Best Web Hosting For Small Business (2024): SiteGround vs Bluehost vs HostGator vs iPage vs BlueHost vs DreamHost vs A2 & More

When you purchase through links on our site, we may earn a commission. Here’s how it works.

Best Shared Environment
Best Dedicated Environment
1st
Rochen Review
2nd
A2 Hosting logo
3rd
SiteGround logo
Compare All Products

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. Our best picks will give your site first-rate performance and a ton of must-have features.

3 Must-Haves In A Web Host

Bigger isn’t always better. Size is just one of the key factors that separate a good host from a bad one. A good website host can:

  1. Load your websites quickly and reliably from any point on the globe.
  2. Offer a fixed resource allocation that will prevent your website from going down due to someone else’s mistakes.
  3. Provide you with informed and easy-to-reach customer service that resolves issues immediately after the occurrence, without the need for your prompting.

What about pricing? Pricing, as with any business purchase, plays a role. But with the proliferation of low-quality shared hosting companies battling for pricing advantages, the lower the price, the lower the quality hosting tends to be. For this reason, we list pricing as a reference point in our comparison table for your short list, i.e., once you’ve narrowed down some suitable candidates, only then focus on pricing.

Shared vs Dedicated Hosting: Which Is Better?

What’s the difference between shared and dedicated hosting? In a nutshell, allocation of resources. Shared servers are less expensive, but typically don’t perform as well. Visit our hosting types comparison to learn more.

Best Shared Hosting Providers

Below are our reviews of the best shared hosting providers. Be sure to see if they have free trials to test them out firsthand. Or visit the company websites for more information and to sign up for hosting.

Winner: Rochen Review

Rochen Logo

Visit Website

In addition to winning our top spot as the best shared hosting company, Rochen is the runner-up in our dedicated hosting competition. Rochen has servers in both Dallas, Texas, and London, England, and you have the option of choosing your server location.

The advantage Rochen has over other shared platforms 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.

Pros

Cons

  • Data centers in both the US and the UK
  • All data backed up twice daily to an off-server location and retained for one month
  • 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
  • Customer support only available via email ticket (but it’s 24/7)
  • More expensive than shared hosting providers that oversell resources

Read Our Full Rochen Review

Runner-Up: A2 Hosting Review

A2 Hosting logo

Visit Website

A2 Hosting has been around since 2003 but really stepped up their game to be a hosting leader in the last few of years. Customers rave about their unique hosting features, server uptime, security measures and helpful support. A2 Hosting has 4 data centers, with 2 in the U.S., 1 in Europe and 1 in Asia. They clearly have made a commitment to speed, uptime and security and offer free features you won’t find elsewhere.

Pros

Cons

  • U.S.-based 24/7 support via live chat, phone and email ticket
  • Choose from 4 data centers across the globe
  • Turbocharged servers and SSD drives for major speed
  • Free Cloudfare 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
  • Several user reports that live chat is slow and inaccessible at times
  • No free domains
  • Doesn’t have its own script library

3rd Place: SiteGround Review

SiteGround logo

Visit Website

Launched in 2007, SiteGround has become one of the big names in shared hosting these days. 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. But 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.

Pros

Cons

  • Excellent customer support techs with little to no wait time (via 24/7 live chat and phone)
  • Choose from data centers in U.S., Europe and Asia
  • Customers report amazing speed and uptime
  • 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
  • Limited disk space with all plans
  • No Windows hosting
  • Doesn’t have its own script library

Read Our Full SiteGround Review

Best Dedicated/Managed Website Hosts

Below are our picks for the best managed and/or dedicated website hosts. Read on to find out why we use Rackspace and to find the pros and cons as well as key features for our top picks in this category. Still have questions? Visit the websites to learn more.

Winner: Rochen Review

Rochen logo

Visit Website

Rochen is the winner this year in our dedicated hosting competition. They have servers in both Dallas, Texas, and London, and you have the option of choosing your server location. Rochen offers 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
  • All data is backed up twice daily to an off-server location and retained for one month
  • Rochen Vault restores your sites and files quickly and easily
  • No overselling
  • Offers carbon offsets & invests in environmentally-friendly technologies and business
  • 30-day full money back guarantee
  • Customer support only available via email ticket (but it’s 24/7)
  • They also offer shared hosting. This doesn’t necessarily reflect poorly on their managed environment, but this means they are not a fully managed/ dedicated outfit, and they divert some of their resources to shared support

Read Our Full Rochen Review

Runner-Up: Hostwinds Review

Hostwinds

Visit Website

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
  • Solid state drives and MYSQL optimizations for fast, efficient performance
  • Free dedicated IP address
  • Nightly backups
  • VPN service available
  • 60-day money back guarantee
  • Pricing is slightly higher than competitors
  • Data centers in U.S. only
  • Domain registration is added fee
  • It’s difficult to find all their features on their website

3rd Place: Rackspace Review

Rackspace logo

Visit Website

Rackspace is a big player in both the shared and dedicated hosting space. Historically they are 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 there’s, we’ve watched the quality of support and hosting reliability decline in recent years, dropping them from our top spot.

