Web Hosting Reviews & Rating

Web Host Review: HostPapa

2008-07-10T10:11:00.002-07:00

HostPapa is one of the few web hosting companies out there that is powered by 100% Green Renewable Energy. What it means is that HostPapa uses 100% Green Renewable energy, such as wind and solar powered energy, to power their data center, web servers, office computers, laptops and office space. If you are really concerned about your environment, HostPapa is the right hosting for you!
Price 3/5
Reliability 4/5
Customer Service 3/5
Technical Support 4/5
Features 3/5
Storage Space 4/5
Bandwidth 4/5
Tech Response Time 3/5
Ease-of-Use 3/5
TOTAL : 68.9%

Reliability
HostPapa guarantees you'll get maximum uptime (99.9% uptime guarantee and 99.9% network uptime guarantee) and promises to provide around the clock/around the calendar server monitoring. They regularly perform secure backups of all your data to protect you against unexpected emergencies. But to be on the safe side, we strongly advise you to keep your own backups.
Price Value
At HostPapa, you can enjoy unlimited storage and bandwidth for unlimited sites, PLUS all Fantastico-enabled (ready website scripts) and SoHoLaunch website builder for free. On top of that, HostPapa gives you 1 free domain name and free setup fees. Plus, having the chance to brag that you're hosted by a green web host is definitely appealing.
Control Panel
All HostPapa customers will get the full benefits of cPanel, one of the leading control panels on the net. The main menu includes a real-time display of every stat and figure relevant to your web hosting account and your website's activity and performance. Various website functionalities are represented by easy-to-understand and self-explanatory icons, which will certainly help all users understand what they are all about.
Customer Support
At HostPapa, you'll get all the help from dedicated customer service agents any time you need it. Choose from phone, live chat, and email support, or do-it-yourself with the HostPapa's extensive library of helpful and easy to follow video tutorials and online help documents.

Web Host Review: AN Hosting

2008-07-10T10:11:00.001-07:00

AN Hosting has been around since 2001 and in that time, has challenged its competition at every turn. Evolving into a serious player in the shared hosting market, AN Hosting now operates out of three facilities in two countries, and shows no sign of slowing down.
Price 4/5
Reliability 3/5
Customer Service 4/5
Technical Support 3/5
Features 4/5
Storage Space 4/5
Bandwidth 4/5
Tech Response Time 3/5
Ease-of-Use 4/5
TOTAL : 73.3%

Reliability
Like many of the hosts on this list, the level of AN Hosting’s reliability was evident over the course of the review. We found the responsiveness of their servers to be excellent and were hard pressed to find complaint with this aspect of their service. They have implemented a generator in case of power failure and perform regular backups, something that more hosts should do, but tend not to.
Price Value
AN Hosting prices their single hosting plan, The Mega Plan, at about the middle of the road for shared hosting, starting at $6.95 per month. For this, you get 500 GB of web space, 5,000 GB per month of transfer, room for 20 hosted domain names (upgradeable to 750 GB of space, 6,000 GB of traffic, and 30 domain hosting for $3 more a month), a free domain registration, database access, a range of guarantees and much more. While the webspace and transfer provided may not exceed what their competitors are offering at comparable prices, it is worth noting that the features included with the plan are superb and in our opinion, more than compensate for the high but ordinary amount of web space and transfer included and in all fairness, none if any websites require more resources than this.
Control Panel
The control panel provided by AN Hosting is clean and straightforward. Like many hosts, they employ the popular Cpanel system, which should make most customers who have used previous hosts feel right at home. The performance and reliability of the control panel were fair, never dipping into the unacceptable. This is a good indicator of the stability of their infrastructure, as it is rare, even amongst the highest quality hosts, to encounter such a consistently reliable control panel.
Customer Support
AN Hosting offers 24/7 phone support and a convenient support system taking advantage of email support and a ticketing system. Their support staff is top notch, and always helpful when contacted.

