web hosting companies.

[macgig]

what does everyone use or recommend? I use namecheap now, wondering if theirs something better for what I pay now, about $38/year. I think I have a basic plan. It has cpanel which is a must IMHO.

I know liquid web is very good, but they are not cheap. a friend of mine has used them for 25 years, and their support is top notch, but he pays $50 a month and that must hosting is overkill for my needs.

 

[pigoo3]

Got to be VERY VERY careful with hosting companies. Many many of them have terrific introductory deals for new customers (just like cellphone companies & cable companies). But after you read the fine print (if they tell you the fine print)...the introductory price ends after a short time (then the monthly price increases greatly)...or to get the best introductory deal...you need to sign up for 12, 24, or 36 months...and then the introductory price still ends after that time.

$38/year I think is a pretty awesome price...that's just a little more than $3.00/month...that's pretty darn inexpensive. Even if you could get a better deal...how much would you save...50 cents/month??...not really worth the hassle of migrating to another company...especially if they charge you a fee for the site migration.

Many of the cheapest deals I have seen start at just about $5.00/month ($60/year)...and that's the introductory price...which then goes up a bunch when the introductory period ends.

Now of course if you could get more for the same price ($38/year)...from somewhere else...then that's a different story. Or if you felt you needed more (better hardware, more storage space, better support, etc.)...at maybe a slightly higher price...again...that would be a different matter.

To get the most help from this thread...you probably need to list what you currently have (type of shared hardware, hardware specs available to you, storage space you have, etc.)...then we can probably help more to compare with other hosting companies & what they offer.

- Nick

 

[macgig]

very true they all give you the first year of hosting very cheap, 2nd year they jack the price up. looking up my specs now so I can share them, great idea. I cant seem to find the specs in my area I logged in, so I have to submit a support ticket. I'll post back when I get the info.

 

[macgig]

here is what I have for the $38.88 a year. shared hosting. namecheap.com

20gb SSD accelerated disc space
unmetered bandwidth
up to 3 websites
cpanel
website builder
wordpress quick install.
US or UK data center
free whois guard
free SSL
50 email accounts
50 sql databases
50 subdomains
free .website domain
10 mailing lists
Unlimited autoresponders and email forwarders.
100+ apps with one click installs

 

[pigoo3]

That looks like a nice set of features & specs for $38.88/year ($3.24/month).

- Being able to have up to 3 sites & unlimited bandwidth is nice.
- 20gig of storage could be limiting if things get big...or if you wanted to have an aggressive automatic backup strategy.
- Many plans do include free whois guard & free SSL. But on a plan this low in cost...still great you're getting these for free.
- The included 50 email accounts, 50 databases, and 50 subdomains is also nice on such a low cost plan. These numbers are usually way more than most folks need.
- And having cPanel & a system to submit tickets is nice (again for such a low cost plan).

Only thing that might be missing is what sort of server hardware is the site running on. For a plan of this cost I'm sure it's a shared server. Usually you're told what sort of CPU's, number of cores, and amount of RAM the server has.

* How is the loading speed of your website & transitions from page to page (if it has multiple pages)?
* Does the plan include managed or unmanaged support help (can you get website help from the host company when you have questions or issues without paying extra)?

Thanks,

- Nick

 

[Raz0rEdge]

The question you need to answer is WHAT you are going to use the hosting for. For a simple blog that doesn't get much traffic, your shared hosting is perfectly fine. For an e-commerce site, less so.

 

[macgig]

I don't need a website really, just have one for fun and since the cost is cheap why not. its a wordpress blog for the most part, I like messing with wordpress and wordpress security. again all just for fun, don't have a business or eCommerce site. its linux but I don't know the server specs, guess I could ask them. the speed seems to be good for my needs, never had any big issues and the site always works. it does have free support via live chat or email. Know one even knows I have the site since I never share the URL with anyone. lol.

 

[pigoo3]

Know one even knows I have the site since I never share the URL with anyone. lol.

I'm not too surprised. You do have strong concerns related to security...and probably personal privacy as well.

You're probably a former CIA, KGB, FBI, MI6, or Secret Service agent!

- Nick

 

[macgig]

I wish I was a retired FBI Agent getting a big fat pension. but that's not my story unfortunately.

 

[ethanmarcos]

Namecheap is not bad but my first recommendation would be BlueHost, especially if you are looking for a shared web hosting plan

 

[MBAmtloin]

im using sitey dot com for my published comics, art work and comic book character. the site is free, the images don't download on macbooks like other free sites do. I need a dot com host for a html site i am finishing up and any suggestions including BlueHost and namecheap would be great!

 

[krs]

There seem to be a ton of web hosts out there - lots of competition.

When I initially chose one years ago, reliability and availability were at the top of my checklist - even before the price.

I signed up with HostPapa for three years initially at something like $80.- Cdn per year.
As Nick mentioned, when it came time for renewal, the price was bumped up - not outrageously but just enough for me to complain.
My complaint was basically - you are offering new customers now web hosting at $3.95 per month, why are you penalizing me who has been a "loyal" customer since 2008?
With cellphone providers and internet providers, they usually come back with some bs story that they can't do any better - or the last offer from my FTTH internet provider was $10.- off a $C120 monthly bill - so I switched for better FTTH service from another provider at $C35.- per month
Host Papa came back with some comment about some special billing arrangement at $3.95 per month if I extended for another three years - which I did.

I'm very happy with reliability and availability - I run an image database with now over 10000 images on it and up to 100 visitors at any one time, and the access is fast and reliable.
I know they have moved my websites, I currently have 8 websites on that same account, to a different server every once in a while - to balance the load I assume, but from the user point of view that is transparent.
@macgig - If you are happy with the current service, the price certainly looks right, I would just stay with them.
I moved my domain registration from godaddy because their prices really jumped when it came time for renewal, but for webhosting - if service and price are right, I will stay with the current provider.