List of the Best Web Hosts in 2012 - Shared, reseller and VPS hosting

[kpmedia]

Are you looking for a high quality web host for your website? Then you're in the right place!

If you're confused about who to use, or don't understand why you see the same company names over and over again on some sites, then I'm glad you found this site. I'd like to take a few minutes to clear up your confusion, and help you find your way to a quality company that really does care for its customers.

Our top hosts list is after the preface, which you REALLY should read...


Preface / About Web Hosting Suggestions

If you go to Google, and type in something like "best web hosts" or "top 10 web hosts," you'll likely end up with a list of affiliate splogs (spam blogs/sites). Those are sites that claim to rank hosts, but if you're knowledgeable in the field of web hosting, you know it's all fake. These splogger sites simply list the companies that pay the best commissions, and the top site is always the one with the highest payout. Many splogs go so far as to post fake glowing reviews. They don't really care about you, or the quality/integrity of their advice. Sploggers have no ethics. All they want are the affiliate dollars!

I find those sites vulgar and unethical. Affiliate-driven lists are a cancer on the Internet, and to communication in general. In fact, that's why the FTC has been more involved in blogging since 2009, to combat this nuisance.

Unfortunately, many of these top-paying hosts have

• Terrible customer support,
• Horrible uptime -- i.e. hours/days of downtime, long periods of slow access,
• And crappy servers that have been overstuffed with too many clients on a single box, to cut costs. (aka "overselling" or "oversellers")

Some hosts are owned by mega-hosts, too -- soul sucking billion-dollar corporations that mow over the whole industry, often firing the North American staff and outsourcing to India to further cut costs. Endurance International Group (EIG), for example, owns at least 28 hosts -- and many of these are listed on those "top host" lists because of their insane payouts (Bluehost, iPower, Hypermart, iPage, EasyCGI, Fatcow, etc). Godaddy and 1&1 are other examples of large well-known hosts that have a terrible reputation for quality of service and tech support.


The Best Web Hosts in 2012 -- Top Hosting Providers ranked by digitalFAQ.com

Our short list, in preference order...

Host	Cost*	Shared	Reseller	VPS	Dedicated	Panels / Notes	Save!
1. EuroVPS	€8+	Linux, Windows	Linux, Windows	Lin/Win Virtuozzo	Linux, Windows	cPanel or Plesk, LiteSpeed
2. StableHost	$4+	Linux	Linux	Linux OpenVZ		LiteSpeed, cPanel	coupon
3. JaguarPC	$5+	Linux unlimited **	Linux	Lin/Win Virtuozzo	Linux, Windows	cPanel/Plesk/DA/Interworx	coupon
4. HostGator	$4+	Linux unlimited **	Linux	Linux Virtuozzo	Linux, Windows	cPanel/Plesk
5. LiquidWeb	$15+	Linux		Lin/Win Virtuozzo	Linux, Windows	cPanel/Plesk
6. MDD Hosting	$7+	Linux	Linux	Linux OpenVZ	Linux	LiteSpeed, cPanel	coupon
7. Hawk Host	$3+	Linux	Linux	Linux OpenVZ		LiteSpeed, cPanel	coupon
8. Futurehosting	$33+			Linux Virtuozzo	Linux	cPanel or Plesk	coupon
9. KnownHost	$25+			Linux Virtuozzo	Linux	cPanel/Plesk/DirectAdmin	coupon
10. ServerIntellect	$30+	Windows cloud		Windows cloud	Windows	custom cloud panel

__________________________________________________

* The lowest prices often require 1-year or longer payment. Monthly plans are often about 10-20% higher.
** While unlimited hosting is generally not suggested, these hosts have quality uptime and well-managed systems (i.e, not overcrowded or oversold).
*** NOTE: Some hosts give coupons, which gives the low price shown. See our Daily Shopping Deals section for web hosting coupons!

IMPORTANT: The hosts listed here are not in any way influenced by advertising/referral dollars! In fact, either

• We've had personal direct experience with these hosts (example: EuroVPS customer for 5 years), or
• We've had indirect interactions via clients/peers (example: working on a client site, from their server or hosting plan).

This is what separates our list from the BS lists you find online. We genuinely want to support good companies, and we genuinely want consumers and businesses to use the best possible hosts. We're tired of reading online complaints detailing how amateurs have ruined the livelihoods of hard working business owners, or even ruined the fun of running a personal hobby site. This nonsense is easily avoided.


