Web Hosting

Types of web hosting

This report primarily focuses on shared web-hosting services, which are suitable for most websites. E-commerce sites, heavily trafficked sites and sites containing audio, video or lots of large image files are likely to need a more expensive or specialized type of hosting services. But for most personal and small-business sites that don't need a shopping cart, shared hosting is the best value. Keep in mind that if you only want to start a blog, you don't really need a full-featured web host. See our section below on blog hosting, dedicated to services that mainly host low-cost or free blogs.

A server is a special type of high-end computer with several hard drives -- web hosts will post your website on one of their servers. With a shared web-hosting service, your host provider puts multiple websites on a single server computer. Because your site shares space with others, bandwidth is limited. That's because if any of the websites on the server gets too much traffic, service for all the sites on the server could slow down.

In the context of web hosting, the term "bandwidth" refers to the amount of data being transferred. As a point of reference, the ConsumerSearch.com home page is about 44 KB. Each time that page is viewed, the site visitor downloads 44 KB from our server. Our monthly bandwidth is the total number times each page on our website is viewed in a month.

To prevent busier websites from hogging bandwidth, hosting companies limit monthly bandwidth to pre-specified amounts. The total file size of all your pages is also capped. Most services offer a variety of plans with storage space and bandwidth limits for each. As multiple sites share a single computer, processing capability is somewhat slowed. Judging from user reviews, some hosts abuse shared hosting to the point that simple web pages load too slowly.

With shared hosting, you or your webmaster manage your site. Your host functions like an invisible computer. The hosting service will provide customer service, including tech support, but do not expect the company to provide consulting service. For example, the web host won't teach you how to use third-party web design software.

The main benefit to shared hosting is affordability. However, its limitations make it unsuitable for bigger and more critical websites. The next step up is either dedicated hosting or co-location. With dedicated hosting, you are leasing an entire server. The host will maintain the computer and provide the direct connection to the Internet. You are still responsible for your website. As the name suggests, your website is the only one on a server.

Co-location is essentially the same as dedicated hosting, except you own the server computer (instead of leasing it). You can supply the computer to your host, but this only practical if you choose a local host.

Managed dedicated hosting is the most high-end option. It is appropriate for e-commerce ventures operated by sole proprietors or a handful of people. You contract for a full range of services. Those services will vary, depending on the host you choose and the plans it offers.

How much server space and bandwidth do you need?

Web hosts� basic plan prices are usually set in relation to server space and bandwidth, but unless you have already calculated your space needs, your website very likely requires less space than you would expect. You may want to select a web hosting plan that allows for growth, but your hosting service will be happy to upgrade to a higher-capacity plan whenever you need it, and reviews say there is no need to pay for more server space or bandwidth than you need -- most web hosts offer plenty of capacity for even the lowest-priced plans.

You can determine your initial server-space needs in several ways; if you know what files and folders you want to post online, right click on the folder(s) and select "properties" (Windows only) to see the file size. Popular website creation programs such as Dreamweaver and FrontPage will show you the size of individual pages and the entire site. In Adobe or Macromedia Dreamweaver, the page file size is shown in the data in the lower right-hand corner of the page window. In Microsoft FrontPage, click on "Reports," and the top entry will show you the cumulative size of all the files in your website.

If you haven�t created your site yet, you can check the size of any web page using Internet Explorer to gain ideas of typical page sizes. Choose "properties" from the "file" menu. The page size is expressed in bytes (1024 bytes = 1 kb, 1024 kb = 1 MB). For example, the USA Today home page, which contains lots of text and images, is 118 KB; the CNN home page is 103 KB. This kind of exercise will give you an idea of the association between file sizes and web-pages. If 30 pages on a website average 50 KB, the website is 1,500 KB (just over 1 MB). This means that even some large multi-page websites actually need very little server space.

As described above, bandwidth in this context is the number of times per month each page is viewed. If each page on a hypothetical 30-page website (with each page at 50 KB) is viewed an average of 100 times in a month, the total monthly bandwidth is 150,000 KB or 146 MB -- that's 30 pages viewed 100 times (3,000 page views) times 50 KB. So your total bandwidth would be just 146 MB -- far within the 5 GB or 6 GB allowance offered by most basic web hosting plans.

Most web hosting services provide statistics that show how often each is page is visited. Until you have actual data, you may have to guess how many "hits" your website will draw.

