Shopping around for a web host is a little like looking for a new appliance. You need to look into it thoroughly because once you start using it you will not want to give it back and go start up with another one. There are so many to look at and they are all different prices. They have different options that they offer too and you need to understand which is important before you settle down with one.

Price. It would be nice to say that it doesn’t matter, but let’s face it the bottom line really is the value and cost of the service. But be careful, don’t just settle for a web host that doesn’t meet your needs to save a few dollars, in the long run this can be a costly mistake.

Space. The more space the better and unlimited in the best. You can’t be sure when you are just starting out how much space you will need, but if you are posting pics than you better make sure that you have extra room, plus as your business grows so will your website, making it even more important to make sure that you have plenty of space or that you can get extra from your hosting company for only a little bit extra per month.

Another requirement for a business site is uptime. Some sites will close down for a variety of reasons very regularly. If you have customers going to your site to shop, they will likely go to another site if yours is down. Every site will have to be shut down occasional for maintenance. 90% of uptime is good, don’t take any less than that.

When you are setting up your site you will need to use tools to do it. You want to see if they have tools that you can use for doing this. It is very nice when the tools are included in the price. If you want to know exactly what your web host will cost you then you have to ask about what tools they have for you.

The php hosting that you choose can make the difference between having a effective website or one just for silliness. If you are having the site for business you will want the best web hosting that you can afford.

Brilliant!

Normally, I am not given to spending time reviewing things just for the sake of it. Some things, however, are so good, you feel the whole world should know.

In a word, AwardSpace hosting is absolutely brilliant. I am a free user, using a sub-domain of AwardSpace. I hopped over at least five different free web hosts before settling on this one. Each of the ones I rejected had show stopping reasons for rejection: speed or reliability issues, lack of critical features, forced ads or something else. AwardSpace has no such problem.

My site is a personal blog - not at all mission critical. It’s a self-installed WordPress platform, which comes with plenty of niggles on other services: missing PHP modules, misplaced CGI folders, draconic file size limits and some file format blocked altogether. On AwardSpace, it was a breeze.

AwardSpace offers excellent tech support. Replies are quick, to the point, and resolved more quickly than most companies even register a support request.

The feature offerings themselves are extremely generous: a fair amount of webspace and bandwidth. Even these are not set in stone - I remember going over my monthly bandwidth limit due to an influx, and AwardSpace admins very kindly reset my limit.

There are two slight blemishes on an otherwise perfect system: the hosting control panel does not feature very sophisticated file managers or back up methods, and they have a fancy (and un-published) list of ‘bad words’ which causes 404 errors to appear when present on a particular page. While I understand that the second of the two helps prevent abuse of the free hosting system, I do wish they would, sometimes in the near future, implement a system of ‘trusted’ users for whom they could waive that issue.

Conclusion: I’ve been on AwardSpace since July 2008. And I have yet to see a reason to persuade me to look elsewhere.

Biggest Pro: Brilliant support eco-system
Biggest Con: The ‘bad words’ filtering system

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http://www.LunarPages.com

The LunarPages web hosting company is successfully managed by Ron Riddle since its inception in the year 2000. The company boasts of over 100,000 satisfied customers and has two datacenters; one in Los Angeles, California and the other at Las Vegas, Nevada.

The company is instrumental in providing reliable hosting solutions at affordable price structures and offers a robust dual gig-E network. In fact, LunarPages was awarded Best Web Host 2006 for their unmatched reliability, quality, and customer support. The company has a number of web hosting options to choose from to cater for a wide customer base in terms of requirements and pricing structure.

Their most basic web hosting plan is priced at $6.95 per month and is an ideal plan option for new webmasters, bloggers & small businesses requiring e-commerce. This plan comes with 24/7 quality customer support and its key features include $700 worth CoffeeCup design software free of cost, 350 GB storage, 3500 GB bandwidth per month, an online control panel, unlimited MySQL and postgre SQL databases, up to 10 add-on domains, unlimited FTP accounts, Ruby on Rails, PHP, PERL, PYTHON and much more.

The second level Business hosting plan is priced at $21.95 per month and is an ideal plan option for businesses. This plan comes with 24/7 quality customer support and its key features include $700 worth CoffeeCup design software free of cost, unlimited storage, 3500 GB bandwidth per month, an online control panel, unlimited MySQL and postgre SQL databases, up to 10 add-on domains, unlimited FTP accounts, Ruby on Rails, PHP, PERL, PYTHON, customizable error pages and much more.

