Looking for a good hosting service? Don’t want to pay the big bucks but still want the features? This site will help you compare the top shared hosting services by price and features.
This chart gives a short visual comparison of the costs and features of
Dreamhost, Bluehost, LunarPages, HostMonster, and HostGator. Check out their individual pages for details. Information about GoDaddy can be found on its individual page, since its hosting plan is somewhat different than (and not as attractive as) the ones listed below.
| Dreamhost | Bluehost | LunarPages | HostMonster | HostGator | |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Rates: | $9.95/mo for 1 year, $8.95/mo for 2 years, $7.95/mo for 3 years, $6.95/mo for 5 years | $7.95/mo for 1 year, $6.95/mo for 2-3 years | $4.95/mo for 1 - 2 years (fall special!) generally $7.95/mo for 1 year and $6.95/mo for 2 years | $6.95/mo for 1 year, $5.95/mo for 2 - 3 years | $9.95/mo for 1 year, $8.95/mo for 2 years, $7.95/mo for 3 years |
| Easy Install: | Yes, details | Yes, details | Yes, details | Yes, details | Yes, details |
| eCommerce Features: | Yes | Yes | Yes | Yes | Yes |
| Storage: | 500 GB (increased every week) | Unlimited | Unlimited | Unlimited | 600GB |
| Domain Hosting: | Unlimited | Unlimited | Unlimited | Unlimited | Unlimited |
| Register Domain: | $9.95 | $10.00 | $9.95 | $10.00 | $15.00 |
| WHOIS Privacy: | Free. | Free. | $7.95/year per domain | Free | $10/year per domain |
| Databases: | Unlimited MySQL. | 100 MySQL and 100 PostgreSQL. | Unlimited MySQL and PostgreSQL. | 100 MySQL and 100 PostgreSQL. | Unlimited MySQL. |
| E-mail: | Unlimited e-mail addresses, POP3 and IMAP, Gmail hosting option. | Support for 2500 e-mail addresses using POP3 and IMAP. | Unlimited e-mail accounts, POP3 and IMAP. | Unlimited e-mail accounts, POP3 and IMAP. | Unlimited e-mail accounts, POP3 and IMAP. |
Hosting Rates
Hosting rates are based on the number of months or years you purchase in advance. Note: The hosting rate for HostGator (and all other Hostgator numbers) is based on Hostgator’s “Baby” plan, which is comperable to the other plans listed. HostGator also offers a “Hatchling” plan which can only support 1 domain.
Easy Installs
All these hosting plans offer easy installations of popular software such as Wordpress, message boards, and more. Each plan’s individual page explains more about which easy installs the host offers. Just click the “details” link to find out.
eCommerce
eCommerce features include such things as SSL Secure Servers, shopping carts, and encryption. Each plan has different eCommerce features, but they all offer something.
Domain Hosting
How many domains and subdomains you can host in a single account. Of course, if you exceed your storage or bandwidth, you’ll need to upgrade or start another account.
Domain Registration
How much it costs to register a domain through your host. This is often the most convenient way to transfer a domain. However if you already own your own domain, you can simply point its nameservers to your host. Or you can transfer its registration, which will often cost as much registering it.
WHOIS Privacy
A WHOIS service allows internet users to look up the owner of a domain. Most hosting plans offer WHOIS privacy, which means that people attempting to look up your domain will not be able to find your name and address, simply information about which company the domain is registered with and possibly an e-mail address which will forward to you.
Databases
MySQL databases are required for running programs like Wordpress and Drupal. So if your plan limits your databases, you can only run programs which require them on a certain number of sites. However, a limit of 100 databases is more than enough for most of us.
Some hosts limit how many e-mail addresses they will host, others do not. POP3 and IMAP allow users to access their e-mail somewhere other than the usual Squirrelmail and other web-based mailservers. For example, you could use POP3 and IMAP to receive and send messages from Outlook Express or from Mozilla Thunderbird.
Dreamhost allows you to use the Gmail interface to check your mail (not through Gmail.com, but through mail.yourdomain.com). Just be careful not to choose to have the rest of your site hosted there!