Best web hosting services

As stated above, because consumer, business and computer magazines haven't recently reviewed hosting services, and many so-called 'review' websites aren't credible, we researched user commentary to validate or invalidate selections made by professional reviewers. We learned from user reviews that tech support -- and customer service in general -- is the overriding make-or-break factor that causes people to stick with a service provider or switch to another. Tech support staffers need to have expertise in their host's infrastructure and the variety of software programs used by customers. Many customers express frustration with hosts that outsource tech support to India and elsewhere. We read countless user reviews about services that used to be good until they switched to third-party tech support. That's a main reason why reviews need to be up-to-date to have validity.

Webstrike Solutions.com (*est. $30 setup fee with no monthly fees in first year; $7 per month and up thereafter) is ranked as the best web hosting service by HostSearch.com, a user-review website. The quantity of user reviews and the overwhelmingly favorable balance of reviews raises some eyebrows, but we also found a low percentage of unsatisfied customers at other user review sites. Webstrike Solutions has a respectable average customer rating at WebHostingRatings.com, where contributors say that questions are answered promptly and accurately.

Web Host Magazine & Buyer's Guide rates Webstrike Solutions as one of the better hosting services. The magazine gives the company high -- but less than perfect -- scores in the support, reliability, features, value, network and industry categories. Editors summarize, "Webstrike Solutions has a lot of finer qualities and are only held back by their lack of support options and some form of 24/7 customer service." Tech support is provided from the company's headquarters in Australia, but servers are in the U.S. Users submit a support ticket or e-mail rather than calling a phone number. The company has been in business since 1999 -- a remarkably long time when it comes to Internet services -- and it's been profitable since 2000.

On its website, Webstrike Solutions provides an obviously biased, but otherwise remarkably useful article, "Choosing the Right Hosting Company." Webstrike points out that 100% uptime is an impossibility, because (if nothing else) periodic operating system updates require rebooting. Webstrike also explains that unlimited bandwidth is actually a disadvantage. Other sites on a shared host will hog bandwidth, which will slow your site. Managed bandwidth is more desirable, since all websites on the server get a fair share of bandwidth.

Webstrike Solutions' base plan includes 1 GB of disk space and a monthly bandwidth of up to 20 GB. Webstrike offers fewer plans than most hosts, but instead offers a choice of Windows or Linux platforms, as well as many a la carte service plan upgrades. Uptime is 99.993% according to VistaInter.com and 100% according to Web Host Magazine. If you need to register a domain name, it will cost you $12 per year.

PolurNET.com (starting at *est. $4 per month) isn't reviewed by any trustworthy source, but the budget Canadian host service has a very high level of user satisfaction. PolurNET is ranked as the best web hosting service by Web Hosting Jury.com, a user-review site. The company earns unbelievably favorable ratings from nearly 100 users in all sub-categories: reliability, support and pricing. VistaInter.com claims equally strong user enthusiasm with 98 percent positive votes from hundreds of users. While no company in this industry could have such a high percentage of happy customers, we did find satisfied customers everywhere we looked. One customer who complained in a forum was revealed to have been booted for not paying his bills.

Other users say, "This is to say a public thanks to PolurNET, who worked hard for my server upgrade," and "PolurNET is my fourth host and the best one yet." We found criticisms of support, but this comment is more typical: "I don't know much about computer technical stuff, so I probably asked a lot of 'stupid' questions in the process but they answered all questions quickly and with patience." PolurNET.com is a division of CIAN Technologies, a web-design company. The company hasn't been around that long (founded in June 2004), but the company is operating debt-free (profitability is a good sign of future stability). The parent company may operate affiliate marketing businesses (more on that below in the Important Features section).

PolurNET's main attraction is extraordinarily low prices. If the base plan, Basic Paw LITE, works for your needs, a domain and a year of service costs less than $60. Basic Paw LITE includes 150 MB of disk space and a monthly bandwidth of up to 6 GB, and it has all the features of the more expensive plans. Steps in price get you more of everything (space, bandwidth, sub-domains, databases, mailboxes, etc.). The most expensive of six shared hosting plans is $7.15 per month. That fee gets you 500 MB of space and 17 GB of bandwidth. PolurNET's uptime is 99.99% according to VistaInter.com. A domain name costs $9.88 per year. Servers are in several countries.

HostGator.com (starting at *est. $7 per month) is another service worth considering. The five-year-old company is based in Dallas, TX. HostGator is an aggressive user of affiliate marketing and reseller hosting (discussed further below).