Web Host Review: Vistapages

2008-07-10T10:10:00.002-07:00

Vistapages has been providing web hosting services to customers since early 2004 and are well known for their amazing inexpensive web hosting plans called the "Vista" plan -- They sure give out excellent deals! Let me tell you why! With their starter plan, "VistaDEAL", you will get UNLIMITED space, traffic and domain hosting! You'll never have to worry about being restrained on disk and transfer limitations, or worry about breaking your wallet!
Price 5/5
Reliability 4/5
Customer Service 4/5
Technical Support 4/5
Features 3/5
Storage Space 4/5
Bandwidth 4/5
Tech Response Time 4/5
Ease-of-Use 3/5
TOTAL : 77.8%

Reliability
All Vista plans come fully featured with PHP4/PHP5, CGI/Perl, Python, MySQL, PostgreSQL to just name a few. You'll also enjoy the ability to host up to unlimited domain names with one account, make use of unlimited e-mail accounts, parked domains, mailing lists, sub-domains and tons more! It's incredible at how much Vistapages gives away with just this one plan verses other hosting companies entire product line put together! Vistapages also throws in several dozen one-click, auto-install scripts, such as mailing list managers, content management systems, blogs, photo galleries and more, not to mention a free site builder for those of you who do not know how to build a web site.
Price Value
Vistapages' VistaDeal package is very affordable. The pricing break down is simple; they have four payment terms, quarterly, semi-annually, yearly and 2-year prepaid plans. With their 2-year plan, you'll be able to get the most out of each plan, PLUS 1 FREE domain name and a FREE setup fee (normal setup fee is $30). Moreover, their service comes with an unconditional 30-day money back guarantee!
Control Panel
Their control panel is based on the cPanel/WHM platform, which is a leader in web hosting control panels in today's web hosting industry. You'll be able to manage your entire account from this control panel, things like e-mail accounts, statistics, databases, custom error 404 pages and more. You'll also have access to their Fantastico script-installer, where you'll be able to install popular scripts such as Wordpress, Joomla, Mambo, OS Commerce, Zen cart and more with a simple click!
Customer Support
Vistapages comes with a full-fleet support system, telephone, live chat, helpdesk tickets, support forums and their extensive knowledgebase and help articles. If you get lost using their system, it won't be for long! With agents available 24 hours a day and 7 days a week. Testing their system, we've received a reply within 10 minutes on their help desk, under a minute on live chat and less than 30 seconds on their telephone. It's rare that we have to wait for a long time to get a response, unless the support request is very high during the day. The bottom line is, it's clear that they are serious about supporting their customers!

Web Host Review: Globat.com

2008-07-10T10:10:00.001-07:00

Globat.com has been around since 2001. Their founders have been around the web hosting industry since the very beginning and have established Globat.com as the innovators of their industry. With a focus on making web hosting easily accessible by anyone, they are known for their feature-rich package offerings and affordable pricing.
Price 5/5
Reliability 5/5
Customer Service 4/5
Technical Support 4/5
Features 5/5
Storage Space 4/5
Bandwidth 4/5
Tech Response Time 4/5
Ease-of-Use 5/5
TOTAL : 88.9%

Reliability
Since its inception, Globat.com has focused on making web hosting accessible by all regardless of the level of technical competence and its philosophy has always been "Web Hosting Made Easy" and now "Always up, fast and easy". Their data center is secure and built to high specifications to ensure even more performance and reliability for hosting customers. It is currently using OC-12 connections to the Internet and is located in Los Angeles. The state-of-the-art data center at Globat.com is equipped with the latest branded equipments from Cisco Systems, Network Appliances, Foundry and Sun Microsystems.
Price Value
Surprisingly, with the hosting plans Globat.com is offering, they have managed to keep the prices low. You can get Globat's GX01 plan for as low as $4.44 per month (first 12-month). That's unlimited storage and monthly transfer, much more than other web hosting providers, at prices that are much less than the competition. In addition, there is NO setup fee and you can even register a new domain name for free as part of the web hosting package. Other free features include web stats, email capabilities, site builders, photo gallery, blog, and much more making this the best value for your money.