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

  • Knowledgeable customer service reps with reliable 24/7 phone support
  • Large hosting company with a variety of different hosting solutions
  • 14 data centers — 6 across the U.S. and 8 more internationally
  • Half of the Fortune 100 companies use Rackspace
  • Customer service can lack consistency, i.e., the techs don’t communicate with each other regarding your account, which can result in multiple overlapping (and often different) solutions to a problem.
  • Rackspace used to be our winner, but value, reliability, and support have all declined in recent years.

Comparison Table

We also have a comparison table that compares pricing and other details side by side. See the terminology section on our main hosting page if you don’t understand any of the terms we use in our table.

Provider Name Rochen (Shared and Dedicated 1st) A2 Hosting (Shared 2nd) SiteGround (Shared 3rd) Hostwinds (Dedicated 2nd) RackSpace (Dedicated 3rd) BlueHost DreamHost FatCow HostGator iPage
Provider Name Rochen (Shared and Dedicated 1st) A2 Hosting (Shared 2nd) SiteGround (Shared 3rd) Hostwinds (Dedicated 2nd) RackSpace (Dedicated 3rd) BlueHost DreamHost FatCow HostGator iPage
Intro Hosting price (Monthly) $7.95 shared; $200 dedicated $3.92 $3.95 $150.00 $3.95 $2.59 $4.08 $2.75 $35.88/year
Windows Hosting Checkmark Checkmark Checkmark Checkmark Checkmark
Linux Hosting Checkmark Checkmark Checkmark Checkmark Checkmark Checkmark Checkmark Checkmark Checkmark
WordPress Hosting Checkmark Checkmark Checkmark Checkmark Checkmark Checkmark Checkmark Checkmark Checkmark
Bandwidth Unmetered Unlimited Unmetered Varies Unmetered Unlimited Unlimited Unmetered Unmetered
Disk Space 60GB Unlimited 10GB-30GB Varies 50GB to unlimited Unlimited Unlimited Unmetered Unlimited
Unlimited Hosted Domains Checkmark Checkmark Checkmark Checkmark Checkmark Checkmark Checkmark Checkmark Checkmark
Unlimited MySQL Databases Checkmark Checkmark Checkmark Checkmark Checkmark Checkmark Checkmark Checkmark
Website Builder Checkmark Checkmark Checkmark Checkmark Checkmark Added Fee Checkmark Checkmark Checkmark
Shared SSL Checkmark Checkmark Checkmark Checkmark Checkmark Checkmark Checkmark Checkmark Checkmark
Shopping Carts Checkmark Checkmark Checkmark Checkmark Checkmark Checkmark Checkmark Checkmark Checkmark
Site Statistics Checkmark Checkmark Checkmark Checkmark Checkmark Checkmark Checkmark Checkmark Checkmark
File Manager Checkmark Checkmark Checkmark Checkmark Checkmark Checkmark Checkmark Checkmark Checkmark
Custom Cron Jobs Checkmark Checkmark Checkmark Checkmark Checkmark Checkmark Checkmark
Script Library Checkmark Checkmark Checkmark Checkmark Checkmark Checkmark
Customized Error Pages Checkmark Checkmark Checkmark Checkmark Checkmark Checkmark Checkmark Checkmark
Raw Access Logs Checkmark Checkmark Checkmark Checkmark Checkmark Checkmark Checkmark Checkmark Checkmark
1-Click App Installs Checkmark Checkmark Checkmark Checkmark Checkmark Checkmark Checkmark Checkmark Checkmark
Unlimited Mailboxes Checkmark Checkmark Checkmark Checkmark Checkmark Checkmark Checkmark Checkmark Checkmark
Spam Filters Checkmark Checkmark Checkmark Checkmark Checkmark Checkmark Checkmark Checkmark Checkmark
.htaccess Checkmark Checkmark Checkmark Checkmark Checkmark Checkmark Checkmark Checkmark Checkmark
FTP Manager Checkmark Checkmark Checkmark Checkmark Checkmark Checkmark Checkmark Checkmark
Unlimited FTP Accounts Checkmark Checkmark Checkmark Checkmark Checkmark Checkmark Checkmark Checkmark
SSH Checkmark Checkmark Checkmark Checkmark Checkmark Checkmark Checkmark Checkmark Checkmark

What About BlueHost, Cloudways, DigitalOcean, DreamHost, FatCow, GoDaddy, HostGator, HostMonster, HostPapa, InMotion, iPage, InterServer, Just Host, MDDHosting, Microsoft Azure, MyHosting.com, & Network Solutions?

