The Best Web Hosting Services
The Best Web Hosting Services
Today, we rely on the internet for everything we do. The internet has transformed as something luxury into one of the most important necessities of our life. I have a question. Do you know any businesses that don’t need the internet? In fact, it is tough, even impossible, to count any businesses that are not somehow related to the internet. What is the most obvious example? Online shopping! Now, it is just a waste of time to go out, spend hours in traffic, hang around big and busy shopping malls and finally buy what you wanted to do. No! our life is much more valuable than wasting it like this. What else?
In addition to online shopping, you will depend on the internet in many other ways. Do you want to take a taxi? There is an app for it. Do you want to hire a freelancer to manage the content of your website? Go and find someone online. Are you planning to visit somewhere for a vacation? Just book a room in an interesting remote area and enjoy your time. Do you want to participate in professional language classes but you don’t have them in your town? Go to online classes and learn whatever you want. So, can you see? Internet is everywhere.
Websites are some of the most prominent projections of the internet. Aside from social networking websites and other applications, websites constitute the main body of the internet. There are thousands of websites for whatever you think. More importantly, websites are great for businesses.
They can show their products and services, advertise, get more potential customers, communicate with them very rapidly, and make sales at the end. Strangely, not too many business websites are there. In fact, many businesses prefer social networking sites and applications because they think there are more efficient and easier to handle.
Also, businesses think running a website comes with extra costs and is a waste of time, energy, and money. We are going to argue differently here. So, are you interested in knowing about the topic? Do you want to know what web hosting services are and how they can help you? Just keep reading. Why don’t we start with a nice definition of web hosting?
What Are Web Hosting Services?
Web hosting is the most important thing for people, organizations, and businesses to have their own website. Web hosting services make sure your website is available for everyone on the internet. In fact, these services provide everything your website needs to get online. Do you know how many types of web hosting services we have? Well, there are basically four types of hosting services. Here, we are going to review them all for you.
So, all your website's files and data must be on a computer that is always connected to the internet. However, these are not just normal computers. They have to be equipped with the latest technologies. We call these computers web servers. So, when we talk about web hosting services, we are basically talking about companies with several servers in one or several locations to keep websites' files and data.
When these web servers are big enough, we will call them data centers. However, having your data and files stored on a server isn't enough. The web hosting company must provide you with software, security, support, and bandwidths. So, to put it simply, a web hosting company sells you a specific amount of space from its data centers and makes you sure that they will support your website. There are four types of web hosting services. Let's have a review of them.
Shared Hosting
In shared hosting, several websites just like you are being maintained in one server. So, it might get busy sometimes, and you don’t get the services you expect to get. However, this type of hosting is pretty cheap compared to other services. If your website is new or doesn’t have lots of traffic, shared hosting is a good solution.
So for choosing shared hosting services, consider a few things. First, the number of visitors matters a lot. If you don’t have too many visitors, go for shared hosting services. Also, as a small business, your files and data are not a lot which means not too much space on the server is required. Shared hosting services will provide it for you.
Virtual private hosting services
To understand VPS hosting better, let's compare it with shared hosting. First of all, in shared hosting, your files and data are stored along with other files and data from other websites. Accordingly, the servers' setting and operations cannot be controlled by you as others are using the same server too. On the other hand, in VPS hosting, you have your own space on a physical server partitioned into multiple private environments.
Other users are indeed on the same physical server as you. Nobody will use your space as it is yours exclusively in the same way you cannot intrude on others' space. Here, you can change settings to a certain degree as well as control and customize servers. Adding users, installing software, and turning on and off the servers are all possible. VPS hosting is a bit more expensive than shared hosting but gives you more freedom.
Cloud Hosting
First of all, let's be clear about it. Just like other types of hosting, cloud hosting relies on genuine hardware servers. Here is the difference. In dedicated and shared hosting, everything your website needs, including data and files, is stored in one server or server stack. But cloud hosting is not like that. With cloud hosting, your files and data will be stored on different servers. These networks have been conceded to each other to act as one single mega server. Everything else, including bandwidth, security, etc., is supported by different servers.
So, you might ask! Why do we need such distribution? Why do we need to store our data and files on different servers? Well, this method removes any point of failure. There are other advantages associated with cloud hosting as well. Providing redundant data storage, guarantying exclusive use of server resources, flexibility, accommodating for higher or lower traffic, and scalability are some other positive points about cloud hosting.
Also, you will pay just for the resources you are consuming, not more, not less. If your business is huge and receives too much traffic, and needs to provide the highest level of performance, you should think of cloud hosting. However, it would help if you were careful as maintain it is not very easy and requires IT, professionals.
