JustHost research

JustHost is a budget web hosting provider that concentrates on shared hosting plans and reseller hosting. The company offer generous discounts on sign-up and a notable ‘Anytime’ money back guarantee. JustHost was founded in 2008; it was originally part of the Just Develop It group of companies founded by Chris Phillips, a UK entrepreneur who previously developed and sold another hosting company, Dot5. True to form, Phillips sold JustHost to the US-based Endurance International Group. That’s the same company that own BlueHost and dozens of other web hosting companies. JustHost now has headquarters in the US, the UK and Australia, plus a single data centre in Illinois. It once claimed to be an eco-friendly hosting company and ran a Go Green programme, although little evidence of this exists on the website at the moment. JustHost Hosting Plans JustHost offers a fairly typical shared hosting plan which is aimed at the budget end of the web hosting market. It’s the kind of hosting that’s ideal for running non-resource-intensive scripts and software, such as light ecommerce websites and blogs. The company only offer Linux as an OS, and the only advancement on the basic shared hosting plan is a reseller option. In this respect, there is little to mark them out from their peers. Most of the functionality on their shared plan is unlimited, and the only price drop they offer is obtained by signing up for a long plan (36 months or more). JustHost doesn’t offer cloud hosting, preferring to keep its hosting packages to the basics only. JustHost Uptime/Downtime JustHost doesn’t publish an uptime guarantee on their website, although the site does state that their team monitors their equipment 24/7. If you’re not satisfied with availability, you have the option to cancel and receive a refund for the remainder of the term on your hosting plan. A blog entry from 2010 hints at a 99.5% uptime guarantee, although this doesn’t appear to have been transferred to the main website. The company’s data centre is located in Chicago, IL. Little information is available about the data centre on their website, so the exact specifications of their equipment (and their backup provision) remain something of a mystery. In a 2009 interview, product manager Luke Kendall did state that the facility has more than 2,000 servers and four technicians on site at any time. JustHost Support JustHost has a familiar-looking support portal with access to server status information, videos, a knowledge base and tickets. Customers can contact the support department via email, live chat, phone and snail mail to an address in Utah. All phone support for JustHost is provided via a US telephone number, although the company don’t reveal where their support staff are based - only that they will speak English when they answer your call. The company does have a blog, but at the time of writing this review, the most recent entry was 15 months old. Their last tweet, as of the date of this review, is more than two and a half years out of date. JustHost in the News Although there is anecdotal evidence of hacking and downtime at JustHost, the company seem to have escaped any poor press on either. JustHost Control Panel JustHost customers are given access to Cpanel as standard, and that’s included in the cost. Cpanel provides access to webmail, DNS, nameservers, addon domains and other standard features, and it’s possible to set up Google Apps and Gmail. Billing and account management is handled via a separate control panel area with a separate login. In addition, users who opt for reseller hosting get WHM, a tool for creating, managing and deleting individual hosting accounts. Resellers are also given a free ClientExec package to manage customer invoicing and billing. ClientExec also allows resellers to suspend client accounts on non-payment. JustHost Extras Each customer on the shared hosting plan can register a free domain name on signup. Free advertising credits are also offered: new users in the UK get £30 for Google’s Adwords programme, although in the US, Europe, Canada and Australia this is upped to $100. Users in both territories receive a $25 credit for Bing and Yahoo! ads. Customers can quickly install common scripts (including Wordpress, Joomla, ecommerce tools and messageboards) using SimpleScript, another free bonus of a JustHost account. JustHost Money Back Guarantee / Cancellation Policy JustHost’s cancellation policy is pretty straightforward. Should you be dissatisfied with the service and cancel an account, you’ll receive a full refund for the months you haven’t used. If your cancellation is submitted within the first 30 days, you’ll receive a full, no-quibble refund. Cancellations can be submitted via phone, chat or ticket, but you’ll need to ensure your account contact details are up-to-date before you contact the support team. One-off account fees and domain name fees aren’t included in the refund policy (for example, the domain name which was originally ‘free’ is a perk of the account and is charged at $14.99 on cancellation). Refunds are issued via the original payment method. If you paid by credit card, you’ll receive your refund via credit card. If you paid by cheque or PayPal, your refund will be submitted the same way. Don’t forget to take any domain names off ‘auto-renew’ if you intend to let them expire. JustHost Summary JustHost offer a basic plan which is suitable for individuals and small companies, and the reseller option broadens the range slightly. However, there isn’t much information about the company on their website, and even finding the location of their offices was a trial. It seems that, since the acquisition, JustHost have changed focus from providing interaction (through social media and their blog, for example) to simply concentrating on hosting, support and domains. That isn’t necessarily a bad thing - the help desk channels are there if you need them - but it definitely makes the brand feel more generic and less personal than it once was. That could be an issue if you feel you need support with hosting problems. If you’re looking for business-class hosting, JustHost are probably not the right choice. However, if you need a low-cost, unlimited hosting package which isn’t business-critical, you probably won’t mind the no-frills approach.