What Makes These Good Hosts ?

Again and again, these hosts have proven themselves to be reliable both in terms of tech support quality, and server uptime. If you want to use some of the best hosts in the industry then consider one of these hosts.

In addition to our experience with these companies, being listed on this page requires that certain strict criteria be met:

Professional skills.
A good host has hires knowledgeable professional techs to answer your support tickets.
A bad host tends to hire teenagers and inexperienced students, or simply has no actual techs.

Wisdom only possible by age and education.
A good host is run by educated, experienced and mature adults.
A bad host, or "kiddie host", is often run by minors (children, teenagers) from their bedroom, or even colleges kids from their dorm room.
A bad host can also be run by amateurs looking to get rich quick on the ol' interwebs, a.k.a. somebody that is "playing host".

Ownership and investment.
A good host tends to own their own racks and servers, costing them thousands or millions of dollars. For them, failing is not an option.
A bad host is usually just reselling, leasing or renting the hardware of another actual hosting provider. They face no risk by abandoning you.

Earned reputation.
A good host often receives detailed, well-written and lengthy praise -- both online and print reviews.
A bad host tends to have very mix of reviews. Positive comments are often brief, poorly written, and may even look to be fake/shill comments.

Successful longevity.
A good host has been around for 5+ years, and is a true test of running a successful hosting business. This business isn't kind to the ignorant.
A bad host usually fails within 1-2 years, if they even make it that long.

Knowing their limits.
A good host manages their resources (bandwidth, RAM, storage space), and creates plans that balance intelligent limits with actual costs.
A bad host promises ridiculous limits -- or no limits at all! Unlimited!
Excluding well-managed hosts like HostGator or Frog Host, unlimited hosting plans are impossible, made with promises that cannot be kept.

Transparency.
A good host has easy-to-understand policies, rules and agreements.
A bad host tries to hide "gotchas" in their often-buried documents, which are written in butchered "legalese" English, and hide limits such as SQL connections, inodes, email I/O, and file usage that turn so-called "unlimited" accounts into highly limited near-worthless web accounts. Many times, these documents are buried on their site, and thrown in the face of customers as the basis by which to charge them fees or outright deny service or tech support.


More Notes and Information...

When available, we'll often publish coupons or advertise current promos, specials, sales, deals, clearance or other money-saving bonuses offered by the good hosts listed here. See our Daily Shopping Deals section on web hosting related offers.

There's nothing worse than having a bad web host when you rely on the Internet for income. Get yourself a good one!

Thanks for reading. I hope this information has helped you.


______

Disclaimer: Again, this list is based on hosting quality, not payout amount. If one of our suggested hosts has an affiliate program, great, we join it, and the funds are used to support the costs of maintaining this site. If not, oh well, good is good, and they still get our suggestion. A few splog owners have contacted us, crying that we're hypocrites by having some links that earn small affiliate payments ($10-15 average), yet deriding their spammy sites for doing the same. Sorry, but it's NOT the same -- it's not even close. Our list is based on quality of hosts, not their payouts. If this list was based on payouts alone, it would recommend high-paying lousy operations like Godaddy, IXWebHosting or Bluehost. Notice that our #1 suggestion, EuroVPS, has no affiliate program.

[admin]

Updated first post with more details --- why good hosts are good for you, and why bad hosts are a bad choice for your websites. Note that some preliminary reviews of these hosts, plus others, can be found by searching or browsing our forums. If any reader of this page has questions, feel free to reply to this post. We'll answer you honestly. Thanks.

-- merged --

I've expanded the first post to include a table, which lists out the available services for the suggested hosts, as well as starting prices. The new table really helps to show what each host has available. Several more hosts need to be added to that list in the near future: Linode, Wiredtree, ServInt, HostGator, Server Intellect. If anybody has more suggestions on good hosts, feel free to reply to this post, or simply create your own new thread in the Web/Print Publishing Technology subforum, and give us a good DETAILED review of your current/past webhost. (Be aware that we will remove spam, or may remove posts that recommend known-crappy hosts and look spammy. This is for honest suggestions, backed by experience.) We're always on the lookout for quality web hosts.

Thanks.

