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by Editors of Web Host Magazine & Buyer's Guide
Web Host Magazine purchases web hosting services through blind accounts to learn how they work for "real" customers. The magazine evaluates each service in six weighted categories: support, reliability,… features, value, network and industry. Editors also factor letters to the editor and reader reviews into their ratings. WebAxxs is the top ranked service. Support, features and policies are all excellent. Expensive setup fees are the disadvantage. Aplus.net ranks second. The magazine believes Aplus is overcoming the poor reputation it's earned in forums. QWK.net lacks the bonus features of the top two services, but is otherwise just as good.
by Editors of Web Host Magazine & Buyer's Guide
Web Host Magazine provides comprehensive, relevant reviews of e-commerce web hosts. Each review links to an up-to-date uptime report. The top-ranked service, iRepublics, is free. However, the domain… registration price is high, and only businesses are eligible (you can't be an individual trying to sell something). OLM.net tops the fee-based services. It scores exceptionally well in all areas. Apollo Hosting has the best support and a slew of features. Simple Solutions and Website Source also fare well in reviews. Many of Web Host Magazine's reviews date to 2005. As the magazine notes specific improvements made by various services in its reviews, readers shouldn't rely on an older review.
by Contributors to HostSearch.com
HostSearch has developed an outstanding system for consumer reviews. To prevent abuse, reviews are weighted by the value given to them by readers. Customers make comments and rate services in categories… developed through a user survey: Reliability/Uptime, Technical Support, Customer Service & Billing, Server & Network Speed, and Price & Value. Webstrike Solutions earns the top score. Users do report problems, but they also say that customer service does an excellent job of resolving them. HostForWeb.com is a close second, but customers complain about down time. WebHostingBuzz.com has the third highest rating, but a fraction of the number of reviews of the leaders.
by Robin Good
Robin Good is commissioned by 21Publish to compare blog hosts. He thoroughly tests six leading services. His complete 92-page report is available as a PDF through this website. The reviews of each service… are comparative and detailed. However, the report was completed two years ago, and the basis for evaluation of each service, especially pricing, is likely to have changed since then. Drupal is the top-rated service. It has many strengths, but requires technical expertise to use. The second-ranked Manila has a similar drawback. Third-ranked 21Publish is easier to use. Popular services TypePad and WordPress MU earn the lowest scores.
by Contributors to VistaInter.com
This unusual website features a directory of more than 2,500 hosting providers. User reviews are the heart of the site. The anonymous people behind the site also rank the top ten services and the top ten… cheap services. The criteria are percentage of favorable user reviews, uptime percentage, disk space and bandwidth, price and subjective factors. The top services are MidPhase, PowWeb and IXWebHosting. The top cheap services are iPower, IXWebHosting and SpeedFox. The page devoted to each service includes data such as percentage of positive and negative reviews, uptime percentage, years in business and number of search engine hits the name generates.
by Editors of TopTenReviews.com
TopTenReviews.com provides a chart comparing ten blog hosting services. All but the second-ranked TypePad are free or have free options. The chart includes a comprehensive list of tools and features, and… then it notes which services include them. Each service earns an overall rating and subcategory ratings for blog design tools, promotion/tracking tools, ease of use and technical help/support. WordPress.com is the top-ranked service. It is commended for simplicity and lack of ads. Google's Blogger, the third-ranked service, is ideal for people who wish to create HTML code. LiveJournal and Vox, both of which are free services provided by Six Apart, are rated well below the company's commercial offering, TypePad.
by Scott Spanbauer
This is an article, rather than a review, but much of the article is devoted to WordPress, which is Scott Spanbauer's favorite blogging software. Spanbauer says Google's Blogger is satisfactory for… beginners, but lacks the features and control of WordPress. Microsoft Windows Live Spaces and Yahoo! 360 also offer less customization. Spanbauer explains that you can use WordPress as your blog host, or you can buy a domain and hosting service elsewhere and still use the WordPress software to create your site and blog entries. Your site will have "occasional text ads" if you use WordPress as a host.
by Jim Sutton
Web Hosting Handbook's reviews are more objective and balanced than most, but nonetheless, they are overwhelmingly favorable. The site is balanced with a few user reviews and user ratings, as well as… up-to-date uptime graphs. Jim Sutton periodically reviews services, but is not up-to-date. The top ranked services are Host Monster, BlueHost and HostGator. Host Monster is highly reliable, it's very low-priced, support is good, and the quantity and quality of features are better than those of most competitors. The rapidly growing BlueHost is a superb value, but the service is unpolished. HostGator is relatively expensive, but offers a modular approach that allows customers to pay for only what they need.
