1. UPTIME / RELIABILITY:

In other words, how much downtime you can except when using a certain web host. Some hosting providers have had more than 2500 outages within less than 12 months while some had only few seconds.

2. SPEED / LOAD TIME:

We set up a simple test sites and started to monitor site load time from US, Europe and Asia. Best load time was ~234ms while the worst was over 2100ms (10x slower).

3. CUSTOMER SUPPORT:

We put the customer reps towards a test and asked 3-4 questions. Most of them succeeded, but the average response time varied from 2 seconds to 48 hours.

1. Bluehost: www.Bluehost.com

Uptime? Average uptime is 99.93%. (14th out of 30)
Load time? Average load time is 1426ms. (28th out of 30)

They’re definitely not the worst. But they’re also not the hosting-savior the blogosphere would like you to believe.

But their slow page speed, even slower customer service, nickle-and-diming, plus average uptime puts them below most other available alternatives.

For commercial or business sites? Nope. There are much better options available.

Read our full Bluehost review (or leave your own review).

2. Arvixe: www.Arvixe.com

Uptime? Average uptime is 99.48%. (27th out of 30)
Load time? Average load time is 1002ms. (24th out of 30)

We just couldn’t get past their poor performance in the primary three responsibilities of a web host.

Their uptime was among the lowest we’ve seen over the last six months, and that doesn’t even take into account the lengthy five-day downtime back in August.

Their page loading times were pretty slow, which can negatively affect more than just your website visitor’s experience (like your pocket book too). Customer service was bad, too.

In a nutshell, Arvixe isn’t worth your time and money.

Read our full Arvixe review (or leave your own review).

3. Fatcow: www.FatCow.com

Uptime? Average uptime is 99.90%. (17th out of 30)
Load time? Average load time is 1215ms. (26th out of 30)

Do we recommend FatCow Hosting? Unfortunately, the answer is no.

Their pricing is relatively honest (+ bonus points for cheap).

They even have a fun, whimsical name. But unfortunately, it’s a little too accurate. And across the board, they’re a bit too average for us.

Their uptime is slightly-below average, support is inconsistent, their page speeds are terribly slow, and there’s too many upsells or extra fees (like the early cancellation one).

You’d be better off looking at other options.

Read our full Fatcow review (or leave your own review).

4. iPage: www.iPage.com

Uptime? Average uptime is 99.85%. (27th out of 30)
Load time? Average load time is 1038ms. (24th out of 30)

iPage is cheap.

The support is decent.

But their uptime is terrible. Equaled only by slooooow page speeds.

In this case, you can’t afford NOT to pay a tiny bit bit more to make sure your website is stable, quick, and effective.

Read our full iPage review (or leave your own review).

5. HostGator Shared: www.HostGator.com

Uptime? Average uptime is 99.85%. (20th out of 30)
Load time? Average load time is 821ms. (16th out of 30)

After reviewing HostGator Shared hosting, we weren’t impressed. Mainly because of the uptime issues. However, the HostGator Cloud (their premium product) is the complete opposite. So you’d be much better off with their other hosting plan.

Read our full HostGator Shared review (or leave your own review).

6. Web Hosting Pad: www.WebHostingPad.com

Uptime? Average uptime is 98.53%. (29th out of 30)
Load time? Average load time is 1582ms. (29th out of 30)

Recommended? No way. Please avoid.

Their customer support is decent, but their uptime and page loading times are completely unsatisfactory.

Then when you consider how restrictive their Terms of Service and limits are, it’s really a no-brainer.

Even despite their absurdly low introductory rate, you’re better off looking for MUCH better alternatives.

Read our full WebHostingPad review (or leave your own review).

7. Web Hosting Buzz: www.WebHostingBuzz.com

Uptime? Average uptime is 97.22%. (30th out of 30)
Load time? Average load time is 894ms. (19th out of 30)

Do we recommended them? No.

We have to give it to them: their support in our experience was great.

Unfortunately, their below average uptime and slow page speeds (that keep getting slower) have pushed WebHostingBuzz to the bottom of our list.

