To remain competitive in your industry, you’ll eventually have to take your business online. That’s why I wrote this web hosting comparison and review. The two most important things to look for in a web host are efficiency and affordability. Why?
Imagine for a moment, that your organization got featured in the news for something noteworthy. Soon after the broadcast, consumers flood the Internet to visit your website. But unfortunately for you, your web hosting service couldn’t handle the mammoth of web traffic and displays a “service unavailable’ error. Sucks, huh?
Well, that’s what could happen if you settle for less when it comes to web hosting services.
What is Good Web Hosting?
A good web hosting provider should offer support, tools, storage space and enough bandwidth to keep your website online when you receive lots of traffic! Including an easy or flexible way to upgrade critical resources such as RAM (random access memory).
There are a number of companies like Hostpapa that are able to do this in an excellent way. However, they can be a bit on the high-side in terms of investment and for some small businesses, affordability is crucial.
This is why I’m going to share some high-end but cheap web hosting companies that you should consider. But before we get to it, let’s clarify some terms that we mentioned earlier, which were support, tools, storage space and bandwidth.
Hosting Support
Hosting your website is a lot more fun when you’ve got the right support. Your provider should have a good support team in place that you can contact whenever you have any questions.
The support team should be able to assist you with some advanced setup processes that you may not know how to do yourself. You should be able to call into customer service or access a support library whenever you need help.
cPanel With Tools
Your web host should provide a control panel (cPanel) and it should have tools that you can use to improve or even build your website. Tools such as website analytics, usage reports, one-click installations of web applications such as WordPress, and others.
Storage Space
Storage space refers to the amount of space available on a hard drive. For example, if my web hosting company gives me 1 GB of storage, then I only have 1000 megabytes (MB) because 1000 MB makes up 1 GB. Do you see how this can be a problem?
If your website host doesn’t give you enough storage space, you can run out of it, which may affect the experience of your visitors. A good amount of storage space for a starter site is 10 GB or 10,000 MB.
Bandwidth
In computer networks, bandwidth is used as a synonym for data transfer rate. It’s the amount of data that can be transferred from one point to another. For example, when a user types your website address into their browser, they’ve just sent a request for data and the info is transferred to their browser for display.
Your bandwidth is limited by the amount of data that you are allowed to transfer per month. But it’s very important because much like storage space if you don’t have enough bandwidth, your website won’t serve all your visitors.
Brief Web Hosting Comparison and Review
Let’s take a look at the best web hosting companies that you can choose from. This list was put together based on affordability and reliability.
1. iPage
iPage is one of the most affordable and reliable web hosting companies in the world today, with web hosting plans starting at $2.50 per month (intro offer). They also give you a free domain name, unlimited disk space and scalable bandwidth.
With more than 10 years of experience in this industry, the company offers a wide range of web hosting services at affordable rates and comes with a lot of flexibility for hosting your site.
If you’re looking to get your business online on a budget, then this should be your first stop. Their services include support for web applications such as WordPress and Magento for eCommerce web development.
- Pros:
• Offers a huge disk space and emails.
• Affordable prices.
• Around-the-clock customer support. - Cons:
• Few advanced features for its services.
• Offers scalable bandwidth (not good because it can increase your cost).
You can get great web hosting services at pocket-friendly rates with this company if you’re on the market for cheap but reliable web hosting options. However, if you’re looking to host an established website or anticipate a lot of web traffic, you should consider looking elsewhere due to their bandwidth cap.
2. BlueHost
Blue Host is one of the leading companies in the provision of cloud-based online solutions. It was established in 2003, adjacent to the Wasatch Mountains (Utah). The company offers great support and their up-time speeds are excellent.
Being among the top 20 web hosting companies in the world does attest to the quality of services being offered by them. The organization powers over 2 million websites worldwide and offers affordable hosting rates starting at $3.95 a month.
- Pros:
• Blue Host offers Affordable Prices.
• It offers Unlimited bandwidth, email and hosting space.
• Free domain name, free setup and a host of other free add-ons.
• 24/7 Customer Support.
• 99.9% uptime. - Cons
• There’s Limited CPU Usage of up to 10%.
• It charges a fee for migration.
BlueHost is a decent company that offers a lot of features for its web hosting services with an unlimited resource on almost everything. It’s easy to use and has great customer support.
3. HostGator
HostGator is one of the world’s largest providers of website hosting and other related services. It was established in 2002 at the Florida Atlantic University. The company has since grown and is now one of the leading providers of VPS (virtual private servers), dedicated and shared web hosting.
Compared to the other hosting companies on this list, HostGator is known for its unique hosting plans, designed to fit the needs of various groups of consumers – hatchling, baby and business plans.
There are also a number of other great features like free dedicated hosting IP, SSL license and website building tools, among others. It’s one of the cheapest web hosting companies in the world, yet extremely reliable!
- Pros:
• Upgrading from one plan to another is free.
• Server reliability.
• Eco-friendly hosting services.
• Affordable hosting plans.
• 45-day money back guarantee. - Cons:
• The Customer Support is a bit slow.
This is a great web hosting company that you should consider for your business. They have a great reputation, offer your website room for growth and provide robust servers.
4. 1&1 Web Hosting
1&1 offers reliable and cheap web hosting that’s perfect for all kinds of businesses. The organization began in 1988 as a small German-based marketing company, under the T-online brand. At first, it specialized in offering marketing services for online businesses, quickly establishing itself as a leader in the industry.
But as PC technology improved, the company took off online. They started offering affordable web hosting, which grew over the years to include services such as domain name registration, email and messaging services.
Its products range from varied web hosting plans, domain packages, dedicated servers and virtual private servers among others. 1&1 has over 19 million registered domain names.
- Pros:
• Affordable Prices.
• A wider range of products.
• 24/7 customer support. - Cons:
• Problems with the user experience.
• Issues with the performance of some products.
I’m a freelance copywriter and SEO specialist. I aim to empower individuals and businesses with impactful marketing solutions and insights. In my downtime, I recharge by embracing the beauty of nature or cherishing moments with my loved ones. If you found value in this post, please consider sharing it.
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