How about NearlyFreeSpeech and other low cost solutions? I keep a forum for old friends, as an example. This is not worth 20 dollars a month for me. Hosting my own blog is not worth 20 dollars a month for me. (It's barely worth the two dollars a month I spend on it.)

I have a friend with a webcomic and an art gallery page. She doesn't need ruby on rails and a 20 dollar a month host. PHP is a nice solution for her.

That's why PHP is still around.