The Windows hosting plan is an ideal option for sites running ASP.net requiring the Windows platform. This plan is priced at $8.95 per month and requires no set up fee. This plan comes with 24/7 quality customer support and its key features include $700 worth CoffeeCup design software free of cost, up to 5000 MB of storage, 400 GB bandwidth per month, an online control panel, unlimited MySQL and postgre SQL databases, 1 add-on domain, CGI, PHP, PERL, customizable error pages and much more.

The VPS (Virtual Private Server) hosting is a good choice for websites with high traffic & resource requirements. This plan again comes with priority 24 hour support. The plan is priced at $39.95 per month and requires no set up fee. Its key features include a free domain name for life, 20000 MB storage, 1000 GB bandwidth per month, a Virtuozzo power panel, Plesk 8.1, flexibility to host unlimited sites and much more.

All plans include a 30-day money back guarantee. The company is successful in putting their customers’ business online in a secure and efficient environment, with reliable dual-core processors for an efficient back up.

Customers can contact by phone or fax as well as through a support ticket. Their international number is 714-521-8150 (outside US and Canada) and at 714-521-8150 (for USA and Canada). UK customers can call 0800-072-9150.

Altogether, LunarPages offers reliable and superior services and a perfect platform to set up your website.

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http://www.IXWebHosting.com

IX Web Hosting has proved to be reliable hosting providers and have successfully been in this business since 1999, and have over 200,000 domains hosted in their own data center in Hopkinsville, KY. Over the years; the company has witnessed tremendous growth and a marked improvement especially in their performance in terms of reliability as well as customer service. The company has won the #1 Web Host of 2003 and 2004 by the Webmasters of TheHostingChart.com. Their website is professionally-designed, offer very attractive and affordable hosting plans to web users, and offers tremendous customer service.

Their hosting plans offer their customers excellent value for money. Their payment options range from monthly to yearly and include a 2 year billing cycle as well. The longer the billing cycle, the higher the discount that is offered.

Their most basic plan called the “expert plan” starts at $3.95 per month and is only available for Linux. It includes impressive features like a 300GB web space, 3,000 GB data transfer, allows 2 domains and 100 sub domains. Their second plan is called the business plan which includes 8 domains, 500 GB of disk space, 3500 GB data transfer and allows up to 300 sub domains and is priced at $6.95 per month. The third plan called the Unlimited Pro plan offers best value for money and is priced at $12.95 per month. This includes unlimited disk space, 4,000 GB of data transfer, 16 domains and unlimited sub domains. Customer support is available for all its esteemed customers 24/7. They additionally offer a 100% money-back guarantee which includes the set up fee.

Their services have thus far been extremely reliable as they claim to provide 99.9% uptime for all hosted accounts and they have a guarantee on their website proving their track record. IX Web Hosting currently employs five redundant fiber-optic loops to connect their data center. The fiber-optic connectivity is provided by Bell South,AT&T, Verizon and 2x bandwidth is redundantly served by Qwest Communications. Moreover, they are currently in the process of upgrading their connectivity for further expansion. In the web hosting arena, they are supposedly leaders in modern shared web hosting as they have a privately owned state-of-the-art data center, Connectivity through multiple ter-1 backbone providers, they are hacker-safe certified and also have Advanced Data Center Security Protocols. Their customer service is highly responsive and technically sound.

Their plans are fully compatible with Linux, Windows or MAC OS. Both LINUX and WINDOWS hosting based accounts are provided and the control panel functions flawlessly and efficiently with accounts on both platforms. Their control panel is extremely user-friendly and its basis is H-Sphere. The control panel allows users to add, remove and manage their domain names, subdomains, FTP accounts, email accounts, mailing lists, auto responders, email aliases, MIME Types, Apache Indexes, PHP / ASP configuration, mySQL, PostgreSQL and MSSQL databases, SQL database users, canceling and resuming their subscription and reporting trouble tickets from one interface. The usage is quite speedy and reliable and an extremely informative and extensive customer guide is available which constitutes detailed information and explanations on account usage and related data.

Customers can access customer support either by phone, live chat or the ticket center. Support is available 24/7. Customers can call their toll-free number at +1-270-707-2051 (International) or +1-800-385-0450.

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http://www.ANHosting.com

The web hosting company AN Hosting, Inc. began its operations in the year 2001. Today it has grown exponentially into a muti-million dollar web hosting company. The company promises to offer reliable and an ideal hosting experience coupled with a 30 day money back guarantee, 99.9% guaranteed uptime a well as 24/7 email and phone support.

