I have reviewed many web hosting companies on this over the years. Most of them were satisfactory in the service area. However, there are huge differences in pricing. Some companies make you pay as much as two times the price you would pay another company for the same service.
So, how important is the price after all?
All things equal, price is the most important factor. Remember, I wrote all things equal. So what are those things?
PHP and MySQL
PHP and MySQL are required to run WordPress. Pretty much all traditional web hosts offer them.
WordPress and Other Scripts
One-click installs are necessary if you don’t want to mess with FTP uploads and setting up databases. Softaculous, Fantastico and some proprietary solutions are the ones you will encounter. My personal preference is Softaculous, but they all work the same way. And their use is limited. You will use them once when you set up your website for the first time.
Softaculous also has some additional features, like auto-updates and backups.
How about WordPress optimized hosting? Try the cheap shared hosting first. If your website gets some traction and feels slower than what you expect, you can always upgrade.
Uptime
Uptime tells you the time a website is reachable for a given period of time. It is expressed as a percentage value. You should aim for as high an uptime as possible. If your website is often down, your visitors will abandon it and go to your competitors.
The Google crawler doesn’t like it either. So it may cost you your SEO rankings.
Speed
Website speed is the other pillar you should look for. There are numerous aspects of website speed. Some of them depend on your hosting provider, others on you and your application.
With traditional web hosts, you get to run PHP with MySQL. PHP has gotten a lot faster in recent years, so unless you are running a buggy application, you should be fine there. The database can be a real bottleneck though. It’s traditionally where most memory is used.
Support
Uptime and speed are technical. Let’s tackle the business concerns. You can have great uptime, lightning-fast speeds, yet still in need of help. You see, each web host is a bit different. They don’t use the exact same software.
And sometimes servers go down even at the best web hosts. We have seen Google, Amazon and Cloudflare go down for hours. If it can happen to them, it can happen with smaller companies too.
Price of what?
Most web hosts include a core set of features in their offerings. All other things are addons for additional fees.
When you compare web hosts, take into account the price of regular backups in your calculations. That’s one addon service that I highly recommend and it will pay for itself manifold.
Domain names are also more expensive if you register them with your web host. Some of them offer free domain registrations, but renewal prices can increase steeply. I register all my domains at discount registrars like Dynadot.
Who do I recommend?
I would recommend Bluehost, GreenGeeks, and Inmotion Hosting. They have a friendly pricing scheme and their hosting service is battle-tested.
Siteground used to be good, but they have increased their pricing so much that I don’t recommend them anymore.
https://www.hostingmanual.net/wp-content/uploads/when-cheap-hosting.jpg6281200Coty Lancehttps://www.hostingmanual.net/wp-content/uploads/2016/11/hm-logo12.pngCoty Lance2021-02-10 13:52:052021-02-10 13:52:08When to Buy Cheap Hosting?
Technology is quickly changing and how we build websites are no exception to that. JavaScript is taking over the front-end world, and things like serverless are becoming very popular on the backend. So, what are the popular ways of building websites in 2021?
https://www.hostingmanual.net/wp-content/uploads/best-ways-building-websites-2021.jpg6281200Coty Lancehttps://www.hostingmanual.net/wp-content/uploads/2016/11/hm-logo12.pngCoty Lance2021-01-20 09:28:012021-01-20 09:28:06The Best Ways of Building Websites in 2021
Just like the rest of the world, the hosting industry offers the biggest deals on Black Friday and Cyber Monday. We have collected * a huge list * of coupons and promos for you in 2020. Enjoy! (we keep updating it)
78% off shared hosting / 20x faster Turbo Boost @ $4.99 / Up to 60% off Reseller Hosting / Up to 57% off managed VPS / Up to 25% off unmanaged VPS / Up to 61% off Managed WordPress
Up to 75% off web hosting / Ecosite Lite: $2.49/mo on a 36 month term. / Ecosite Pro: $3.74/mo on a 36 month term. / Ecosite Premium: $6.24/mo on a 36 month term.
Up to 97% off domain registrations and up to 27% off transfers / Up to 99% off Stellar Hosting, EasyWP, and Private Email / Up to 72% off web security products
Disclosure: Hostingmanual.net is affiliated with some of the web hosts listed above. This means we will receive a commission fee if you purchase using our links. This costs you nothing – in fact in most cases you are going to save more thanks to our special deals with the hosting companies.