Unfortunately, Globat.com offers only UNIX platform and doesn't support windows hosting. Although this is the case, we still conclude that Globat.com gives great value for your money with their current offerings.
Control Panel
Globat.com currently uses a modified PLESK control panel, one of many popular control panel systems on the market, and called it The Globat Command Console (GCC). During our review, we found that it is very easy to use and filled with excellent features such as 1-click installation of popular software programs for your website, such as a shopping cart, blog, photo gallery, message board, polls, calendar, and more. Their website builder, GloBuild, makes it extremely easy for anyone to build an impressive-looking website. They even have merchant account options for Internet entrepreneurs.
Customer Support
With phone, email and 24/7 live chat support, you can be sure to get help when and if you need it. Globat.com provides friendly and knowledgeable customer support to customers and potential customers. They are always available all the time, so you'll always have someone there to help you.

Web Host Review: iHostBig

2008-07-10T10:09:00.002-07:00

iHostBig's hosting plan includes an impressive ten dedicated IP addresses, unlimited disk storage, unlimited databases, and much more. This hosting company comes with a "BIG" backbone too; iHostBig has a brand new, state-of-the-art data center manned by its own internal network team. When creativity, reliability, and pricing matter, iHostBig is an excellent choice.
Price 4/5
Reliability 5/5
Customer Service 5/5
Technical Support 5/5
Features 4/5
Storage Space 5/5
Bandwidth 5/5
Tech Response Time 5/5
Ease-of-Use 4/5
TOTAL : 93.3%

Reliability
What makes iHostBig different is their equipment and well-manned staff. iHostBig states "If everyone offers the same thing you must become the exception by becoming the example". In reviewing iHostBig, we believe they are an exemplary "example" in the area of reliability.
Price Value
Since hosting prices are very competitive, you must consider what's included in the price. iHostBig's hosting plan may cost slightly more than some of its competitors, but their plan comes packed with some niceties that others may omit, such as unlimited subdomains, unlimited databases, two free domain names, unlimited email and ftp accounts, free site builder application, free shopping cart application, and private SSL support.
Control Panel
With a customized control panel built from a strong HSphere (www.hsphere.com) base, iHostBig is able to provide service to both Linux and Windows based platforms. The Control Panel is so well set up and simple to navigate that you can make changes to your account quickly and easily.
Customer Support
iHostBig's customer service is just a click or call away. They offer 24/7 support via telephone, email, or their very own web-based "eChat". Knowledgeable representatives are always available to answer your questions, whether you are an existing customer or just someone inquiring about a product or service; iHostBig offers fast and friendly round-the-clock support.

Web Host Review: Host Excellence

2008-07-10T10:09:00.001-07:00

Host Excellence has been in business for several years and with their own data center and customer support office, Host Excellence has been constantly improving the performance of its services and quality of its support. Having recently updated their web site with more aggressive hosting plans and prices, Host Excellence has really started putting the heat on the competition. Their selection of hosting plans, coupled with superb service and network reliability on both WINDOWS and LINUX platforms, have resulted in fast loading web sites and high customer retention.
Price 4/5
Reliability 5/5
Customer Service 5/5
Technical Support 5/5
Features 5/5
Storage Space 4/5
Bandwidth 5/5
Tech Response Time 5/5
Ease-of-Use 5/5
TOTAL : 95.6%

Reliability
Host Excellence has an impressive track record when it comes to the stability and dependability of their services. Acknowledging that reliability is in the interests of everyone involved, they have gone to great lengths to ensure that problems are few and far between. Their private data center is a testament to this principle. Backup power facilities, fault-tolerant systems and 24/7 on-site administrative staff make Host Excellence a good choice for anyone.
Price Value
If you’re looking for a great deal on web hosting services, look no further. Being a customer-oriented business, Host Excellence puts a lot of effort into offering their customers as much bang for the buck as you can get in shared hosting, providing a great selection of services and payment options, not to mention a noteworthy level of customer support, the value of which is something that cannot be easily expressed. They provide you with the tools needed to build your website, setup an ecommerce store, manage your databases and a great deal more, all at a wonderful price.
Control Panel
Host Excellence has developed a unique control panel for their customers. Frankly, I would say that their control panel software is one of the best on the market, IF it were on the market. They employ a highly modified and expanded version of HSphere (www.hsphere.com) as their hosting control panel, provided for both Linux and Windows based accounts. Throughout our testing, their control panel has been very snappy and reliable. It is much more user-friendly than most of the control panels out there and easy to operate. Included is an extensive customer guide which can quickly assist even the most reluctant novice.
Customer Support
The support they provide can easily be rated as excellent, especially their phone support. Host Excellence makes sure that their customers are never left on their own if problems arise, offering 24/7 phone support, eChat, and helpdesk support avenues, all free, and all staffed by skilled and friendly people who resolve issues quickly and are easy to work with. We commend them for their prompt and reliable support!

