Media Temple

Unlike Arvixe, Media Temple has just one shared hosting plan. It starts at a $20 per month, but you'll pay $16.67 per month if you sign up for an annual plan. The shared hosting package grants 1TB of monthly data transfers, 100GB of storage, and 1,000 email accounts.

Those are quality numbers, but Arvixe tops Media Temple's offerings with unlimited monthly data transfers, unlimited storage, and unlimited email address. Still, Media Temple lets you host a whopping 100 domains, while Arvixe's basic shared plan limits you to just six. If you're looking to host many sites, Media Temple is an attractive choice.

VPS Hosting Plans

If you require more powerful server configurations, Media Temple has you covered with its six Linux-based VPS Web hosting packages, which range from $30 per month to $1,500 per month. That $1,500 per month plan is far more expensive than rival services' top-tier plans, but you'll get a feature-packed VPS that can be outfitted with 8TB of monthly data transfers, an incredible 64GB of RAM, and a robust 600GB of storage. Arvixe, the PCMag Editors' Choice for VPS services, maxes out at 4GB of RAM and 100GB of storage.

That said, Arvixe's VPS tops Media Temple's VPS in several important areas. Arvixe is more wallet-friendly (a Media Temple VPS plan with 4GB of RAM has half the storage of a similar Arvixe plan, but costs $30 extra), boasts unlimited monthly data transfers, and offers Windows-based servers. Arvixe is the VPS host to turn to if you need reasonably featured and priced servers; Media Temple is the host to turn to if you need obscenely specced servers.

Dedicated Web Hosting Plans

Dedicated servers start at an expensive $2,000 per month (yes, $2,000!) and include 128GB of RAM and 10TB of monthly data transfers. That monthly data transfer total is topped by HostGator£2.54 at HostGator UK, the PCMag Editors' Choice for dedicated hosting that offers 25TB of data transfer per month. Still, that $2,000 per month price may be worth your while; the server's 128GB of RAM blows away Arvixe's $1,019 per month server than boasts 96GB of RAM.

Unfortunately, Media Temple only offers Linux-based servers. If your website requires a Windows server, check out Arvixe, HostGator, GoDaddy$3.99 at GoDaddy - Shared, or InMotion Hosting.

HostMaster

HostMonster doesn't offer month-to-month Web hosting options. Instead, it requires you to sign up for an annual plan. HostMonster throws a few savings bones your way, should you sign up for a two- or three-year plan, but those who don't want lengthy commitments should invest in Arvixe if they want to pay on a monthly basis.

The Linux-based Starter shared hosting package (starting at $6.95 per month with a one-year contract) includes a free domain name that you can keep as long as you use HostMonster, free domain transfer, 100GB of storage, unlimited monthly data transfers, and the ability to host a single website. The HostMonster Plus package (starting at $14.95 per month with a one-year contract) adds unlimited storage, unlimited domain hosting, and spam prevention. The Business Plus package (starting at $19.95 per month with a one-year contract) tops all of HostMonster's shared hosting plans with a dedicated IP address, an SSL certificate, and two antispam apps.

That said, HostGator£2.54 at HostGator UK PCMag Editors' Choice for shared Web hosting services, is our favorite service in this sub-category. HostGator also has unlimited storage, email, domains, and monthly data transfers, but it tops HostMonster by offering Windows-based servers. If you plan to build or migrate a site built on an ASP.NET framework, you'll appreciate HostGator.

BlueHost

Bluehost doesn't offer month-to-month Web hosting options. Instead, it requires you to sign up for an annual plan. If you sign up for a two-year or three-year plan, you get discounts. If you know you are staying put for three years, that $3.95 per month rate is attractive. That said, those who don't want lengthy commitments will probably prefer Arvixe's month-to-month options.

 

Bluehost's offerings are identical to HostMonster's£2.56 at HostMonster UK, right down to the names of its shared Web hosting plans. Of course, the fact that Bluehost and HostMonster have the same parent company—Endurance International Group—may have something to do with that. Endurance International also owns FastDomain and iPage$8.99 at iPage - Shared.