It’s Time for Big Savings!
Are you ready for the 2020 Black Friday and Cyber Monday Hosting Deals?
The Cyber Weekend consisting of Friday, Saturday, Sunday and Monday traditionally offers the biggest discounts in the hosting world. You could get the best rates of the year and lock them in!
We all know Black Friday is the best time to get excellent deals on all your Christmas list items. However, there’s one often overlooked category: the deep discounts offered by website hosting companies. Black Friday cannot be beaten! From low prices on web hosting and domain registration to discounts on add-on services like SSL certification, web design, and plug-ins, this is the best time to buy. So when you’re doing your holiday shopping this year, don’t forget to take advantage of these rare offers.
I always recommend to my clients to wait for this time of the year when they are about to launch a new website. Whether they are bloggers, run a small business, or just interested in getting started building a web presence, this is the best time of year to start a website affordably. We’ve created a list of some of my favorite hosting companies and discounts they are offering this year, so you too can take advantage of these incredible Cyber Monday specials!
A2Hosting is one of my favorites. This web hosting option is for you only if you are after real performance and speed! Have you heard about Turbo? It’s A2Hosting’s premium plan for webmasters who fixate on speed and performance.
A2Hosting is offering some great Black Friday/Cyber Monday deals! Their sale is a great option if you are looking for more than just basic website hosting because they are offering deep discounts on both their managed hosting and VPS. To take advantage of these deals, simply enter these coupon codes at checkout.
Deals:
67% Off Shared Hosting (From $1.98/mo) with code MEGA67
50% Off Managed Dedicated Server (From $96.50/mo) with code HALFDEDI
60% Off Managed WordPress (From $9.78/mo) with code WP60
51% Off Reseller Hosting (From $9.80/mo ) with code RSLR51
50% Off Managed VPS and Core VPS (From $25/mo) with code MVPS-50
Regularly priced at much higher, this is definitely the best discount on managed web hosting. With their Core VPS hosting package you will get:
Root Access
Optional cPanel License
75 GB storage
2 TB transfer
4 GB RAM
Both their shared hosting (starting at $3.92) and their VPS hosting (starting at $5.00 a month) have some impressive features. Adding these great coupons, and you’re sure to be thrilled!
The sale ends Monday at midnight, so hurry up and grab these coupons before they are gone!
BlueHost is the other one that offers excellent promotional discounts this time of the year. We don’t know much here either, but it’s going to be huge for sure.
They have announced the discounts on Thursday, 11/24.
They are running better promos than last year (when they had some of the best deals). They are offering a 60%+ discount. That means you are able to buy hosting for $2.65 instead of the usual $6.95.
Update:
In addition to the 60% discount on hosting, BlueHost is offering a 50% discount on domain names. Starting Friday, November 24th at 12 am MT, BlueHost is offering their hosting services for as low as $2.65/month.
Inmotion Hosting: 50% Discount on Business Hosting
InMotion is one of my personal favorites for quality. That’s where I’m hosting my mission critical websites that are important. InMotion is perfect for small businesses. They are known for having a reliable uptime, easy-to-use website building software, and their impressive features including dozens of e-commerce options. If you are looking for a hosting company for your small business, InMotion is a perfect choice.
This Friday until Monday, InMotion will offer a 50% discount rate on their business web hosting.
With their business hosting packages starting at $3.49, this is a great offer for any small business. Their packages include:
InMotion is rated number one in website transfers and customer support & satisfaction. They also offer the highest satisfaction guarantee in the industry.
GoDaddy, the big old GoDaddy! They will surely join the bunch in 2019 too. Last year they had great discounts both for hosting and domains.
They are the world’s biggest domains sellers. They won’t go easy on the competition. 2019 coupons will get you 50-60% off new domain registrations and new hosting packages.
You can buy domains for as low as $0.99. That’s not all; you can get 30% off of new reseller accounts. And if you take security seriously, you can buy SSL certificates for 25% less than usual.
$1/month Web Hosting
That’s right. You can get web hosting for a year at GoDaddy for as tiny a fee as $12. That’s if you pay annually.
Update:
GoDaddy has just announced their Black Friday/Cyber Monday deals for 2019 and boy are they impressive!