[kpmedia]

I made more improvements to the list.
- Expanded from 10 to 15 top hosts, adding some high end cloud and VPS hosting options.
- Added direct links to coupons (when available).
- Cut down on some clutter, to make it read easier, able to skim it faster now.

I know this list has helped thousands of people in the past few months, and we hope it helps many more.

If you find this thread useful, share it with friends, family and colleagues.
Share a link to this page on Facebook, StumbleUpon, Twitter, Google +1, etc. That will be a big help in spreading the word.

Thanks.

[harg]

I've been most impressed with the integrity shown in this post, and like you I have seen many of these affiliate-commission driven review sites.

So I am very keen to read your understanding about SEO hosting. I used to think that having your sites on multiple IPs was a plus, with links out from these sites to my clients' sites all being counted by Google to help the clients' sites all climb up in Google. And that seems to be working in my experience.

But while doing the research that led me here, I found several well expressed views that suggested this is all wrong... and that Google knows all the IPs that belong to any multi-IP web hosting service, so they say dont bother using "seo hosting". They see it as a marketing ploy by hosting firms to sell more.

What, sir, is your take on all this?

Thanks.

[kpmedia]

Quote:

Originally Posted by harg

I've been most impressed with the integrity shown in this post, and like you I have seen many of these affiliate-commission driven review sites.

Thanks very much for recognizing what we're trying to do here.

While it would be easy to jump on the fake review bandwagon, in hopes of landing those $100/account sign-up commissions by awful hosts, it would be deceitful, unethical, and against the philosophy of this site (providing information on the best high-quality methods to create and work with digital media, which includes website content/tech). We'd rather take a $0/account or $10-25/account commission, and have the satisfaction of knowing that we're supporting quality companies, and doling out good advice to people that want a quality host.

Quote:

Originally Posted by harg

So I am very keen to read your understanding about SEO hosting. I used to think that having your sites on multiple IPs was a plus, with links out from these sites to my clients' sites all being counted by Google to help the clients' sites all climb up in Google. And that seems to be working in my experience. But while doing the research that led me here, I found several well expressed views that suggested this is all wrong... and that Google knows all the IPs that belong to any multi-IP web hosting service, so they say dont bother using "seo hosting". They see it as a marketing ploy by hosting firms to sell more. What, sir, is your take on all this? Thanks.

Rather than clutter this thread with a slightly off-topic reply, I've created a new post in the Myth/Misinformation forum.
Read it here: Does SEO hosting work? Can multiple C class IP addresses help with rank? (NO!)

Again, thanks for your kind words. Feel free to ask more questions -- in the appropriate forum, and usually in a new thread -- if there's something you'd like to know. It's also worth mentioning that we go over some more advanced concepts in the Premium Member forum, both with past posts, or via new posts our members would like answers to. So a currently-$20 premium membership may be something for you to consider. (Premium Membership also removes many of the ads.)

Thanks for your post.

[rakshana]

Hi,
It's great to look at the list of top web hosting providers and their hosting plans. It seems to be good and those who are in search of finding their hosting providers can refer with this list. It would be better if your list had sorted according to the users reviews and ratings. I had chosen my web hosting provider on referring to <url removed>, one of the web hosting directory that lists top web hosting companies comprised with the user ratings and reviews. And this has made my task of finding the reliable service providers at a minimal time.

[MrTM]

Well written.
Fianally I could see some list with out Fat cow/BlueHost/Godaddy recommendations. That itself explains your honest review on hosting. All I can say is "Yes I bookmarked your posting". Just now signed up Stable host for their US servers with Blackfriday coupon code ($10 pyr).
One of my colleague was having his site on Stablehost europe host cp09.eu . Because he was not having RVsite builder when his site was on cp09.eu; when he requested for it, they have moved him to eu01 server. But this server cp01-eu is showing almost 190 domains on reverse lookup using http://www.yougetsignal.com/tools/we...on-web-server/ including a an adult site. Does this have any effect on performance/search engine ranking/email filtering. Can he ask them for again change in server back to cp09.eu? If so, what reason he should quote in his ticket to move it back?
I am sorry if I am seeking more from forums like this.

[kpmedia]

Hi MrTM, welcome to the site.

Quote:

Well written. Fianally I could see some list with out Fat cow/BlueHost/Godaddy recommendations. That itself explains your honest review on hosting.