Dedicated Server Hosting
As its name suggests, dedicated server hosting lets you have full control over the environment and avoid other users. Also, you have full root and admin access, so you can do whatever you want to do in your space. Here, the server's capacity is high, and you can control higher traffics coming to your websites. However, there is a catch here. If you don’t use your dedicated space, you will have to pay for it anyway.
This is against VP hosting services, which make you pay only for the resources you are using. Just like cloud hosting, you will need experts to keep your website going. Why? Because you have to take care of installing the operating system, adding the necessary tools for running your operations, and building a security perimeter to protect your infrastructure.
The Best Web Hosting Providers
So far, we understood that web hosting providers make it possible for your website to stay online so that people come and access your content. However, it is not that simple! Nowadays, web hosting providers must do other things as well. For example, after starting your website, you will need to fill it with content. Or, you might need to customize its look as it is appropriate for your niche.
So, you will need lots of themes, plugins, and new features for your website. A good web hosting provider considers all these needs as well. So, they have to develop a nice and professional package that satisfies you with all your needs. Fortunately, there are lots of them available right now.
Hundreds of web hosting providers are servicing people with the abovementioned tasks. So, which one is the fastest? Which one is the cheapest? Or, even more importantly, which one is the most engaging? From now on, we are going to focus on such providers and explain their pros and cons. Let's get started.
>>>Click here to try Bluehost now<<<
Bluehost
- Bluehost is a web hosting company founded in 2003 in the US.
- Nearly 1000 employees are working for Bluehost.
- This provider is very popular with new websites.
- Also, you need to know that WordPress is suggesting Bluehost. So, it means it is a huge deal.
- Bluehost has been responsible for hosting more than two million websites.
- There are four plans available on Bluehost, including basic, plus, choice plus, and pro, which cost 3.95, 5.95, 6.95, and 13.95 dollars per month.
- A good thing about Bluehost is that unlimited bandwidth is accessible through all plans.
- You will have the chance to use one free domain for 12 months.
- Bluehost offers three hosting services, including shared, VPS, and dedicated hosting, and not cloud hosting.
- Bluehost is specifically great for newcomers as navigation is very smooth and easy to learn.
- Sometimes, it gets annoying when you see too many advertisements on the Bluehost environment.
- C Panel is also handy and not difficult to use. With the C panel, you will manage all your website's data and files with FTP connections and anonymous FTP.
- There are many compatible applications with Bluehost you can download and use.
- How often does Bluehost get back up? It happens every day, every week, and every month. This might be a downside as it is not good enough to make you sure of your safety.
- What about the security? Fortunately, Bluehost does a great job in securing your website's safety. There are several options, including SSH Access, IP Blocker, SSL/TLS, Hotlink protection, and SSL/TLS Status.
- What about uptime and speed? Well! It is sometimes hard to say, but this is what we got. In terms of uptime, it is 99.95% which is considered fairly good. However, the bad thing is that Bluehost doesn’t offer a guarantee.
- Speed is a bit problematic here. The average speed for Bluehost to come up is 3.02 seconds which is not impressive at all.
- Another limitation associated with Bluehost is that all the servers are located in one place, namely Utah, US. This might not be good for some users.
- Another shortcoming with Bluehost is feeble support. Calling and Chatting online are both available, but they are not fast in responding to people's queries.
- So, should we use Bluehost? Well, it depends. If your website has too many big files like movies and videos, you have to choose Bluehost because its storage capacity and bandwidth are not limited. Also, Bluehost has a good uptime and a low price, especially for the first year. After that, the prices go up very fast. What did we say about the cons? Having bad support, too many advertisements and upsells, not having regular backups, and low speed are some of the issues you need to take care of.
>>>Click here to try Bluehost now<<<
DreamHost
- It is one of the oldest web hosting providers. It has started providing services since 1996.
- It is based in the US.
- Right now, it is powering nearly 1.5 million websites. Their number of satisfied customers is another half a million, which shows its dedication to keep them happy and make them buy more.
- In addition to shared hosting services, it offers more complex performances too.
- There are two plans, including shared starter and shared unlimited, which cost 2.59 and 4.95 dollars per month. The first one is great for people who need to run just one website, not more.
- Email storage ability is not available in the shared starter. However, you will have access to unmetered storage, websites, and email with the shared unlimited. Both plans offer unlimited traffic equipped with free SSL certificates and 24-hour support. If you apply for one to three years, you can get a nice discount.
- The backend offers only the basics, but it has a minimalistic structure that I enjoy. In particular, the side menu is great at directing you to wherever you are planning to go very rapidly.
- An exciting feature in DreamHost is that other users get their passwords and usernames. Easily, you can find roles for other users and define for them without giving them your own username and password.
