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Our studies cover a range of trending topics and deliver original, reliable data you can't get anywhere else on the web.
By: PJ Fancher
Editor: Lillian Castro
Reviewer: Cristian Lopez
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★★★★★
Having some of the most affordable shared hosting out there, plus plenty of extras, warrants FatCow be on our list of top web hosts overall. Their customer service, performance, and focus on environmental responsibility leave you feeling good about yourself and your website. Though their hardware isn’t super modern like some of the other hosts, speeds are decent and very reliable. 24/7 phone and email support is there for you every step of the way, should you run into any issues. Don’t be fooled by their lower price, their feature-rich offerings are adequate for many users, particularly first-timers. Website builders with eCommerce and a free domain get you started quickly and easily; unlimited disk space, bandwidth, and emails give you room to grow. If you are looking for a low-priced web host with a good feature set and you love cow puns, look no further than FatCow.
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★★★★★
HostGator has been around for more than a decade and is well-respected for its large number of servers and consistent reliability. Known mostly as a shared hosting provider, HostGator still supplies decent dedicated and VPS options if you need your site to scale. HostGator costs slightly more than some of the other budget-minded shared hosts, but that echoes the brand's reputation for strong infrastructure and helpful support. HostGator offers decent features in its basic shared hosting offerings, such as unlimited disk space, a nice control panel, and free website templates. Plus, you get the flexibility to add numerous add-ons for privacy, security, and productivity as you see fit. Aimed primarily at the semi-technical user, HostGator's flexibility is its strong suit. Dedicated, VPS, and Windows hosting is available if that fits your needs, as well. Root access, SSH, and support for Ruby, Perl, Python, and other languages are available on all plans. HostGator has nearly limitless options and control available for their servers, with the support and beginner-friendly tools that will appeal to the full range of customers.
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★★★★★
FatCow is one of the better budget hosts out there. They offer great hosting features and server performance for a low price. They are also the feel-good host of the list, with a cute, pun-filled site running 100% on eco-friendly wind power; however, don’t for a second think they aren’t serious about great hosting. New users will love the inclusion of a domain name, unlimited email addresses, and a website builder with eCommerce support. Included integration with popular merchant accounts get you one step closer to selling online. All of it is wrapped up nicely in a simple-to-use control panel, cPanel. All users will love what they call the "Script Barn," which allows for 1-click installation of popular open-source apps and scripts like WordPress, Joomla, phpBB, and more. FatCow is a fantastic budget host, with high-budget features and flexibility with which you can easily grow your site.
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★★★★★
#10 out of 10 in Cheap Hosting reviews HostGator is a great compromise between performance and price. The company offers unlimited emails, MySQL databases, disk space, and bandwidth, plus one-click installs of popular open-source projects, in addition to a 99.9% uptime guarantee on its shared hosting plan. HostGator’s price-to-performance perks also apply to its vast array of other hosting options, such as VPS, dedicated servers, and even reseller hosting. The company's many hosting options make HostGator a great choice for sites on the rise, in need of options for the future. For those just getting started and looking for a good, cheap host, HostGator bundles some nice features that hosting newbies can appreciate. The Hatchling Plan is perfect for users who just want to create one website, while upgrading to the HostGator Baby Plan unlocks unlimited bandwidth, domains, and email inboxes. The web hosting company’s custom website builder comes with more than 4,500 drag-and-drop, mobile-friendly templates to help users launch their website, blog, or ecommerce store, while the familiar HostGator cPanel interface helps customers seamlessly manage domains, email, databases, and one-click software installations. If you are looking for a solid web host, with a ton of flexibility, plenty of power, and great price points, you should consider making HostGator your web host of choice. Be sure to use a HostGator coupon to make sure you score the best deal!