Only Webstrike Solutions and PolurNET earn higher average ratings than HostGator on user review sites. However, HostGator reviews are more balanced and believable than those for the other services. In particular, customers express great satisfaction with all aspects of service except for tech support. Tech support draws much ire from customers who say it's deteriorated. Other users disagree. The fact that HostGator is currently recruiting experienced web hosting tech support employees for its Houston location is very encouraging.

HostGator's base plan, Hatchling, has a lower uptime guarantee than the higher-end plans, and you must pay for a year to get the $6.95 monthly price. The plan includes 50 GB of space and 200 GB of monthly bandwidth. E-Commerce features are also included in the base plan.

Like HostGator, Lunarpages.com (starting at *est. $7 per month) aggressively employs affiliate marketing and reseller hosting campaigns (which gives some users pause). Reviews of Lunarpages are very favorable and the company earns great average ratings from the user review sites. The California company says it has more than 100 employees worldwide. Lunarpages offers free lifetime domains with all annual web hosting plans, though competitors claim that practice isn't a big selling feature. Lunarpages may be a very good service, but we didn't find un-sponsored support for that viewpoint. On the contrary, a number of former customers have established websites for the sole purpose of ranting about their miserable experiences with Lunarpages.

BlueHost.com (starting at *est. $7 per month) is comparable to Lunarpages, but with a somewhat lower percentage of satisfied customers in user reviews. StartLogic.com (starting at *est. $6 per month) and IX Web Hosting.com (starting at *est. $4 per month) also have higher percentages of unsatisfied customers in user reviews.

Microsoft Office Live (starting at *est. $20 per month, http://office.microsoft.com) is a new web hosting provider that includes business-collaboration services. A basic version is free. PC Magazine says it is complex, proprietary and confusing to learn. The reviews of Office Live are generally favorable, but all address it as a unique service and don't cover the web hosting aspect of the service.

E-commerce hosting services

Even a basic inexpensive web hosting service will have the right features for a personal website, but it you want to sell something on your site, you'll need some special features like a shopping cart, the ability to accept online payments, and inventory tracking. You'll also need more server space and bandwidth to handle all of your potential traffic and customer orders.

The services covered above provide hosting for e-commerce ventures, but we found reviews that specifically evaluate host services for that purpose. Half a dozen e-commerce services receive credible, favorable reviews. However, user reviews and commentary on other websites paint unattractive pictures of all of them. This is understandable because managing an e-commerce website demands a certain amount of technical knowledge. Customers can become frustrated by not being able to understand tech support.

Although all these services have some unhappy customers, two stand out. Yahoo! Small Business (starting at *est. $40 per month + 1.5% transaction fee), draws the highest percentage of consumer complaints, as described earlier in this report. Conversely, Netfirms.com (*est. $10 or $15 per month) has the highest percentage of happy customers, even though prices are a fraction of what Yahoo! charges.

Business Week's Catherine Holahan says Netfirms is the best cheap service, and the company currently has more than a million customers, hosting more than 15,000 online stores. In a single-service review for ECommerce-Guide.com, Sean Kerner summarizes, "most users will find great value for the price paid." He implies he'd prefer a service that is easier to customize, but concludes, "Considering that Netfirms' e-commerce pricing, including hosting, starts at only $10 per month (which includes 2 free domain names), we suspect that a lot of users won't mind too much investing some additional time to fully customize and realize the potential of their storefronts." Holahan reports that Netfirms users' websites sometimes don't show up in search engine results. To help you gain exposure, Netfirms bundles a $25 Google AdWords coupon to help your site garner traffic.

Netfirms' base business plan includes 250 GB of disk space, 2,000 GB of bandwidth, 500 e-mail accounts, two domain names, a shopping cart, 30 MySQL 5+ databases (for inventory management), WebStats, spam filtering and a WordPress business blog. The higher-end plan includes 300 GB of disk space, 3,000 GB of bandwidth and a few more advanced Windows hosting features. Although Netfirms offers 24/7 support, telephone support is not toll-free. Uptime is 99.989% according to VistaInter.com.

ProStores.com (starting at *est. $30 per month) is recommended in a November 2006 review by PC Magazine, but the service is more advanced and better suited to larger enterprises. Kathy Yakal says, "ProStores provides the best tools and documentation we've seen so far for [online stores]."

Dotster.com (starting at *est. $35 per month) includes a VPS service that's been selected as an Editor's Choice by Service Provider Weekly in a single-service review. The review says Dotster's virtual private servers (VPS) are equivalent to having a dedicated server, but at a much lower price. However, the Dotster service is more suitable for a professional webmaster than an entrepreneur who wants a do-it-yourself approach with some handholding.