- One downside of DreamHost is that the number of applications available as plugins and themes is minimal. Other apps, plugins, and themes must be installed manually, which could waste your time. However, configuring WordPress settings on DreamHost is very user-friendly.
- DreamHost gets daily backups, and you can have them every two weeks. Also, temporary backup is available too.
- Security has been taken very seriously by DreamHost. SSL certificates are free to use. Also, you can have free domain privacy.
iPage
- This web hosting company has powered nearly a million websites.
- It is from the company mega-conglomerate, which has Bluehost and Hostgator.
- Usually, iPage has only one price plan, which is called the go plan. However, you can choose how long you are going to sign up. For example, for 12 months, you have to pay 2.99 and 9.99 dollars per month for introductory and renewal prices, respectively.
- It doesn’t matter which period plan you choose; you will get the same features.
- The features you will get with this plan include unlimited storage, bandwidth, number of domains hosted, subdomains, FTP logins, MySQL database.
- Be careful with the word unlimited. Although it says all the features are unlimited, there is a maximum number you cannot pass. For example, the number of your files cannot exceed more than defined. Or, the databases cannot be bigger than 3GB. Also, there is a limitation to the email accounts as they cannot be larger than 500MB.
- iPage is very professional for ease of use. The panel is well-structured and easy to spot different functionalities.
- Features are a bit lacking here. For example, you don’t get enough 1-click installations.
- Another negative point about the iPage is that there are no backup plans unless you pay the money.
- On the good side, WordPress is rapidly and easily installed. However, you should be vigilant because iPage keeps advertising more optimized versions of WordPress, which might add to your expenses.
- Security is not satisfying as well. Although SSL is free, there are no SSH and secure FTP. Also, you don’t get the latest version of PHP, which could lead you to less-quality services. Moreover, they have removed authentication when you enter your account because it thinks that authentication is hard for people.
- Well, we said that iPage features and security are not convincing, but what about speed and uptime? This is also not good! The uptime speed is 99.87% which is one of the worst in the market.
- Another bad thing about the platform is its very slow speed. So, your user experience and SEO are going to be greatly impacted by such low speed. This is mainly because all their servers are just located in the US. So, websites located in other areas of the world could suffer greatly from low speed.
- To support you and to take care of your questions, you have the chance to do a Live Chat or call the company. However, emails are not available. There are also two problems with people on the other side of the phone. They just try to sell paid add-on. Also, it might take a while before somebody gets online and answers your questions.
GoDaddy
- GoDaddy is famous as a domain provider and email hosting, but it is a web hosting company too.
- There are millions of websites powered by GoDaddy around the world.
- It provides arrays of products including domains, website marketing, WordPress, hosting, email & office, phone numbers, and GoDaddy mobile app. You need them all for running a professional and successful business.
- GoDaddy offers shared hosting.
- What about the prices? There are four plans, namely economy, deluxe, ultimate, and maximum, that cost 5.49, 7.99, 12.99, and 19.99 dollars per month. At first glance, they are very cheap. But be careful! It is just for the first 12 months. After that, it gets much more expensive. So, the renewal prices are very high.
- GoDaddy's backend is good and well-designed. However, it is always suggesting you many different advertisements. On the other hand, the C panel works just fine.
- The worst thing about GoDaddy is that you have to pay for additional features, including email, security, certificates, backups, and storage.
- On the positive side, you will get FTP secure connection and SSH access.
- What about speed and uptime? Are they satisfying? Yes, their uptime is good (99.96%). Also, the website speed is excellent. In fact, it is 2.85 sec.
- Finally, the quality of their resources is lacking. You usually get confused when you want to find the appropriate tutorial for yourself.
- Live chat, phone support, and community forms are the way you can contact them.
Conclusion
Nowadays, more and more businesses are starting their business websites. So, they need a web hosting company to run their website. Although it is not just your hosting company, they offer a lot of other services these days.
Here, we reviewed some of the most popular web hosting services and reviewed their pros and cons. I hope you have found them easy to understand. We will come back to you again with much more content. Don’t forget to follow us on social platforms. Take care.
JeannetteZ
Your Opinion Is Important To Me
Thoughts? Ideas? Questions? I would love to hear from you. Please leave me your questions, experiences, remarks, and/or suggestions about the best web hosting services in the comments section below. You can also reach me by email at Jeannette@WorkFromAnywhereInTheWorld.com.
You might also enjoy the following blog posts:
How To Choose A Good Web Hosting Provider – 11 Easy Steps
An Insider Wealthy Affiliate vs Bluehost Review
Best GreenGeeks Web Hosting Review