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1. InterServer.net

InterServer review

Monthly Starting Price $8.00

  • Build with modern ASP.NET and MVC 6
  • Uses only 50% server capacity. RAID-10 storage
  • $7.99 domain registration or transfer
  • Unlimited disk space, data transfer, and emails
  • NO contracts and your price is guaranteed for life
  • Get started on InterServer now.
ASP.NET
RATING
★★★★★ 4.9 Our Review»
InterServer: Our Expert's Review

Laura Bernheim (HostingAdvice.com): Built for speed, InterServer is a perfect solution for developer-friendly Windows shared hosting. In addition to offering a free site migration, the company uses only 50% of its server capacity to guarantee resources are available as your site grows. Go to full review »

Money Back Guarantee Disk Space Domain Name Setup Time
30 days Unlimited SSD New or Transfer 4 minutes

2. GoDaddy.com

GoDaddy review

Monthly Starting Price $17.99

  • ASP.NET hosting on Windows Server 2012 R2
  • Support for ASP.NET, Classic ASP, and SQL
  • Plenty of database storage for dynamic websites
  • 1-click installs for your favorite scripts
  • Get started with a FREE domain name registration
  • Get started on GoDaddy now.
ASP.NET
RATING
★★★★★ 4.8 Our Review»
GoDaddy: Our Expert's Review

Ryan Frankel (HostingAdvice.com): The web’s #1 domain name registrar also tops the charts in Windows shared hosting, including ASP. NET-specific plans. Go to full review »

Money Back Guarantee Disk Space Domain Name Setup Time
30 days 25 GB - 100 GB FREE (1 year) 4 minutes

3. IONOS.com

1&1 IONOS review

Monthly Starting Price $5.00

  • Featuring Windows 2022 and modern ASP.NET
  • FREE wildcard SSL certificate, domain, and email
  • HTTP/2 and Cloudflare CDN ensures top speed
  • Georedundant network promises 100% uptime
  • HostingAdvice readers SAVE 50% at signup
  • Get started on 1&1 IONOS now.
ASP.NET
RATING
★★★★★ 4.8 Our Review»
1&1 IONOS: Our Expert's Review

Alexandra Anderson (HostingAdvice.com): Leveraging a network already built for blazing-fast page loads, 1&1 IONOS ekes out an extra performance edge by giving customers the latest versions of the Windows operating system,. NET, MVC, PHP, and other dev tools. Go to full review »

Money Back Guarantee Disk Space Domain Name Setup Time
30 days 10 GB - Unlimited FREE (1 year) 4 minutes

4. ResellerClub.com

ResellerClub review

Monthly Starting Price $3.49

  • SSH access and support for ASP, ASP.NET, and PHP
  • Unlimited disk space, data transfer, and email
  • FREE SSL, DDoS protection, and ClamAV antivirus
  • FREE Plesk Onyx and 1-click app installs
  • MVC 5 Supported, along with MSSQL and IIS 8.5
  • Get started on ResellerClub now.
ASP.NET
RATING
★★★★★ 4.7 Our Review»
ResellerClub: Our Expert's Review

Laura Bernheim (HostingAdvice.com): ResellerClub offers flexible services that capitalize on the best of both worlds — built-in ASP. NET and other Windows technologies you’ve come to love, as well as PHP and MySQL support and an easy app installer that unlocks WordPress and other PHP applications. Go to full review »

Money Back Guarantee Disk Space Domain Name Setup Time
30 days Unmetered SSD New or Transfer 4 minutes

5. AccuWebHosting.com

AccuWebHosting review

Monthly Starting Price $3.52

  • Built for speed with Windows 2016 and SSD storage
  • Dedicated application pool with full-trust ASP.NET
  • MSSQL 2017 databases and Visual Studio integration
  • Centralized management via Plesk control panel
  • Instant activation and 99.9% uptime guarantee
  • Get started on AccuWebHosting now.
ASP.NET
RATING
★★★★★ 4.6 Our Review»
AccuWebHosting: Our Expert's Review

Laura Bernheim (HostingAdvice.com): We love how AccuWebHosting emphasizes using modern technologies to power your ASP. NET hosting account. Go to full review »

Money Back Guarantee Disk Space Domain Name Setup Time
30 days 10 GB SSD - 50 GB SSD FREE (1 year) 4 minutes

Review Breakdown: ASP.NET Hosting

Ready to kickstart your ASP.NET website or application? Before you begin with this open-source framework from Microsoft, consider our reviews of the top shared hosting plans for ASP.NET developers. We recommend looking for a Windows host that provides an optimized environment with MS SQL databases and a control panel, along with SSD storage, free SSL security, and low prices.

