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Two things are certain in this world: death and taxes. In the online world, it’s speed and uptime. If you don’t have both, your site will surely suffer. That’s why choosing the right web hosting service for your website is one of the most important decisions you’ll make for your business.
Don’t make the mistake of saving a few bucks on a killer web hosting deal only to have your site come to a screeching halt. As a small business, we learned our lesson years ago, and since that time we’ve conducted over 10 years of intense research into the latest hits and misses of website hosting. Our best picks for a variety of web hosting types and services will give your site first-rate performance and a ton of must-have features.
| Shared | Dedicated | VPS | Cloud | Beginners | WordPress | Managed WordPress |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
 |  |  |  |  |  |  |
| Visit Website | Visit Website | Visit Website | Visit Website | Visit Website | Visit Website | Visit Website |
| Read Review | Read Review | Read Review | Read Review | Read Review | Read Review | Read Review |
- 3 Must-Haves In A Web Host
- Shared vs Dedicated vs VPS vs Cloud Hosting (And More)
- Best Web Hosting For Small Businesses
- Comparison Table
- 3 Honorable Mentions: Bluehost, InterServer & Rochen
- What About DigitalOcean, GoDaddy, HostGator & More?
- Which Web Hosting Solution Is Right For You?
- Best Domain Registrars
- Why Trust We Rock Your Web?
3 Must-Haves In A Web Host
Image credit: katjen, Shutterstock
From our experience, a bigger name isn’t always better. At a minimum, a good website host can:
- Load your websites quickly and reliably from any point on the globe.
- Offer a fixed resource allocation that will prevent your website from going down due to someone else’s mistakes.
- Provide you with informed and easy-to-reach customer service that resolves issues immediately after the occurrence, without the need for your prompting.
However, some of the big names (and cheap services) overpromise on these three key factors and don’t deliver. So, it’s crucial to see what customers are saying about each service. That’s where we come in to help you. With every hosting service we review (and we’ve reviewed hundreds), we take customer feedback into major consideration. Not surprising, many amazing deals don’t end up being your best bet.
Shared vs Dedicated vs VPS vs Cloud Hosting (And More)
Not only do you have to decide on a reliable provider, but you also have to consider what type of hosting is best for your site. Your options include shared, VPS, cloud, and dedicated hosting. What’s the difference? The major factor is the allocation of resources, which can significantly impact performance. Here’s a brief breakdown, but visit our hosting types comparison article for more details.
- Shared hosting: The most budget-friendly option for low-traffic websites that don’t require a lot of resources. The server that houses your site is “shared” among many clients, so shared hosting can negatively impact speed and performance, particularly for larger sites.
- VPS Hosting: A good option for websites that have outgrown shared hosting. With VPS (Virtual Private Server) hosting, you’re still sharing a server with others, but you get an allotted chunk or fixed subset of resources on that server.
- Cloud Hosting: Ideal for rapidly growing websites that need scalability. Your site is hosted on a virtual partition of a server and draws its resources from a pooled network of virtual and physical servers.
- Dedicated Hosting: Typically the most expensive option for large websites where you get your own dedicated server. It’s best suited for high-traffic sites and sites needing the highest level of security.
- WordPress hosting: WordPress hosting refers to hosting services specifically designed for the WordPress content management system (CMS). These services typically include features that are optimized for running WordPress. See my reviews of the best WordPress hosting providers to learn more.
- Managed hosting: The provider manages the more technical aspects of your site. This typically includes server configuration, security, monitoring, backups, software updates, and technical support. It’s ideal for non-technical users or those who simply don’t have the time to perform these tasks. Of course, managed hosting costs more.
Best Web Hosting For Small Businesses
The hosting industry has more providers than you could imagine, so we can’t cover them all. There are many great hosting providers out there, but for each legitimate, trustworthy service, there are several bad ones.
We’ve curated this review to cover some of the companies we feel are the best in their respective categories, our honorable mentions, and some companies that we don’t feel merit a top ranking but still could be worth considering. If you don’t understand any of the terms in our reviews, see the terminology section on our main hosting page.
Best Shared Hosting: Hostinger Review
Shared hosting has its drawbacks no matter what service you consider, but we’ve chosen Hostinger as our best shared provider for their affordable pricing, feature-rich service, and amazing customer feedback. Despite its huge industry presence and budget-friendly prices, Hostinger is more reliable than similar cheap, big-name hosting companies.