Web Host Magazine gives high rankings to iRepublics.com (basic service is free with domain name purchase), OLM.net (starting at *est. $35 per month) and Apollo Hosting.com (starting at *est. $20 per month). None of these services fare as well in user reviews, and Web Host Magazine's reviews date to the first half of 2005.

Free web hosting services

You have two general options if you don't need or can't afford a professional web hosting service. One is to post your site on your Internet service provider's (ISP) servers. The other is to use a professional hosting service that provides some limited free web hosting. If your goal is to create a blog, skip this section and read the section below on blog hosting.

Reviewers point out several disadvantages to free web hosting. Some let you use any web design software; others require you to use their templates. Support may be minimal or non-existent. Servers may be overcrowded, which causes pages to load slowly. Also, features are usually limited. For example, some free hosts do not support FrontPage server extensions. Many limit the types of file types you can post. This is especially true of sound files. On the other hand, unless you are operating a business, you have little to lose by trying a free web host.

Nearly all national and local ISPs will host small websites as part of your service. ISPs frequently change their policies, and some require you to log in to learn the current details of their programs. The national ISPs with publicly stated policies are offering the following amounts of space: Comcast (25 MB per user name), Verizon High Speed Internet (10 MB), EarthLink (10 MB), and Cox (70 MB).

MSN Premium doesn't specify general web hosting, but it does include Windows Live Space, a proprietary blog service. Qwest doesn't specify how much space it will provide, but it is the only national service we checked that allows subscribers to buy a domain name and use it. Most ISPs impose a domain name that starts with their own name, such as 'http://home.comcast.net/~yournamehere.' Search engines are less likely to index ISP-hosted sites, and they are less impressive than private domain names for professional use. That may not matter to you if you simply want to create a family or hobby website.

ISP hosts are ideal for learning how to manage a website, family-oriented sites, and un-sponsored enthusiast sites. If you aren't conducting business, don't need a lot of space or pages, or only wish to direct people you know to your site, an ISP site is all you need. Remember that your site will be removed if you switch service providers.

An advantage to having your ISP host your site is that few ISPs place advertising on their customer's pages. Most third-party free services are supported by advertising. If you go with a third-party free hosting service, each of your pages may contain banner ads, pop-up or pop-behind ads, Google ads or text ads. You may have to agree to receive spam or accept other undesirable terms. Remember that no hosting service is likely to provide space and bandwidth to strangers without getting some compensation.

The catch with 50Webs.com isn't expressed in user reviews. It may only be that the company will frequently market upgraded services and plans to you. 50Webs.com does not place ads on customer pages. The free web-hosting service earns the highest average ratings from users at Free-Webhosts.com. All the 50Webs customers who posted reviews on that site rate it positively, which is beyond belief for any service. Yet, we found satisfied customers everywhere we looked. McAfee SiteAdvisor says 50Webs.com dispenses no malware.

A free 50Webs.com account includes 60 MB of disk space, unlimited bandwidth, one e-mail address, and 24/7 customer support. 50Webs has an integrated HTML editor. You can use a URL with 50webs in the name, or you can pay $15 per year for a domain name. 50webs.com's average uptime is 99.98% according to VistaInter.com.

Blog hosting services

Although most reviews of general-purpose web hosts are fishy, reviews of blog hosting services are much more credible and helpful. Furthermore, reviewers generally agree about the relative merits of each of the major services. WordPress.com (basic service is free) is the consensus favorite in reviews.

WordPress started its life as open-source blog-management software. Its popularity induced the developers to extend the platform into a web-based service in 2005. In a ProBlogger poll conducted a year ago, WordPress already had the largest share of the market (37 percent). Profit magazine (March 2007) says, "You can use the free service to start a blog in seconds without downloading anything or having any previous technical knowledge. One nifty feature allows you to categorize your posts and keywords as you write them, instantly linking you to WordPress's 'global tag system' so people with similar interests can easily find you."

PC World editor Scott Spanbauer highly recommends WordPress, which he uses. Swiss blogging consultant Stephanie Booth tried 13 free blog platforms before settling on WordPress. TopTenReviews.com ranks WordPress.com as the best service. Overall, it is commended for simplicity and lack of ads.

WordPress makes its profit by selling optional a la carte upgrades. Those include extra storage (for photos or MP3 podcasts), a custom CSS editor, and a private domain name. A domain name costs $15 per year if you want one. Features include many visual themes, spell-checking, a private (members only) blog option, spam protection, statistics and a support forum. The company operates redundant servers in separate cities to ensure uptime and protection of data.