by Editors and Independent Review panel of Web Host Magazine & Buyer's Guide
Web Host Magazine reviews hosts that fit into multiple categories, including reseller, co-location, FrontPage, Unix/Linux, managed, PHP, dedicated (server) and Windows hosts. These services are oriented to… specialty needs; many are more oriented to businesses than to individuals. The magazine also reviews non-shared hosting services, which are more expensive and only suitable for consumers with higher-end needs. Unfortunately, the top-ranked providers in these categories haven't been reviewed since 2005. Rackspace Managed Hosting is the top-ranked service in the Managed Hosts, Dedicated Hosts and Non-Shared Web Hosting categories. Alentus is the best Windows host, and FutureQuest tops the Unix/Linux services.
by Contributors to Free-webhosts.com
This site hosts user reviews of a couple of hundred web hosting services. Users rate services, but not all add commentary. The site includes a list of the services with the highest average ratings. Those… are 50Webs, AwardSpace and AtSpace. 50Webs has more than a thousand reviews, and no one rates it lower than five on a ten-high scale. Even if the topic were free money, someone would give the service a low rating because they couldn't understand the instructions. Users say 50Webs doesn't place ads on web pages. The site also lists web-hosting services that provide free hosting for images and other files.
by Catherine Holahan
Catherine Holahan recommends two services for e-commerce in this article. The criteria are ease-of-use and affordability. Holahan says Business Week looked at several services, but no others are mentioned.… Netfirms, which has more than a million customers, is the best cheap service. Prices are low, and both storage space and bandwidth are generous for the price. Netfirms' users experience difficulty showing up in search engine results, however. Yahoo! Small Business is a step up in price and services, particularly in terms of marketing help and capabilities. Holahan says Yahoo! frequently runs discount promotions to attract new business.
by John R. Quain
Although this brief article falls well short of a review, it contains some useful comparative information for entrepreneurs who want to use a blog as a business tool. John Quain says most blogging services… are free. Google Blogger is the simplest. Microsoft Windows Live Spaces and Yahoo! 360 are oriented to social networking, but Quain says that can be an advantage for businesses. TypePad is more sophisticated than the free services, and Quain recommends it if you want a professional appearance. The entry-level price is $4.95 per month. The article links to the mentioned services and to LiveJournal.
by Editors of Web-Hosting-Reviews.org
Editors of this site claim complete independence with no click-through profits. Rankings are based on an equal combination of "lab tests" and user scores. Ratings include performance in five sub-categories.… A couple of flaws mar the usefulness and credibility of this site. The reviews are awkwardly written, and customer reviews are not revealed. Comparisons are generic. Infinology handily earns the top score, as it is said to have no major weaknesses. A new company, Startlogic, ranks second. Its insufficient track record results in a lower score. The review of third-ranked Lunarpages is so flattering that readers will find no reason to choose a higher-ranked service.
by Contributors to WebHostingJury.com
Web Hosting Jury is a good site for user reviews, but a couple of factors don't seem straightforward. When customers mention switching to or from another service, the competitor's name is rarely mentioned.… Nearly every customer rates the top service, PolurNET Webhosting, five out of five in every sub-category: reliability, support and pricing. If the service is that terrific, it should top user rankings on every similar site, but it doesn't. Blurstorm and Dynamic Hosting are ranked second and third. The site has reviews of hundreds of services, and more than 50 services have statistically significant numbers of reviews.
by John Clyman
In this outdated review, PC Magazine compares five services for hosting small e-commerce ventures. Yahoo! Merchant Starter is selected as the Editor's Choice. John Clyman likes the site-building tools,… interface, and backup method. Kurant's StoreSense is also very good, but perhaps too complex for a typical sole proprietor. PC Magazine is usually an excellent source for this type of review, but services and their prices can change considerably in a couple of years. Entrepreneurs will need to check other sources to verify the current validity of PC Magazine's reviews.
by Robert Vamosi and others
CNet offers a chart comparing four hosting services that CNet reviewed in 2005. Although CNet provides overall ratings, the services aren't otherwise subjectively compared. CNet only evaluates features and… support, while ignoring real-world considerations such as reliability. User reviews help to fill in the blanks. Users consistently rate the services much lower than CNet editors do. However, Brinkster Web Host earns the highest rating from both editors and readers. Reviewer Daniel Tynan says, "Brinkster offers a reasonable amount of bandwidth and storage for a low price, but its above-average technical support makes it stand out." iPowerWeb, the most popular service reviewed earns below average ratings from users, as does Homestead Web Host.
by Stephanie Booth
Swiss blogging consultant Stephanie Booth compares 13 free blog platforms. She details her evaluation methodology, some of which is unique to her situation. Her current recommendation is WordPress.com. Her… comparisons of the other hosts are more than two years old, and therefore have limited value. Booth preferred Blogsome and Mon-Blog of the hosts evaluated in 2004. The latter is only for French language users. Getting started with Blogsome was easy, but using the service might be too technical for some people. The blog is enhanced by more than 70 reader comments, although half of them are in French.
