Web Hosting Recommendations?

Life Technology
1

I’ve been looking for a web hosting company recently because the prices keep getting lower and lower, so now it’s finally affordable for me to get an ad-free website. But I still don’t want to pay more than $50 a year.

Here’s the ones that I’ve found so far which are less than $50 a year, in order of yearly price:

  1. E Host One: $24.00 a year
  2. Dot Easy: $25.00 a year
  3. Easy Space: $46.40 a year
  4. Go Daddy: $46.87 a year
  5. 4 Cheap Domains: $47.40 a year
  6. E Host One: $47.40 a year (a different plan than #1 above)

Here’s the details about these six different web hosting plans:

E Host One
Website: ehostone.com/dollarplan.html
$1 / month, $12 / year
Total amount you have to pay to sign up for one year: [color=red]$24.00[/color]
Setup fee: Free
Web space: 100 MB
Data transfer (bandwidth): 8 GB / month
Domain name registration: $12 / year
Domain name transfer: $12

of Sub-domains: 10

FTP access: Yes

Dot Easy
Website: doteasy.com/Services/WebHosting/Zero/
$0 / month, $0 / year
Total amount you have to pay to sign up for one year:
…if you get a new domain name: [color=red]$25.00[/color]
…if you already have a domain name: [color=red]$35.00[/color]
Setup fee: Free
Web space: 100 MB
Data transfer (bandwidth): 1 GB / month
Domain name registration: $25 / year
Domain name transfer (domain forwarding): $35

of Sub-domains: None

FTP access: Yes
POP3 E-mail accounts: 10
POP3 E-mail data storage: 5 MB / account
Domain Locking: $7.45 / year
Shared IP number
Domain Forwarding: Free

Easy Space
Website: easyspace.com/services/hosting_gold.htm
$3.87 / month, $46.40 / year
Total amount you have to pay to sign up for one year: [color=red]$46.40[/color]
Setup fee: Free
Web space: 500 MB
Data transfer (bandwidth): 10 GB / month
Domain name registration: Free
Domain name transfer: Free

of Sub-domains: Unlimited!

FTP access

Go Daddy
Website: godaddy.com/gdshop/hosting/ … %2B&ci=146
$3.95 / month or $37.92 / year
Total amount you have to pay to sign up for one year:
…to get a new domain name: [color=red]$47.12[/color]
…if you already have a domain name: [color=red]$46.12[/color]
Setup fee: Free
Web space: 500 MB
Data transfer (bandwidth): 25 GB / month
Domain name registration: $8.95 + $0.25 = $9.20 / year
Domain name transfer: $7.95 + $0.25 = $8.20 / year

of Sub-domains: ?

FTP access
Shared IP number
POP3 E-mail accounts: 100
Maximum Disk space of each POP3 E-mail account: 100 MB

Cheap Domains
Website: securepaynet.net/gdshop/hos … oor&ci=132
$3.95 / month, $47.40 / year
Total amount you have to pay to sign up for one year: [color=red]$47.40[/color]
Domain name registration: Free
Domain name transfer: Free
Setup fee: Free
Web space: 500 MB
Data transfer (bandwidth): 25 GB / month

of Sub-domains: ?

POP3 E-mail accounts: 100
FTP access
MySQL databases: 1
Shared IP number
Site Statistics: only if you pay $1.49 / month extra

E Host One
Website: ehostone.com/twodollarplan.html
$2.95 / month, $35.40 / year
Total amount you have to pay to sign up for one year: [color=red]$47.40[/color]
Setup fee: Free
Web space: 250 MB
Data transfer (bandwidth): 10 GB / month
Domain name registration: $12 / year
Domain name transfer: $12 / year
Sub-domains: 100
POP3 E-mail accounts: 100
MySQL databases: 5
Frontpage extensions
FTP access

I’d like to hear people’s opinions about which of these web hosting plans they think is the best. Also, if you know about any other web hosting plans which are less than $50 a year, please let me know about it.

BTW, the kind of website I want to make is my personal homepage to share pictures of my baby and have my own blog.

2

I can’t compete with the bigwigs (yet :smiley:), but my research told me you don’t want to pay less than $5USD/month for hosting (generally speaking). Take the time to do the research and find out how reliable a host is (their uptime), what their tech support is like, and the like.

Here’s a good place to find out:
webhostingtalk.com/

I can easily give you a custom plan for under $50 a year, but your not going to get 25GB of bandwidth (25GB of bandwidth for under $50 a year is definitely overselling).

If you know how much space and bandwidth you think you’ll need I can quote you a price. My current site (which has a blog and photos for home, plus a bunch of misc. stuff) is currently at 43MB disk space usage and rarely gets close to 1GIG bandwidth for the month (the only time I did was when I hosted a bunch of photos from the Happy Hour at the Tavern), it’s usually around 500megs.

My hosting is also more flexible (unlimited email addresses, unlimited MySQL databases, add-on domains allowing you to host more than one domain on one account, etc.)

I just haven’t officially opened up my doors yet, but I do have (I hope) happy customers. Thanks for the opportunity to throw a sales pitch :smiley:.

miltownsalesman

3

hmm. I need one soon too.