It’s a top choice by many small businesses for their ease of use, uptime, performance, and tech support. They’re also one of the few hosting services officially recommended by wordpress.org (others include DreamHost and BlueHost).
Their entry-level plan is missing some features, but for only a dollar more per month you can upgrade to get a feature-rich service with enhanced security and performance. While Hostinger doesn’t utilize cPanel, its custom hPanel platform is extremely intuitive and quite similar to cPanel.
Hostinger offers many scalable higher-tier plans if your site outgrows shared hosting, including VPS and cloud hosting. However, Hostinger doesn’t offer dedicated hosting. They also have data servers in four continents, including North America, Europe, Asia, and South America.
| Pros | Cons |
|---|---|
| Fast and knowledgeable tech support 24/7 | Data caps on all shared hosting plans |
| Extremely reliable speed and performance for a shared host | No dedicated hosting (and cloud and VPS hosting aren’t as strong as some competitors) |
| Choose your server location from 4 continents: North America, Europe, Asia, and South America | No phone support |
| Excellent website builder and user-friendly interface | |
| Advanced security | |
| Excellent customer reviews for tech support | |
| 30-day money-back guarantee |
Best Dedicated Server Hosting: Hostwinds Review
Hostwinds launched in 2010 and has become a major player in shared, VPS, and dedicated hosting. This hosting service is packed with features, although they don’t do a great job of publicizing them on their website (you have to do a lot of digging).
Getting up and running with Hostwinds is a breeze, and they offer free site transfers. With their Softaculous Auto Installer, you can instantly set up and install hundreds of applications with just the click of a button. Customers give excellent reviews for Hostwinds’ uptime and quick, knowledgeable tech support.
| Pros | Cons |
|---|---|
| 24/7/365 support via live chat, phone and email | Pricing is slightly higher than competitors |
| Solid state drives and MYSQL optimizations for fast, efficient performance | Domain registration is added fee |
| Free dedicated IP address | Money-back guarantee is only 3 days |
| Data servers in U.S. and Europe | |
| Nightly backups | |
| Windows VPS hosting | |
| VPN service available |
Best VPS Hosting: A2 Hosting Review
A2 Hosting has been around since 2003 but really stepped up their game to be a hosting leader in the last decade. Customers rave about their unique hosting features, server uptime, security measures, and helpful support. A2 Hosting has four data centers, with two in the U.S., one in Europe, and one in Asia. They clearly have made a commitment to speed, uptime, and security and offer free features you won’t find elsewhere.
A2 Hosting is a fantastic choice for shared, dedicated, WordPress, and WooCommerce hosting. But I think they stand apart from the crowd for their managed and unmanaged VPS services. Pricing is very competitive, ranging from $2.99 to $54.99 per month.
| Pros | Cons |
|---|---|
| U.S.-based 24/7 support via live chat, phone, and email ticket | Several users report that live chat is slow and inaccessible at times |
| Choose from 4 data centers across the globe | No free domains |
| Turbocharged servers and SSD drives for major speed | Doesn’t have its own script library |
| Free Cloudflare CDN support boosts your site’s performance | |
| Free HackScan Protection, including KernelCare rebootless kernel updates, brute force defense, a dual firewall, and more | |
| Simple file recovery system with Server Rewind feature | |
| Anytime money-back guarantee | |
| Bing and Yahoo ad credits |
Best Cloud Hosting: Cloudways Review
Since Cloudways launched in 2011, this company has shaken up the way consumers can optimize managed cloud hosting for their WordPress, Magento, Laravel, or PHP sites. Through Cloudways, you choose from three top cloud hosting providers (Amazon Web Service, Google Cloud, or DigitalOcean), and then Cloudways manages your hosting through an easy-to-use platform.
Cloudways is packed with a ton of features for high-end functionality, and it’s also highly scalable. You get CloudwaysCDN, 1-click server cloning, on-demand or scheduled backups, dedicated firewalls, multiple databases and PHP versions, and much more. Their pricing is surprisingly affordable, and their live chat tech support gets positive reviews.
