The Best Web Hosting List

By now you have seen that most if not all of even the best web hosting companies offer “unlimited web hosting” through unlimited storage, unlimited bandwidth, and unlimited website hosting. But do you know what you’re really getting with companies that promote ‘unlimited web hosting’?

It’s a fact – nothing but the essentials like air and water are unlimited and even then, mathematically, there is a physical end to them. The same goes for anything you buy, including web hosting storage, bandwidth, email accounts, and domain name hosting.

So how can web hosts offer unlimited hosting?

One word – marketing! All web hosting providers are competing in what is one of the most saturated and cutthroat markets in the world. There are estimated to be over 10,000 web hosting companies around the world, most of which are fresh startups who will barely be able to make back their down payment. So to get more customers, you have to advertise big.

But aren’t these web hosts lying about their offers?

Essentially, this depends on the web hosting provider in question. Little webhosting companies are most likely lying and are not trustworthy, as they won’t have the technology to back your website up or the reputation to become well-known and approved. The best web hosting companies, like the ones we promote here, are however fully prepared to back their promises up.

What’s the catch?

That is a good question. As a general rule, web hosting companies limit their hosting customers by setting a cap on what’s called CPU. CPU stands for computer processor unit and this unit measures how many times your website is accessed per minute, second, day, etc. It is basically the brain of the server, just like your home computer’s processor is what makes it load fast or slow.

Now, shared hosting (which is the cheap and affordable hosting you’ll find here) means that your website and about 300 other websites are sharing the same CPU (processor). So imagine 300 people sharing your home computer – if you have a good processor, your machine will run fast, just like if the customers sharing space with you are not using very much, the server will be fast and good! So if all 300 customers use >1% CPU, your server will be amazing.

Now imagine all 300 people trying to download a movie all at the same time on your home computer. Your home computer would likely shut down, as it would be unable to handle the load of 300 people downloading something that large at once. That is the same effect as if those 300 people on your web hosting server all used more than 1% CPU. Your server (and website) will crash.

So the catch to unlimited web hosting is merely CPU usage. Keep it below 1% and you’ll be fine and can really utilize unlimited storage and bandwidth!

As many of the best webhosts offer their services within shared hosting environments, it’s important to be aware of CPU usage and how it might affect you. Although many hosts are now offering “unlimited bandwidth” there is a bit of a catch to it — you can use as much bandwidth at you need, but if you’re using too much of the CPU, you’ll need upgrade to a dedicated or VPS server.

Many webhosts limit CPU usage to less than 1% on a shared server, and the logic behind this is simple. Say you have 100% of the CPU available on a server, and 300 people are on that server, that leaves less that 1% available to each person so the computer can run smoothly. That doesn’t necessarily mean each person IS using their portion — some customers may have a very small site that demands little or no CPU, some may not have a site yet at all — but it means that if your site is consistently busy and your users are doing CPU-intensive actions, you’ll become a burden to the server, everyone else’s site will slow down, and you’ll have to upgrade.

Most people with small sites won’t ever have to worry about it but, let’s put it this way, just because a shared server says it offers “unlimited bandwidth” doesn’t mean a site like Facebook or Livejournal or Pogo can survive on it — they’re way too popular and will need much more than what a shared server can offer.

Do you know what ASP, JSP, PHP, MySQL, and MSSQL stand for? Well, here’s a quick guide to help you out if you’re stuck, because defining web hosting terminology shouldn’t be as difficult as it often is!

ASP – (Active Server Pages) ASP is a Windows-based script that allows you to customize your website. It’s not necessary for personal webhosting, so if you’re not a programmer, odds are you can live without it. More often than not, ASP web hosting is more expensive than basic hosting.

CGI – (Common Gateway Interface) CGI is a very tiny script that allows data taken from website users to be processed on the server. CGI-bins are common in web hosting control panels so that you can store CGI scripts.

FrontPage – (Microsoft FrontPage Extensions) FrontPage is a web design tool developed and licensed by Microsoft. Many users prefer the ease of use in designing websites using FrontPage. FrontPage web hosting is very popular and affordable.

HTML – (HyperText Markup Language) HTML is a commonly-used phrase these days, and it’s nothing more than language you can learn and use to design and develop your website. HTML can make your text italic, show pictures, create line breaks, and even design borders, links, and play music.

JSP – (Java Server Pages) JSP is a scripting language similar to ASP in the tasks it can perform. JSP web hosting normally is more expensive, and if you are not into web programming, you do not need it.

SQL – (Standard Query Language) SQL is a protocol used to generate information requested from databases. The two most popular ways to utilize SQL is by using MySQL or MS SQL databases. They are both similar, and the main difference is that MS SQL is developed and licensed by Microsoft and works best with Windows Web Hosting.

XML – (Extensible Markup Language) XML is a language similar to HTML, which also allows for website design and development. XML is more for website programming than design and actually allows programmers to define its functions.

While email is a great thing to have with your hosting service, one thing you’ll need to remember is that so many of the best webhosts out there are offering their services on shared servers. Shared hosting almost always has limitations on the number of emails you’re allowed to send out per hour, so if you’re looking to send out more than, say, 500 or 600, you’ll probably want to look into VPS or Dedicated hosting. The reason webhosts often limit outgoing email on a shared server is to try and reduce the instance of spamming and blacklisting. If a server is black listed because ONE person sent out a few hundred too many emails, than the hundreds of account holders on that server will suffer — and their first course of action will be to call the webhost. So those email restrictions are both for yours AND the hosts benefit.