A rule of thumb in the hosting industry is that “bigger is not always better.” The other thing you need to be wary of is that lots of companies that started out as domain registrars, decided to “add on” hosting so they could compete in this lucrative industry and cross-promote their services. In most cases, while they continue to provide good domain registration services (since that’s their core competency), they have come up short in the hosting business.

Additionally, the hosting industry has more providers than you could possibly imagine, and it’s impossible for us to cover them all. There’s many great hosting providers out there, but for each legitimate, trustworthy service, there’s a couple bad ones. We have curated this review to cover some of the companies we feel are the best in their respective categories, and some of the more “popular” companies that we don’t feel merit a top ranking.

We’ve also refrained from covering “super popular” hosting companies that spend all their time advertising but don’t provide much quality or customer service when it comes to actual hosting.

Now without further ado, here are some other hosting companies that we do feel merit recognition:

BlueHost | Cloudways | DigitalOcean | DreamHost | FatCow | GoDaddy | HostGatorHostMonster | HostPapa | InMotion | IONOS | iPage | InterServerJust Host | MDDHosting | Microsoft AzureMyHosting.com | Network Solutions

BlueHost ReviewBlueHost logo

Visit Website

BlueHost has been around for quite a while and is a good choice for those looking for plenty of back-end features. However, you may find the customer support to be slow if you are a user who requires more customer service than average. BlueHost does not push clients by up-selling to “better” services, and they offer a good number of features for a low price compared to many of their competitors.

Pros

Cons

  • 24/7 customer service via phone and live chat
  • BlueHost is known to update their user interface regularly and stay on top of adding new features
  • New and inexperienced users have stated that they find Blue Host easy to use for installation of features, especially with Joomla
  • One-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
  • Many consumer complaints about poor customer support
  • When Blue Host servers run into errors caused by MySQL queries, logs don’t provide details on which MySQL query caused the error

DreamHost ReviewDreamHost logo

Visit Website

New web hosters recommend DreamHost for their affordable, simple service. One-click installers and expert tech support are selling points for newcomers to DreamHost who are looking for a simple blogging platform. With no CPanel access and limited script running capabilities, this is not a good choice for a web host heavy user.

Pros

Cons

  • Users report excellent tech support assistance
  • Solid state drivers (SSDs) added to shared hosting plans to increase loading time
  • Offers users a well-documented wiki that provides detailed instructions on how to perform most functions
  • Comes with many pre-installed languages
  • Impressive 97-day money back guarantee
  • Doesn’t offer phone support, and live chat has limited hours
  • Many users feel that Dream Host is not a good fit for those running heavy scripts such as osCommerce
  • Does not utilize cPanel, which can make it confusing to navigate for newcomers to web hosting

Read Our Full DreamHost Review

FatCow ReviewFatCow logo

Visit Website

FatCow provides users with affordable web hosting and access to immediate customer service assistance through a live chat feature. FatCow offers a web hosting solution that uses CPanel, which some users require, yet it does not require a dedicated server. Fat Cow servers are fully powered by renewable energy so you can feel good about using their service.

Pros

Cons

  • 24/7 phone and live chat customer service
  • Eco-friendly hosting company — 100% powered by renewable energy sources
  • CPanel is integrated with Google’s webmaster search console making many aspects of website management much easier
  • 30-day money back guarantee
  • Google ad credits
  • Many users complain about poor and slow customer support
  • Known for overselling and upselling their features
  • WordPress can be slow on their servers
  • User complaints about them taking their site down without warning

HostGator Review

HostGator logo

Visit Website

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. Host Gator 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 also offer VPS and dedicated hosting, in addition to shared hosting.

Pros

Cons

  • Offers 24/7/365 customer support
  • Among the most affordable hosting services
  • Flexibility of content regulations that allow for legal adult content hosting
  • 45-day money back guarantee
  • $100 Google AdWords offer and $100 Bing ad credits
  • Many user complaints about poor site performance
  • Tech support replies are slow at times
  • Data backup not as frequent as some other hosting services
  • Oversell resources
  • BBB reports a recent pattern of complaints about deceptive business practices and rude and unhelpful customer support reps

Read Our Full HostGator Review

iPage Review

iPage logo

Visit Website

iPage is a web hosting company that offers many features for the experienced web hosting client. Newcomers to web hosting take caution —  with their focus on more experienced users and the lack of cPanel, you may face a steep learning curve. But if you are an experienced web host user, iPage offers much more advanced options than many of their competitors.