Anhosting is a member in good standing with the BBB online. Their flagship web hosting plan called The Mega Plan is specifically designed to fit any budget and website requirements. Their web hosting prices start with a basic package of $6.95 per month. An all inclusive package, it offers abundant disk space, data transfer and requires no set up fee. Under this package; customers get 250,000 MB of disk storage, 2,500,000 MB of bandwidth, ability to host 20 domains on 1 account, free domain for life, 2,000 FTP accounts, unlimited MySQL databases and much more. Other attractive features include PHP, MySQL, Ruby on Rails, Python, CGI-bin, advanced e-commerce features, unlimited email accounts and much more.

In case you want more features; the Mega Plan is an ideal option. This plan offers 300,000 MB of disk storage, 3,000,000 MB of bandwidth, ability to host 30 domains on 1 account, 4000 FTP accounts, unlimited sub domains, unlimited MySQL databases and much more. Other attractive features include PHP, MySQL, Ruby on Rails, Python, CGI-bin, advanced e-commerce features, unlimited email accounts and much more. This plan is priced at $9.95 per month and requires no set up fee.

In addition to customer endorsements, the company is also the recipient of numerous awards including; Best Web Host by Web Hosting Directory, Top 5 Web Host by TopHosts.com and CNET user recommended Award. Support from Anhosting includes 24-hour support, a toll free phone number and a live chat.

The company now boasts three offices in two countries, their reputation for customer service and reliability remain its forte. The website is not complex and easily navigable. It is a well organized and professional website without any bells and whistles attached. The control panel used is Cpanel, is extremely user friendly with nice features. Customers can view the Cpanel demo to get a feel of it. The company can be contacted by mail, a 24/7 hotline number, a local number, toll-free number, email, toll free fax and live chat.

In totality, the company offers advanced and reliable web hosting solutions and has thus far built itself a substantial credibility.

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http://www.NetFirms.com

Netfirms, Inc. is one of the leading providers of web hosting, domain name, e-commerce, e-mail, e-marketing services as well as technology solutions. Their diverse customer base includes established businesses, large corporations as well as small home offices and families. Their dominant traits include quality services and reliability.

NetFirms offers web hosting for almost all levels and their most attractive feature is its mot affordable “Plus Plan” priced at just $4.95 per month. His plan is highly affordable and is an ideal choice for family, hobby websites or blogs. Although this happened to be a no-frills plan - features like no e-commerce features, a few email perks, no database; their services comprise of the essentials needed for building and posting a site, as well as offers a great uptime and high grade customer services. NetFirm’s plus plan offers attractive features like 10 GB of disk space, 500 GB monthly transfer, 10 email accounts, a personal blog, 24/7 customer service, free website design software and much more. Its advanced features include programming your website with HTML, SHTML, XHTML, PHP4, PHP5 and Perl / CGI-BIN. With their award winning control panel called the XL6, customers can manage websites, files, domains, e-mail addresses and billing preferences. Popular web applications such as Wordpress (Blogging), PicturePro (photo galleries) can be instantly installed with just a single click.

NetFirm’s advantage plan is priced at $9.95 per month and is an ideal option to manage your home office website. This plan includes attractive features like 250 GB disk space, 2,000 GB monthly transfer, 500 email accounts, 2 free domain names, e-commerce enabled shopping cart, PHP, MySQL and 24/7 superior customer service. Customer can program their websites with HTML, SHTML, XHTML, PHP4, PHP5, Ruby on Rails, Python and Perl / CGI-BIN as well as sell their products and services with Netfirms Commerce Pro.

The NetFirm’s Business plan is priced at $14.95 per month and is an ideal plan option for established businesses. The enticing features include 300 GB disk space, 3,000 GB monthly transfer, 1,000 email accounts, 5 free domain names, e-commerce enabled shopping cart, an online discussion forum, PHP, MySQL, Ruby, Google adwords, 24/7 customer services and much more. Customers have the advantage of hosting unlimited websites or domain names and are also entitled to 5 free “.com” domains. Email benefits include 1,000 POP3 or web-based e-mail accounts @yourdomain with up to 1 GB storage space per account. Virus and spam filtering is also included free of cost. Under this plan customers can create up to 50 unique FTP users with directory level access.

With all things considered; NetFirm has an impressive track record in terms of proving superior quality web hosting services, reliability and high class technical/customer support; all this; at very affordable pricing structures. Moreover, it offers a 30 day money back guarantee.

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http://www.Dot5Hosting.com

Dot5Hosting provides quality web hosting solutions at affordable price structures. Their servers are located in California and are linked to the Internet via fiber-optic connections that span more than seven diverse backbones and well-known providers including Congent, Sonet and Time Warner. As data security remains one of the prime focus; their systems include a high power UPS generator electrical backup, closed circuit monitoring and redundant air-conditioning systems. Their hosting packages cater to diverse customer requirements ranging from home users to commerce business users.

