Web Hosting Reviews: Shared, WordPress & VPS Hosts

Liquid Web is one of the largest hosting companies in the world. They were founded in 1997 and have data centers in Michigan, Arizona, and The Netherlands.

They have traditionally focused on dedicated, VPS, and cloud hosting. However, in their recent growth push, they have expanded to offer a wide variety of products, including Managed WordPress Hosting.

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Kinsta Hosting is a rapidly growing, independent hosting company founded in 2013. Kinsta is focused exclusively on managed WordPress hosting with reliable customer support and Google Cloud-driven performance.

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FatCow is a web hosting brand owned by Endurance International. They offer a full spectrum of web hosting services from shared hosting to VPS servers to domains with unique branding.

FatCow has been around for quite a while. They started in 1998 and run out Burlington, MA – in possibly the same datacenter as their sister brand iPage.

FatCow has made their name with a specific focus on beginner and DIY website owners, and a fun, friendly brand – both of which stand out in an industry traditionally focused on developers and technical server jargon.

Like most shared hosting companies, FatCow also provides email, a website builder, and various complementary services to web hosting with 24-hour support and a 30-day money-back guarantee.

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

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

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NameCheap is an independent (ie, not owned by a big holding corporation) ICANN-accredited domain name registrar founded in 2000. In addition to domain registration, they offer a complementary spectrum of hosting services.

NameCheap also provides email, a website builder, SSLs, and various services with 24-hour support and a 30-day money back guarantee.

I reviewed NameCheap as a domain registrar here, but have received questions for years about their hosting services. Readers ask because NameCheap Hosting is really cheap – like, suspiciously cheap.

Although I like to keep my hosting and domain registration separate, I had a small project to launch, so I decided to put it on NameCheap and see how the service turned out.

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

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A2 Hosting is an independent web hosting company founded in 2003. They are based in Ann Arbor Michigan but serve hosting markets globally. A2 Hosting positions themselves as a high performance, speed-focused hosting company with excellent support.

A2 Hosting offers a full spectrum of hosting solutions ranging from shared Linux hosting (what most businesses need) all the way to cloud, WordPress, VPS, and dedicated server solutions for large, growing websites.

Like InMotion Hosting, HostPapa, GreenGeeks, and SiteGround Hosting, A2 Hosting is one of the faster growing independent hosting companies (i.e., not owned by a larger corporate holding company like Endurance or GoDaddy). They have a large dedicated fanbase in addition to some high-profile bloggers as customers.

I recently had a couple small websites that needed their own hosting accounts. Since I’ve had readers ask about A2 Hosting, I decided to give them a try.

Here’s my A2 Hosting review structured with pros and cons based on my experience as a customer.

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HostGator is one of the most well-known brands in the hosting world. They are one of the two flagship brands of Endurance International, the world’s largest web services corporation.

HostGator was the first shared hosting company that I ever used – I signed up back when they were still privately owned. They’ve changed a lot over the years in both product focus and lineup.

And yet – I’m still a customer after all these years (I have several micro-sites on a single shared hosting account). They are an incredible fit for a certain type of customer. But it pays to know their pros, cons, advantages. and complaints so that you can find the best host for your specific situation.

So let’s dive into my HostGator review. They aren’t the best fit for everyone, but here’s what I’ve liked/disliked as a customer.

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GreenGeeks is an independent, rapidly growing hosting company based in California, but with data centers across the US and Europe. GreenGeeks positions itself as a more environmentally friendly host with a focus on customer support.

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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.

They’ve been around in some form since 1998, but only recently repositioned themselves as a pure-play web 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.

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HostPapa is an independent (ie, not owned by a big holding corporation) web hosting company from Toronto, Canada. They offer a spectrum of hosting services from shared hosting to VPS servers with a focus on small business owners (rather than bloggers or online-only operators).

HostPapa started in 2006 and has seen rapid growth in the past few years.

Like most hosting companies, HostPapa also provides email, a website builder, and various complementary services with 24-hour support and a 30-day money back guarantee.

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

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

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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).

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.

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GoDaddy is one of the world’s largest “web services” companies. Although they were founded as a domain registrar, they provide a whole range of services from web hosting to website builders to accounting to email to digital storage to online security and much more.

