Top 10 Web Hosting Companies in 2013
*UPDATED for 2013*
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 (1 year 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 (1 year 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 (1 year 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 (1 year 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 (1 year 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 (1 year 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 (1 year 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 (1 year ago)
1 up for hostgator and blue host
a BOO for fatcow
web marketing company kent (1 year ago)
Surprised not to see RackSpace and Heart Internet in your review
Ramnadh (1 year 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 (1 year 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 (1 year ago)
Too bad im using godaddy, but nex time ill give HostGator a try.
AJAX loaders (1 year 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 year 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 (1 year 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 (1 year ago)
I use Media-Temple and I absolutely love it!
dirudir (12 months ago)
I hate ipage. I used to have 5 accounts with them and switched to netfirms. Everything is fine now.
Alan Phillips (11 months ago)
I’d have to agree with 99% of this list, including the blurb about GoDaddy… but I don’t see Namecheap anywhere on there. I’ve been with them for a while, and have no complaints.
Website Design (11 months ago)
When I was initially weighing up my options I went around asking a few questions to some of the hosts. In my personal opinion Godaddy has bad sales reps/customer service.
I asked about some of the settings allowed with hosting and some other stuff to do with ‘unlimited hosting’ – he had no clue what that was…then after some explaining he figured that I was talking about setting ‘soft caps’ on my reseller hosting accounts but all in all he was sort of rude telling me I didn’t know what I was talking about (sure, I hadn’t come across the term ‘soft cap’ before but he didn’t understand the the common marketing gimmick of ‘unlimited hosting’).
To be quite honest though, i don’t really care about rudeness – it’s the products and the knowledge that matter but Godaddy should know that they’re most likely losing sales owing their sales reps’ etiquette.
KD (11 months ago)
I’m a very satisfied client of Hostloco hosting services. Nice Cpane, support, speed, etc.
Matt Smith, modMACRO (10 months ago)
We’ve been using Lunar Pages shared hosting for several years with very few issues. Their customer support is pretty good too. We’ve had horrible experiences with Just Host in the past, and Go Daddy’s email system is lacking.
saha (10 months ago)
Very informative and helpful post. These are some good web hosting companies. HostGator is best web hosting company.
Thanks for sharing this helpful list of web hosting companies.
Professional Website Design Company (9 months ago)
I agree with this list 100% Switched from GoDaddy to HostGator and very happy.
Sal (6 months ago)
Hostgator has to be the best. I’ve been using them for several years now for many of my clients. Pretty reliable, unlike GoDaddy.
Thank you for the great information.
Kevin M (9 months ago)
I am not sure how JustHost and BlueHost make it to any position but at the bottom with GoCrappy but I will tell you that ANY host that requires you to setup your own php.ini file is a disaster waiting to happen! Not only that but both of these hosts take advantage of your site if an address is misspelled the link returned is a search for your competition. In web security circles this is seen as a virus and both of these hosts should not be listed as anything better than crap hosts right along with GoCrappy!
Melodie (9 months ago)
I love dreamhost. Always helpful even with questions that don’t directly concern them. Reliable and great value.
Surprised they didn’t make the list
Exist To Create (9 months ago)
Most of those hosts have a dreadful design, they definitely don’t help to draw potential customers in.
Ludjer (9 months ago)
I am surprised no one mentioned no support linux hosting. Been hosting with them for ages and had no problems what so ever. Its the best host if you know what you are doing.
For my personal stuff i prefer Amazon EC2, i pay 9~10$ a month and have my own instance that i can do what i want with it.
Carlos Ramos (9 months ago)
I wouldn’t vote for iPage. I recently moved to HostGator after *almost* a year of bad and slow service with iPage. After I deactivated the autorenew service option in my account, misteriously, my site was suspended for spam or something like that, or so they say.
Mohamed Ali (9 months ago)
I am going to switch from HostMonster to HostGator. HostMonster is slow
Darren (8 months ago)
You should add believehosting and empirehostings.com to the list.Both of them are great hosts.
peter (8 months ago)
Network solutions is slow. though their customer support is good. and never the less Godady is another good option.
Mary (8 months ago)
I LOVE Go Daddy…their support rocks ! Sorry but you got that one wrong !
Eric (8 months ago)
Ha, GoDaddy got 0 out of 10.
I use Alien VPS. http://www.alienvps.com – Cheap and really fast servers.
Design Sanduiche (7 months ago)
Hostgator is definetly worth to try!
Thanks for the post
Matt (7 months ago)
I currently use ixhosting and I really rate them. I have also used in England http://www.heartinternet.co.uk , & found the to be excellent.
Lexi (6 months ago)
Been a long time HostGator user and I never had any problems. Sure, there were moments when my sites would be down for a few minutes but those times are pretty rare.
David Conway Jr. (6 months ago)
Been using Bluehost for over a year now and I love it. (Before that I kept jumping around from minor lesser-known hosts.)
Why is Godaddy listed in the Top 10 when they suck? Admittedly, I keep hearing people always promoting Godaddy, but all my experience with Godaddy has been horrendous… and I’ve never been hosted by them!
Web Design (6 months ago)
Hi David,
They are list in top 10 at the #10 spot just so people are aware just how terrible they are as a web host.
Tarun Raghav (5 months ago)
what about resellers? best reseller hosting provider?
Web Design (5 months ago)
Hi Tarun,
That would also be the #1 host on this list as they have a great reseller program.
matoweb (4 months ago)
I have my website on Fatcow and I’m very satisfied. Got it for only $30 for the first year and even got those $75 Google Adwords credit, $50 Facebook credit and Yahoo!, similar as on iPage…
I definitely recommend Fatcow.
rahul (4 months ago)
this is very true…..
i have hosting plans with hostgator,justhost …………and 1withgodaddy.godaddy is really worst hosting –i m talking about shared hosting only.
Jason (4 months ago)
My pick always goes to Hostagtor and Bluehost. Hostagator has the best customer support than any other hosting companies, and 99.9% of uptime.
Spinx Inc. in New York (3 months ago)
This is the excellent information you have provided. From my point of view, Hostgator is the best web hosting company that gives high security to the website. It provides other services of free email services, high bandwidth and large amount of space at affordable cost.
Graeme (3 months ago)
Hostgator wins for me as well, faultless and great support when needed.
Michael (3 months ago)
We use discountasp and their hosting is average; nothing to “write home about”. We are contently having email issues with the server going down or having “problems”. Our web site is driven by a MySQL database and it has gone down or rebooted twice effectively making our web site useless.
On the customer service side, I give it resounding thumbs down! They have no phone or live chat. They only communicate with email and ticket submission which takes time. The techs that answer the tickets frequently don’t read the entire message or totally get it wrong or misunderstand a simple request. This makes it VERY frustrating when your web site is down or having problems and your business is losing money because of it.
Overall, I would NOT recommend them as a hosting provider.
Web Design (3 months ago)
Michael,
I strongly suggest you switch to a good host.
Iggy
Cory (3 months ago)
I’ve been with host gator for a while and love em. I also recommend dreamhost for offering free services to non profits (their support is only via email and therefore frustrating) and I love site5.com as well.