, try penetration testing software and in the end you can move to a real VPS.

However, if your only aim is to have a web server, then I encourage you to stick with simple hosting solutions which take away all the VPS hassle. It will be cheaper, easier and a lot less time-consuming. You do not need "full server control" for hosting websites. Managing server, monitoring, etc. is something admins are for ;) Maximizing control also means maximizing responsibility and maximizing time consumption to dedicate yourself to all those new topics, without giving you any advantage at all (other than learning something new).

When selecting a hosting provider, make sure to search for actual user opinions. Compare at least three providers with good feedback. One of the most important things when selecting a provider is support. Do they have 24/7 support? Is it included or will you have to pay extra? How fast do they respond in general? Can you call or use IM? If not, stay clear of that provider, as instant repair and support can be mission-critical for you!

Lastly, cPanel is just a dashbord for your server which allows you to easily set up certain things without diving deep into configurations and OS specifics. In general, I recommend not using such an admin panel, as it does not only make things easier, but will also limit you, add an additional layer of abstraction with bugs which open up more holes in your security as it might bring benefit. Also you will not understand how the OS and configuration of certain things work and as a result the probability of you making sever mistakes when you cannot rely on the panel is quite high.

@Gatesunder well, then you are the same as how I was when I got my first VPS :D

When setting up your server, you should definitely RTFM. I recommend starting out with Debian or CentOS, as they are used by a ton of people and are stable as can get. Most hosters will do the basic installation for you and I recommend choosing the "minimum" install option of the latest stable release. Then start securing the server over ssh, by turning off root over ssh, setting up a firewall, etc. The manual will tell you what you should do and how to do it. If you need additional help, do it like the developer you are and use google :)

If working with Linux for the first time, I highly suggest using a local VM first and trying to configure that one exactly the way you want it. I had to reinstall Linux a few times, because I screwed up, when I first started working with it ;)
Debian Security Manual, which is one of the most complete guides I have ever seen :)
Only install what you really need, nothing more
Keep every connection secured via TLS, for example use SFTP or FTPS instead of FTP, SSH instead of Telnet,....
Set up monitoring (automatic mails for package updates, SSH logins, suspicious behavior alerts (e.g. tripwire), 90% full disk, etc.)
After all that, start installing whatever you need (NGINX, PHP, fast-cgi, MariaDB, etc.)

Thank you very much. This is a great starting point. I've been using Linux for a while, but never got into the gritty details of it beyond simple package management and development level issues.

Once I get past the initial setup and securing, would you recommend Apache or NGINX and why?

@Gatesunder I personally recommend NGINX, as it is more light-weight and more performant. However, setting up certain things is more difficult, as you don't have simple modules you just install... you need to configure a tad more.

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