Thank you. Our goal at The Digital FAQ is to help others with digital media, and that includes the digital publishing platforms (which includes hosting). Our determinations on what is best are not influenced by bribery, and high affiliate pay offered by lousy hosts is little more than bribery. Maybe if those companies would spent their income on quality hosting and support techs, instead of ads and affiliate payouts, they'd have a product worth recommending.

Quote:

All I can say is "Yes I bookmarked your posting".

Excellent! There's a lot of new how-to guides, in-depth reviews and editorials coming later this year and early next year, which will focus on helping website owners run successful sites. Topics will include

• Heavy tech: How to setup an unmanaged VPS, how to secure a server, etc,
• Lightweight tech: How to optimize WordPress, How to secure WordPress, etc,
• And non-tech: How SEO actually works (vs myths), Why templates are a bad idea, Interviews/Q&A's with hosts, etc

Folks like yourself will find quite a bit of useful information here over the course of the next 6-12 months. (And hopefully beyond.)
Most new web-related content will start in early January.

Quote:

Originally Posted by MrTM

Just now signed up Stable host for their US servers with Blackfriday coupon code ($10 pyr).

They started early! I thought the new price took effect at midnight, some 6+ hours from now. I wasn't going to announce it early (per Stablehost's rules), but I saw some people who were discussing it in forums anyway. Given that the Black Friday is only good for the first 500 accounts, I wonder if it will even last through Friday morning.

But it's good for you -- glad to see you got the deal.

I split your other Stablehost question into a new thread: Does Stablehost effect performance / search engine ranking / email filtering ?

[kpmedia]

Quote:

Originally Posted by rakshana

<url removed>,
one of the web hosting directory that lists top web hosting companies comprised with the user ratings and reviews.

Speaking of lousy companies .... this spammer (rakshana) was from Hiox India.

Quote:

Registration Service Provided By: HIOX INDIA
Domain Name: HOSTINGCOMPANIESLIST.COM
Registrant: HIOX INDIA, Rajesh Kumar (), 32, North Street, Krishnapuram, Singanallur, Coimbatore, tamil nadu, 641005, IN
Tel. +91.04225547769
Creation Date: 07-Feb-2011
Expiration Date: 07-Feb-2012
Domain servers in listed order: ns1.dnsfornet.com, ns2.dnsfornet.com

Hiox India appears to own at least one fake "review" site online that conveniently lists themself as the #1 best host, and then proceeds to list out various affiliates (mostly high-paying affiliates) for the 2-10 spots. They list themself as the #1 for every single category, which is a farce. ---- Even our own #1 suggestion of EuroVPS has some stiff competition for categories like shared Linux hosting (Stablehost barely edges them out due to price), or extreme budget hosting (lowendbox type deals vs EcoVPS). No host is #1 at everything; good hosts have concentrations and excel at 2-3 specific areas.

Hiox India is a shill, a spammer, and this makes them nothing more than a scam in my eyes.

Note to hosts: Don't spam here.

If you'd like to advertise on The Digital FAQ, please use the Contact Us form. (Ad rates for the sponsorship banner can be found here. Note that being an advertiser/sponsor does not buy a spot on our reviews, buyer guides or lists. There is a separation of advertising and editorial content at this site. Also understand that we may reject ads from known-bad hosts; i.e., does not respond to support tickets.)

Some attached screen caps of the fake site, at the time of spamming:

[sudhakar]

Dear Kpmedia,

Nice article and nice comments.

keep updating. I personally tried working with godaddy, blue host, reseller club earlier stages of hosting and found lots and lots of hidden fixes. And finally ended up with hostgator and now have around 3 dedicated box with them hosted by theplanet and managed by hostgator. But still i dont have remote restart or shutdown option in hostgator.

Your article have a value in it. As said earlier when you have not used godaddy, blue host etc... I have bookmarked the forum for future reference.

For the above spammer, i use Stop Forum Spam in my forum. Like you i dont only stop just blocking and responding to the spammer, i will also mark him a spammer at Stop Forum Spam to let others know about this spammers.

[kpmedia]

Quote:

Originally Posted by sudhakar

Nice article and nice comments.

Thanks for your kind comments sudhakar. And welcome to the site, if I didn't mention it already.