Here are the best hosting services for ASP.NET:

Best ASP.NET Hosting
Rank Web Host Setup Time Disk Space Expert Rating
1 InterServer 4 minutes Unlimited SSD ★★★★★ 4.9
2 GoDaddy 4 minutes 25 GB - 100 GB ★★★★★ 4.8
3 1&1 IONOS 4 minutes 10 GB - Unlimited ★★★★★ 4.8
4 ResellerClub 4 minutes Unmetered SSD ★★★★★ 4.7
5 AccuWebHosting 4 minutes 10 GB SSD - 50 GB SSD ★★★★★ 4.6

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12 FAQs About ASP.NET Hosting

Laura Bernheim
Laura Bernheim,
Contributing Expert

ASP.NET is one of the most common server-side scripting frameworks, used by 6.1% of all websites. It uses the C# programming language and provides the building blocks for dynamic web applications.

Developers can use ASP.NET to simplify repetitive coding tasks and speed up time to production. The framework lets users avoid manually coding the “blueprint” of the application. With the right ASP.NET host, dev teams and companies can optimize their web applications further.

Because the best ASP.NET hosting primarily runs in Windows server environments, your search can be a bit more challenging than when looking for other solutions; think of the web hosting service as the needle in a haystack of Linux-based options.

To be fair, ASP.NET gives developers cross-platform runtime security across a wide range of operating systems, programming languages, and hardware.

Microsoft’s open-source web-application framework enables website owners to build dynamic, database-driven pages using related tools like Visual Studio, MS SQL, MS Access, and the Kestrel web server.

Not sure where to start your search? Hopefully, our answers to readers’ most common questions will help point you in the right direction of the best ASP.NET hosting.

1. What is ASP.NET Hosting?

ASP.NET hosting refers to shared, virtual private server (VPS), cloud, and dedicated server plans that support Microsoft’s runtime extension for the .NET framework on web server hardware in a datacenter.

Sounds complicated, right? Let’s simplify:

Essentially, ASP.NET hosting is any web hosting service that supports the .NET platform for application development. That usually entails a Windows host but doesn’t have to.

Instead of maintaining ASP.NET as a proprietary, licensed, Windows web hosting environment, Microsoft decided to change to a free, open-source, and cross-platform system with the release of ASP.NET Core in 2016.

The most was a significant departure from ASP.NET MVC, the web application framework that implemented a model–view–controller pattern only on Windows hosting servers.

In addition to the usual web hosting features such as a control panel, SSL certificate, free domain name, FTP account, and disk space, an ASP.NET hosting service will offer specialized tools.

Keep an eye out for plans that support different .NET runtimes, Windows operating system distributions, databases, web API platforms, and developer tools on shared server hardware.

A shared Windows hosting package is a low-cost method to operate ASP.NET websites and mobile apps in production. Cloud server and virtual private server plans offer a higher level of isolation for better security in multi-tenant environments.

Dedicated servers are typically available with managed ASP.NET support or as bare-metal hardware for installing any Windows distribution and database required.

2. When Would I Need an ASP.NET Hosting Provider?

The main advantage of ASP.NET web hosting is to provide Windows development teams with a secure runtime environment for an application pool in production.

Independent companies can use the ASP.NET hosting model to gain access to high-speed datacenter facilities or high-powered web server hardware that they could not independently build and maintain locally.

Ultimately, you should look for an ASP.NET service if you’re familiar with languages like C# and are looking for an alternative to PHP programming.

Benefits of ASP.NET include:

  • Improved performance with lightweight, compiled code
  • Less programming time needed for large applications
  • Cross-platform support for Windows, Linux, and Mac
  • Open-source flexibility and large community support
  • Support for multiple programming languages
  • Built-in optimization, monitoring, and caching services
  • Visual Studio integrated development environment (IDE)

The .NET framework is designed from the start as a means for web developers to speed up console application deployment by relying on shared or trusted code components in a modular environment.

ASP.NET hosting providers support the complex requirements of Windows software development while giving systems administrators more runtime flexibility.

