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

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.

Check out HostMonster’s plan and current pricing here.

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.

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.

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

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.

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 dedicated servers, though they focus on marketing their shared hosting solution (which is what most website owners need/want).

You can check out Just Host’s plans and pricing here.

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 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).

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.

Check out DreamHost’s current plans & pricing here.

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.

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 in a full InMotion Hosting review with next steps based on my experience with them and 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 to 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 its “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.

Let’s dive into GoDaddy vs. HostGator…

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.

Check out FastComet’s current plans & pricing here.

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.

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.

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.