Bottom line: There’s much better options out there to try first.

Read our full WebHostingBuzz review (or leave your own review).

8. HostMonster: www.HostMonster.com

Uptime? Average uptime is 99.91%. (16th out of 30)
Load time? Average load time is 856ms. (18th out of 30)

HostMonster’s performance is pretty average across the board, to be honest.

Their customer support is inconsistent and underwhelming.

HostMonster failed in our uptime tests and that’s a huge concern, seeing as a ‘live’ website is kinda a prerequisite here. And their speed has fallen below average over the past year.

Simply put, there are better hosts out there for your money.

Read our full HostMonster Shared review (or leave your own review).

9. IxWebHosting: www.IxWebHosting.com

Uptime? Average uptime is 99.74%. (25th out of 30)
Load time? Average load time is 965ms. (22nd out of 30)

Recommended? Nope.

While they do offer a dedicated IP and 7-day free trial, we can’t overlook the poor uptime, consistently slow performance, or terrible customer support.

They’re below average at best.

Read our full IxWebHosting review (or leave your own review).

10. HostMetro: www.HostMetro.com

Uptime? Average uptime is 99.76%. (24th out of 30)
Load time? Average load time is 2180ms. (30th out of 30)

HostMetro’s customer service is inconsistently decent. Their ‘price lock guarantee’ is pretty cool. But otherwise that’s about the nicest thing we can say about them.

HostMetro also boasts the slowest page loading speeds we’ve ever seen. Considering site speed influences not just user experience, but also your search engine rankings and conversions on your website, there’s serious danger to your bottom line here.

And their uptime is pretty bad as well. Consistently below average, with lengthy downtimes that can disrupt access at critical moments.

Read our full HostMetro review (or leave your own review).

11. Hosting24: www.Hosting24.com

Uptime? Average uptime is 99.79%. (22nd out of 30)
Load time? Average load time is 1340ms. (27th out of 30)

When you sign up for web hosting, you’re paying for performance.

Namely, (1) uptime and (2) page loading times.

Hosting24’s uptime was well below average. The best website in the world, that’s consistently falling offline, won’t benefit you.

And their page loading times were even worse, among the slowest we’ve seen. That’s a BIG problem when it comes to generating revenue from this site (discussed more in the review).

Read our full Hosting24 review (or leave your own review).

12. Just Host: www.JustHost.com

Uptime? Average uptime is 99.89%. (19th out of 30)
Load time? Average load time is 954ms. (20th out of 30)

Just Host fails in two out of the three major services of a web host.

While their uptime comes in right around industry average, their page speeds are slow (and getting slower).

And the quality of their customer support was marginal at best.

In addition, their true pricing put them in direct competition with some MUCH better host with a similar price.

Read our full JustHost review (or leave your own review).

13. WestHost: www.WestHost.com

Uptime? Average uptime is 99.93%. (13th out of 30)
Load time? Average load time is 737ms. (15th out of 30)

WestHost is just an average host. They have average uptime and average support. While they do throw in a free domain name for life, there’s not much to preach.

You’d be better of finding a different host on our site.

Read our full WestHost review (or leave your own review).

1. Site5: www.Site5.com

Uptime? Average uptime is 99.85%. (21st out of 30)
Load time? Average load time is 695ms. (14th out of 30)

Site5 isn’t bad per se. But they’re not great, either.

So we can’t recommend them, unfortunately.

Despite the sheer number of ‘PROS’ vs. ‘CONS’ listed in the review, we can’t help but feel like their service is just… average. Especially compared to the (true) costs.

There are a few especially nice perks that certain customers will enjoy. The free trial on top of the money back guarantee comes to mind. As does the free migration service for up to 25 cPanel accounts. Their support is also good.

Usually, that’s enough to put them over the edge. So you might want to shop for better alternatives.

Read our full Site5 review (or leave your own review).