Our Personal Experience With Cloudways
Alex to add (Alex – your bio on WRYW is going to CJ)
– Alex Schenker, CEO/Co-Founder of We Rock Your Web
| Pros | Cons |
|---|---|
| Excellent 24/7 live chat customer support | Users say email ticket response times can be slow |
| Extremely fast servers | Doesn’t offer cPanel (but its control panel is very easy to use) |
| Easy-to-use control panel | |
| Choose from 60+ global data centers | |
| Free WordPress caching plugin | |
| Offers WordPress multisite and WordPress with WooCommerce options | |
| 3-day free trial |
Best For Beginners: SiteGround Review
SiteGround is one of the big names in the industry and hosts over 2.8 million domains worldwide. With an extremely easy setup, a user-friendly interface, and among the best tech support in the industry, SiteGround is a fantastic choice for beginners. They specialize in shared hosting but also offer managed scalable cloud hosting for growing sites. SiteGround They’re best known for their reliably fast speed, proven uptime, and excellent customer support.
If your site is moderate in size, SiteGround is one of the best choices out there, especially for managed WordPress hosting. However, if you need more, SiteGround lacks some of the more advanced features other services offer — most notably no unlimited disk space, no script library, and no Windows hosting. I’ve also found some complaints about the cost rising significantly after your introductory price.
| Pros | Cons |
|---|---|
| Excellent customer support techs with little to no wait time (via 24/7 live chat and phone) | Limited disk space with all plans |
| Choose from 11 data centers in U.S., Europe, Asia, and Australia | No Windows or dedicated hosting |
| Customers report amazing speed and uptime | Doesn’t have its own script library |
| SuperCacher feature improves site speeds | |
| Free daily auto backups | |
| On-demand instant backups, copies, and one-click restore (added fee) | |
| Easy site migrator process (free for WordPress sites) | |
| 30-day money-back guarantee |
In-Depth SiteGround Review
Learn more about SiteGround’s shared, dedicated, and cloud hosting options in my full review of SiteGround.
Best For WordPress Hosting: DreamHost Review
DreamHost has been in the business since 1997 and has really stepped up its game in web hosting over the last decade. While they’re a good choice for many different content platforms, they specialize — and excel — at WordPress hosting. In fact, they’re one of the few services officially recommended by wordpress.org (others include Hostinger and BlueHost). DreamHost offers shared, managed, VPS, and dedicated WordPress hosting solutions and a fantastic WP site builder included in all plans.
New web hosters recommend DreamHost for their affordable, simple service. One-click installers and expert tech support are selling points for site owners. However, with no CPanel access and limited script running capabilities, this is not a good choice for a web host-heavy user. Another potential downside is that they don’t offer phone support.
| Pros | Cons |
|---|---|
| Users report excellent tech support assistance | Doesn’t offer phone support, and live chat has limited hours |
| Solid state drivers (SSDs) added to shared hosting plans to increase loading time | Data centers only in the U.S. |
| Offers users a well-documented wiki that provides detailed instructions on how to perform most functions | Does not utilize cPanel, which can make it confusing to navigate for newcomers to web hosting |
| Comes with many pre-installed languages | |
| Impressive 97-day money-back guarantee |
In-Depth DreamHost Review
Read my full review of DreamHost for more information about this service’s hosting solutions and pricing.
Best Managed WordPress Hosting: Kinsta Review
Kinsta has been specializing in WordPress hosting for over 10 years. Although they’re a smaller player in the managed WP hosting space, this doesn’t mean that they skimp on features. Kinsta offers highly optimized servers powered by the Google Cloud Platform. The company also does uptime checks every two minutes on all of its servers.
All plans give you free site migrations, a free CDN and SSL, site backups and cloning, caching, and much more. Kinsta is also developer-friendly with WP-CLI, SSH, and Git support. However, they have their own admin panel, so devotees of cPanel or Plesk may want to look elsewhere.
Our Personal Experience With Kinsta
Alex to add (Alex – your bio on WRYW is going to CJ)
– Alex Schenker, CEO/Co-Founder of We Rock Your Web
| Pros | Cons |
|---|---|
| 24/7 customer support via live chat and email ticket | Can get expensive quickly with higher plans compared to some other managed hosts |
| Powered by the Google Cloud Platform with 35+ data centers around the globe | No phone support |
| Excellent uptime | Does not utilize cPanel or Plesk |
| Great auto-scaling infrastructure | Two lower-tiered pricing plans not recommended for e-commerce sites |
| Fully managed global CDN | |
| Developer-friendly with SSH, Git, and WP-CLI | |
| Users report superb tech support | |
| 30-day money-back guarantee |
Comparison Table
We also have a comparison table that compares pricing and other details side by side for our top winners and honorable mentions. All of the features apply to their shared hosting plans.