Other hosting options to consider with Microsoft SQL Server are the availability of Visual Studio, Exchange, free SSL security, unlimited bandwidth, and SSD disk space for the storage on accounts.
Make sure the hosting bundle includes a free SSL certificate for encryption across every HTTP request and IIS worker process. A hosting account should also include an experienced customer support team.

3. How Much Does an ASP.NET Website Cost?

If you’re looking for affordability with ASP.NET, a shared Windows server is likely your best bet.

The .NET framework and any other tools you may need will likely come preinstalled, and server management will be taken care of by data center engineers with loads of security training and Windows certifications.

The average cost for ASP.NET hosting on shared Windows hosting servers is about $5 to $8 per month in the current marketplace.

VPS and cloud server options for ASP.NET hosting start around $8 per month for 1 vCPU, 1GB RAM, and 20GB of SSD storage. A more realistic price point for your project, though, may be as high as $20 per month.

Shared VPS Dedicated
$5 to $8 per month $8 to $30 per month $80 to $150+ per month

However, the cost of an ASP.NET website is much different than just the price of the hosting plan.

For starters, don’t forget about your domain name costs and any upgrades for backups or enhanced security.

Programming an ASP.NET website or mobile application can be fairly expensive. Many businesses hire in-house teams of programmers and engineers to build custom applications or module components for their brands.

Even though .NET Core is free and open-source, you may find yourself needing to purchase additional software licenses for an easier or more powerful development experience.

For example, you’ll likely have to foot the bill for your Windows operating system if your website requires VPS hosting or dedicated hosting.

4. Can I Get ASP.NET Hosting for Free?

Free plans do exist in the web hosting world, but they often come with many disadvantages when you read the fine print. For example, a free web host will likely place ads on your site or strictly limit your resource usage.

They also aren’t likely to invest much time or money into security, infrastructure, or support for free plans, so you won’t get the best service.

There are some exceptions to this rule, which include free trials and credits. Microsoft Azure offers a free tier where you can access free products for 12 months or start a free trial with $200 in credits.

Some providers also offer free hosting for students and non-profits if that applies to you. If not, your best bet is to purchase a cheap ASP.NET host from the options we listed above.

5. What are the Differences Between Linux Hosting and a Windows Server?

As visitors, we rarely think about which operating system is powering the server behind the website. This is the main difference between Linux and Windows web hosting servers.

But choosing Linux vs. Windows hosting can have massive impacts on a site owner’s costs and the software programs available to create and manage their site.

1. Operating System

This one’s easy. Windows hosting servers rely on… well, the Windows operating system, which requires a licensing fee to use.
Linux hosting, on the other hand, relies on a family of mostly open-source operating systems available for free. You’ll most often see CentOS, CloudLinux, Debian, and Ubuntu.

2. Web server

Most Windows web hosting servers use an Internet Information Services (IIS) framework, which is Microsoft’s proprietary web server. Kestrel, the cross-platform web server included in ASP.NET Core, is gaining popularity.

Site owners using Linux have several open-source options to choose from: Apache, NGINX, and LiteSpeed are the most common.

3. Programming languages

Windows users will likely want to use ASP.NET but can also consider C, C#, and Visual Basic. On Linux, you’ll more commonly see PHP, Perl, and Ruby. Several languages, including HTML, CSS, Python, and JavaScript, will work in both environments.

4. Control panel

Plesk is most common with Windows plans, while you’ll most likely find cPanel on Linux-based options. Both types of plans will enable you to easily install popular programs, configure email inboxes, and other tasks.

5. Cost

Although .NET Core is open-source and works on other operating systems, the inherent reliance on Microsoft Windows technologies means inevitable licensing fees and slightly higher hosting costs from your web host.

Linux machines can usually leverage freely available software from head to toe, enabling the web hosting company to pass on the savings to customers.

6. How Do I Choose the Best Windows Host?

Since Microsoft built the ASP.NET Core server package for use on a wide range of hardware platforms, IT managers should research which service offers the best performance for software in production at the lowest costs.

Here are some tips to consider when comparing your options.

  1. Define your budget (and any additional software or features)
  2. Identify the most important features to your project
  3. Have a sense of the traffic and disk space you expect to need
  4. Contact the sales or support teams to gauge the host’s responsiveness

Finding a provider fit for a hosting award right from the start will save you the trouble and frustration of needing to migrate to a better solution later.

