Top 10 Cheap Web Hosts Recommended on Twitter
01.29.2010
Why I Asked About Cheap Hosting Providers
Today was the first freelance friday of the new semester! I posted recently about the CSS skinning challenge we are working on, and it shows that the students are progressing in their skills. This semester they have two projects that they have to do for clients. The final project for the year is a live client site that they hopefully got paid for.
We were creating client questionnaires (needs analysis forms) today and a section asks about domains, hosting, and site statistics. During the lecture I asked on twitter what hosting providers folks recommended when on a budget.
Top Ten Affordable Web Hosts
In order of chronological response on Twitter, here they are: Site 5, iX Web Hosting, EngineHosting, A2 Hosting, The Rackspace Cloud, Lunar Pages, 1and1, iPage. I am also throwing in name.com and, of course, my favorite Liquid Web.
Site 5
I’ve never used them, but they advertise on CSS Tricks so I’ve noticed them before.
iX Web Hosting
I have used these folks in the past and been happy with them for their prices.
EngineHosting
I was pleasantly surprised to see this come back as a result. EngineHost is the sister company of EllisLabs, the folks who make ExpressionEngine and CodeIgniter. Their opening packages are affordable for a client with a fair web budget, and like I tell the students, 5 bucks a month on hosting costs is not where you want to cut corners in your web budget.
A2 Hosting
This company responded via Twitter and I haven’t heard of them so they don’t get a screenshot and a link, but I will give them a shout out for advertising via Twitter.
The Rackspace Cloud
Possibly some of the best hosting money can buy, you’ve gotta know your way around a server to go with their cloud options. But more power to you if you do, you can’t go wrong with Rackspace!
Lunar Pages
Another provider I haven’t had experience with, but they’ve been around for years and seem to have a base of satisfied clients.
1 and 1
Although I have never used 1 and 1, I have transfered a lot of unhappy customers off of it.
iPage
Never heard of these folks, but they came recommended and seemed to have a decent web site. That’s about all I can say.
Name.com
I started using these folks for domain registrar a while back because they give free protection for domains and aren’t GoDaddy, who I have tons of domains with but no hosting. They are now offering hosting, which I haven’t used, but would feel comfortable recommending.
Liquid Web Hosting
If you know me, you know I love Liquid Web! It’s what I host all of my webucation and business sites with and I never regret it. Their shared hosting prices are a little steep but their VPS and beyond are quite reasonable.
Holler if you have some other favorites that you recommend!
Comments
Holler at this article
Zac Gordon runs DaBrook.org for his web design and development students and anyone else studying the web. Read more about the site or ask a question.
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Zac Gordon 01.29.10
http://www.justhost.com/ was recommended shortly after I posted this article
Rolando 01.29.10
Hello Zac!
Nice post about web hosting on a budget, very useful info for folks testing the freelance waters. I’m very pleased with This* web hosting, reasonable and very responsive.
Zac Gordon 01.30.10
Rolando, thanks for posting about This* web host. They were helpful on Twitter when I was doing some research on a related topic in the Advanced Web Class at MC. Glad to hear you like them!
I’m curious. Have you need to call them about anything?
Rolando 01.30.10
Yes I have, but just for support on how to do certain things and they’ve been great responding to my inquiries really quick , no problems at all.
Dan Philibin 02.4.10
You could also share a hosting account to keep costs down even further. For instance, if several students needed hosting, they could all split the monthly cost of hosting and it would be even cheaper.
I do that with my clients - my (mt) bill is $20 a month but after charging each client a fee on a 12-month cycle, I actually turn a profit from hosting, and it’s still cheaper for them than hosting anywhere else. Just a thought.
Also, I know the guy who runs this* web host and they’re pretty awesome.
Hostgator 03.23.10
i recommend hostgator.com it is cheap by using coupons.
Web Hosting Search 03.31.10
Just wanted to say that it’s a very decent overview of cheap and reliable web hosts! We have had some pretty good feedback on Rackspace and DreamHost but I think the latter one is not part of your list.
Anyway, great post Zac!
Zac Gordon 03.31.10
Hey Web Hosting Search,
I know a number of people on Dreamhost as well. Thanks for adding them to the list!
I have used Hostgator as well, but in my experience they went down a little too often and have horrible terms of conditions if you go over or want to cancel.
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