I use godaddy for domain registrations. seems good. still like Verisign for their web UI.

thanks for the list. I’ll probably just try godaddy and see how it goes. Or maybe a blog like typepad.

4

Honestly, check out webhostingtalk.com/ and look up those companies listed. You’re better off spending the time finding a host that will be suitable for you now, than waiting until problems arise (and you have to look again and move all your stuff, it’s not fun :P).

What ended up getting me to switch hosts was not being able to host more than one domain on one account (most hosts don’t let you). When I asked my previous host about it they told me to just buy another plan for my new domain :stuck_out_tongue: (at 9.95US I wasn’t too keen on that).

After all my searching I went with:
Hostgator.com <- My affiliate link :smiley:.

Their phone support is OK, but support via email has been very good. I can make you (or anyone) a custom plan to fit any budget.

Here’s another site I found to be very informative: whreviews.com/

He gives you tips on how to look for a good host and things to consider when shopping.

5

Miltownkid, thanks for offering to host my website, but before I make a decision, I need to know the details like I listed above (amount of disk space, bandwidth, number of subdomains, setup fee, etc).

Also, thanks for telling me about HostGator, but they charge $6.95 / month + $15.00 / year to register a domain name. So that would be $98.40 / year! That’s twice as much as I wanted to spend! (My budget is $50 per year.) Well, it’s nice that they would let me have 3.5 GB, but I think 500 MB would be plenty of space, so I think I should be able to find something more cost effective.

By the way, I’ve noticed that most cheap web hosting plans say that my website would have a “shared IP address” or “dynamic IP address”, but the more expensive plans say that it would be a fixed IP address. I’d like to know what the difference is, and whether it’s worth it to pay extra to get a fixed IP address. (I guess they are really talking about the IP number that my IP address refers to, since my IP address (e.g., http://www.marknagel.com) would be fixed, of course.)

6

I’ve been very happy with GoDaddy’s domain name service but I’ve never hosted a site with them.

Ultimately. you never really know. A company can be great one year, and crash the next. Bottom line is, back up your entire site regulary and be ready to re-install on another host.

I host a site at iPowerWeb.com and have been very happy with their service so far (for 2+ years), but one never knows. The fact is, when you put your site on a host, they stick in on a server, naturally. Low costs hosts generally don’t backup. So, most of these companies do a great job until the server that your site happens to be on crashes.

My answer to this is to change hosts every two or three years. Why? Because that’s the average life of a hard drive.

When I sign on to a new host, I assume my site is being placed on one of their newer machines. I’ve been with IPowerWeb for going on 3 years. I’m expecting a meltdown, but it hasn’t happened.

On the other hand, I assume higher priced hosts do backup your site. And that’s the whole point, isn’t it? How secure is your site? I assume if you pay to host on Yahoo, they are backing up your site.

But for 5 bucks a month? Hey, man, get a static IP and host your own site. Then you’ll get 80 gigs plus.

7

They have ways of knowing when a hard drive is on it’s way out the door (whether a place uses them or not and how reliable the testing is, I don’t know).

I would agree with keeping regular back-ups of your site though (no matter who you’re with).

The fixed IP is usually for setting up a secure shopping cart.

Keep looking, you’ll find a host that suites you.

8

It depends on how much space and bandwidth you think you’ll need, whether you want SSH access, CGI-bin, Frontpage extensions, etc.

If you don’t know what any of that means, you probably don’t have to worry :laughing:

I wanted a personal blog site with a large photo gallery (over 500MB) so I ended up choosing SurfSpeedy because it had all the built-in scripts that I wanted. My traffic is very low so bandwidth isn’t a problem.

9

This is over your budget but I have been a Pair customer for years and can’t recommend them enough. Their customer service is amazing.

Though their cheapest plan is $9.95 a month, about double what you are asking, it might still be worth considering.

10

I’ve been using IPower Hosting for tha last few years. Good service, easy to use and pretty inexpensive. Their bootom line package is 2gigs storage and 50gb of transger.
ipower.com/webhosting_proplan.html

They will do a free set-up if you bargin with them.
I’m am in the “non-geek” class and their stuff is very user-friendly for people like me. If you have even a moderate amount of tech savy it has great potential for about anything you want to do.
Basically I pay 'em once a year and forget about it.
Except for checking the monthly reports. Good access and user panels.

11

There are times when a good host provider is a Godsend. I recently inadvertently deleted a sites database losing everything, with the most recent back-up I had being 6 months old. I felt like going and getting drunk. I opened a support ticket and they restored the database from the last back-up in less than 45 minutes. They saved me from hours of work.

12

Definitely don’t just judge by price alone, ok.

I thought along similar lines for a while, but then I was recommended dreamhost.com.

I started with their $9.95 package which really included a lot.

I particularly like their services, their unlimited email addresses and their PHP features. Also, their plans have included an increasing number of one-click installs of software that you might like, Forums, blogs, etc.
PHP wasn’t something that I thought important at first, but now i realize that it’s quite essential to me.