They will also be offering special limited time partner pop-up deals, so make sure to check our website routinely throughout the weekend for coupons for add-ons and other feature services.
These deals will expire at midnight on Monday! If you’d like to take advantage of these discounted rates, make sure to add the coupon codes during checkout.
Dreamhost has been around since 1996 and is known for their quick speed and reliable uptime, WordPress hosting, and their ecommerce features. It’s a great hosting option for people who run a small business.
I was hesitant to try Dreamhost for quite a while but when I reviewed them and was pleasantly surprised by the improvements. They offer a great basic web hosting platform that is fast and reliable, but best of all affordable. Adding some discounts to their already low prices makes it an even better choice.
Starting on Black Friday and running until midnight on Monday, Dreamhost is offering one of the best web hosting deals: a 50% off coupon for hosting with a free domain.
What’s Dreamhost Offering This Black Friday?
50% off deal
Unmetered storage space
Unmetered bandwidth
24/7 network monitoring
Unlimited domain names
With their plans starting as low as $5.50 per month, a flat 50% discount is a fantastic deal! They also have no contract and no hidden fees, so it will only cost you $2.75 period. Take advantage this sale while it lasts.
FatCow is also at the top of my list. They are one of the best, most affordable website hosting companies on the market. They run promotions all year long. But Black Friday and Cyber Monday hold a great opportunity to get hosting even for a lower price.
Update:
This year FatCow is offering 60% off their shared website hosting plan. Their starting price is $49 per year, and with a discount as deep as this, you can save a lot of money.
With the FatCow Plan you will receive these great features:
FatCow specializes in hosting options for small to medium businesses. They are part of the Endurance International Group just like BlueHost and HostGator, so you will also get the expertise of a leader in web hosting services. They have decent uptime, offer easy scalability, and a 30-day money-back guarantee if you are not satisfied.
If you are looking for a great deal for your small or medium business, take advantage of this offer. Hurry though, it expires midnight on Monday so you’ll need to act quickly.
iPage is a long-standing web hosting company. If you are looking for a web hosting company with lots of third-party application options, look no further! iPage is the ideal web host for you! They have one-click installation for a wide range of content management systems, blogs, photo galleries, and forum options. Plus, they offer customer support for all their applications, so if you ever get stuck, they can help you out!
This Friday iPage is offering a range of discounts on their web hosting packages that can save you up to 83% depending on the service you choose.
They are also a perfect hosting service for businesses, advanced website building tools, a range of e-commerce features, and plenty of customer support. They are an excellent option for anyone a little more sophisticated and wanting to start an eBusiness site. They are also known for having an impressive VPS service and excellent customer support.
So make sure that you take advantage of this great deal. The offer ends at midnight on Monday!
If you are looking for true green web hosting, GreenGeeks is here for you! The eco-friendly hosting company GreenGeeks will be offering 50% off their shared hosting plans this Black Friday.
At a starting price of $2.49 per month, with this deep discount, GreenGeeks is a great low price option for website hosting that also offers carbon neutral business model.
Beyond offering great features, the best part about choosing GreenGeeks is that you will be doing the environment a favor. GreenGeeks is the leader in environmentally-friendly website hosting. To learn more about how they’ve been able to offer quality service at low prices while still providing an eco-friendly option, you can read about their eco-initiative.
So if you want to support an environmentally-friendly company, grab this deal!
SiteGround is one of the most prominent of the web hosting companies. They have extreme technical skills, and their platform performance is one of the best. Don’t miss their Deals! Last year they ran 70% off deals. You can’t get that any other time of the year.
What’s included in Siteground’s Cyber Monday Deal?
SiteGround’s discount is seriously impressive. They are offering a flat 75% off their shared web hosting plans with free domain names. Starting at $3.95 a month, with no hidden fees, this is an extremely affordable deal.
SiteGround is known for its impressive array of security features, excellent customer service, and high uptime standards. One of the best benefits of SiteGround is that it lets customers choose their server location. They are a great web hosting company if you are looking to build a site that needs to scale up in the future.
Plus, they offer a 30-day money-back guarantee. So if you aren’t happy, you can always cancel your plan. So you have nothing to lose by taking advantage of this notable discount.
