Is this place for me? Are there alternatives?

If you are here to learn how to setup and customize a LAMP Stack, then you are in the right place.
This procedure involves compiling the stack from source code. So it is recommended you read the DO’s and DON’ts of compiling from source code.

But if you need a LAMP stack just to get your work done, consider the below alternatives to LAMP.

Pre-compiled LAMP stack from official repositories
The first place to look if you want to setup a LAMP server is your own Linux distribution’s official repositories. If you do not know how to do it, ask in your Distro’s Official Forum or Google it.

Pre-compiled LAMP stack ready for installation
1) XAMMP for Linux
XAMPP is a is a free and open source, cross-platform web server solution stack, package provided by Apache Friends. It is a non-profit project to promote the Apache web server. It was founded in 2002 by Kai ‘Oswald’ Seidler and Kay Vogelgesang.
XAMPP consists of the Apache HTTP Server, MySQL database, PHP, phpMyAdmin and Perl.
http://apachefriends.org

2) Bitnami LAMP Stack
Bitnami is a free and open source, cross-platform project, that produces open source installers or software packages or solution stacks for web applications as well as virtual appliances. Bitnami is sponsored by Bitrock, a company founded in 2003 by Daniel Lopez Ridruejo.
Bitnami LAMP Stack consists of Apache HTTP Server, MySQL database, PHP and phpMyAdmin. The bundled frameworks include Zend Framework, Symfony, CodeIgniter, CakePHP, Smarty, Laravel.
http://bitnami.com
http://bitnami.com/stack/lamp/installer

3) Appserv
Appserv is a free and open source cross-platform project that provides a full-featured LAMP stack. The objective of Appserv is to make it easy to install and setup a LAMP stack.
Appserv includes the Apache HTTP Server, MySQL database, PHP and phpMyAdmin.
http://appservnetwork.com
http://sourceforge.net/projects/appserv

4) OPEW
OPEW is a free and open source project, targeted at (x86_64)64-bit GNU/Linux OS. It provides a rich and portable development environment for programming languages.
OPEW consists of the Apache HTTP Server, a full stack of open source DBMS (MySQL, PostgreSQL, MongoDB, SQLite3 and Redis) and programming languages PHP, Ruby, Perl, Node.js, Go, Python and Lua. It has phpMyAdmin, phpPgAdmin, phpMoAdmin, phpRedisAdmin and SQLiteManager. Git is also included with some tools for code versioning and review. The package comes with tutorials and is well documented.
http://opew.sourceforge.net
http://sourceforge.net/projects/opew

5) Zend Server Free Edition
Zend Server Free Edition is a cross-platform, production-ready, integrated PHP stack for non-critical applications offered by Zend Technologies. It provides features including Single-click installation, Integrated administration console, Bundled development tools.
Zend Server Free Edition includes Apache HTTP Server, MySQL database and integrated PHP stack for development.
NOTE: Sometimes Zend Server Free Edition is already distributed through your distro’s official repository. So if you are into installing, always check that first.
http://zend.com
http://zend.com/en/products/server/free-edition
http://zend.com/en/products/server/editions
http://zend.com/en/products/server/downloads
http://repos-source.zend.com/zend-server

Virtual Machine Image with LAMP stack environment
Bitnami LAMP Stack
Bitnami is a free and open source, cross-platform project, that produces open source installers or software packages or solution stacks for web applications as well as virtual appliances. Bitnami is sponsored by Bitrock, a company founded in 2003 by Daniel Lopez Ridruejo.
Bitnami LAMP Stack consists of Apache HTTP Server, MySQL database, PHP and phpMyAdmin. The bundled frameworks include Zend Framework, Symfony, CodeIgniter, CakePHP, Smarty, Laravel.
http://bitnami.com
http://bitnami.com/stack/lamp/virtual-machine

OS that boots directly into a LAMP stack environment
SLAMPP Live CD/DVD
SLAMPP Live CD/DVD is a Linux Distribution that boots off directly into a home server environment or can be locally installed. It comes with preconfigured tools and applications that allow a personal computer to function as a server.. It is built using Zenwalk 6.0 at its base and Slackware for packages.
SLAMPP Live CD/DVD consists of Apache HTTP Server, MySQL database, and PHP.
NOTE: The last stable release for SLAMPP Live CD/DVD was on 30-October-2009. On 20-July-2011, Kemas Yunus Antonius, the founder/lead developer/maintainer announced on the blog that a next version will be released soon. However, Distrowatch has the status of SLAMPP currently marked as Discontinued.
http://slampp.abangadek.com

Web Hosting providers who provide LAMP stack on VPS
Linode
Linode is a VPS provider company, founded by Christopher S. Aker in June 2003. Linode provides Xen based VPS servers. One of the many features they provide is StackScripts, which allow you to setup a webserver stack that is up and running. The StackScript LAMP Stack will install a fully functional LAMP stack for you.
Linode’s LAMP Stack comes with Apache HTTP Server, MySQL database, and PHP.
http://linode.com
http://linode.com/stackscripts/view/?StackScriptID=10

Cloud Hosting providers who provide LAMP stack instance
1) Amazon AWS
Amazon AWS(Amazon Web Services) offers a complete set of infrastructure and application services that enable you to run virtually everything in the cloud: from enterprise applications to social games and mobile apps. AWS’s EC2 provides two data storage features AMI and EBS. Means you can have a LAMP stack setup and running in any of these instances.
Also Bitnami provides Ubuntu based LAMP stacks for Amazon’s AMI and EBS instances. They come with Apache HTTP Server, MySQL database, and PHP.
http://aws.amazon.com
http://bitnami.com/stack/lamp/cloud/amazon

2) Windows Azure
Windows Azure is a cloud computing platform and infrastructure, created by Microsoft, for building, deploying and managing applications and services through a global network of Microsoft-managed datacenters. It provides both PaaS and IaaS, and supports many different programming languages, tools and frameworks.
Microsoft Open Technologies provides you VM Depot, a community-driven catalog of preconfigured operating systems, applications, and development stacks that can easily be deployed on Windows Azure. VM Depot contains LAMP stacks provided by community members or companies, one of which happens to be Bitnami.
http://vmdepot.msopentech.com
http://vmdepot.msopentech.com/List/Index?sort=Featured&search=LAMP
http://bitnami.com
http://bitnami.com/stack/lamp/cloud/azure

Control Panels that provide LAMP stack and can manage hundreds or thousands of customers
If you are looking to provide LAMP stack environment that can handle thousands of users, a better option would be to use a Web Hosting Control Panel. There is a list of popular Web Hosting Control Panels at http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Comparison_of_web_hosting_control_panels

Is this place for me? Are there alternatives?

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