Choosing The Right Website: Web Hosting, Ecommerce Platform Reviews & More

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.

View InMotion’s current plans & pricing here.

InMotion Hosting positions themselves as one of the few large, stable hosting companies that is not owned by Endurance International – a holding corporation for many well-known hosting brands (including a few that I use for sites like HostGator, Bluehost, and iPage) that has the breadth, resources, and expertise to serve websites for businesses, organizations, and long-term projects.

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 & full InMotion Hosting review with next steps based on my experience there and at other providers as a customer & consultant.

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.

You can check out FatCow’s plans & pricing here.

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.

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 accounting to email to digital storage to online security and much more.

See GoDaddy’s Current Plans & Pricing…

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 their “WordPress Hosting” product.

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.

“GoDaddy vs. HostGator?” is a very common question for anyone researching hosting options.

GoDaddy and HostGator are two of the largest hosting brands in the world. And they are owned respectively by the two of largest web services companies in the world (GoDaddy Group and Endurance International).

See HostGator’s Current Plans & Pricing

See GoDaddy’s Current Plans & Pricing

They are both “go-to” brands for business owners looking for accessible, affordable hosting. And yet – they are different companies with different brands. And when you are choosing a website host – you still have to end up choosing.

I have current clients who use (and like) GoDaddy hosting. 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 GoDaddy and HostGator, I’ll try to break down the differences that I’ve highlighted 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 GoDaddy vs. HostGator… [Read more…] about GoDaddy vs. HostGator Web Hosting Comparison

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 was asking 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.

Skip to the conclusion & next steps here. [Read more…] about Web.com Hosting Review: Pros, Cons & Alternatives

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.

See Bluehost’s current plans & pricing.

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.

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.

“GoDaddy vs. iPage” is a pretty common question for anyone researching their options for web hosting.

GoDaddy and iPage are two of the best known budget hosts in the world. And they are owned respectively by the two of largest web services companies in the world (GoDaddy Group and Endurance International).

View GoDaddy’s Current Plans & Pricing

View iPage’s Current Plans & Pricing

They are both “go-to” brands for business owners looking for simple, affordable hosting. And yet – they are different companies with different brands. When you are choosing a website host – you still have to end up choosing which company to go with.

I have current clients who use (and like) GoDaddy hosting. Although this site runs on InMotion Hosting (which I’ll mention later) – I have also used iPage for a couple small projects. I wrote a full iPage review here.

In this comparison between GoDaddy and iPage, 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 hosting on a budget quiz here).

Let’s dive into GoDaddy vs. iPage… [Read more…] about GoDaddy vs. iPage Web Hosting Comparison

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.

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

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.

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.

You can check out WP Engine’s current plans & pricing here.

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.

Skip to the Conclusion & Next Steps

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.

[Read more…] about WP Engine Review: My Pros & Cons of WP Engine WordPress Hosting