The Starter shared hosting package (starting at $5.99 per month with a one-year contract) includes a free domain name that you can keep as long as you use Bluehost, free domain transfer, 100GB of storage, unlimited monthly data transfers, and the ability to host a single website—Arvixe lets you host six domains with its basic plan. The Plus package (starting at $9.99 per month with a one-year contract) adds an antispam tool as well as unlimited storage, websites, and mailboxes. The Business Pro package (starting at $19.99 per month with a one-year contract) tops all of Bluehost's shared hosting plans with a dedicated IP address, an SSL certificate, site backup, and two anti-spam applications. There are a lot of options, which is great, but every time we log in to Bluehost, we're shown an ad to purchase another service or add-on. The upselling is too aggressive for our tastes.

On the other hand, HostGator£2.54 at HostGator UK, the Editors' Choice for shared hosting, gives small- and medium-sized business room to expand their Web presences without the aggressive upselling. The Linux- or Windows-based Hatchling plan (starting at $7.17 per month) offers unlimited disk space, bandwidth databases, and email addresses, plus support for one domain and third-party applications, such as content management systems and e-commerce platforms. HostGator's Baby plan (starting at $7.96 per month) builds upon Hatchling by adding unlimited domains. The top-tier Business plan (starting at $11.96 per month) includes highly specialized options, such as a free toll-free phone number and a private secure socket layer (SSL certificate). HostGator has a very well-rounded shared Web hosting package.

Virtual Private Servers

If you need more power, expect high-traffic volumes, or have specific compliance requirements that prevent you from using shared servers, Bluehost's virtual private servers (VPS) are good options to consider.

Bluehost offers four tiers of Linux-based VPS hosting, ranging from the $29.99 per month Standard (30GB of storage, 2GB of memory, and 1TB of monthly data transfers) to the $119.99 per month Ultimate (240GB of storage, 8GB of memory, 4TB of monthly data transfers). As with the shared Web hosting plans, VPS hosting plans include discounts for longer-term contracts. Unfortunately, Bluehost doesn't offer Windows-based VPS.

Those are attractive plans, but Hostwinds$4.50 at Hostwinds - Shared—the Editors' Choice for VPS hosting—just beats out Bluehost with packages that include unlimited monthly data transfers and Linux- or Windows-based server options. Don't underestimate the importance of a Windows server option; if you plan to build (or migrate) a site built on an ASP.NET framework, you'll appreciate Hostwinds's Windows-based VPS offerings.

Dedicated Servers

Bluehost has many dedicated server configurations. The servers start at $149 per month and can be outfitted with a Linux operating system and up to 1TB of hard drive space, 16GB of RAM, and 15TB of data transfers per month—the same specs as HostMoster. Those are solid numbers, but HostGator£2.54 at HostGator UK—the PCMag Editors' Choice for dedicated Web hosting—one-ups Bluehost with a choice of Linux and Windows operating systems and an incredibly generous 25TB of monthly data transfers.

1&1 webhosting

1&1, like Editors' Choice competitors Arvixe£2.56 at Arvixe UK and Dreamhost, offers a standard monthly Web hosting charge, but it reduces the price if you're willing to sign up for multi-month or annual packages (it doesn't, thankfully, hit you with a setup fee). Unlike GoDaddy$3.99 at GoDaddy - Shared, 1&1 lets you choose a one-month plan with any package tier; GoDaddy requires you to sign up for its pricier Deluxe or Ultimate plans (starting at $8.99 and $14.99, respectively) to get a one-month option. GoDaddy's pricing method may not have much (if any) impact on large businesses, but a cash-strapped blogger will appreciate 1&1's one-month, basic Web hosting option.

 

The Starter shared hosting package (starting at $3.99 per month) includes a free domain name (in the form of yoursite.com) that you keep as long as you use 1&1. The plan also offers a paltry 10GB of storage, just 10 email accounts, the ability to host one website, website-building tools, and free domain transfers. The Unlimited plan (starting at $6.99 per month) adds unlimited storage, unlimited domains, and 100 email accounts. Unlimited Plus (starting at $9.99 per month) has unlimited email accounts, SiteLock Basic security, Content Delivery Network (a connected system of cached servers that deliver page faster), and 1&1 Mobile Website Builder. The upper-level Unlimited Pro package (starting at $14.99 per month) boasts a guaranteed 2GB of RAM and a 1&1 SSL Certificate.