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★★★★★
If you want maximum performance and security for your site, and a host with a customer- and environmentally friendly company, FatCow should be at the top of your list of prospective web hosts. When it comes to dedicated hosting features, FatCow has what you should be looking for: two to four CPU cores, 4GB to 16GB RAM, tons of bandwidth, and tons of mirrored storage. They also offer all these things at a very fair rate. What really impresses us is the many customer-first policies they have. The first that comes to mind is the "predictable pricing model," meaning they don’t financially penalize you for usage overages, nor simply shut you down. Their servers are built on cloud-based architecture, so there is always room to grow and scale with FatCow as your demands increase. Finally, their monthly billing rates are very reasonable when compared to their yearly, which is great for those who are not ready to make a long-term commitment just to save a few dollars.
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★★★★★
#5 out of 8 in Dedicated Hosting reviews Founded in 2002, HostGator is one of the largest web hosts with a long lineage of dedicated server hosting. With updated hardware, including Intel Xeon Quad-core processors and a boatload of RAM, HostGator balances performance, quality web hosting service, and competitive pricing. As one of the few hosts to offer managed support and a Windows-based operating system, HostGator is an excellent fit for those seeking hassle-free ASP.NET support. HostGator boasts a top-of-the-line, fully redundant network and datacenter, which dedicated hosting users should appreciate. The company also offers several dedicated IP addresses per HostGator server hosting account. Finally, HostGator has a fantastic support team and 24/7 customer service available via phone, chat, or email. Combining that HostGator support with plenty of power, HostGator is a very respectable choice for a dedicated server host.
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★★★★★
FatCow offers very customer-friendly VPS plans with a lot of storage for the price. If you are looking for a reliable host, with great support and a lot of disk space, give FatCow a serious look. FatCow’s VPS plans are all fully managed and come with cPanel for ease of use. They take the hassle out of installing software like Apache and MySQL and handle the hardware monitoring for you. We also appreciate the plethora of pre-installed scripts. Arguably the most feel-good host on our list, FatCow’s datacenters and offices are 100% powered by eco-friendly wind power. They also want the best for their clients' sites and do not penalize with overage charges, should your site exceed its limits. Founded in 1998, FatCow has been in the hosting industry for a long time. Don’t let their cheeky image throw you though; they are committed to providing excellent service and value in their hosting packages. If you are looking for a nice VPS hosting solution with a lot of storage, check FatCow Out.
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★★★★★
#7 out of 9 in VPS Hosting reviews HostGator has built a great reputation in the industry for its shared web hosting options. The company's VPS hosting solution, with optional cPanel support, provide a nice and easy introduction to those who are new to VPS hosting and know their needs require more than a typical shared plan. Starting at low price points and boasting tons of support, HostGator makes transitioning to a VPS plan reasonable and doable. Each plan comes with two IP addresses and a bunch of storage, and recently expanded CPU and RAM offerings lend a ton of computing power. If you're not sure a VPS hosting package is a good fit, take a look at the revamped HostGator cloud offerings, which offer additional scalability and redundancy at remarkable price points. For those managing multiple hosting accounts, be sure to consider a HostGator reseller hosting plan, as well. HostGator’s strongest point comes from its state-of-the-art datacenter. Featuring a fully redundant network with no single point of failure and multiple bandwidth providers, uptime should almost never be a concern. Founded in 2002, HostGator is one of the largest online web hosts. The company has more than 12,000 servers under management and award-winning support. If you are looking for a small VPS server or value the strength of a great network, give HostGator a shot.
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★★★★★
FatCow is a solid, budget-minded option for those looking for an affordable place to host their WordPress site. With two choices (WP Starter or WP Essential), you can choose the hosting package that best fits your budget. With either plan, site owners will receive a free domain, plus unlimited transfers and disk space. The company's WP Essential plan, the more expensive of the two plans, benefits from an all-SSD infrastructure that provides greater speeds than the WP Starter package. Fat Cow adds enhanced security from SiteLock, which virtually eliminates malware attacks on your WordPress website. Customers can rely on 24/7 phone support with either plan, with WordPress experts available to help customers of the Essential plan. If you find yourself needing a little help now and then, consider this package over WP Starter. For more experienced WordPress users on a budget, the WP Starter plan may work for you. Though lacking some of the extras and support of the bigger package, their WP Starter plan is one of the least expensive WordPress hosting plans you can find. Both plans come with pre-installed plugins and curated themes to get your site up and running sooner. FatCow is a great budget WordPress web hosting solution, offering great hosting features and decent server performance for a low price.
