Most Popular Hosts
April 2008

1		BlueHost
2		HostMonster
3		midPhase
4		Lunarpages
5		EasyCGI
6		ANHosting
7		DreamHost
8		Yahoo!
9		1&1
10		ThinkHost

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Welcome to hosting comparison!

This website is dedicated to cutting through the clutter to find great hosting for your site.

Host of the Week: EasyCGI

EasyCGI focuses solely on Windows hosting, and there is something to be said for specialization. Many hosts have tacked Windows hosting on to their Unix-focused business and it seems about as natural as square wheels on a car. EasyCGI doesn't suffer from this failing as Windows is where they started and have stayed. Their deep understanding of Windows hosting and the related tools and issues makes for unparalleled service and support.

Their plans are the familiar tiered hosting plans, albeit with somewhat confusing names. Their basic plan (called "Advanced") provides what most sites will need and their intermedite and top tier plans ("Advanced X2" and "Advanced X4") kick things up further for the power users. Recently EasyCGI increased their storage and transfer allowances on all plans, and the new numbers are more than competitive.

I'll have to admit a bias here. I am not a Windows guy. At all. It took some impressive Windows tricks by some friends of mine to convince me that Windows had something reasonable to offer the hosting world. I now understand the appeal of some of the Windows development tools, especially for people who have already put in the effort to learn them. If you are looking for a Windows host, EasyCGI is hard to beat.

I should also mention that EasyCGI is currently running a special just for my readers here. $1.99 for the first three months of their Advanced package. Tallies up to almost 20% savings for the first year of an excellent host.

Read EasyCGI review

Go to EasyCGI

Most Popular Shared Web Hosts :: April 2008

Before anything else, I should apologize for not including any commentary on the March list. Life happened and the site suffered. Sorry.

Okay, with that out of the way, let's look at some surprises in April. The first big change was that BlueHost's HostMonster has been bumped from the top spot by… BlueHost's flagship brand. I can't imagine CEO Matt Heaton is particularly upset.

The three through eight slots had the usual shuffling and mingling as the sites jockeyed for position. HostGator and StartLogic both dropped off the list, but only because I stopped at ten. They ended up at eleventh and twelfth, so don't be surprised if they reemerge in the next month or two.

We also have a couple of newcomers to the list. ThinkHost and 1&1. Embarrasingly, I haven't finished a formal review of ThinkHost yet. In a nutshell, they aren't too shabby and the slightly higher price for their plan may been overlooked if you are interested in green hosting. Not only are they powered completely by renewable energy, but they plant as tree for each new client.

1&1 isn't really a newcomer, but it has been some time since it last appeared here. Almost two years, actually. I have a confession to make. While I am not a huge fan of 1&1's shared hosting, I do use their root servers. In fact, this site is run on one of them. I am not sure I would recommend the root servers to everyone, but they are cheap and nice if you don't mind playing system administrator. I'm a combination control freak and Unix geek, so running my own server is really the only way for me. If you fall into that category, give them a try.

Top Shared Unix Web Hosts

Unix is the most popular web platform, in whatever flavor you find it. When I say "unix hosting", I include linux, the sundry BSDs, and the proprietary unixes. By my way of thinking, unix is unix and unix hosting is unix hosting, by whatever name.

There are some excellent deals out there if you can find them. There are, sadly, also lots of hosts that overcharge and underdeliver. I hope that my reviews will help guide you to the former and steer you clear of the latter.

Here are my choices for the best in shared Unix hosting.

Top Shared Windows Web Hosts

Everyone knows Windows as a desktop operating system, but it also a popular server platform as well. With tools like Cold Fusion, Active Server Pages, and SQL Server, it has a lot to offer those who are uncomfortable with Unix. Here are my choices for the best in shared Windows hosting.

Top Dedicated Server Web Hosts

Sometimes sharing just isn't an option. Whether you are dealing with sensitive information, are doing lots of processing, or just need to handle a ton of traffic, dedicated servers are the answer when a shared server just won't do. Here are my choices for the best in dedicated server hosting.