HostGator research

HostGator Introduction HostGator offer a broad range of services, but they’re undoubtedly best known for their well-priced shared hosting plans. They offer three shared hosting services - Hatchling, Baby and Business - and each one steps up the service options and support provision. In addition, HostGator offer reseller plans, VPS hosting and dedicated servers, as well as an affiliate programme. HostGator is a private company. The current CEO Brent Oxley formed the company while he was at university in 2002. Now, HostGator host more than 8 million domains for 400,000 customers in over 200 countries. Originally based in Florida, HostGator’s rapid growth lead them to a move to Texas in 2007. They have a base in Houston and an office in Austin, plus an Indian arm which you can find at http://hostgator.in. Additionally, HostGator have a third office in Brazil which manages http://www.hostgator.com.br. They currently employ 200 people but are expecting to double this in the next couple of years. HostGator Hosting Plans Across the board, all of HostGator’s servers on shared, reseller and VPS plans run Linux (CentOS is specified on the Linux plans). When it comes to dedicated servers, users can choose Linux or Windows; the Windows servers run Windows Server 2008 R2 at the time of writing this review. Shared hosting covers three plans. The most basic plan, Hatchling, is a one-domain package with no add-on domains and no anonymous FTP, but it’d be fine for hosting a blog. For more domains, users need to upgrade to Baby or Business. For anonymous FTP, only the Business package will do. Additionally, dedicated IPs are not available on the Hatchling plan. On Baby, they’re chargeable, and on Business, they’re free. Business also includes private SSL (the others are shared) and a toll-free number for you to use as you please. This is only really useful for US customers, or those marketing primarily to customers in the US, although the number can be extended to serve Canada at additional cost. Shared hosting is HostGator’s speciality, but they do also offer a few other options. Reseller hosting is split into five plans depending on the disk space, bandwidth and domains that are required. Other than that, the provision on each plan is more or less the same. VPS hosting is split into nine plans. Again, you’ll need to fine-tune your requirements using the interactive price chart to calculate the applicable monthly fee. Dedicated servers are priced according to the resources you need. The pricing is the same for both Windows hosting and Linux hosting, but the software obviously differs depending on the OS. If you want to run Java, you’ll need a VPS or dedicated plan, but Python is installed on all servers. HostGator don’t currently offer cloud hosting. HostGator Uptime/Downtime HostGator rent their data centre space from The Planet, using four of their facilities in Texas. Power back-ups, fire detection and constant monitoring from on-site staff keep their 12,000 servers safe and secure. They use 10 different fibre providers, including hardware from Time Warner and AT&T. They currently offer a 99.9% uptime guarantee (although they don’t publish any stats) and offer an RSS feed for service status updates. All accounts (except dedicated servers) are backed up on a weekly basis. If you need to restore a backup, HostGator charge $15, unless you supply the backup file yourself, in which case it’s free. HostGator host more than 8 million domains, and they’re pretty open about their staff, resources and services. They have a host of high-profile partners too: Cisco, AT&T, Dell are just a few of the recognisable names on the list. Notably, they don’t allow overselling, so the capacity you’re given is the capacity you’ll actually get. The exception is on a VPS or dedicated server where you’re free to oversell at your own risk. HostGator Support HostGator’s support options are pretty comprehensive for a low-cost shared hosting provider. You can access 24/7 live chat support, a FAQ, email support or phone support (within the US, it’s free to call their