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Here we review hosting providers that didn’t make the cut in our main hosting comparison (and for your convenience, our top 3 to the right). If you’re new to website hosting, we encourage you to start with our hosting guide.
Now without further ado, here’s our reviews of the remaining web host candidates requested by our readers:
Cloudways | InMotion | IONOS | Hostwinds | DigitalOcean | HostMonster |InterServer | Just Host | LunarPages | MDDHosting | Microsoft Azure | MyHosting.com | Network Solutions | GoDaddy
Cloudways Review
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.
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InMotionHosting Review
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.
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IONOS Review
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.
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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.
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DigitalOcean Review
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.
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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. 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.
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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.
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Just Host Review
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.
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LunarPages Review
Lunarpages got its start way back in 1998, making it one of the oldest hosting providers out there. Lunarpages is still a reliable player in the shared hosting arena that also provides dedicated, VPS and cloud hosting. The big downside is their limited phone and live chat support hours and wait times on their 24/7 email tech support, but users rave about the quality of their tech reps.
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Coupon Code
Use this link and use coupon code aff15off to get 15% off all Lunarpages shared hosting plans!
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.
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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.
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MyHosting.com Review
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.
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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).
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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. GoDaddy may be a good fit if you are new to web hosting, as it is a good introductory hosting company.
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Who’s Your Pick?
Please be sure to checkout our top picks in our main hosting provider comparison. Now that you’ve had a chance to review over 20 hosting providers, we’re curious – whom would you go with?
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