First, consider whether you need to support a single ASP.NET website with an ASP.NET application pool or unlimited domain names in a shared hosting environment.

Dev teams should also factor in any pipelines for version control and collaboration. The right hosting package can integrate staging, testing, and production environments for your code. Your web hosting company may provide perks such as a free domain name and FTP account as well.

Examine how much daily or monthly web traffic your web application will need to support. Make sure that each HTTP request is governed by secure encryption via an SSL certificate.
Knowing your bandwidth requirements for any project will be the best guide to deciding between shared Windows hosting plans, working with Windows VPS hosting configurations, or going with a dedicated server.

7. What is an ASP.NET Core Application?

Microsoft released ASP.NET Core in 2016 and is the signature component of the .NET 5 platform.

The extension package can now run on Windows, Linux, and macOS computers, and licensing fees have largely been removed.
The move to open-source terms expands the definition of a Windows host and supports modern app programming methods.

Essentially, ASP.NET Core is the open-source and cross-platform version of ASP.NET. All new ASP.NET development should happen in .NET Core to take advantage of all new updates.

Older, Windows-only versions of ASP.NET will continue to receive minor updates and bug fixes, but the majority of innovation will happen with ASP.NET Core.

Web hosting companies still frequently support older versions of ASP.NET, so be sure to host your application with a provider that runs ASP.NET 5 or higher.

The ASP.NET Core runtime extension includes many module options to accelerate web development for professional teams or individual programmers.

The broader .NET 5 includes the best of .NET Core, .NET Framework, Xamarin, and Mono for wider support than just Microsoft SQL Server.

Now you can use multiple operating systems with ASP.NET apps to produce and distribute code.

8. What is MS SQL Server?

Have you heard of MySQL? Microsoft SQL Server (or MS SQL) is the Windows variety.

MS SQL Server and MySQL are relational database management systems — or more simply, database software — that rely on Structured Query Language (SQL) to store and retrieve website and application data.

SQL has been the global standard for relational database construction, operation, and management since its creation in the 1970s, and Microsoft’s software emerged a decade later.

Although there are many other types of databases, developers currently choose between SQL and NoSQL solutions for most projects.

With SQL database development, there are many open-source and Linux-friendly options like MySQL, MariaDB, and PostgreSQL that compete with MS SQL Server options.

Developers often use NoSQL solutions, such as MongoDB, for better performance at scale for web and mobile apps with high traffic.

9. Which Hosts Offer the Plesk Control Panel?

Windows hosting companies offer the Plesk control panel to compete with cPanel services that run on Linux platforms. Unlike cPanel, Plesk works on multiple operating systems.
Here are some of our favorite hosts that include Plesk with various hosting packages:

Host Name Price Services
InterServer $8.00/month Shared, VPS, and dedicated
HostGator $4.76/month Shared hosting only
GoDaddy $17.99/month Shared, VPS, and dedicated
AccuWebHosting $3.52/month Shared, VPS, and dedicated
ResellerClub $3.49/month Shared, VPS (Linux only), and dedicated
Hostwinds $4.99/month VPS and dedicated only
Liquid Web $5.00/month VPS and dedicated only

Although cPanel is the industry standard at the affordable shared hosting level, Plesk actually dominates the web panel market.

The platform boasts a cleaner interface that is more intuitive for users to learn, and Plesk comes with all the same server administration features as cPanel — for a fraction of the price.

Plesk includes natural support for NGINX and Apache, along with built-in autoinstallers and management tools for unlimited domain names.

Developers can also use Plesk on VPS plans for Windows Server management. Plesk includes more than 100 extensions that add even more functionality to the control panel.

Of note, A2 Hosting no longer offers Windows hosting for ASP.NET or Plesk. The usually developer-friendly provider will not support the web panel on any of its managed services.

Alternatively, HostGator is an incredibly user-friendly ASP.NET web hosting provider that oddly only supports Windows technologies at the shared web hosting level. You can also find ASP.NET support on a variety of plans through AccuWeb Hosting and Liquid Web.

You may find some luck adding the ASP.NET framework and Plesk to an unmanaged A2 Hosting VPS or dedicated hosting, but traditional users may want to look beyond A2 for a more familiar and supported environment.

10. What is the Kestrel Web Server?

The Kestrel web server is Microsoft’s cross-platform HTTP server framework for ASP.NET Core runtime support.