Their hosting plans start at just $4.95 per month for the 2 year plan. This includes free set up and free domain. Their 1 year plan is priced at $5.95 per month and includes free set up and domain as well. Their six month and quarterly plan is priced at $6.95 per month which includes free set up and a fee of $7.95 as annual domain fee. All plans additionally include $50 yahoo credit for web site promotion. Other attractive features include 300 GB of disk storage, hosting of up to 6 domains on 1 account, 3000 GB of monthly site transfer, POP3 email support, unlimited FTP accounts and sub domains, CGI library, FTP access, advanced multimedia features, PHP Nuke, Perl 5, Python, PHP version 4 and much more.

Besides that it offers an advanced control panel called the vDeck control panel which is extremely user friendly and offers all advanced tool to manage, monitor and create your web site. The control panel includes the following features: Host manager, web builder, Email, Applications, Power Plugins, Marketing, Reports, Settings, Startup Guide, Domain Admin, File Manager, FTP manager, databases, password protect features and backups.

For advanced users, comprehensive tools are made available for effective database management. Designing the web site with their web builder tool is a snap. vDeck’s Applications area offers a variety of features that customers can include on their site, including a chat feature, bulletin boards and ecommerce. A detailed report can be generated to know how the web site is performing. The settings area lets the customers install Microsoft FrontPage extensions, setup redirects; create custom error pages and more.

The company takes pride in its quality customer support that is offered 24/7. Live support is available by chat or phone. Other support features include ticket submission, a trouble shooter guide, knowledgebase with all related FAQs, news and downloads.

Furthermore, Dot5hosting offers a 90 day money back guarantee and quality hardware. They tilize Dell and IBM servers which run Dual Intel® Xeon processors with 2GB of DDR-RAM, fast SCSI hard drives with RAID-1 redundancy hence enhancing their reliability quotient. All their web hosting plans include ecommerce capabilities at no extra charge. Dot5Hosting provides flexible, on-demand access to network capacity of 7.2 Gigabits on an AT&T Local Services ring that is redundant and diverse. Dual access routers connect IDC to multiple AT&T IP backbone nodes via dual OC-48/OC-192 connections. Back-end connectivity and network services options available include ATM, Frame Relay, private line, IP and local-switched and circuit-switched services, with local access provided by both AT&T and other local service providers.

All things taken into consideration; the company offers valuable and quality features and services at very reasonable charges.

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http://www.HostMonster.com

HostMonster has successfully been providing hosting solutions to both business and personal websites since 1996. They offer unmatched quality services in terms of technical and customer support as well as the most enticing and leading set of features. They have a seemingly reliable and credible track record as they offer maximum guaranteed uptime, quality equipment, secure and reliable back ups, an affordable price structure and much more.

The two year contract starts at just $5.95 a month and requires no set up fee. Their shortest time frame plan is for 3 months which is priced at $7.95 per month for which the set up fee is $30. Their other pricing structures are for 6 months and 12 months that are priced at $7.95 per month (+$30 as set up fee) and 7.95 per month(no set up fee) respectively.

Customers can cancel their accounts at any time within the first one month and are entitled to a complete refund. The set up fee however, is non-refundable. Their plan priced at $5.95 per month is quite affordable and comprises of complete functionality and high grade performance. Their packages constitute an array of features with plenty of bandwidth and disk space. The $5.95 per month plan includes a huge 300 GB of disk space and 3000 GB of data transfer. Some of their other useful features also include MySQL databases (100), unlimited email accounts, CGI-Bin, CGI library, FrontPage extensions, FTP access, Perl 5, PHP, Python, Ruby chat capabilities, JavaScripts, Guest book, chat, a message forum, poll and survey software, web blogs and a host of multimedia features. A host of other features are also offered free of cost which include free domain name, free search engine submission and free drag and drop site builder. Considering all the useful features offered, the plan is definitely priced at a reasonable value.

State-of-the art technology is used to offer customers unsurpassed services which also includes 14/7 server monitoring, mirrored storage backup as well as USP power backup. Sales support is also available round the clock. They use redundant system in order to provide maximum uptime and performance. Quad Opteron Servers are used to offer high performance hosting services.

HostMonster is known for its unmatched customer services offered either by a support ticket or a toll free telephone number.

For people who are looking for an affordable plan that is reliable yet powerful, HostMonster is definitely the way to go. For more information on their services; customers can call their toll free number at (866) 573-HOST; (866) 573-4678.