All of the services (except Cloudways) in our table include 1-click app installs, raw access logs, unlimited MySQL databases, automatic backups, malware detection, firewalls, DDoS protection, spam filters, .htaccess, SSH, and e-commerce capabilities.
| Provider Name | Hostinger (Best Shared) | Hostwinds (Best Dedicated) | A2 Hosting (Best VPS) | Cloudways* (Best Cloud) | SiteGround (Best For Beginners) | DreamHost (Best For WP) | Kinsta (Best For Managed WP) | Bluehost | InterServer | Rochen |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Starting Price/Mo (Shared) | $2.99 | $5.24 | $2.99 | $11 (Cloud) | $2.99 | $2.59 | N/A | $3.95 | $2.50 | $13.27 |
| Starting Price/Mo (Managed WP) | $2.99 | N/A | $11.99 | $35 | $2.99 | $16.95 | $30 | $29.99 | N/A | $13.27 |
| Starting Price/Mo (VPS) | $4.49 | $4.99 | $2.99 | N/A | N/A | $10 | N/A | $31.99 | $6.00 | N/A |
| Starting Price/Mo (Dedicated) | N/A | $122 | $79.99 | N/A | N/A | $165 | N/A | $91.98 | $59 | $250 |
| Windows Hosting |  | | | |||||||
| Linux Hosting | | | | | | | | | | |
| Bandwidth | Unlimited | Unlimited | Unlimited | Up to 7TB | Unmetered | Unlimited | Unlimited | Unmetered | Unlimited | Unmetered |
| Disk Space | 100GB to 200GB | Unlimited | 100GB to Unlimited | Up to 640GB | 10GB to 40GB | 50GB to Unlimited | 10GB to Unlimited | 10GB to 100GB | Unlimited | 10GB to 80GB |
| No. of Domains | 100 to 300 | 1 to Unlimited | 1 to Unlimited | Unavailable | 1 to Unlimited | 1 to Unlimited | 1 to Unlimited | Up to 50 | Unlimited | Up to 50 |
| Unlimited Sub Domains | | | | | | | | | ||
| Website Builder | | | | | | | | | ||
| Free Domain | | | | | ||||||
| Free SSL | | | | | | | | | | |
| Free Site Migration | | | | | | | | | | |
| Unlimited Email Addresses | | | | Add-on | | | | | | |
| CDN | | | Add-on | | | Add-on | | | | |
| FTP Manager | | | | | | | | | | |
| Provider Name | Hostinger | Hostwinds | A2 Hosting | Cloudways | SiteGround | DreamHost | Kinsta | Bluehost | InterServer | Rochen |
3 Honorable Mentions: Bluehost, InterServer & Rochen
Although these three web hosting providers didn’t quite make the cut into our top winners, each is certainly worth considering for their superior services.
Bluehost Review
Bluehost has been a big name in the industry for quite a while and come highly recommended by wordpress.org. It offers a variety of shared, dedicated, VPS, cloud, WordPress, and managed WP hosting plans. It’s a good choice for those looking for plenty of back-end features. However, you may find the customer support to be slow and not helpful — an ongoing problem with Bluehost.
Bluehost does not push clients by up-selling to “better” services, and they offer a good number of features for a decent price compared to many of their competitors. However, I’ve seen some recent feedback from long-time customers that the pricing has increased along with more complaints about downtime and site performance.
| Pros | Cons |
|---|---|
| 24/7 customer service via phone and live chat | Many consumer complaints about poor customer support |
| Bluehost is known to update their user interface regularly and stay on top of adding new features | Not all plans have daily backups |
| New and inexperienced users have stated that they find Bluehost easy to use for installation of features, especially with Joomla | When Bluehost servers run into errors caused by MySQL queries, logs don’t provide details on which MySQL query caused the error |
| 1-click WordPress installation | |
| Offers users the choice of having different class C IP blocks, which means you will white list all IP addresses under the first three octets of the IP address | |
| 30-day money-back guarantee |
InterServer Review
InterServer is a U.S.-based hosting company that’s still small and not well-known, but InterServer has many positive user reviews online and a robust set of features. They offer excellent free security features, 460+ scripts for 1-click installs, and a helpful and friendly support staff. If you’re a small business, nonprofit, or blogger, we recommend you consider InterServer.