Pros

Cons

  • 24/7 phone and live chat support
  • Site builders make website building easy for beginners
  • 1-click installers for WordPress and shopping carts
  • Takes part in Green Web Internet Hosting, meaning that they offset their power use with wind-generated alternative power certificates
  • 30-day money back guarantee
  • $200 in Google Adwords and Bing ad credits
  • Many user complaints that customer support has deteriorated over the last couple of years
  • Some clients of iPage complain of database connection issues and site downtime
  • Lacks cPanel
  • You can’t set custom cron jobs
  • Lacks a script library
  • No month-to-month pricing

Cloudways Review

Cloudways logo

Visit Website

Since Cloudways launched in 2011, this company has shaken up the way consumers can optimize managed cloud hosting for their WordPress sites. Through Cloudways, you choose from 5 top cloud hosting providers (Amazon, Google, DigitalOcean, Vultr or Linode), 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.

Pros

Cons

  • Excellent 24/7 live chat customer support
  • Extremely fast servers
  • Easy-to-use control panel
  • Choose from 60+ global data centers
  • Free WordPress caching plugin
  • Offers WordPress multisite and WordPress with WooCommerce options
  • Users say email ticket response times can be slow
  • Doesn’t offer cPanel (but its control panel is very easy to use)
  • Free trial is only 3 days (many other providers give you at least 30 days)

InMotionHosting Review

InMotionHosting logo

Visit Website

InMotionHosting is a popular, big-name choice these days in the web hosting market. They offer an impressive array of features with competitive pricing. You also get a large variety of plans to choose from. The issue that gives us major pause is some significant downtime reported and overcrowded servers for well over a year now.

Pros

Cons

  • 24/7/365 U.S. based customer support with generally positive user reviews
  • Free, frequent data backups
  • Green data centers
  • Impressive 90-day money back guarantee
  • $150 ad credits with Google, Yahoo, Bing
  • Discounts for educators and students
  • Ongoing problems with server downtime and slow speeds
  • Data centers only located in the U.S.
  • On the pricey side
  • Lack of Windows hosting

IONOS Review

Visit Website

IONOS (previously known as 1&1) offers affordable service with a moderate learning curve for those looking for a basic web hosting solution. IONOS uses all-inclusive pricing, unlike many other services that charge extra setup fees and higher renewal rates.

The Web Hosting Portfolio, Next Level Hosting, allows customers to customize the performance of the web project at any time. IONOS has added several features in the last few years and offers a free 30-day trial.

Pros

Cons

  • 24/7 support via phone and email ticket
  • Dual Hosting — Your website is hosted simultaneously at two data centers in two separate locations for added security and backup support
  • Offers users the option to use their marketing center and search engine credits to start traffic flow to websites
  • 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
  • Caps on disk space with all plans
  • 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.

Read Our Full IONOS Review

DigitalOcean Review

DigitalOcean logo

Visit Website

DigitalOcean’s tagline is “Simple Cloud Hosting, Built for Developers.” And it is just that — you get VPS and DSN management, and that’s pretty much it. They do have SSD drives and flexible API on their side, but users report more downtime than many other services.

Their best-selling feature? Digital Ocean’s pricing is affordable, but unless you’re a small business and don’t need +99% reliability, you should probably look elsewhere.

Pros

Cons

  • You can select your nearest data location, with centers in U.S., Canada, Europe and Asia
  • Fast deployment times
  • One-click apps
  • Many users report poor customer support
  • Considerable downtime compared to other services
  • Very basic; not many features
  • Not much growing room if you want to expand your site

HostMonster ReviewHostMonster logo

Visit Website

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. Still, Host Monster 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
  • Supports Simple Script
  • Supports multiple scripts so different scripts work with Host Monster without compatibility issues occurring
  • 1-click WordPress installer
  • $100 Google Adwords Credit; $100 in Bing ad credits
  • 30-day money back guarantee
  • Longtime users report that customer support has gone downhill over the last few years
  • Long wait times for customer support
  • Downtime is more prevalent than competitors
  • No Windows hosting