Web Host Review: HostMonster

2008-07-10T10:07:00.000-07:00

HostMonster, by consistently making our top 10 list, certainly shows its enduring stamina in this competitive area. All of the hosting companies who have made our top 10 list are exceptional, such that ranking them can be difficult and HostMonster is no exception. Offering one single plan, which has been tailored to offer the most bang for the buck and to accommodate the widest range of clients, HostMonster has chosen to focus on the important factors while placing less of an emphasis on less pressing features.
Price 5/5
Reliability 5/5
Customer Service 4/5
Technical Support 4/5
Features 4/5
Storage Space 4/5
Bandwidth 4/5
Tech Response Time 4/5
Ease-of-Use 4/5
TOTAL : 84.4%

Reliability
Like the rest of the hosts present in our top 10 chart, HostMonster pulls no punches when it comes to offering reliable services. Any host who has shown to be lacking in this respect does not make it onto this list. The performance we experienced with HostMonster was, of course, exceptional, only showing brief and relatively rare periods of slowness. We experienced no outages with HostMonster, which is noteworthy. In summary, the performance was pretty good, but the reliability was outstanding.
Price Value
Owing to their focus on one single hosting plan, and by virtue of how much they have packed into this plan, the value received exceeds the low cost involved in hosting with them. Their plan allows for unlimited storage and monthly transfer, unlimited hosted domains (which is unique and wonderful), a free domain name registration, database support (both MySQL and PostgreSQL), a slew of free and ready-to-go software solutions and multimedia streaming. You will be hard pressed to find another host who offers so much for so little.
Control Panel
HostMonster utilized the ever popular and easy to use Cpanel control panel system. The performance and reliability of their implementation of Cpanel was exceptional. We had no problems with it at all, not even the occasional slowness seen elsewhere. Integrated into this is Fantastico, which enables you to quickly and easily install additional 3rd party open source scripts such as shopping carts, blogs, and wikis. This is a very popular and useful feature and is not available with all hosts. Overall, their control panel and satellite features are well implemented and very comprehensive.
Customer Support
We found HostMonster’s customer support to be decent. Although other hosts reviewed surpassed the support offered by HostMonster, this is not to say that HostMonster’s support is not good. It is. Any issue we raised with them was addressed in a competent and prompt manner. They offer a comprehensive knowledge base, a convenient ticketing system and, of course, toll-free phone support, all available 24 hours a day, 7 days a week.

Web Host Review: BlueHost

2008-07-10T10:06:00.000-07:00

BlueHost was founded in 1996 and is known for its inexpensive hosting plans and great performance. They are one of the larger hosting companies out there and provide customers with large amounts of web space and bandwidth, making their hosting solution a valuable commodity. Additionally, they offer several free script plug-ins such as, chat, blogs, polls, web auctions and bulletin boards. Supporting multiple features like, CGI, PHP, Perl, Front Page, MySQL Databases, ecommerce tools with a free shopping cart and the ability to track website traffic, BlueHost makes an all-in-one deal.
Price 4/5
Reliability 5/5
Customer Service 4/5
Technical Support 4/5
Features 4/5
Storage Space 4/5
Bandwidth 4/5
Tech Response Time 4/5
Ease-of-Use 4/5
TOTAL : 82.2%