WebHostingHub is the name for high standard small business web hosting. The team behind the name is the same as InMotion hosting. So if you know InMotion, you pretty much already know what to expect from WebHostingHub. They are definitely in my top 10 list when I think of hosting companies. For HostingManual visitors, we have some very special pricing. Just click on the link and you will be taken to that special page.
With WebHostingHub you’ll get all the hosting features you need, plus some unique features such as:
Free domain registration
Free SSD storage
Free premium web builder
Personalized on-boarding
$250 in free ad credits with Google, Bing, and Yahoo
WebHostingHub is also a great option if you are looking for a green hosting company. They built the first green data center in Los Angeles and reduced their carbon output by 70%. If you’re interested learning more about their eco-friendly website hosting, you can read more about their green initiatives.
The best part about WebHostingHub is that even their highest quality premium package Dynamo is entirely affordable. You’ll experience lightning speeds, excellent customer service, and all that features you could want, all while still being friendly to your wallet!
So check out my detailed review and special customer pricing before the sale ends!
HostPapa is an excellent website host for people just starting out. They offer tons of free helpful step-by-step tutorials and extremely affordable add-ons, making it a breeze for anyone newbie to building a great website. Plus, they offer unlimited monthly data transfers with every plan, so they are well worth the price.
Starting on Friday, through to Monday, HostPapa is offering web hosting from $1 along with $300 in extras.
HostPapa has put together a massive deal for new customers this Black Friday, with web hosting deals starting as low as $1/month!
In addition to this Friday discount, the offer includes one free domain name and access to HostPapa’s website builder. During this limited time offer, customers who purchase web hosting from HostPapa will also be entitled to:
1 SSL Certificate for just $1 (save $25)
$200 in free ad credits
Plus, anyone who signs up during this period will also enjoy the many perks of being a valued HostPapa customer, including:
HostGator offers the most prominent discounts traditionally, and in my experience, they are the favorite among shoppers. Last year they offered their hosting packages for less than half the price, domains for close to nothing. I am curious what are they going to put together this year. One thing is for sure. They won’t let us down!
Last year’s sales started early on Thanksgiving and extended throughout the Black Friday weekend and into Cyber Monday. In 2019 I’m expecting a similar scenario.
What we already know, is that they will offer the best deal of 2019: 75% off from individual packages.
HostGator Fire Sales
Last year HostGator had so-called fire sales. That means that in specific timeframes you can buy at the best price. Taking last year as an example, here is how it happened:
Update:
HostGator starts the Cyber Weekend sales at 12 am CST with a 80% Off Flash Sale! It will last one hour, and when that ends at 1 am CST, the promotion will move to 65% off.
Throughout the weekend they will be running another nine, one hour Fire Sales. There will be four Fire Sales on Black Friday, one on Saturday, one on Sunday, and another four on Cyber Monday. The Cyber Weekend promotions will end on Monday, 3 December, at 11:59 pm CST.
During non-fire sale times one could still buy 65% off new hosting packages and $5.99/year domains throughout the whole weekend.
Just like last year, we are expecting Namecheap to run some pretty incredible web hosting and domain deals. If you don’t already know Namecheap, they are one of the biggest domain registrars, and they have also started to offer web hosting service recently. They are on the cheaper side, but the service is top-notch.
What Deals Can We Expect from Namecheap?
Hourly deals of up to 98%
Domain registration discounts
SLL sale
Web Hosting Discounts
You don’t need a coupon with Namecheap. Just click on the Activate link in the table or here.
Namesilo is my personal favorite besides Namecheap. In fact, they are much cheaper than Namecheap, and they have free domain privacy. They have also started a domain name marketplace not long ago that might be interesting for some folks who are thinking about selling their domains down the line.
In 2019 they did announce two coupon codes that you can use on November 24th:
Both are limited to 5 uses per customer and 2000 total redemptions. If you think you will keep your domain name for more than one year, then Namesilo is a better option (in spite of Namecheap offering a much lower price upfront, but it’s more expensive on the long run).
With the growth of the hosting industry a lot of “one man shows” are popping up all over the place. Someone decides to start a small hosting company, and it’s usually run by one to two people to keep costs down. There are a lot of downfalls associated with small web hosts like these, on the other hand, there are a lot of good things about them also.
When running a small hosting company (that is normally owned and operated by one to two people), it’s a great way to start a small company and generate a good amount of profits. But with a little business, the cons outweigh the pros. There are few things to take into consideration when finding that perfect host. There are a lot of companies out there that pull many scams to gain more money from their customers.