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★★★★★
#7 out of 9 in WordPress Hosting reviews HostGator is great for all things shared hosting, and application-specific services — such as the classic one-click-install WordPress hosting — are no exception. The team recently updated its already clean and intuitive HostGator cPanel dashboard, wherein users can find a myriad of free apps and scripts to install, including WordPress. You could quite realistically have a WP-powered site up and running in as little as an afternoon. As is the case with many of our favorite shared WordPress hosting providers, including sister company Bluehost, HostGator offers unlimited emails, databases, disk storage, and bandwidth. The one downfall is the lack of the popular free domain perk, but domain names are easy to obtain for around $10 to $15 bucks with any registrar. You can also select, register, and pay for a domain directly from the HostGator signup page. If you're serious about your WordPress hosting, we recommend HostGator's new(er) managed WordPress platform, which is optimized for performance with cloud resources, multiple layers of caching tools, and a complimentary CDN. Managed WordPress plan subscribers enjoy up to 2.5x faster page load speeds for their HostGator website or blog. If you're running a business WordPress site, this is an excellent investment. Once your site is designed and ready for promotion, HostGator helps you kickstart your online marketing efforts with $100 in paid advertising credits. Attract blog readers, potential clients, or online shoppers browsing Google search results. We wish you the best of luck in your blog or online business hosting endeavors. WordPress is a known favorite in the space, and HostGator has established itself as a trusted partner well worthy of your consideration.
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★★★★★
Aimed at the low-budget customer, FatCow gets you online in only a few minutes for only a few dollars each month. If you need a very simple website with only a few web pages, it’s hard to argue with FatCow's value. Using the CM4All and creatively named WebsiteBuilder drag-and-drop design platforms, you can get a site online pretty quickly. Each FatCow plan comes with a free domain name, which saves you the trouble of purchasing one separately and waiting for name servers to propagate. For those looking for a little more design flexibility, FatCow offers support for popular blog and CMS software such as WordPress, Joomla, Drupal, and others. Integrated galleries and forums are also available. Finally, FatCow give you advertising credits toward sites like Google, Bing, and Facebook to get the ball rolling on your website's exposure. If you are on a budget and in need of a small, simple webpage today, with options to grow in the future, check out FatCow’s site builder offerings.
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★★★★★
#4 out of 9 in Website Builder Hosting reviews Setting itself apart from the scores of competitors that rely on white-labeled website builder solutions, HostGator spent the time to painstakingly craft its own platform. Gator provides a frustration-free experience that pairs the simplicity of drag-and-drop design with the company’s powerful and respected web hosting services. Signing up is a breeze, and HostGator gives customers an option to add a suite of social media marketing tools. Users are quickly ushered into a gallery of more than 200 modern, mobile-responsive, and visually impressive templates that can be sorted by categories like beauty and fashion, music and entertainment, real estate, business consultant, portfolios, and others. Gator covers blogs and ecommerce stores, even coming with a free domain name and SSL certificate. Once you choose your basic look, Gator ushers you through a 15-second tour to show you the basic features of the editor — and it’s all you need. Clicking on any element opens a menu that gives you options to change styles, whether it’s a section’s complete design or something simple like font or color. We especially appreciate how Gator’s drag-and-drop interface gives users pixel-perfect control while still suggesting guides and grids for appropriate spacing. Throughout the customization and design phase, users can seamlessly switch between desktop and mobile views to understand how your site will appear to all visitors. Adding a blog or ecommerce store takes just a click. We wish Gator would suggest a select few designs that matched the current site’s template instead of the dozen or so options that reflect a wide range of categories, but we were impressed that the in-depth previews covered both the blog page and individual posts, for instance. All in all, HostGator can be incredibly proud of its proprietary site builder — and customers can sit back and enjoy the confidence in having such a well-rounded tool at their design disposal.
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