phone number). It’s not clear where their support staff are based. Support and billing is provided via a portal where customers can login to upgrade their account, access user forums, check out the knowledge base and watch helpful video tutorials on some of the most common configuration questions they’ll face. This account login is separate from the Cpanel login. In addition, transfer requests are handled smoothly via a quick online form. HostGator in the News In June 2012, a hacking group hit HostGator with a DDOS attack which was named #TheHolocaust. UGNazi later used similar tactics to take down other hosts and payment processing companies. HostGator brought their servers back online within four hours http://www.scmagazine.com.au/News/303903,ugnazi-builds-dos-tool-takes-down-hostgator.aspx HostGator Control Panel All of HostGator’s Linux plans come with Cpanel 11 as standard, and users are given a variety of themes to choose from. Cpanel provides access to all the features you’ll need, including webmail, one-click backups and DNS settings for Google Apps. Reseller accounts are also provisioned with Cpanel and WHM. Both Cpanel and WHM are optional on VPS and HostGator’s Linux dedicated server hosting plans. On a Windows dedicated server, Plesk 11.x is included in the price. On VPS plans, HostGator also provide Virtuozzo, an administration package for the server itself. All customers get access to a separate billing area to organise payments and download invoices. HostGator Extras The Business shared plan on HostGator includes a free toll-free number for US callers. Optionally, this can be extended to Canadian customers for an additional charge per call. Should you cancel your hosting plan, you lose the number, unless you contact HostGator first to take it to a paid service. You’ll also need to receive at least one call per month to keep the line active. Most packages come with SiteBuilder, SiteStudio, Fantastico (a range of php scripts), osCommerce, WordPress, Joomla, one-click installs and a host of capable stats packages. On dedicated servers, you can allocate individual SiteBuilder accounts and templates to your clients. HostGator also offer $100 Adwords credit on all shared hosting plans, and reseller accounts receive a free upgrade to an eNom domain reseller account. This requires manual set-up, but it’s a quick and painless process that takes a couple of minutes. HostGator Money Back Guarantee / Cancellation Policy You can cancel your shared, reseller or VPS hosting plan within the 45-days and receive a full refund. Dedicated servers are not eligible. Costs incurred, such as admin and installation fees or domain name purchases, are non-refundable. Cancellation requests need to be sent via a special online form. The account will be cancelled within 48 hours. If you want to claim a refund, you need to reply to the cancellation email and request it - it’s not automatic. Refunds are sent via credit card or PayPal. HostGator Summary HostGator proudly claim to be eco-friendly. They offset their emissions, and they also use 130% wind power via Renewable Energy Credits (RECs). Considering the company claim that more than 1% of the planet’s internet traffic flows to and from HostGator’s 12,000 servers, that’s definitely a big achievement. While HostGator’s low pricing is similar to other shared hosting providers, their plans are extremely comprehensive and scalable, making it easy to purchase a small shared plan and upgrade to a higher-spec shared hosting, VPS or dedicated server package over time if you need to. HostGator also place great emphasis on user help, and it’s rare to find such a large hosting company that readily offer efficient live chat, email and phone support for free. The added extras, such as the eNom account and affiliate programme, make them an ideal choice for a new business that’s looking to grow or white-label. All in all, they offer a rounded feature set for a good price with a whole host of extra features to keep loyal customers happy. NEWWW $9,94 discount code : hostingresearch NEWWW %25 Discount code : hostresearch