2. WebHostingHub: www.WebHostingHub.com

Uptime? Average uptime is 99.93%. (12th out of 30)
Load time? Average load time is 630ms. (12th out of 30)

Unfortunately, we can’t recommend Web Hosting Hub.

Their page load times and customer support is pretty good.

But their uptime is all over the place, and pricing isn’t as good as advertised. Your account verification might get delayed 24 hours. And overall, their performance is just a bit too average.

Read our full WebHostingHub review (or leave your own review).

3. HostNine: www.HostNine.com

Uptime? Average uptime is 99.13%. (28th out of 30)
Load time? Average load time is 574ms. (10th out of 30)

They could be above average, as their page speed and a few other categories performed well.

Unfortunately, their uptime (or lack thereof) is a nightmare, bringing the rest of the company’s performance down like an albatross. Considering they have the deep pockets and heavy backing of EIG, that’s inexcusable.

These root problems trickle down, to the point where we only received a single email when our test site went offline for about 2 months. No calls, no additional notifications, no change or migration of data centers.

Their bold uptime claims at the beginning are almost an outright lie too, which on top of everything else, doesn’t leave us with a good, warm, fuzzy feeling.

Read our full HostNine review (or leave your own review).

4. HostRocket: www.HostRocket.com

Uptime? Average uptime is 99.68%. (26th out of 30)
Load time? Average load time is 676ms. (13th out of 30)

When you compare their performance with their hard costs, here’s what you get:

Their speed is good, but not that good.

Their support is good, but not that good.

Their uptime is simply not good enough to begin with.

HostRocket’s performance is simply too average compared with the high cost and additional setup fee.

Read our full HostRocket review (or leave your own review).

5. LunarPages: www.LunarPages.com

Uptime? Average uptime is 99.90%. (18th out of 30)
Load time? Average load time is 562ms. (9th out of 30)

Do we recommend Lunarpages? We do not.

While they provided great page loading times and throw in a few extra, ‘nice-to-haves’ like free backups, their lengthy CONS list is just too much to bear.

Read our full LunarPages review (or leave your own review).

6. MDDHosting: www.MDDHosting.com

Uptime? Average uptime is 99.92%. (15th out of 30)
Load time? Average load time is 518ms. (5th out of 30)

MDD is relatively new to the hosting game. But so far, they’ve put up decent uptime numbers, fast page loading times, and great customer support.

Their no-BS approach is also a breath of fresh air.

However, we don’t recommend them as their uptime could be better.

Read our full MDDHosting review (or leave your own review).

1. GreenGeeks: www.GreenGeeks.com

Uptime? Average uptime is 99.97%. (26th out of 30)
Load time? Average load time is 832ms. (13th out of 30)

GreenGeeks has a bigger mission than just simply providing web hosting, and we dig that.

They’re not necessarily the best we’ve seen, but they do provide solid uptime and good customer support (albeit, slower-than-average page speeds).

For those reasons, you should possibly consider giving them a look.

Just be aware that you’ll need to sign up for the long-term if you’d like their lowest rate. And that your ‘free domain’ and ‘money back guarantees’ might not be so iron-clad if you ask for a refund.

Read our full GreenGeeks review (or leave your own review).

2. MidPhase: www.MidPhase.com

Uptime? Average uptime is 99.98%. (6th out of 30)
Load time? Average load time is 960ms. (21st out of 30)

There are serious questions to consider prior to signing up with MidPhase. Primarily, speed. But also the money back guarantee and security features (they lack).

However, if you’re looking for a quick, cheap option with good uptime and support, MidPhase might be worth a roll of the dice.

Read our full MidPhase review (or leave your own review).

3. HostPapa: www.HostPapa.com

Uptime? Average uptime is 99.94%. (11th out of 30)
Load time? Average load time is 998ms. (23rd out of 30)

Their uptime was good. They have a TON of different support options available, and we personally had a positive experience.

However, the support experience across the board is too inconsistent. Their page load times are honestly bad, posting below average results regularly.

And there are too many hidden fees that make their ‘low’ promotion pricing hard to stomach.

Read our full HostPapa review (or leave your own review).