| Pros | Cons |
|---|---|
| Tech support available 24/7 via phone and ticket | No live chat tech support |
| They only use 50% of available resources to guarantee site performance and growth | Setup can take a bit of a learning curve |
| Over 450 1-click installs | You only get weekly backups with their standard plan |
| Many positive user reviews | Data centers only in the US |
| 30-day money-back guarantee | |
| $100 Google Adwords credit |
Rochen Review
One of Rochen’s biggest advantages over many other shared services is that it tightly controls the resources allocated to each website hosting account. It does this by not overselling, a common practice in the hosting industry where more bandwidth is allocated to each account than is, in fact, available on the server. However, Rochen doesn’t come cheap and may be cost-prohibitive for some small businesses.
Rochen has servers in both Dallas, Texas, and London, England, and you have the option of choosing your server location. It also offers dedicated servers and managed WordPress and Joomla hosting. Its dedicated hosting is a managed infrastructure that keeps your site running fast with minimal downtime. They back that up with exceptional customer service and optimized platforms based on your type of system.
| Pros | Cons |
|---|---|
| Data centers in both the US and the UK | Customer support only available via email ticket (but it’s 24/7) |
| All data backed up twice daily to an off-server location and retained for one month | More expensive than most other shared hosting providers |
| Rochen Vault restores your sites and files quickly and easily | |
| No overselling (account limits reflect actual resources available) | |
| Offers carbon offsets & invests in environmentally-friendly technologies & business | |
| 30-day full money-back guarantee |
In-Depth Rochen Review
Read my full review of Rochen for more details about this provider’s multiple hosting options, features, pricing, and more.
What About DigitalOcean, GoDaddy, HostGator & More?
With so many hosting services available, we also wanted to include reviews of some of the big names and other noteworthy options. You may just find a perfect match for your business’s needs.
DigitalOcean | GoDaddy | HostGator | HostMonster | HostPapa | InMotion | IONOS | MDDHosting | Microsoft Azure | Network Solutions | Rackspace
DigitalOcean Review
DigitalOcean offers a variety of cloud hosting solutions that support any kind of CMS. They make getting your site up and running a breeze with one-click apps for WordPress, Ghost, etc., and fantastic developer tools and databases. Pricing is affordable, and many users report excellent tech support. The main drawback with DigitalOcean is that it doesn’t have all the features that some services offer and its scalability is limited.
| Pros | Cons |
|---|---|
| You can select your nearest data location, with centers in U.S., Canada, Europe, and Asia | Very basic; not many features |
| Fast deployment times | Not much growing room if you want to expand your site |
| One-click apps | |
| Flexible API |
GoDaddy Review
GoDaddy is one of the most recognized names when it comes to web hosting. However, while they make hosting easy for newcomers, they have been known to cause problems for some users. The most common complaint by users of GoDaddy’s web hosting service is that they lack flexibility and offer only basic functionality. Their pricing is also higher than many competitors. GoDaddy may be a good fit if you are new to web hosting, as it is a good introductory hosting company.
| Pros | Cons |
|---|---|
| 24/7 live chat and phone support | Many users complain about poor and unknowledgeable customer support |
| Web hosting can be integrated with domain name purchase, making transactions fast and easy for newcomers | Servers are overcrowded because they are bulk sellers of domains and web hosting services |
| GoDaddy offers a wide array of features for the beginner as well as veteran web hosting client | Running so many clients off one server causes the servers to be locked down too tightly which can limit functionality |
| Fast implementation and user-friendly interface | Lots of upselling |
HostGator Review
HostGator is a web hosting service that offers several one-click options as well as cPanel access, which makes web hosting an easy experience for newcomers. HostGator frequently comes recommended as one of the best web hosting options out there for individuals and companies alike, both in price and features offered. They offer shared, VPS, dedicated, WordPress, e-commerce, and reseller hosting.