Arvixe research

Arvixe Introduction

Arvixe is a web hosting company which offers a range of services from shared hosting through to dedicated hosting. It does not seem to specialise in just one area like many other companies do, preferring to keep its options open.
The company was formed in San Luis Obispo, USA in 2003. It is a privately held limited liability corporation and hosts a variety of websites from around the world, from personal sites through to sites for enterprise-sized businesses. Its mission is to serve as a complete hosting resource to clients and provide reliable and high quality services and support.
Arvixe Hosting Plans
Arvixe offers both Linux (CentOS) and ASP.Net (Windows) hosting for all of their hosting plans. Whilst they offer shared, reseller, VPS and dedicated hosting, they do not yet offer a cloud hosting service.
Arvixe hosting plans are split into five classes, Personal, Business, Reseller, VPS and Dedicated.

• The PersonalClass plan represents competitively-priced shared hosting. Customers can choose Linux hosting or pay slightly more for Windows hosting. These plans provide unlimited disk space, unlimited bandwidth and up to 6 domains. The Windows hosting plan includes up to 6 dedicated application pools. The personal plans can also be upgraded to a Pro version, which allows for unlimited websites (and unlimited dedicated application pools for Windows hosting).
• The BusinessClass plans are similar to the PersonalClass shared hosting plans, but include a dedicated IP. The servers are set up to contain fewer users on each server and therefore increase reliability and uptime.
• Arvixe offers ResellerClass hosting plans based on the amount of disk space and bandwidth you need. Again, you can choose from Windows and Linux hosting and get up to 200 GB disk space, 2000 GB of bandwidth and unlimited domains.
• The VPSClass Linux hosting plan offers 40 GB of disk space with unlimited bandwidth, 1024 MB of dedicated memory, 2 cores and 2 IP addresses. You can upgrade to the pro version to get 80 GB of disk space, 2048 MB dedicated memory, 4 cores and up to 5 IP addresses.
• The VPSClass Windows hosting plan comes with 40 GB of disk space with unlimited bandwidth, 1536 MB of dedicated memory, 2 cores and 2 IP addresses, which can be upgraded to 80 GB of disk space, 3072 MB dedicated memory, 4 cores and 5 IP addresses.
• The DedicatedClass hosting starts with a choice of single-processor or multi-processor servers. Each plan can then be customised to suit your individual business needs.

The plans also allow you to pay for additional services such as a dedicated IP address, Coldfusion (Windows) or MSSQL reporting service (Windows), depending on which plan you have signed up for.
Arvixe Uptime/Downtime
Like many other web hosting companies, Arvixe offers a 99.9% site uptime guarantee, and it will refund you if the guarantee is broken in any given month. It also offers a 100% uptime guarantee for dedicated servers with pro-rata refund for any downtime.
The Arvixe data centres are located in Dallas and Houston. Each has a fully redundant power supply with backup generators and a UPS power control system. The data centres are monitored 24/7/365 from the network operations centre with state of the art monitoring systems. Both data centres have Statement on Auditing Standards No. 70 Type II certification.
Servers are backed up daily and weekly for PersonalClass and ResellerClass accounts. For BusinessClass and EcommerceClass accounts, they are backed up hourly, daily and weekly. The backups are primarily for Arvixe in the event of a server going down. Arvixe advises customers to regularly backup their own data, but backups are made available to customers wherever possible.
Arvixe Support
Arvixe customers have access to 24/7/365 in-house US based phone support, live chat and email support. They can also discuss issues on a customer forum and have access to raise support tickets on the Arvixe help desk.
The help desk software also provides access to a knowledge base and a news feed which Arvixe keep up-to-date with news articles and videos about the company.
The Arvixe blog is very active and provides regular ‘how to’ articles as well as other bits and pieces of information. The Facebook page is not very active, but the Arvixe Twitter account is busy and the team promptly replies to customer queries. Staff post out regular tweets to news stories and useful blog posts.
All in all, the Arvixe support service seems to be very proactive in getting information to customers on a regular basis.
Arvixe in the News
Arvixe has not made any significant impact in the news, good or bad. Despite being around for nearly a decade, there are no news stories relating to downtime or other controversial activity.
Arvixe Control Panel
Arvixe provide cPanel with all of their Linux based web hosting plans. Resellers, VPS and dedicated server Linux based hosting customers also get WHM control panel. Both are fairly standard and will be familiar to experienced users.
For Windows hosting, they use DotNetPanel.
Arvixe Extras

• Arvixe offers a free domain name for life when you sign up; it will continue to renew your domain name whilst you are still paying for web hosting. If you move to another hosting company, you need to start paying for the domain name and transfer it away if you wish to.
• Customers who have signed up for Linux hosting get RVSiteBuilder, as well as Fantastico and Softaculous one-click script installers. These support Python, PHP, Perl, Ruby on Rails, SSI, Zend and more.
• Arvixe will transfer your website for no additional cost when you sign up. It also offers extra discounts for customers who purchase additional hosting accounts and a discount for linking to them from your own web site.
• Finally, there’s an affiliates programme which gives rewards for customers you successfully refer.

Arvixe Money Back Guarantee / Cancellation Policy
Arvixe provides a commendable 60 day money-back guarantee, which is relatively generous for web hosting. Refunds do not include domain names, SSL certificates, dedicated servers and marketing accounts. Customers can cancel their account by emailing the sales department.
Arvixe Summary
Arvixe stands up well when compared to most other web hosting companies. The sheer range of hosting types put them in a prime position and allows for easy upgrades as businesses grow. The support provision for Arvixe appears to be very proactive and the team are are keen to discuss different hosting options with customers.