Top 10 Web Hosting Companies in 2012 – *STICKY – HOT DISCUSSION*
*UPDATED for 2012*
Whether you are not a web designer, a freelance web designer or a big web design company, you will need web hosting for your websites before you can get your clients. And if you don’t sell your own hosting to your clients, there are web hosting companies which you should recommend to your clients. Your web host is more important than you think. One of my high traffic websites was receiving around 20,000 visitors per day consistently a few years ago, but my server was running very slow. I didn’t really want to bother switching to a new web hosting company and my old host was cheaper, but after I found out that the new host would migrate my website free of charge (see the #1 host on my list), I made the switch. Once I switched to a much faster web hosting, the traffic doubled within 2 days. It turned out I had some sort of penalty from Google because my old hosting was so slow. If you are serious about your online business, I recommend you evaluate your current host and consider the top hosts on this list.
Below is a list of top 10 web hosting companies for 2012.
#1. HostGator – 9.95 out of 10. 
Reliable, trustworthy host that has been around for many years. They do free migrations from your old host, have cPanel and make it a pleasure to host with them. Their hosting support is rated #1. I believe they may be running a 20% off special at this time.
#2. JustHost – 9.91 out of 10. 
This is a top rated web host with cPanel, unlimited space, free domain and free installation. We’ve heard many good things about JustHost from our web designer audience. Be sure to check them out when comparing web hosting companies.
#3. iPage – 9.89 out of 10.
Although it doesn’t have cPanel, iPage is nonetheless a terrific host. With the price of only $4.50/month, eco-friendly wind energy power, free domain, free migration, $75 Google Adwords credit, $50 Facebook credit, free SiteLock security suite ($100 value) and much more, iPage is a very solid web hosting company in 2011.
#4. FatCow – 9.84 out of 10.
Lack of cPanel is a disavantage, but the price is extremely attractive with the current hosting special for only $56 per year. Another huge plus is they transfer your website from your old hosting for free and even give you a free domain name when you sign up. If you are environmentally friendly, you should also know that they use green hosting 100% powered by wind energy.
#5. BlueHost – 9.2 out of 10.
Barely making our top 5, BlueHost has an attractive price and feature list. Their control panel is a modified version of cPanel which I found very easy to work with.
#6. UK2 – 9.12 out of 10.
This is a very solid, reliable and old host that could make an excellent choice as your web hosting company.
#7. IX Web Hosting – 8.9 out of 10.
Although this isn’t a host that made it to our top 5, IX Web Hosting has many plans to choose from and really allows you to scale up your hosting as your website grows.
#8. MyHosting – 8.3 out of 10.
Similarly to IX Web Hosting, MyHosting really allows you to scale up your hosting if your website grows. The price and feature list are also very competitive.
#9. HostMonster – 6.5 out of 10.
This isn’t the fastest host, but the fact that they’ve been around for a while and likely aren’t going anywhere is something that plays in their favor. Their price isn’t the most competitive, but they do offer cPanel which is a big plus.
#10. GoDaddy. 0 out of 10.
Stay away from getting hosting from these guys. Their hosting is the worst possible hosting you can have. Support is terrible, hosting is slow and hosting control panel is as bad as it can be. On the plus side, they are a terrific domain registrar.
If you have any hosts to add to the list (this is not to be used for self promotion as a hosting company, those comments will not be approved), please post a comment. If you’ve used any of the hosts on the list and have anything to say, please post a comment too!
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Web Design Bournemouth (6 months ago)
I’m not surprised Hostgator are up there – we use them repeatedly and often.
I’m surprised that Dreamhost haven’t upped their game to move more into the hosting for web companies market – last time I looked they were still brilliant if you had a single site, but not so good if you wanted to host a lot of domains.
Many Thanks,
Darren.
DesignFluxx (6 months ago)
Hostgator is an amazing host. We’ve been using their shared as well as dedicated hosting for years now. Their support is the best around!
Morgan & Me Creative - Website Design Singapore (5 months ago)
Kind of agree with the list. Had really bad experiences with Go Daddy and their support is totally worthless and nonsense. All questions were met with ‘cut and paste’ like answers. Go Daddy is only good as a domain registrar.
zohaib (5 months ago)
hostgator really deserve it and i am amazed that godaddy is so low.. I think godaddy is just famous, not reliable at all..
Jeremiah Reagan (5 months ago)
I’m shocked that HostGator made it to the top, but I’m happy for them none the less – great job! This is a cool list by the way webdesigndev, nicely done as usual!
WordPress Designer (4 months ago)
I LOVE Hostgator, I am an affiliate for them and run my own site off of them and also do all my site development there. I seriously cannot believe Godaddy made this list. I have heard every nightmare imaginable about them including where an employee stole a woman’s identity and went on a shopping spree with her credit card. When the woman found out and contacted Godaddy they said sorry there is nothing they could do and they DIDN’T even fire him!
Web Design (4 months ago)
Hi Rachael,
The only reason GoDaddy made this list is to let everyone know just how bad they are as a web host : )
cory (4 months ago)
1 up for hostgator and blue host
a BOO for fatcow
web marketing company kent (4 months ago)
Surprised not to see RackSpace and Heart Internet in your review
Ramnadh (4 months ago)
A very good list of web hosting companies. I think Dream host is also a very good for WordPress hosting. I Always prefer Hostgator. Because i am proudly using their hosting to host my WordPress Blog.
joe (4 months ago)
The thing godaddy has going for them is very good marketing. People that do no research using them just because they see half naked girls and race cars in their commercials. Then later they see how slow and bad they are.
Žan Marolt (2 months ago)
Too bad im using godaddy, but nex time ill give HostGator a try.
AJAX loaders (2 months ago)
I have tried hostgator, godaddy and bluehost. At the end I had to move to mediatemple. Web-hostings providers like those are fine for simple web-sites. They can’t manage high load web-sites or applications that use high load algorithms. Only if you buy a dedicated or a semi-dedicated server which is way too expensive.
Mark (1 month ago)
I love seeing GoDaddy on the bottom of that list. You really question a business who’s main advertisements rely on pure sex appeal to sell. I’ve been using HostGator for a while now and am real happy with the service. Every time I call, I get great help.
SkyMan (4 weeks ago)
with only few people saying good things about godaddy.com i guess they have lottery to choose a lucky query and answer it and ignore all other clients. So if you think you had a good time with godaddy.com, better call your self one in a million customer coz only your question was heard……….:D
Anthony (2 weeks ago)
I use Media-Temple and I absolutely love it!