Other popular free services place ads on blog pages. Many use Google AdSense, which is keyword driven. That means, for example, that your environmental blog arguing against SUVs and leaf blowers might contain ads for such products.

PC World's Spanbauer and PC Magazine's John Quain say that Google's Blogger.com (free) is the simplest service to use -- quite suitable for beginners. However, if you want to control the look and feel of your blog, Spanbauer says WordPress is much better. Microsoft Windows Live Spaces (free, http://spaces.live.com/) and Yahoo! 360 (free, http://360.yahoo.com) also lack the customization of WordPress. Quain says both sites are oriented to social networking.

Reviewers recommend TypePad.com (starting at *est. $5) for professional use. PC Magazine's John Quain says TypePad is more sophisticated than the free services. The basic plan includes 100 MB of storage and 2 GB of bandwidth per month. The top plan includes 1 GB of storage and 10 GB of bandwidth.

LiveJournal.com (basic service is free), another popular blog hosting service, isn't generally ranked as one of the better services in reviews. LiveJournal is operated by Six Apart, which also operates TypePad.com and other blogging services.

All the services discussed in this section are dedicated blog hosts. They provide web-based software to upload your blog entries. You can also use any web hosting service for a blog. That gives you the flexibility to have your own domain and create your look and feel from scratch with any HTML-creation program. You can also use free WordPress or Drupal software to create your site. Both are recommended in reviews.

Important Features: Web hosting

Reviewers say to consider the following when shopping for a Web hosting service:

• Look for a host that has been in business long enough to have a track record. If you choose a company that is profitable, that increases the likelihood it will stay in business.

• Make sure the host is directly connected to the backbone of the Internet. A reseller host may have its computer in between yours and the server that is directly connected to the Internet. Experts say a web hosting service should have at least one T3 line directly connected to the Internet. Check the host�s website or ask customer service. It�s a good opportunity to test responsiveness.

• Make sure the host provides backup and redundancy. Redundancy means that your site is located on more than one hard drive. A reliable host will have your site on two different computers.

• The host should have a backup power generator to use during short-term power outages. Location information can be found on the web-host's site.

• Test customer service and tech support with e-mail messages and phone calls. Make sure they respond quickly and helpfully.

• Pay little attention to uptime guarantees, especially if you are not engaged in e-commerce. Reviews say that web hosting services guarantees lack teeth. For instance, some services will credit your account for the lost time (20 minutes here and there adds up to pennies).

• Censorship policies may matter to you. If you want to operate an adult-only site, or conversely you object to using a host that allows them, make sure you understand policy details.

• For e-commerce, make sure the host can provide secure transactions, payment tools if you need them, and compatibility with the software you plan to use. For example, if you created your site with Microsoft FrontPage, you'll need a host that supports FrontPage server extensions.

• For advanced e-commerce, make sure the host provides the database and scripting support you need.

Some web hosts offer templates, HTML editors, or web-based design software for creating your web pages. You may prefer a host that provides tools, or you may prefer to use professional tools. Our web design software report covers both approaches and the best tools for each.

Our Consensus Report shows how many times products are top-ranked by reviewers included in our
All The Reviews Reviewed chart.

# of Picks	Service	Estimated base price per month
3	WordPress http://wordpress.com/	Free
2	TypePad http://www.typepad.com/	$5
2	BlueHost.com http://www.bluehost.com/	$7
2	Yahoo! Small Business http://smallbusiness.yahoo.com/	$40 + 1.5% transaction fees
2	Infinology http://smartconsumers.infinology.com/products.htm	$7
2	Lunarpages http://www.lunarpages.com/	$7
2	StartLogic http://startlogic.com/	$6
2	IX Web Hosting http://www.ixwebhosting.com	$4
1 each	WebAxxs, Aplus.Net, iRepublics.com, OLM.net, Webstrike Solutions, HostForWeb.com, midPhase, PowWeb, Hostmonster.com, 50Webs.com, AwardSpace.com, Netfirms, Blurstorm, PolurNET Communications, ProStores (Kurant StoreSense when reviewed), Brinkster, Globat, HostGator, IPOWER

Many review sources we found for web hosting don't publish reviews at all -- rather, these sites are making recommendations with little to no support for their picks. As a result, one, two, or even several top rankings are not meaningful in this service category. We had to check multiple reviews, user reviews and forums to form a valid perception of any service provider. Reviews of blog host services are an exception -- these are far more objective and credible. WordPress.com and TypePad are clearly favored in recent reviews.

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