by Editors of TopTenReviews.com
TopTenReviews.com rates and ranks 21 web-hosting services. The presence of an 800 number "to talk to a TopTenReviews Web Hosting Consultant" suggests the company will profit if you choose one or more of the… services reviewed on its website. The top ten services are compared in a chart that shows subcategory ratings for features, customer service and ease of use of the control panel; along with lists of site and e-mail features. The top ranked services are Globat, Lunarpages and iPowerWeb. TopTenReviews raves about all aspects of Globat's service, including its exceptional price. While Globat has the lowest base monthly fee of the top ten services, it is the only one with a setup charge ($19).
by Kai Virihaur
Web developer Kai Virihaur touts his honesty, but the rebates and coupon codes offered through his website suggest financial arrangements with the services that may influence his ratings. The reviews aren't… directly comparative, but ten services are rated and ranked. Virihaur is honest about stating which services he has personally used. The reviews are based on a mixture of his experience and the customer reviews he found throughout the Internet. The top three services are HostGator, Lunarpages and InMotion Hosting. Virihaur likes HostGator's affordability and customer support, and he is comforted by the high level of satisfaction he claims is expressed by customers.
by Editors of Upperhost.com
This website claims trustworthiness because the anonymous proprietor accepts no advertisements or donations from hosting companies. However, the site bears all the hallmarks of an affiliate marketing site.… Upperhost distinguishes itself from competing referral services with some criticism of the services that aren't rated among the six best. The top services are Infinology Hosting, Bluehost and AnHosting. Infinology and AnHosting have no stated flaws. Links to an alleged review of Bluehost take you directly to the Bluehost website. None of the services are compared, but they are rated and ranked.
by Robert Vamosi and others
CNet offers a chart comparing three free hosting services that CNet reviewed in 2005. However, EarthLink, the top-rated service, is only free for subscribers. CNet says EarthLink's major competitive… advantage is that it doesn't place advertising on websites. Both editor Robert Vamosi and reviewer Daniel Tynan fail to mention that most Internet service providers also provide free web hosting for subscribers and that those sites are also free of advertising. While CNet rates EarthLink as "Excellent," its readers rate the service as "Poor." Yahoo! is rated below EarthLink because of ad placements. Tripod's aggressive and intrusive ads top several disadvantages.
by Contributors to WebHostingRatings.com
This site is only useful as a secondary resource, as reviews of services can only be found through a search or browsing a host directory that lists services in random order. Unfortunately, you cannot search… for services with high average user ratings. Web Hosting Ratings does have a valuable feature, however -- it provides real-time monitoring of services and reports their percentage of uptime. Two affordable hosting services are recommended on the site's home page. One of them -- Yahoo! -- has an average rating of 3.78 out of ten from more than 50 consumer reviewers. The other -- HostGator -- isn't in the directory.
by Contributors to Hosting-Review.com
This Canadian website claims to review hosting services, and it does so by the "to look over, study, or examine again" definition of review. However, these overviews of services are not critical, evaluative… or comparative. Each service does receive an overall score and sub-category ratings but these ratings do not jibe with the copy. Even poorly rated services are described with enthusiastic marketing copy. The top three services are IX Web Hosting, StartLogic and HostMonster. All are rated at least eight of ten for price/value, performance, reliability, customer support, control panel and user feedback. We'd like to know why.
by Contributors to Web-Hosting-Top.com
This website rates and ranks ten hosting services. The odd "reviews" are a mix of information and marketing hype with a smidgen of evaluation. Use of words such as "we" and "us" when describing features and… benefits infer that at least some of the copy is written by employees of service providers. Services are never compared, and ratings are unexplained. All of the services are highly recommended, even those with ratings as low as 65 percent. The top services are IX Web Hosting, BlueHost and HostMonster. Reviewers say they visited the data centers of several services.
by Editors of Sharphosts.com
This website ranks ten hosting services. No explanation is provided. The reviews are promotional, and the site purveyors offer no indication of evaluation. Services are neither critiqued nor compared. The… top ranked services are Startlogic, IX Web Hosting and BlueHost. All ten are described as a "great company that provides wonderful plans with reasonable price and tremendous features," or they are similarly described. A leading security program blocks most of the internal links on this site.
by Pawel Miami
This website is one of many that pose as review sites, but are simply third-party marketing services. Web Hosting Bluebook ranks ten hosting services, but supports each ranking with less than a sentence of… commentary or explanation. The site proprietor claims ratings are based on affordability, reliability and customer service. Those factors aren't documented for any of the services included in their ranking.
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This is our assessment of the review’s relevance, clarity of testing and thoroughness.
Read more about our Ratings Criteria by clicking the link at the top of the page.
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