Web Host Rankings

What Are "Web Host Rankings"

The term web host rankings refers to efforts to compare and contrast different web hosts based on a set of criteria, in order to recommend those that most closely meet the criteria and—sometimes—to warn readers about the failures of others in order to spare them from problems. However, it is not unusual for web host rankings to be limited to top hosts, and leave off those that do not make the cut.

Two Things to Know About Web Host Rankings

When considering a set of web hosting rankings, there are two points that are important to keep in mind. One is the date of the rankings. Pages that are long past their "sell-by" date are readily available on the web, and not all web host ranking sites provide the date of their web host rankings. However, like any other enterprise, web hosts can undergo change, and the assessment of 4 months ago, let alone a year or more ago, may not be accurate in terms of its representation of the quality of either web hosting products or services.

Second, the needs of web host customers vary, and the criteria used by any particular web host ranking system may not exactly match the criteria you need to consider. Therefore, it is important to find web hosting ranking systems that most closely matches your criteria or to be able to correct the ranking to match your needs, when necessary. For example, if a web host is faulted for having only 20 free email addresses, but you only need 10, not only now, but for the foreseeable future, you will want to discount this point.

Factors the Web Host Rankings Consider

There are a number of factors that a web host ranking should consider in order for you to pay attention to it. Here are some of the most important factors:

• Disk space (also called disk storage)—Space in the MB (megabyte) range rather than the GB (gigabyte) range is too small for any but the smallest enterprises. 

• Bandwidth—Sites with multimedia, forms, or other interactive functionality will need more bandwidth than sites that are made simply to be read.

• Emails—A number of web hosts offer "unlimited" emails, but this is only a valuable feature if you need it, and there are many businesses that don't (whereas web hosting resellers might).

• Free domain name—This is a value of more or less $10, so keep it in perspective.

• Number of domains/subdomains allowed—Crucial to some; of no interest to others.

• Customer service—Everyone should investigate the availability and modes (phone? email?) of customer support.

• Technical support—Again, an area everyone needs to investigate - 24/7/365 phone service can make a big difference.

• Uptime guarantee—Look for at least 99% uptime guarantee. Some web hosts guarantee 100%.

• Web Host Price and Discounts—Charges are generally reduced when one pays for a longer period of time.