HostPapa Review

HostPapa logo

Visit Website

HostPapa is a Canada-based independent company that’s been around since 2006. They offer 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
  • Good uptime for a shared host
  • Easy-to-use cPanel control
  • Free setup, domain name, Cloudflare CDN and website builder with all plans
  • 1-click WordPress installers and WordPress optimized servers
  • 30-day money back guarantee
  • No dedicated hosting
  • Must go with highest plan for automated backups and advanced features
  • Like many shared hosts, they oversell resources

InterServer ReviewInterServer logo

Visit Website

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
  • Shared hosting starting at $5 a month (with a price lock) and dedicated servers starting at $50 a month
  • They only use 50% of available resources to guarantee site performance and growth
  • InterServer designed and built their own data center and network
  • Many positive user reviews
  • 30-day money back guarantee
  • $100 Google Adwords credit
  • No live chat tech support
  • Set up can take a bit of a learning curve
  • You only get weekly backups with their standard plan
  • Lacks a website builder

Just Host ReviewJust Host logo

Visit Website

Just Host has been around for more than a decade and used to be a solid option. But the buzz online by long-time customers is not good news for this web hosting mainstay.

Consumers complain about everything from poor tech support to unreliable site uptime and functionality. JustHost does have competitive pricing and a wide array of features, but we can’t recommend them unless they get their act back together.

Pros

Cons

  • Provides 24/7/365 customer support
  • Large set of features for advanced users
  • 1-click WordPress installer
  • Provides users with free video tutorials to help them learn how to implement specific functions on their website
  • $200 ad credits with Google and Bing
  • Customer support and site performance have gone way downhill over the last several years
  • Users complain of overcrowded shared hosting which can lead to slow site load speeds and server outages
  • Can get expensive after their introductory pricing period

MDDHosting ReviewMDDHosting logo

Visit Website

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
  • Quick, knowledgeable and friendly customer support, no matter what level your hosting plan is
  • Sitelock malware protection
  • Offers a 1000% uptime guarantee
  • Doesn’t oversell its resources
  • 30-day money back guarantee
  • Pricier than many competitors
  • No Windows hosting
  • Lacks site statistics you’ll find with most other services

Microsoft Azure ReviewMicrosoft Azure logo

Visit Website

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
  • The Microsoft Azure hosting service can be scaled to suit the smallest or the largest website
  • Fabric controllers identify problems in applications before the application crashes and open a new instance in case it does crash providing good recoverability
  • Microsoft Azure offers very little direct information about their pricing and services through their website
  • Having at least two instances per role as mentioned in the recoverability feature, can be detrimental to overall operation
  • Stateful applications can be interrupted due to load balancing that takes place between instances

MyHosting.com ReviewMyHosting.com logo

Visit Website

MyHosting.com has been around since 1997 and offers shared Linux and Windows web hosting with most of the major features you require for basic website hosting. They also offer unlimited bandwidth and disk space. However, MyHosting does charge additional fees for additional MySQL databases, email addresses and other features that many other providers give you for free.

Pros

Cons

  • Users report low downtime and good performance
  • Users praise the in-depth statistics provided in hosting plans
  • Free dedicated IP address and domain name
  • 30-day money back guarantee
  • Many user complaints about poor customer support
  • Some users find the control panel function to be messy and difficult to navigate
  • More expensive than most providers

Network Solutions ReviewNetwork Solutions logo

Visit Website

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
  • Excellent spam filters
  • Easy navigation for newcomers to web hosting
  • Dozens of 1-click installers
  • 30-day money back guarantee
  • The pricing structure frequently incurs additional fees
  • More expensive than most providers
  • Only supports Windows; no Linux hosting

GoDaddy ReviewGoDaddy logo

Visit Website

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. 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
  • Web hosting can be integrated with domain name purchase, making transactions fast and easy for newcomers
  • GoDaddy offers a wide array of features for the beginner as well as veteran web hosting client
  • Prices are more affordable than many other web hosting services
  • Many users complain about poor and unknowledgeable customer support
  • Servers are overcrowded because they are bulk sellers of domains and web hosting services
  • Running so many clients off one server causes the servers to be locked down too tightly which can limit functionality
  • Lots of upselling

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.

Decide on a web host for your business? Let us know in the comments!

Tagged With:

The information provided through this website should not be used to diagnose or treat a health problem or disease; it is not intended to offer any legal opinion or advice or a substitute for professional safety advice or professional care. Please consult your health care provider, attorney, or product manual for professional advice. Products and services reviewed are provided by third parties; we are not responsible in any way for them, nor do we guarantee their functionality, utility, safety, or reliability. Our content is for educational purposes only.

Subscribe
Notify of
33 Comments
Newest
Oldest Most voted
Inline Feedbacks
View all comments