Over the years, you’ve probably seen GoDaddy’s Super Bowl commercials, GoDaddy girls all around the Internet, and most recently their “Helping Small Business” commercials. They have brand recognition if nothing else.

With the popularity of using WordPress for setting up websites, GoDaddy has made a big product push for its “WordPress Hosting” product. In fact, they lead in marketshare for total WordPress installs around the Internet, leading even popular WordPress hosts like Bluehost.

Like any product, there will be tradeoffs, advantages, and disadvantages – depending on your particular goals, preferences, and resources. However, this product not only competes with other competitors but also with GoDaddy’s own regular web hosting product.

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SiteGround Hosting is an independent web hosting company founded in 2004. They are based in Bulgaria but serve hosting markets globally. SiteGround positions themselves as a company offering high-quality, “well-crafted” hosting solutions.

What is SiteGround Hosting?

SiteGround offers a spectrum of hosting solutions ranging from shared Linux hosting (the affordable, versatile kind used by most websites) all the way to Cloud, WordPress, and Reseller server solutions for large, growing websites.

They are one of the fastest growing independent (ie, not a brand owned by a larger corporate holding company) hosting companies. I heard about them via their growing event involvement in the WordPress, Drupal, Joomla and marketing communities.

Like my experiment with Web Hosting Hub, I recently had a couple small sites that needed their own hosting accounts, so I wanted to give SiteGround Hosting a try based on high praise from people I respect in the industry. I started that project several years ago, and have kept the account active. I originally published this review several years ago, but have refreshed & republished this post as SiteGround has changed their tools & services.

Here’s my SiteGround Hosting review – structured with pros & cons, comparisons and next steps based on my experience as a customer.

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InMotion Hosting is one of the largest independent web hosting companies in the world. They’ve been around since 2001, and have tried to develop a brand around being the “nerd’s choice” that businesses also love.

What is InMotion Hosting?

InMotion Hosting is an independent provider of web hosting services in addition to complementary website products such as domain names, website builders (example), web design, and email services. They offer web hosting services ranging from shared to VPS to dedicated along with custom products such as WordPress and Reseller hosting.

InMotion Hosting positions themselves as one of the few large, stable hosting companies that is not owned by one of the 3 large web services holding companies (ie, GoDaddy, Endurance, and Web.com) that also has the breadth, resources, and expertise to serve websites for businesses, organizations, and long-term projects.

In an industry with inherent tradeoffs between costs, support, performance, usability, control, and convenience – InMotion focuses on providing a balance for businesses, organizations, and DIYers focused on more than simple costs. The ironic piece is that a focus on balance also creates tradeoffs. That is what this InMotion Hosting review will cover.

There are a lot of InMotion Hosting reviews online – usually with user-generated reviews based on anecdotes, complaints, and personal experience.

That’s fine, but I take a different approach with pros and cons to highlight whether a particular company is a good “fit” given resources, priorities, and experience.

Since 2013, I’ve done several side-projects on InMotion in addition to consulting for clients who run projects on a range of competitor hosting companies.

In August 2015, I actually moved ShivarWeb.com to an InMotion VPS server, though several projects remain with other hosting companies such as HostGator and InMotion’s sister brand Web Hosting Hub – both of which have more “unmetered” plans and a support focus on beginner/small sites.

Here’s what I’ve found to be the pros and cons in a full InMotion Hosting review with next steps based on my experience with them and other providers as a customer & consultant.

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WPMU Dev is a long-time member of the premium WordPress software community. While they are best known for their plugins, they recently launched a new WordPress hosting product.

I’m currently a WPMU Dev member and had free access to the new hosting product. The WordPress & web hosting world is constantly evolving with new & interesting products.

Given that I use & love some of their plugins, I tried out the hosting product as well. Here are the pros, cons, use cases & alternatives for WPMU Dev hosting.

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1&1 IONOS 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 IONOS 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.

1&1 IONOS offers a wide range of products from domain names to hosting to website builder packages. 1&1 IONOS 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.

They recently merged with one of Europe’s largest cloud providers to create a new company. They’ve redesigned a lot of their products, and restructured their products.

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 IONOS web hosting review.

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WP Engine is a Managed WordPress Hosting service based in Austin, TX. They were one of the (if not the) first companies to provide managed hosting services specifically for WordPress.

While they have plenty of competition in both the general hosting and managed WordPress hosting verticals, they are still the market leader in many ways -and they have broad name recognition and cutting-edge features.

