Web Hosting
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Excellent bargain and reliability with fast data transfer; exclusive NextAdvisor discount |
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Best choice for beginners serious about web hosting; great interface and support; exclusive discount |
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Exceptional value with no commitment; 25% discount with promo code AUG2010 |
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Great price w/ exclusive discount and free domain privacy; fast data transfer; great add-ons |
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Home hosting package is a good bargain for two domains and has great tools; outsourced support is average |
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An excellent, though pricey choice for beginners; includes green hosting; 20% discount with code: SPRING |
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Great online site builder for beginners; excellent upload and download speeds; $50 off with code: 2010 |
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Cheapest one-year plan and fast server response time; uptime not the best; exclusive discount |
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Low cost plan with reasonably good reliability; easy shopping cart creator; green host; 50% exclusive discount |
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A well-priced option with great performance but poor customer support and policies |
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For intermediate to advanced users; fast data transfer; green hosting; free domain privacy |
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Good price, but pokey performance; better suited for intermediate users with non-media sites |
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A good choice for intermediate users; green hosting and domain privacy are a plus, though data was slow on big files |
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Affordable web host for intermediate users, though installation problems; no domain privacy and advertising on error pages are drawbacks |
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Adequate web hosting for intermediate users; limited MySQL databases |
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Discounted first year; frustrating limitations for advanced users but very fast; counter-intuitive for beginners |
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Aimed at small businesses, includes full-featured site builder, good speed and uptime; pricey and limited plan |
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Easy for beginners but very limited; a lack of blog and shopping cart are disappointing |
NextAdvisor Web Hosting Blog Headlines
Q: I am interested in having Yahoo! host my website. I am currently using Ho...
Q: I am interested in having yahoo host my website. I am currently using Homestead, or Intuit. Can you advise me? A: We think Yahoo! is a great choice for web hosting. If you're coming from Intuit, you'll be right at home with the interface. We were generally unimpressed with Intuit's web hosting, finding it [...]
My domain name was registered by a company and they did not register it in my...
The following is an actual user-submitted question: Q: My Domain name was registered by a company and they did not register it in my name but in their company name. How do I get it back? A: If your domain is registered with a web host, and you still have a contract with that web [...]
1&1 web hosting: 1 free year returns
1&1 Web Hosting has brought back their summer special that gives new customers one year of free web hosting with a two-year contract. That means that new users only pay a nominal $4.99 setup fee for the first year of hosting, and then $83.88 ($6.99 per month) for the second year. This is an incredible [...]
Yahoo! Small Business web hosting discount
Yahoo! is giving NextAdvisor visitors an exclusive discount on its Small Business web hosting. Until July 31st, your first three months will be $6.47, 35% off the normal price of $9.99. Yahoo! Small Business web hosting is one of our favorite web hosts, particularly for beginners. We're happy to be able to offer this discount, [...]
How many email addresses are inluded in the listed hosting price for most of ...
The following is an actual user-submitted question: Q: How many email addresses are inluded in the listed hosting price for most of these sites? Back in the day, when this all started, the number of email addresses allowed for free (included in the price) and the number of web pages were the two "biggies"? A: [...]
Web hosting: Password protected directories
A user recently wrote asking how she could create password-protected areas of a website "to which individual clients (no more than 50 people) can login and retrieve their lab reports and other such information." We suggested a HIPAA-compliant web host. When she clarified that the clients were, in fact, large animals, we changed our advice. [...]
Finding a HIPAA-compliant web host
The following is an actual user-submitted question: Q: I would like to design and build a website for my small business that will mainly provide information to my existing clients. Some of this information is private medical information, so I would like to include a password-protected section to which individual clients (no more than 50 [...]
Yahoo! Small Business web hosting: 50% off the first three months
Yahoo! has just released a new discount for NextAdvisor users, raising the discount on the first three months of service from 35% to 50% off. Yahoo!'s web hosting is one of the best we tested. In fact, there's no web host we would guarantee more to the absolute beginner. If you've been on the fence, [...]
What mistakes should a person choosing a web host avoid? What are the benefits?
The following is an actual user-submitted question: Q: What mistakes should a person choosing a web host avoid? What are the benefits? A: When selecting a web host, the biggest mistake anyone can make is choosing a web host that doesn't suit their needs. Price is an important consideration for most people, but features and [...]
Is Hostmonster easy for a beginner to set up a basic site? How many web pages...
The following is an actual-user submitted question: Q: I have never designed a website. Is Host Monster easy for a beginner to set up a basic site? How many web pages are available for its basic plan? A: Hostmonster is ok for beginners, but there are other options which are easier. We would suggest you [...]
How do I go about the discontinuation of a domain name?
The following is an actual user-submitted question: Q: My wife established a domain name a few years ago. She has since passed away and the group no longer exists. I want to discontinue the domain name. According to the nice lady at YAHOO!, the domain name was established through DSTR Acquisitions. I didn't see this [...]
Yahoo! web hosting discount: 35% off for 3 months
During the month of March, Yahoo! is upping the three-month discount on its web hosting from 25% to 35%. That's three months at $6.47 per month, with the rest of the year at $9.95 per month. While Yahoo! is a bit more expensive than some web hosts we reviewed, its user-friendly interface is unmatched. No [...]
What web hosting provider would you recommend for a website that has a lot of...
The following post in our Reader Question series is an actual user submitted question: Q: What web hosting provider would you recommend for a website that has a lot of video uploading/downloading or something similar to video conferencing? For a media intensive site, we would probably recommend Lunarpages. As our web hosting report card shows, [...]
NextAdvisor creates Web Hosting Report Card
We've added a new feature to our Web Hosting Reviews: it's our new NextAdvisor Web Hosting Report Card. This chart breaks down our review criteria into a virtual report card of observations and performance metrics that we looked at in our web hosting reviews. You'll find qualitative evaluations of essential components, as well as quantitative data [...]
Phishers target web hosting customers
You might want to be especially cautious about emails that purport to come from your web host. A new phishing scheme is underway, and it's targeting customers of popular web hosting services. The bait is an email that says the following: "Due to the system maintenance, we kindly ask you to take a few minutes [...]
Thoroughly Tested
We have rigorously tested each of these web hosts. To measure web hosting quality, we signed up for each service and then went about doing the things a normal user would do. We tested WordPress installations, shopping cart programs, and site builders. We also contacted technical support at each web host to determine the quality of customer service. Of course, a web host must perform well too. We used Pingdom's website uptime monitoring tools to gauge the reliability and server response time for each web host. You can see the reliability data for the web hosts on our web hosting report card.
Domain Registration
All of our top 5 web hosts provide free or low cost domain registration. These web hosts bundle the domain registration with the actual hosting of the web files, creating a cohesive all-in-one package. Registering a domain gives you exclusive rights to the domain as long as you—or your web host—is paying for the domain.
How to Create a Website
After you've set up your web hosting account, you can decide how you want to build a website. Most web hosts offer you a way to build a site right in your web browser. There are also site-building programs from companies like Adobe, Apple, and Microsoft (as well as free options) that provide greater flexibility. If you want an easier start, try creating a blog. Most web hosts allow you to do this in just a few clicks, and you can incorporate it into a more full-featured site later, when you're ready.
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