Unfortunately, I’ve seen a lot of customer feedback over the last six months that customer service and performance have gone way downhill. I’ve also seen numerous complaints that they significantly up your prices with little notice.
| Pros | Cons |
|---|---|
| Offers 24/7/365 customer support | Many user complaints about poor site performance |
| Among the most affordable hosting services | Tech support replies are slow at times |
| Flexibility of content regulations that allow for legal adult content hosting | Data backup not as frequent as some other hosting services |
| 45-day money-back guarantee | Oversells resources |
| $100 Google AdWords offer and $100 Bing ad credits | BBB reports an ongoing pattern of complaints about deceptive business practices and rude and unhelpful customer support reps |
In-Depth HostGator Review
Check out my full review of HostGator to learn more about what this popular hosting service has to offer.
HostMonster Review
HostMonster is owned by the hosting company BlueHost and in the past offered fewer features. But HostMonster does get credit for bumping up their features in the last few years. It offers shared, VPS, and dedicated hosting. Still, HostMonster is a relatively basic service and isn’t very user-friendly. If you are seeking more advanced features such as unlimited MySQL databases, then this is not the hosting solution for you.
| Pros | Cons |
|---|---|
| 24/7 customer support | Longtime users report that customer support has gone downhill over the last few years |
| Supports Simple Script | Long wait times for customer support |
| Supports multiple scripts so different scripts work with Host Monster without compatibility issues occurring | Downtime is more prevalent than competitors |
| 1-click WordPress installer | |
| $100 Google Adwords Credit; $100 in Bing ad credits | |
| 30-day money-back guarantee |
HostPapa Review
HostPapa is a Canada-based independent company that’s been around since 2006. They offer shared, VPS, and managed WordPress hosting, domains, website builders, office email solutions, and other services, so hosting is not their specialty. HostPapa’s pricing is middle of the road, but you get some good features and perks, like free domain registration, SSL, and Cloudflare CDN. You’ll have to upgrade for access to unlimited SSD storage, automated backups, MySQL databases, and other advanced features.
| Pros | Cons |
|---|---|
| Reliable 24/7/365 tech support via live chat, phone and email ticket | No dedicated hosting |
| Good uptime for a shared host | Must go with highest plan for automated backups and advanced features |
| Easy-to-use cPanel control | Like many shared hosts, they oversell resources |
| Free setup, domain name, Cloudflare CDN, and website builder with all plans | |
| Tech support gets excellent customer reviews | |
| 30-day money-back guarantee |
InMotionHosting Review
InMotionHosting is a popular, big-name choice these days in the web hosting market. They offer comprehensive hosting solutions and an impressive array of features with competitive pricing. The issue that gives us major pause is some significant downtime reported and overcrowded servers for several years now. Also, long-time users say that tech support has become unhelpful.
| Pros | Cons |
|---|---|
| 24/7/365 U.S.-based customer support with generally positive user reviews | Ongoing problems with server downtime and slow speeds |
| Free, frequent data backups | Data centers only located in the U.S. |
| Green data centers | Several complaints that tech support has gone downhill |
| Impressive 90-day money-back guarantee | Lack of Windows hosting |
| $150 ad credits with Google, Yahoo, Bing | |
| Discounts for educators and students |
IONOS Review
IONOS offers affordable service with a moderate learning curve for those looking for a high-security web hosting solution. It offers shared, VPS, cloud, and dedicated hosting, with multiple plans for each that can suit small to large businesses. They also have some niche plans, including asp.net hosting, and a variety of ecommerce solutions.
| Pros | Cons |
|---|---|
| 24/7 support via phone and email ticket | Some reports of hidden fees and billing problems |
| Dual Hosting — Your website is hosted simultaneously at two data centers in two separate locations for added security and backup support | Unreliable tech support |
| Excellent security | cPanel is only available in managed cloud hosting plans, but they do offer their own control panel. This unique system will require more time to learn and use effectively. |
| Offers users the option to use their marketing center and search engine credits to start traffic flow to websites | |
| Offers shared and VPS Windows hosting | |
| IONOS offers frequent promotions for their web hosting packages, allowing users to save as much as 87% on their web hosting packages for up to 12 months | |
| Good WordPress resources and online community | |
| 30-day money-back guarantee |
In-Depth IONOS Review
Our full review of IONOS gives you some more information about its hosting options and pricing.