With the growth of both self-hosted WordPress and website builders, the hosting industry has become a super-confusing place.

Several of the bigger brands such as GoDaddy, Bluehost, HostGator, InMotion and SiteGround all now offer various flavors of “WordPress Hosting.”

I wrote a whole post about WordPress Hosting vs. Web Hosting.

But here’s the short version: They all vary in services provided. Some simply have WordPress-trained tech support. Some offer services such as server-side features and staging for WordPress.

And then there’s a separate level of managed WordPress Hosting where you are not really buying hosting per se – but rather services to keep your WordPress install live. Basically, a Managed WordPress Hosting service offers a menu of services tailored to WordPress at a higher price point, so that the website owner can focus less on speed + security and more on the website content + functionality.

Every competitor in the Managed WordPress Hosting has a different offering. And there is no standardized “menu” of options, but as a whole, they all compete with traditional shared Linux hosting offerings and customized WordPress hosting options.

Either way – that’s the field where WP Engine plays. It’s confusing, yes, but it’s important to understand before making apples to oranges comparisons.

There are a lot of WP Engine reviews online – usually with user-generated reviews based on anecdotes and personal experience. That’s fine but I take a different approach. This review will look at the pros + cons of WP Engine in the context of all web hosting options to see who it is a “best fit” for.

I’ve used WP Engine for various projects since 2012. I don’t use them for my primary sites right now (see conclusion), but I do have a current client on WP Engine who absolutely loves them. Here’s my WP Engine review structured as pros and cons.

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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 more than 10 years.

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.

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So you’re looking into using Cloudways as your hosting provider, and you’re wondering how they stack up against the competition.

But hold on one second.

I tested out Cloudways for a client project because they have gotten really good press for creating a truly unique product in a pretty staid industry.

As with any unique product, they’ll need a bit of background on the web hosting spectrum.

Let’s talk about the difference between cloud hosting and traditional shared hosting.

Usually your website files live on a part of a server that you rent from a hosting company (hence “shared” hosting). A cloud is an entire network of data centers that host website files in a distributed & decentralized fashion. Your files are deployed “everywhere” in a way of speaking. You just rent the resources on the network needed to host & deliver your files.

Imagine real-world housing for a second. Traditional hosting is like buying a house, townhouse or condominium. You buy it and you can do whatever you want. It’s cheap and predictable. But if your entire extended family shows up one day – you might have some issues hosting everyone. Cloud hosting is like having access to any house anywhere in the world whenever and wherever – you just have to pay per night for whatever house you use. It’s more expensive day to day, but when your entire extended family shows up one day – it’s a pretty simple, quick fix. You just get the 12 bedroom house for the night and no one is the wiser.

The actual cloud is built by the biggest tech companies in the world. There are not that many. Amazon is the biggest. They are closely followed by Google, Microsoft, Oracle, and IBM along with a few smaller ones like Digital Ocean.

With cloud hosting, you have more access to guaranteed resources than on shared hosting.

On shared hosting, you have a set amount of resources on a specific server that also has a set amount of resources. For example, you might have 1GB of Memory dedicated to you on a server that has 10GB of memory in total.

But suppose there are 10 customers on that shared server, each with 1GB of memory. 9 of those customers start using a full 1GB of their allocation – sometimes a little bit over. Well, now, you can’t actually use your 1GB of memory without bringing the server done. In that case, you might get throttled or one customer’s site might get taken down. Now, a good shared hosting will have network engineers who have built out ways of balancing, but it’s the core tradeoff with the setup.

On cloud hosting, you pay per use of resources on a distributed network of servers that has basically infinite resources. Your data doesn’t live on a single server. Instead, it’s copied on a whole network all around the world. If a single server gets overloaded, another server starts returning the the data.

This is the reason why NetFlix runs on Amazon’s cloud and why Twitter runs on Google’s Cloud. Those are extreme but illustrative examples. They see huge spikes at random times during the day that only a cloud can handle.

This makes cloud hosting a great option for websites that have spiky traffic (like viral news sites or a site that goes through regular launches) and doesn’t want to commit to a set amount of resources that may or may not be guaranteed.

But cloud hosting is traditionally expensive and very technical to set up, which can make it not make sense for a lot of DIYers and small businesses. The time & money to get it configured *just* right is out of reach for most businesses.