Quote:

keep updating. I personally tried working with godaddy, blue host, reseller club earlier stages of hosting and found lots and lots of hidden fixes.

I'm not sure if this is a typo, and you actually meant "hidden fees". What's amusing, however, is that both phrases would equally apply. Godaddy, 1&1 and EIG hosts, for example, don't use off-the-shelf panels and controls, like most hosts do. They've create in-house tools that benefit themselves, and not really the customers. As such, many common tasks possible at other hosts are either impossible or require workarounds. Some are undocumented, or as you've said: hidden fixes.

They're also guilty of hidden fees and upsells. Godaddy is especially bad in this area.

Quote:

And finally ended up with hostgator and now have around 3 dedicated box with them hosted by theplanet and managed by hostgator. But still i dont have remote restart or shutdown option in hostgator.

If your hosting is managed, then that task is part of what you pay them for. Just tell them to reboot/shutdown. Given the size of HostGator, they probably have staff on-site in Dallas anyway. Or contracted with the datacenter. While I'm very much a do-it-yourself hosting customer, sometimes it's best to use your management. For example, during reboots, a host can monitor for on-boot hardware alerts or other non-obvious problems you cannot see remotely.

Quote:

Your article have a value in it. As said earlier when you have not used godaddy, blue host etc...

Again, I think this is just a typo on your part. I've used many, many, many hosts in the past 15+ years, and have acted as admin to accounts on behalf of myself, family, friends, clients and employers. Godaddy and EIG hosts are definitely on that list, because somebody always falls for their marketing: "I saw them on TV during the Super Bowl, and they promise unlimited, and the price seems good. I think I'll use them!" Generally speaking, I do what I can to get people I know away from bad hosts, but some people (mostly past clients) are just too stubborn for their own good. As of 2011, in fact, I refuse to admin a Goddady account, because their wait-based interface is a massive time-waster.

Quote:

I have bookmarked the forum for future reference.

Excellent. Be sure to let others know about it, too.

Shortcut URL: http://dFAQ.us/webhosts

Quote:

For the above spammer, i use Stop Forum Spam in my forum. Like you i dont only stop just blocking and responding to the spammer, i will also mark him a spammer at Stop Forum Spam to let others know about this spammers.

Excellent. For things like this to succeed, people have to join together for the common cause.

[samuel111]

Hi guys, I'm glad to have found this forum!

Kpmedia - thanks for the great review and chart!

I just found it somehow through Google about a week ago and already have started shared hosting service with HawkHost. I like it there so far, communications are smooth, staff seems to be knowledgeable and definitely helpful - we'll see how it goes on. Anyways, thanks again - if nothing else, it looks like your research helped me find good (and inexpensive - sadly, it matters these days too) hosting.

I also wanted to try tonight another candidate from your list, NinjaLion - confused, if not to say alarmed. The thing is, I went to their "Community Forum", which as I read here is often a good indication of working team at the would-be-my-next-hosting... No useful info whatsoever. Instead, many threads in strange encoding (seems Russian, but I'm not sure completely) from only few posters... Some thread headings that are readable, have words like "porn" in them...
Of course, it could be just a test/start of a new forum... Or it could be an attack of a competitor or simply angry customer/advertizer... Yet, it gives some doubts on the ability of the hoster to take care of your site when they cannot/don't want to take care of parts of their own site, moreover the part of it that supposed to be helping to make a decision on purchasing their service...

So, I wrote an e-mail noting that to support@ with a copy to sales@ninjalion. Ended up receiving the following back from both:

Quote:

Your ticket has not been accepted into the system. You are required to create an account before you can create any tickets via e-mail. Please register at the following URL: https://support.ninjalion.com/

Once registered, you will be able to submit tickets directly by sending us an e-mail. We are sorry for any inconvenience this may have caused.

Ninja Lion

Really, to get your sales question answered, you need to register first?!

Yes, I understand that this is the bottom part of your list - still it is the list of "the best". Maybe I simply get wrong impression of the service on NinjaLion's bad day... still, it is a bad impression and I'll probably pass on them for StableHost, which would actually be my first choice (based on my "internal criteria" but all of the sudden at the last moment overcome by HawkHost.

I know this is old thread, but maybe you can make any good of my info.

