Web Hosting Reviews: Shared, WordPress & VPS Hosts

iPage Hosting is a hosting company targeting the entry-level and budget-conscious end of the market. They’re one of Endurance International’s (a large hosting brand holding company) brands, along with Bluehost, HostGator and others.

You can check out iPage’s plans here.

They’ve been around in some form since 1998, but only recently repositioned themselves as a pure-play hosting company. They specialize in Linux shared hosting (ie, the type of hosting used by most companies who run their site with software like WordPress, Joomla, Drupal, etc), but also offer VPS and Dedicated server plans for higher traffic websites.

After their sister company, Bluehost, changed their pricing, I had a few readers asking what I thought of them. So while shopping for a new budget host for a side project, I decided to sign up and give them a try.

Here’s my iPage Hosting review – structured with pros & cons based on my experience as a customer.

Skip to direct comparisons or skip to the conclusion.[Continue Reading]

Bluehost is one of the most established and well-known hosting brands on the internet. It’s a brand owned by the Endurance corporation. I have written about Bluehost in my comparison between Bluehost vs. GoDaddy, but I have never written a Bluehost review looking at the pros and cons of the brand.

Bluehost has positioned themselves as not only the go-to hosting provider for beginner and starting websites, but also the no-hassle hosting provider for small businesses. I’ve used Bluehost for several projects of my own, and my oldest client has been using Bluehost for almost 10 years.

Get Bluehost’s special discount off plans here.

There are a lot of Bluehost reviews online – usually with user-generated reviews based on anecdotes and personal experience. That’s totally fine but I take a different approach, looking at both the advantages and disadvantages of a host.

Like I have mentioned in all my hosting reviews, I don’t think there is such a thing as a “best hosting provider”, just like there is no such thing as a best car or a best house. It’s all about finding the right fit for your project given your goals, your resources and your know-how.

Here’s what I found to be the pros, cons, and alternatives in a full Bluehost review based on my experience with personal projects and clients’ projects.[Continue Reading]

Web Hosting Hub is a hosting company founded in 2010 by InMotion Hosting – it’s older, more well-known parent company.

According to InMotion’s comparison page, Web Hosting Hub was founded to attract “more of the start-up, and professional blogger market.” In practical language, that means Web Hosting Hub offers one product – shared linux hosting (ie, hosting that can run the most common types of websites and apps, such as WordPress without having to sustain large amounts of sustained traffic).

Check out Web Hosting Hub’s current plans & pricing here.

As many more well-known brands change pricing and get bought up by large corporations (ie, Bluehost, 1&1 and GoDaddy), there’s been an increased interest in independent companies with clear features, simple setups and affordable pricing.

Web Hosting Hub claims to be that provider. Some of my personal projects run on HostGator right now. But since this site runs on a VPS server with InMotion, I thought I’d try Web Hosting Hub with a hobby site that needed its own shared space. Since I’ve had that site there for more than a year – I decided to update this Web Hosting Hub review.[Continue Reading]

“Bluehost vs Hostgator?” – it’s a question that’s a bit like asking “Coke or Sprite?” It’s somewhat slicing details, but it’s a choice nonetheless for something that you’ll likely be using for years.

Bluehost and HostGator are both –

• Owned by Endurance International Group (EIG) – a large technology corporation
• Established, well-known brands in the hosting industry
• Provide a similar menu of products that revolve around shared Linux hosting
• Provide pricing & hosting products that focus on small to midsize companies

And yet – they are different companies with different brands. When you are choosing a website host – you still have to end up choosing.

I have current clients who use (and like) Bluehost. Although this site runs on InMotion Hosting (which I’ll mention later) – I also have several projects that have run on HostGator for years. I’ve been happy with them.

In this comparison between Bluehost and HostGator, I’ll try to break down the differences that I’ve found in seven different areas ranging from pricing structure to customer service and market focus so that you can decide which is the best fit for your project.

Also – you can skip to the short version in the conclusion here (or take my Buzzfeed-style shared hosting quiz here).

Let’s dive into Bluehost vs. HostGator…[Continue Reading]

1&1 Hosting vs. GoDaddy Hosting – the two biggest brands in the web hosting business. Between their Super Bowl commercials, ubiquitous print ads, and service bundling, GoDaddy and 1&1 are typically considered at least for a moment in nearly everyone’s web hosting decision.

Editor’s Note – This post was originally published in January 2014. It’s been revised & updated as of May 2016.