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http://www.bluehost.com

BlueHost was founded in 1996 and is based in Utah. It is known for its quality web hosting plans. It offers a host of useful features and uses Cpanel with all their plans. Their hosting packages primarily help businesses and individuals get unsurpassed quality services at a minimal price. Customers get an access to quality equipment and maximum guaranteed uptime. Their packages also feature secure and reliable backups and fine quality customer services. For individuals to business owners who are looking for smooth functionality and a complete web hosting solution, BlueHost is instrumental in providing all that at an affordable price structure.

Their packages offer enticing features such as a 300 GB disk storage and a 3000 GB monthly bandwidth. Moreover, customers can host unlimited domains and subdomains. Upto 2500 POP3 or IMAP email accounts are also offered. Customers get an access to a free drag and drop site builder as well as 1000 additional FTP accounts.

Dedicated and high quality technical support is available to its customers 24/7. Their packages also include free shared SSL certificates. Their plans also support PHP 4 or 5, PERL 5, Python, Ruby on Rails, MySQL, PostgreSQL, Javascript/Ajax/DHTML and Audio/Video Streaming.

If all this is not enough; they additionally offer a free keyword marketing package and password protect directories. Everything is eCommerce enabled and also features a poll and survey software. Customers get access to email lists, unlimited email forwarders, flash/shockwave and much more. Live chat soft wares and web blogs are another bonus to its customers to enhance their business efficiency. All servers are SSL secured and the OS commerce shopping cart, Agora shopping cart, Cube cart shopping cart and Zen shopping cart are provided. MIDI files, streaming audio as well as streaming videos are all supported. Owners have the option of adding their own MIME files as well.

A strong power back up is offered which include UPS and Diesel Generator. Other alluring features include free search engine submissions, free search keyword analyzer, free search engine position report and a good storage backup. BlueHost.com additionally offers a lucrative affiliate program. For every sign-up at their website, qualified affiliates receive $65 per referral.

They use Cpanel with all their plans but also feature support for such emerging languages as Ruby on Rails. Their online demo site gives the entire low-down and related information or details.

BlueHost offers quality customer care services and hassle-free hosting services. For more information or details; customers can call their toll free number at (888) 401-HOST; (888) 401-4678.

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http://www.1and1.com

About 1and1

The web hosting company 1and1 was founded as a reseller of technology products, including an early online service, in 1992 by Ralph Dommermuth. This simply means that, it is one of the most experienced web hosting service-providers around today. The company owns & operates its own data centre with over 15000 MBit of connectivity. They employ over 150 developers & administrators & have nearly 1300 employees. 1and1 has over 3 million paying customers. At present, the company is hosting more than 4 million domain names on about 25000 servers.

Unique Hosting Option

If you sign-up for any shared hosting plan, eshop or server, then you will receive great website tools such as NetObjects, Fusion8, PhotoImpact XLSE along with many more other tools. These tools will help you to create, publish, promote & optimize your ideal website. 1and1’s exclusive software collection is packed with browsers, media players & other tools for maximizing your web presence. You can maximize the success of your website with Ranking Toolbar, a unique collection of tools to optimize your website & help you achieve the best possible position at the most important search engines. Once you have done this, use Hello Engines to submit your website to all the important search engines & directories. All the packages provided by 1and1 include this feature.

Benefits of Hosting with 1and1

1and1 provides different kinds of plans, viz. Root Server, Managed Server, Developer Package, Business Package & Home Package. If you need shared Linux Hosting or shared Windows Hosting then you can easily choose from any of the plans designed by 1and1 keeping in mind your requirements. The 1and1’s Home Package (Linux) - $3.74 pm offers everything you need to create an attractive web presence; it offers you exceptional value for your money. You get 120 GB of disk space & 1200 GB of monthly data transfer along with a free internet domain name, great software & tons of extras & all the required features.

Support Options

1and1 provides expert technical support by phone & email 24 hours a day & 7 days a week, throughout the year. You can use the in-depth FAQ section offered by the company to get additional tips or find answers to problems. It’s a great way to learn how to fine tune your website & enhance your email features amongst other things. Their server speed is fast. 1and1 is a good & reliable host especially if you don’t need a lot of support. But there is one major drawback of the company: their customer support service is just not up to the mark. It’s a little bit appalling.

Reliability

1and1 is one of the most reliable web hosting services that offers great value for your money.

Money Back Guarantee

1and1 offers 90 days money back guarantee.

Conclusion

The 1and1 has attractive web-design. It provides fast & safe hosting. The company offers economical services & the cheapest plan is provided at $3.74/month. Low price domain registration is provided by the company. Thus, you get great value for domain names. So, if you sell/park domains through their sister company Sedo.com, nobody has better deal for Cheap .com domains.

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