Kestrel runs on both Windows and Linux hardware to provide standardized compilation support for ASP.NET applications in production.

In basic terms: Kestrel is the default web server for ASP.NET Core hosting. The open-source and cross-platform server is lightweight and fast but missing some functionality for ASP.NET Core hosting — your best bet is to pair it with IIS, NGINX, or Apache.

An older ASP.NET application will work with Microsoft’s IIS web server platform, which functions similarly to Apache.
The Kestrel server boasts faster performance for I/O requests when compared with IIS but does not provide solutions for tasks like port sharing, easy SSL configuration, and URL rewrites.

That’s why most recommend using Kestrel with a full-service web server (like IIS, Apache, or NGINX) so it acts as a reverse proxy server for application hosting.

Developers can use .NET CLI or Visual Studio to integrate Kestrel with ASP.NET Core, the .NET framework, and IIS, NGINX, or Apache according to their specific application hosting requirements.

11. Which Hosts Support Visual Studio?

Microsoft Visual Studio is an integrated development environment, or IDE, for developers to build and debug the code supporting websites, applications, and other programs.

The platform supports 36 programming languages, including ASP.NET, and is available in both free and commercial editions.
Hosting providers that support ASP.NET and languages such as C# or Visual Basic will support web publishing via Visual Studio.

Some of our favorites include:

In addition to editing and managing files on their local machine, website owners can also use Visual Studio to edit files on a remote web server and publish using Microsoft’s Web Deploy tool.

Users can modify the server configuration settings via Plesk or the command line to turn on this functionality.

Follow these steps to enable the use of Visual Studio on Windows servers with Plesk:

  1. Log in to the Plesk control panel.
  2. Go to Tools & Settings > Updates & Upgrades > Add/Remove Components and install Microsoft Web Deploy.
  3. Next, go to Service Plans > [Plan Name] > Hosting Parameters > Advanced and check the box to enable Web Deploy publishing.
  4. Click Update & Sync to apply the changes.
  5. Enable the Web Deploy publishing option again by going to Domains > [Example.com] > Hosting Settings.
  6. In Domains > [Example.com] click Web Deploy Publishing Settings to download the configuration file.
  7. In your project in Visual Studio, select Build > Publish [Project Name].
  8. Click Import and select the Web Deploy configuration file.
  9. Click Validate Connection to confirm you have the correct settings.

Visual Studio ships for free on most Windows 10 distributions or can be downloaded from the Microsoft website.

Most ASP.NET and C# programming teams use Visual Studio for web application production, managed with Git for version control.
With more than 10,000 extensions for Visual Studio and Visual Studio Code, you can support dozens of programming languages, microservices, and workflows.

12. How Do I Get Started With ASP.NET Shared Hosting?

The easiest way to begin your ASP.NET shared hosting journey is to choose an affordable and well-equipped plan. Feel free to read each ASP.NET hosting review to find the best option for you.

Once you sign up, the web host will take care of configuring your server space with ASP.NET. From there, you can use the Plesk control panel to upload your database and files to the server.
Plesk includes an area named Databases that makes the process relatively simple. You can also use the File Manager section, which has similar functionality for remote file management as cPanel and FTP interfaces.

Developers will need either an FTP account or a version control tool like Git to upload the website files to the server for storage.

How to move your ASP.NET website to a new host:

  1. Log in to Plesk and click the Databases icon in the control panel.
  2. Use the Add a Database function to create a unique name and password.
  3. Click on the Import Dump tool to transfer the MS SQL or MySQL backup file.
  4. Use the File Manager section to manage the website or application files.

There are many tutorials, courses, and free resources available online to learn ASP.NET development.

Make sure to know your ASP.NET version and microservice dependencies when porting apps to a new environment. Use Docker with Windows VPS plans for greater flexibility and room for growth.

Take your time, and see where your learning takes you!

About The Author

Laura has spent more than 12 years crafting engaging and award-winning articles that share the passion behind organizations' products, people, and innovations. As a long-time HostingAdvice contributing expert, she combines a reputation for producing quality content with rich technical expertise to show experienced developers how to capitalize on emerging technologies and find better ways to work with established platforms. A professional journalist, Laura has contributed to The New York Times, Sports Illustrated, the Sun Sentinel, and the world's top hosting providers.
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Laura Bernheim