And that’s where Cloudways comes in.

[Read more…] about Cloudways Hosting Review: Pros, Cons, and Alternatives

Hostwinds is an independent, US-based web hosting company who’s been around since 2010. They boast inexpensive pricing and excellent customer service, and like most hosting companies, also provide email, website builders, and domain services in addition to basic web hosting.

I’ve had several readers email to ask my opinion about Hostwinds, so I decided to give them a shot for a small project.

Here’s my Hostwinds review — structured with pros & cons based on my experience as a customer.

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HostMonster is a web hosting brand owned by Endurance International. They offer shared Linux hosting (what nearly all starter website owners need) in three plans in addition to VPS and Managed servers. Like most hosting companies, HostMonster also provides email, a website builder, and various complementary services to web hosting.

Their datacenter is located in Provo, Utah within (what appears to be) the same facilities as their sister brand Bluehost. In fact, a large part of their brand is a replica of Bluehost and JustHost.

One of my oldest clients uses HostMonster, but until now I’ve never written anything about them. Here’s my HostMonster Hosting review – structured with pros & cons based on my experience both as a customer and consultant to a customer.

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Hostinger is an independent, European web hosting company who has grown rapidly in just over a decade. They are also the parent company of the 000Webhost, Niagahoster and Weblink brands. In 2017, Hostinger reported 29 million users.

Like most hosting companies, Hostinger also provides email, a website builder, and various complementary services with 24-hour support and a 30-day money back guarantee.

I’ve had several readers email to ask my opinion about Hostinger, so I decided to give them a shot for a small project.

Here’s my Hostinger review — structured with pros & cons based on my experience as a customer.

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Just Host is a web hosting brand owned by Endurance International. They offer a standard selection of Linux-based web hosting solutions from shared hosting to VPS to reseller servers, though they focus on marketing their shared hosting solution (which is what most website owners need/want).

Their datacenter is located in Provo, Utah within (what appears to be) the same facilities as their sister brand Bluehost. Like most shared hosting companies, Just Host also provides email and various complementary services to web hosting.

I have a marketing client who uses Just Host, and I also gave them a try myself while shopping for a discount home for a WordPress-based side project.

Here’s my Just Host Hosting review – structured with pros & cons based on my experience as a customer (and consultant to a customer of Just Host).

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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.

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.

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FastComet is a 9 year old independent web hosting company headquartered in San Francisco, USA. Their team and services span the entire globe. They focus on shared & cloud hosting services with a focus on predictable pricing & fast customer support.

FastComet has been in the hosting business for over 9 years, first providing professional services to private and business clients before launching their own public cloud hosting service in 2013. Their core offering is an SSD Cloud Hosting solution that is “one of the most accessible and affordable on the Web Hosting Market”, and are backed by a 24/7 support team of real people.

Due to their pricing and rapid growth, I’ve 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 FastComet Hosting review – structured with pros & cons based on my experience as a customer.

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Web.com is a web hosting & website builder brand owned by the Web.com Group. They are one of the largest and oldest brands in the industry. The Web.com Group also owns brands like Network Solutions, Register.com and 1ShoppingCart.

Along with GoDaddy, they have some of the highest brand recognition in the general public due to their huge investment TV, radio, billboard and traditional advertising. In Atlanta, I’m pretty sure they’ve bought a significant portion of the bus stop ads. They also sponsor the 2nd tier professional golf league in America.

That kind of offline advertising plays to their core marketing message as the one place to get your website, online marketing and everything to go with it. Though technically speaking, Web.com offers only entry-level hosting & a DIY website builder application with upsell marketing services.

You can check out Web.com’s plans and pricing here.

Due to my skepticism from their offline ads, I’ve never previously tried Web.com. But after a friend asked about them, I decided to give them a try with a small trial website.

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

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eHost is a web hosting brand owned by Endurance International. They offer shared Linux hosting (what nearly all starter website owners need) in the form of single unlimited plan. They have been around for a while, but were only recently relaunched by their parent company.

Their datacenter is located in Houston, TX within (what appears to be) the same facilities as their sister brand HostGator. Like most shared hosting companies, eHost also provides email, a website builder, and various complementary services to web hosting.

You can check out eHost’s plan and current pricing here.

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

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

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