MDDHosting Review
MDDHosting is a lesser-known web hosting company that only offers managed shared cloud and VPS hosting, but they get stellar reviews for their speed, uptime, reliability, and customer service. They offer several pricing options, but they lack several features other services provide, including a script library, customized error pages, and 1-click app installs. If you’re a smaller-sized business, it’s definitely worth considering MDDHosting.
| Pros | Cons |
|---|---|
| 24/7 customer support via live chat, phone, and email ticket | Pricier than many competitors |
| Quick, knowledgeable, and friendly customer support, no matter what level your hosting plan is | No dedicated servers |
| Sitelock malware protection | Lacks site statistics you’ll find with most other services |
| Offers a 1000% uptime guarantee | |
| Doesn’t oversell its resources | |
| 30-day money-back guarantee |
Microsoft Azure Review
If you want a big-name web hosting solution, then Microsoft Azure is just what you are looking for. You can scale this platform to suit the smallest or the largest website. Unfortunately, navigating information on available hosting packages is so confusing that most potential customers have to call for customer service assistance to ensure that they get what they need from Microsoft Azure.
| Pros | Cons |
|---|---|
| Microsoft Azure works its pricing on a per-use basis | Microsoft Azure offers very little direct information about their pricing and services through their website |
| The Microsoft Azure hosting service can be scaled to suit the smallest or the largest website | Having at least two instances per role as mentioned in the recoverability feature, can be detrimental to overall operation |
| Fabric controllers identify problems in applications before the application crashes and open a new instance in case it does crash providing good recoverability | Stateful applications can be interrupted due to load balancing that takes place between instances |
Network Solutions Review
Network Solutions has been in business since 1979 and used to be one of the big names in the web hosting space. However, their popularity has really fallen over the years, likely because they’re one of the most expensive providers. They also only offer a moderate amount of functionality (although they have added a few extra features like unlimited MySQL databases, 1-click installers, and .htaccess configurability).
| Pros | Cons |
|---|---|
| 24/7 support via phone and live chat | The pricing structure frequently incurs additional fees |
| Excellent spam filters | More expensive than most providers |
| Easy navigation for newcomers to web hosting | |
| Dozens of 1-click installers | |
| 30-day money-back guarantee |
Rackspace Review
Rackspace used to be a big player in both the shared and dedicated hosting space. Historically they were known for their exceptional customer service, (via their Rackers and their Fanatical support service), available via phone, ticket, or chat, 24/7/365. Unfortunately, having been previous customers of theirs, we’ve watched the quality of support and hosting reliability decline in recent years. And their customer support gets a lot of negative feedback from current and past users.
Rackspace managed hosting solutions are diverse, from cloud to dedicated. They also offer cloud file backup and dedicated email hosting (via Rackspace Email), all for reasonable prices (you can get mailboxes for as little as $1/ month).
| Pros | Cons |
|---|---|
| Very customizable dedicated and cloud solutions | Customer service can lack consistency, e.g., the techs don’t communicate with each other regarding your account, which can result in multiple overlapping (and often different) solutions to a problem |
| Large hosting company with a variety of different hosting solutions | Rackspace used to be our winner, but value, reliability, and support have all declined in recent years |
| 17 data centers — 7 across the U.S. and 10 more internationally | Must contact for pricing |
Which Web Hosting Solution Is Right For You?
It’s important to find a service that offers functions that you need now as well as those you may need in the future. One of the most difficult parts of hosting a website is moving that website to another host if you don’t make the right choice the first time. This can occur for a number of reasons including growth, language/code changes, the addition of e-commerce or videos, etc.
There are some major factors you need to consider when choosing a web host. Check out the video below for some great tips.
Best Domain Registrars
Another huge decision you need to make for your website is choosing a domain name registrar. Although several hosting companies also offer domain name registration services, we don’t recommend hosting with your domain registrar.
Why? Hosting and domain registration are extremely different entities, and most companies simply aren’t great at both. With that in mind, be sure to check out our reviews of the best domain registration companies to find an affordable and reliable place for your site to reside.
Decided on a web host for your business? Let us know in the comments!
Why Trust We Rock Your Web?
Sally is part of a dedicated team of tech experts, who have been researching and writing about the best online services for small businesses for over 10 years. For this article, she collaborated with We Rock Your Web’s Co-Founder, Alex Schenker, who’s an expert on web hosting.
Collectively, we’ve spent hundreds of hours testing and researching web hosting services over the past decade. Our goal is to provide our readers with the most helpful — and honest — reviews to help you decide which service is best for your needs. We’re all small business owners and sole proprietors, so we get the challenges you face.
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