And yet, the big brand campaigns typically don’t talk about the actual products they are selling – in this case web hosting. Since they are the 2 biggest brands in web hosting, I often get questions about both – and how 1&1 hosting (see their plans & promotions here) compares with GoDaddy hosting (see their plans & promotions here).

In addition to working with both web hosts for client projects, I’m also a customer of both GoDaddy and 1&1 hosting for a couple partner side projects. Here’s my breakdown of how 1&1 hosting compares with GoDaddy based on my own experience with each – and how they might fit you depending on your goals and what you value in a web host.

Quick aside – I’m specifically looking at shared Linux hosting. It’s the cheapest, most flexible option (ie, you are able to have a website powered by WordPress, Joomla, etc or plain HTML). Unless you know of a specific reason to get dedicated or Windows web hosting, then you probably don’t need it. Shared Linux hosting is usually the best, most flexible fit for most website projects.

Let’s look at 1&1 hosting vs. GoDaddy based on pricing, features, performance, usability, and customer service.

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1&1 hosting and HostGator are two of the oldest and biggest hosting brands in the world. I wanted to compare 1&1 Hosting vs. HostGator specifically after receiving several reader questions about the 1&1 brand (mainly b/c 1&1, like GoDaddy does a ton of advertising).

*Editor’s Note – this comparison was originally published in early 2014. It’s been revised throughout as of May 2016.

Many of my sites (this one uses InMotion VPS) run on HostGator hosting (see HostGator’s plans here), and I’ve had the opportunity to use 1&1 hosting (see 1&1’s plans here) with several client sites, in addition to a recent side project that uses 1&1 hosting. After using each for quite a while, here’s my experience with how 1&1 and Hostgator compare on pricing, features, performance, usability, and customer service.

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1&1 is one of the largest brands in the Internet services industry, and I get a lot of reader questions about what their hosting product is like. I’ve worked with 1&1 web hosting several times for clients, and recently bought a hosting package for a separate project I’m running. Here’s my first 1&1 web hosting review in a series that looks at their hosting product overall & in comparison with other top hosts.

Check out 1&1’s current plans & pricing here.

This review was originally published in early 2014. It’s been revised throughout as of May 2016.

1&1 offers a wide range of products from domain names to hosting to website packages. 1&1 is actually one of the oldest web hosting companies – founded in 1988. And they are also one of the more aggressive advertisers with full-page ads in magazines and TV spots. Anecdotally, I think only GoDaddy rivals them in terms of mass-market advertising and brand awareness.

But big brand doesn’t always mean a good product – and that’s one thing I wanted to look into with a full 1&1 web hosting review.

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Arvixe is a web hosting brand owned by Endurance International. They offer a full spectrum of hosting services from shared hosting to dedicated servers (even Windows hosting).

They have been around since 2003, and made their name in the mid-2000s with the ability to choose between US and European data centers. They were purchased by Endurance in 2014.

Their datacenter is located in Austin, TX. Like most shared hosting companies, Arvixe also provides email, a website builder, and various complementary services to web hosting with 24 hour support and a 60 day money back guarantee.

You can check out Arvixe’s plans and current pricing here.

I’ve had several readers email to ask my opinion about Arvixe, so I decided to give them a shot in my recent shopping tour of entry-level web hosts.

Here’s my Arvixe Hosting review – structured with pros & cons based on my experience as a customer.[Continue Reading]

DreamHost is one of the largest and most established hosting companies online. They have been operating since 1997 (positively ancient by digital standards) and have grown to serve more than 1.5 million websites and 400,000 customers across the globe.

They are independent and employee owned (ie, they aren’t another Endurance International or GoDaddy brand). They are also one of the longest supporters of open source and community built software (ie, WordPress, etc).

DreamHost offers a full-spectrum of hosting solutions from Shared (most common) to VPS to Cloud – and even a specialized WordPress offering along with complementary services like email and domain management. You can check out their plans here (use promo code SLEEPY20 to get $20 off).

Check out DreamHost’s current plans & pricing here.

But older and employee-owned doesn’t mean they are a best fit for everyone. While moving one of my side projects off an old HostGator VPS, I took the opportunity to give DreamHost’s shared hosting plan a try.

Here’s my DreamHost Hosting review – structured with the pros, cons and direct comparisons to competitors based on my experience as a customer.

Skip to direct comparisons or skip to the conclusion.[Continue Reading]