Reliability
BlueHost, during our review of their services, proved to have performance and reliability on par with the best shared hosts out there. They are conscious of not overloading their infrastructure, and of staying ahead of the load-curve by constantly expanding their data center. This factor stood out above all others and if performance is a paramount concern, BlueHost is definitely worth a look. We only experienced a few technical issues, all of which were resolved within a reasonable amount of time.
Price Value
Despite Bluehost’s great features, or perhaps on account of them, they do cost a little more than the other companies on this list to host with. If you prepay for 24 months, you do get the $30 set up fee waived and only pay an average of $6.95 per mo. BlueHost only offers Linux hosting. If you need Windows hosting, such as for ASP.NET or Microsoft data bases, you won’t be able to host with BlueHost. Overall, their hosting plan is a good bargain, especially for the performance and reliability they have achieved.
Control Panel
BlueHost uses Cpanel, one of the most popular control panel systems used today. Some functions accessible through the control panel include account, email and database management and web protection/security and statistics. Other functions include password management, billing info, web stats and more! The Cpanel control panel only works on a Linux/Unix environment. As noted earlier, BlueHost does not offer Windows hosting. For most users, this is not an issue, but if you happen to develop in a Microsoft environment, such as ASP.NET or Cold fusion, or need to use MS SQL data bases or VB scripting for instance, you will need a Windows hosting account.
Customer Support
Bluehost offers TOLL FREE telephone, chat and email support in their help section which includes FAQs. It also provides the customer with the option of submitting their own questions with a ‘ticket’ number that is used as a reference for better organization. In February 2006, Bluehost introduced 24/7 Toll free support to their customers. This is a big deal for any customer, as problems do not always occur during business hours. We found them to be helpful and friendly and although not the most impressive support we have ever seen, we have no complaints with them at all.

Web Host Review: IX Web Hosting

2008-07-10T10:05:00.000-07:00

IX Web Hosting has made a remarkable name for itself since its inception in 1999. Boasting their own data center, a highly professional website and very attractive hosting plans, they have managed to be added to the short list of companies that TheHostingChart is reviewing. Over the course of our review of IX Web Hosting, a period of many months, they continuously improved their performance, reliability and customer service, resulting in extremely quick loading websites and high customer satisfaction. All of this has contributed to their #1 rating by our review team.
Price 5/5
Reliability 5/5
Customer Service 5/5
Technical Support 4/5
Features 5/5
Storage Space 5/5
Bandwidth 5/5
Tech Response Time 5/5
Ease-of-Use 5/5
TOTAL : 97.8%

Reliability
During our extensive hosting experience with IX Web Hosting, we have had hardly any server outages. It would be a lie to say none of our test accounts have never been down - however, the uptime track record is impressive. The question is not IF downtime happens, the question is how often it happens and how quickly your hosting company can resolve the problem, and prevent it in the future. Our overall reliability experience with IX Web Hosting is positive. IX Web Hosting employs diesel backup generators, tested weekly, to ensure that no downtime is encountered over power issues. They also perform routine upgrades to their infrastructure, and do so in as unobtrusive a way as possible, which is a plus.
Price Value
IX Web Hosting, as with all of the hosts we review, are in the shared hosting market, one in which competition is fierce, and prices can only go so low. As a consequence, you tend to get a great deal for your money and IX Web Hosting is definitely competitive in this respect. With each of their three hosting plans, they offer free site builder software, a free shopping cart, a wonderful customer control panel, and of course, great prices. Their billing cycles run from quarterly and semi-annual to 1 and 2-year billing cycles, on all plans. The longer the billing cycle, the higher the discount that is offered. On top of this, customer support well-covered: 24/7 phone support, an eChat interface and a snappy ticketing system make problem resolution painless
Control Panel
The basis of their control panel is H-Sphere. However, IX Web Hosting's programming staff has modified it heavily. Both LINUX and WINDOWS hosting accounts are provided with this control panel, which functions flawlessly with accounts on both platforms. It allows you to add, remove and manage your 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, as well as cancelling and resuming your account subscription and reporting problems through trouble tickets, all from one interface.
Customer Support
A cornerstone of IX Web Hosting's success has always been well-covered customer support. Their support staff has grown dramatically over the years and continues to expand to try meeting the needs of their customers. They offer toll free phone support, web-based live chat, email support and a convenient ticketing system, all staffed 24 hours a day.