So don’t forget to try to factor in what your needs will be in six months or so.

Kenneth

13

When it comes to choosing your own hoster, naturally there’s a lot out there to choose from. Hosting is a highly commodized business after all. In the end, it boils down to how well you feel DIY (doing it yourself) and the service you would get if things didn’t work out. Sometimes, it’s ok to call LD for your troubles or wait for the email from tech support. Sometimes, it’s nice knowing that your hosting provider is close by and is a partner in your hosting who will give you the attention you need.

That’s why I’m a happy customer of miltownkid hosting. Great service, great tools for the customer. Besides, it’s nice to support a fellow Forumosan who’s a great guy too.

14

Thanks everyone for your advice. I agree that there really isn’t much difference in price for anything less than $10 a month because even $10 a month is less than 1% of my monthly expenses. So I decided that I’m willing to pay more if it’s for better service.

But it’s still a hard decision, and the more I’m willing to spend, the more options there are, which makes the decision even harder.

But actually, I’ve only found 7 other web hosting plans for less than $70 a year and at least 500 MB of web space.

In case you all are interested, here’s the 7 web hosting plans that I found for $50 to $70 a year, with at least 500 MB of web space (in order or yearly price):

Create a Site
Website: www.createasite.biz
$4.95 / month, $59.40 / year
Total amount you have to pay to sign up for one year: [color=red]$59.40[/color]
Web space: 2.5 GB
Data transfer (bandwidth): 40 GB / month
Domain name registration: Free (?)
Domain name transfer: Free (?)
Setup fee: Free

of Sub-domains: 10

FTP access

Dot 5 hosting
Website: http:// www.dot5hosting.com/personal.php
$5.00 / month, $60.00 / year
Total amount you have to pay to sign up for one year: [color=red]$60.00[/color]
Setup fee: Free
Web space: 1.5 GB
Data transfer (bandwidth): 50 GB / month
Domain name registration: Free
Domain name transfer: Free

of Sub-domains: 10

FTP access
Shopping Cart
Read review here: upperhost.com/dot5_web_hosting_review.htm

Pow Web
$7.77 / month, $93.24 / year
But now (until April 30th, 2005) they have a sale: 6 extra months if you sign up for 12 months. So that

15

From of the lists you’ve posted Mark, the ones that are recommendable as hosters would be: powweb, doteasy, godaddy, 1and1, ICDSoft. Since you’ve chosen Dot5 Hosting, go ahead if it makes your day. :smiling_imp:

Generally speaking, each person should take care in knowing (1) what they need, (2) what their budget is, (3) how much service (hand-holding) they require if something breaks, (4) how much expandability they’ll require down the road, (5) and how responsive they are.

Some of the hosting plans, while price-point attractive, may not offer flexibility when you get bigger. Or they may suffer in service. Or they don’t offer the tools you need to (self) manage your own website and web-design needs. Or they just don’t work.

IOW, it’s not just about the price, it seldom is.

16

I wouldn’t be able to beat any of those numbers. But, there are a lot of free hosts that have all kinds of cool features, even better than some of the ones you’ve posted (you can even have your own domain). I’m not talking about advertising pop-up free, I mean free free (or as free as free can be). I think they make their money from people upgrading when the time comes.

I really think your doing your research on the wrong site. You’ll find all kinds of stuff at (again :wink:):

webhostingtalk.com/

Be sure to read the Terms of Use of whoever you choose.

17

Miltownkid, could you please tell me the websites of the companies that offer free web hosting including domain name registration, with no pop-up, pop-under, or banner ads?

Thanks in advance.

18

Well, I really haven’t made up my mind yet. If Dot 5 Hosting doesn’t have a good reputation, then maybe I should get Go Daddy instead (unless I find a free one with no ads, like Miltownkid was talking about).

Actually, 500 MB should be plenty, so now I’m starting to think that Go Daddy would be the best one. But I would really like to have site statistics. Does Go Daddy have site statistics?

19

I am also a customer of miltownkid hosting, and been very happy with the service he provides and the support he gives which has nothing to do with the hosting part. I strongly recommend you use him for any and all future hosting needs.

20

miltownkid hosting: We’re the only hosting service on the planet with no website :smiley:.

OK, here’s what I have planned for my hosting (it’s pretty set in stone, but not totally).

it’ll end up being around 299NT/month (with discounts for half year and yearly I suppose).

225MB (if more is needed, ask)
2,500MB Bandwidth (If more is needed ask)

and unlimited everything else (add-on domain, subdomains, email, MySQL databases, etc.)

“One Touch” installs of a bunch of stuff (forums, web portals, webcalendars and more)

and, uh, some other stuff.

I’ll finish getting a site up soon and if you had some specific questions I could answer them for you. I’m setting up my model based off of my previous host (www.phpwebhosting.com).

When I finish a site I’ll make an “official” announcement.

I’ll be focusing on open source solutions for small businesses and personal sites. I’ve been very pleased with the amount of opensource software available and want to share that. The opensource stuff out now is really cool, but sometimes lacks proper support or documentation.

Well, that’s a preview of something “coming soon”.