Thanks again - can't say that I am very active at hosting services field but would gladly bring into this forum that little I can

[kpmedia]

Quote:

Originally Posted by samuel111

Hi guys, I'm glad to have found this forum! Kpmedia - thanks for the great review and chart!

And we're glad to have you.

Quote:

I just found it somehow through Google about a week ago and already have started shared hosting service with HawkHost. I like it there so far, communications are smooth, staff seems to be knowledgeable and definitely helpful - we'll see how it goes on. Anyways, thanks again - if nothing else, it looks like your research helped me find good (and inexpensive - sadly, it matters these days too) hosting.

Hawkhost is definitely one of the good ones -- a medium-sized low-cost Linux shared hosting company. As long as you're not trying to do anything bad (spam, scam, phishing, hacking, etc), then you'll very likely have a long-term pleasant experience. The owners of Hawkhost are professional and courteous, and the quality of their hosting is excellent.

Quote:

I also wanted to try tonight another candidate from your list, NinjaLion - confused, if not to say alarmed. .... Of course, it could be just a test/start of a new forum... Or it could be an attack of a competitor or simply angry customer/advertizer... Yet, it gives some doubts on the ability of the hoster to take care of your site when they cannot/don't want to take care of parts of their own site, moreover the part of it that supposed to be helping to make a decision on purchasing their service...

I've brought this to the attention of the owner 2-3 times now. Each time it gets cleaned, but it takes a lot of effort to maintain a forum. I actually think they need to just take it down, because it does make them look bad.

I'm about to redo the list on this page, and turn it into several separate lists on dedicated pages. The list up top will be chopped down to a list of about 5-7 multi-talented type hosts (shared to VPS/dedicated), and then further specify by hosting type: shared, VPS, dedicated; low-cost, premium; Windows, Linux; newbie-friendly, experts only, etc. Additionally, everything is going to fall into our 4-tier ranking system as already found on our DVD guides.

All that said, Ninjalion is a 2nd Class host (that's still good), with support that can be a bit slow. But the price really reflects that already -- it's about $25 per year. Based on the new listing criteria (which will be explained in depth on the new pages), it doesn't really earn a 1st Class rank like Hawkhost, Stablehost, Stream101 or SpeedySparrow.

Ninjalion is a budget-brand subsidiary of Downtownhost, which does rank as 1st Class.

Quote:

I'll probably pass on them for StableHost, which would actually be my first choice (based on my "internal criteria" but all of the sudden at the last moment overcome by HawkHost.

I think you'd be most pleased with Stablehost -- I've been pleased for 2+ years now.

The only real issue I have with Stablehost is that recently they're trying to be strict about customers (who use WordPress) always using the latest version of WordPress immediately after it's released, and you get nag emails continuously until you do. One recent email even threatens to suspend people using too-old versions. That's a great policy for your average low-knowledge user, but it aggravates developers like myself who have customized WordPress to the point that it's really only loosely based on WordPress. Sometimes advanced integrations lock you into a specific WP version -- especially forums and e-commerce apps. If I knew where to strip out versioning info that alerts them to the original code base, beyond what's already gone, I'd do it. A lot of the updates aren't even important for people who have taken proper precautions at locking down WP, are not using unnecessary plugins, and have not downloaded shady/nulled themes.

I know SpeedySparrow isn't taking that heavy-handed stance, based on conversations I've had with the owner.

Neither is JaguarPC, Stream101 or HostGator, based on observations to date.

Quote:

I know this is old thread, but maybe you can make any good of my info.

Not old -- not at all.

Quote:

Thanks again - can't say that I am very active at hosting services field but would gladly bring into this forum that little I can

Yes, please do stay and post about your experiences, questions you have, etc -- be it on web hosting and other publishing tech, web design, or even our other media areas: video, audio, digital photography. I'm forever posting tips in the forum, because of an issue I run into either on my servers/hosting or with a customer server. Based on the traffic results for the site, others are reading it. Some even post, as you done. (Thanks for not being another silent passerby!)

Take care.

[admin]

@ Anybody reading this page: If you're wondering why all the names of hosts are linked -- I've implemented a keywording tool. It's helping us link software, products -- or in this case, hosting services -- directly to the entity's website. No more Googling or guessing. This is important because some underhanded persons have created fake sites, or name-alike sites, trying to cash in on another company's good name. By linking directly to these sites, we're removing guesswork and potential issues for you.

Thanks.