Virtual Private Servers

1&1's VPS offerings (starting at an incredibly pocket- friendly $12.99 per month) give you the essential tools for building a website that can handle the rigors of the Internet better than traditional shared Web hosting. You can outfit the Linux- or Windows-based servers with up to 12GB of RAM and 400GB of storage, which bests Arvixe's 4GB of RAM and 100GB of storage. You also get unlimited monthly data transfers.

1&1 has decent VPS Web hosting packages, but Hostwinds $4.50 at Hostwinds - Shared, the Editors' Choice for VPS Web hosting, tops it by offering unlimited storage and unlimited domain hosting.

Dedicated Servers

1&1's has three dedicated hosting tiers: Entry-Level, Performance, and Business Line. Entry-Level dedicated servers start at just $59.99 per month for 2GB of RAM, a relatively skimpy 500GB of storage, and unlimited monthly data transfers. Those specs are fine if you're managing a small, lightly trafficked website, but I suggest the checking out the Performance (starting at $199 per month) and Business Line (starting at $449 per month) offerings for beefier CPU and storage options that begin to compete with Hostgator£2.54 at HostGator UK, our Editors' Choice for dedicated Web hosting.

NTCHosting`s Web Hosting Services

We, at Top Web Hosting, think this short review of NTCHosting is probably going to be quite helpful for other people from all around the World in need of domain name and web hosting services. We say people from all around the World, because the simple fact is that NTCHosting presently offers domain and web hosting services in multiple data center locations: in the United States (Chicago, IL), in the United Kingdom (Maidenhead, 20 miles outside London), in Sweden (Stockholm) and in Australia (Sydney). Thus, covering almost the whole World. At least from the point of view of the Internet. So, here is what you could expect from NTCHosting in short:

 

Shared Web Hosting Packages

Shared Web Hosting Packages The first thing we, at Top Web Hosting, have noticed is the affordable prices of the shared hosting services offered by NTCHosting. Shared doesn't sound very well, does it? Well, that's what it is called: shared web hosting. The good thing here is that the web hosting services offered by NTCHosting are powered by an in-house built, modern cloud web hosting solution (each hosting service, like mail, databases, Control Panel, disk storage, DNS, statistics, etc. runs on a separate group of servers in a cluster). This is something ANY cPanel web hosting company in the World will have great problems with, because cPanel is a one-server based hosting platform (each hosting service, like mail, databases, Control Panel, disk storage, DNS, statistics, etc. runs on one and the same server), cPanel is not open source (hence the cPanel hosting companies cannot add extra functionality and manipulate it the way they need it) and there is no open source file system (they have to make their own file system), which is the basis of any cloud web hosting service. Let's get back to the shared hosting accounts, which are powered by a real cloud hosting platform. With a shared plan, each client pays only for his/her account, thus keeping the hosting price really low (because many clients share the same server). In short, a shared hosting package, which runs on a cloud hosting platform, allows you to pay only for the resources that you really need, avoiding a situation where you pay for a powerful hosting plan that you cannot really use, or for a small hosting plan that cannot accommodate your website. The ability to upgrade your account from one plan to another with just two clicks gives you the flexibility to start with a low-end plan and upgrade as your website grows. Thus, you save money that you can spend on promoting the site while it is still new. Each and every hosting plan offered by NTCHosting comes with an online website builder and over 40 popular script-driven platforms such as WordPress, Joomla, 4images and Moodle that will save you hundreds of dollars for web design services. NTCHosting offers shared hosting solutions in a number of different regions around the world. There is one datacenter in Chicago covering the USA and Canada; two European datacenters - in the United Kingdom and in Sweden; and another one in Australia, which covers the Asia Pacific. Thus, almost the whole world is covered to provide you and your visitors with a stable and fast hosting service at a convenient location. On the whole, the shared hosting packages offered by NTCHosting are very well equipped and come at a good price (starting from $4.95 USD per month for the Budget Web Hosting package).