While email-forwarding can be extremely beneficial to people, there is one catch that beginners should be made aware of, especially if you’re going for one of the shared hosting plans that most of the best web hosts offer. Time and time again during my time with a web hosting company, we found that people were actually spamming themselves and blacklisting their OWN servers due to email forwarding!

Here’s how it works: The big guys — Yahoo!, AOL, Hotmail, Gmail — really, REALLY hate spam, and they’re quick to blacklist any server that they think a spammer is on. If you prefer to use your Yahoo account, for example, but want your customers to email an address that’s @yourdomain.com you might set up a forwarder — your customers see the professional email address, but you can maintain your email as you always have in your Yahoo inbox. Just remember, that ALL your email will be forwarded — including the spam. What often happens is, once the spam hits your Yahoo email, you might mark it as spam. What does Yahoo see? Yahoo sees the spam as being sent from your OWN hosting account — from the server your website is on! Keep on marking that spam, and Yahoo just might blacklist your server. In essence — you’re spamming yourself.

So if you do decide to set up forwarders, always just delete any spam that comes in from your hosting account. Better to be safe that sorry!

If you call or contact some of the best web hosts, you might come across the term “blacklisting”. Basically, blacklisting happens when an email service thinks they are getting spammed by a certain server — they “blacklist” that server and block an incoming email from that server.

I’ll spell it out in examples and explain , since I quite like examples

You’re on a shared server with 300 other customers. One of those customers has a large mailing list and many Yahoo! accounts. He send out email and a number of the Yahoo! customers don’t remember signing up for the list, so they mark his email as spam. Yahoo takes the spam claims seriously, looks into the matter, and finds that these emails were sent by on account holder on a specific server. They then blacklist that server, disallowing all incoming emails from that server. How this affects you if you’re on that server is, you can email hotmail accounts, you can email AOL accounts, but any Yahoo accounts you try to email won’t go through. In these cases, the webhosts are alerted to the problem, investigate the alleged “spammer” on their server, and work with Yahoo to get them white listed again.

Because this is ALWAYS a risk with any shared hosting, companies who rely heavily on email communications might choose to go with a VPS or Dedicated server to lessen and eradicate this possibility.

Many of the best webhosts offer email along with their basic hosting packages. This is a really helpful addition and can add to a far more professional web presence. With these hosts, you can create multiple emails, all containing your domain. For example, if you have a website, dogs.com, you can create email address for multiple aspects of your website, so that your customers will always reach the right people for the right response. You could create info@dogs.com, support@dogs.com, feedback@dogs.com… This can be a great way to organize all the emails you might receive – especially if your site is popular! You could always keep any existing personal aol, hotmail, or yahoo email accounts you might have (you could even set up email forwarders), but to your customers, an email tied in to your domain will make you seem more organized, trustworthy, and established.

Many of the best webhosts offer free email auto-replies with their hosting services. An auto reply is a great way to make sure your contacts never feel forgotten — even when you’re on vacation in the Bahamas Simply put, auto-replies are saved responses that are sent out whenever someone sends an email to a certain address. For example, say your primary email address is info@domain.com, and you’ll be away from your email for a few weeks. Despite being away, you want to make sure that any customers or contacts that email you know they aren’t being ignored. You can set up an auto-reply for info@, telling your contacts that you’re away, when you will return, or even direct them to a better way to contact you.

Some people never use them, but if you have some kind of online business, auto-replies might be an invaluable resource.

The terms “java server pages”, “JSP”, “JavaScript”, and “Java” may look alike, but they are actually different languages that can perform different duties on your website or browser. Since the web hosting language is so diverse and complex at times, it’s definitely easy to confuse these server technologies. Our Best Web Hosting guide can assist further with this information.

So let’s start with Java. Java is nothing more than a programming language, and a relatively new one at that. The term “Java” can also be interchangeable with “JSP”, “Java Server Pages”, and “Java Applets”. JSP Web Hosting is actually an extremely popular choice for advanced webmasters these days, as Java hosting can be used to enhance the appearance and functionality of a website. Using Java applets (or programs), programmers and webmasters can animate images, offer real-time calculators, and even implement website counters.

JavaScript, on the other hand, is actually a scripting language, not a programming language, so it works on your browser more than on your website. JavaScript interacts with the HTML source code on any given website, allowing you to interact with that website. If you have ever played an online game, you have more than likely either been prompted to install JavaScript to your computer or used it while playing that game. JavaScript is incredibly useful for advertisements on websites, online music systems like jukeboxes, pop-ups and pop-unders, and more.

When you hear the term “blogging”, do you know what that means? Or are you like many others asking “what is a blog”?

A blog is simply a tool that allows you to publish content on the internet. It started out similar to an online journal, where users shared thoughts, stories, feelings, and interacted with others. It has since grown into a form of web hosting, where you can host your blog on your website or even use a blog to publish your website.

Many best web hosting companies offer free blog hosting as part of their hosting plans – if they don’t, they are likely not a reliable web hosting choice for your website. As blogs are actually a Content Manage System (CMS), they assist you with easily publishing new content on a daily, hourly, monthly, or even annually period. Blog web hosting makes it easy to post content, pictures, music, and any other digital format.

The most popular form of blog web hosting is WordPress Web Hosting.