Service & Support
Many users (myself included) go for cheaper hosting because it’s cheaper, of course. We are on a Black Friday Deals page after all. But there are plenty of things to keep in mind when getting service from a company that offers bottom prices for unlimited hosting.
With smaller hosting companies or those that offer very cheap hosting. Service is usually the first thing that goes. With these “one-man shows” it’s just how it sounds. One person runs it, sometimes two. With a “one-man show” a few different things suffer concerning the type of service they may offer. The first to go usually is support, especially if they offer very low prices.
The old saying goes “you get what you pay for.” Just keep this in mind when searching for a host. Remember that if it’s too good to be true, then it’s probably not true. A lot of these small companies aren’t bad to go with though. Just do a little research about the company, try a few different things before signing up.
Ask to talk with other clients of theirs to get their opinion on the company’s service. Send them emails from time to time at different times of the day to find out how quick their response time is. If they offer phone support test the number out, find out if their support team is knowledgeable and will be able to handle anything that comes their way.
Most of the cheaper hosting companies will not offer any phone support though; most of the support is done through emails. Find out if they have any other kind of support system, like an FAQ section or something similar to that. Most smaller hosting companies will use forums to offer support, which is a lot better than just an email address. They do this so that questions from the past are searchable for everyone. That can take some stress off their support staff.
Overselling
Overselling refers to a hosting company selling more resources than they currently have. This usually is what hosting companies and other similar companies do. A lot of the “one man shows” use this and often extend more than needed.
The company will sell more space or bandwidth than what is allocated to them monthly. Which for the most part isn’t a bad idea and isn’t wrong to do. But a lot of these “one-man shows” that are trying to make the extra buck will overextend themselves to fit more clients on one server.
In most cases a user will only use a percentage of what they pay for monthly, in a few cases clients will use more. Most servers will handle hundreds of clients without breaking a sweat. A lot of these smaller companies will pack a lot more on a server and normally get away with it.
This means that the server will be sluggish, slow response times, page loads, and so on.
While cheap hosting is great for smaller sites that don’t need a lot of support and extra services to run, it’s awful for companies that rely on the server and need extras to make their business and sites run correctly.
Most hosting companies, unfortunately, do not utilize any backup system, so if the server has a hard drive failure, the information is pretty much lost unless the client has a back-up of it.
Most users won’t need the extra service and support that these smaller companies can’t handle. So keep in mind what you need and what will you sacrifice if you go for cheap hosting.
Choosing the Right Domain Name
It’s Cyber Weekend, and you want to jump in and register a bunch of domains. I understand. But you should still pay attention to certain things. The art of choosing a new domain name is complicated, going much deeper than this little Black Friday article could aspire to.
However, most people can break their domain name needs down into one of two camps:
search-engine friendly, or
memorable and “human”-brandable.
Search Engine Friendly
This type of domain has several advantages. Not the least is that you can probably get a suitable domain for no more than the cost of registration. Longish domains with hyphens are perfectly acceptable to search engines. And when they turn up on the search page, they’re even human-readable. Sure, they might be hard to remember or fit on a business card, but that may not be necessary to your purpose.
Human-Brandable
This type of name can get a lot more expensive. Short and pithy dot-com names have largely left the building — years ago, actually. Any name with an air of utility or traffic tends to be snapped up by more-or-less sophisticated speculators using a phalanx of high-tech “drop” services.
Still, if you browse the domain discussion boards, you can see a lot of names going in the $50-300K range. The trick is finding domains that might fit your needs among all these scattered places.
There are a lot of domain ideas sites out there. If you search on Google, you will find many.
Updated: November 30, 2020
https://www.hostingmanual.net/wp-content/uploads/black-firday-deals-2018.png6001200Coty Lancehttps://www.hostingmanual.net/wp-content/uploads/2016/11/hm-logo12.pngCoty Lance2020-11-27 03:55:002020-11-30 02:58:04Cyber Monday + Web Hosting = Good Deals [2020 Edition]
There are numerous hosting services specialized on WordPress. Gate.com is one of the more unique ones I have dealt with so far. Let’s just say that you absolutely need it for mission-critical websites.
Who is Gate.com?
Nowadays it’s very easy to start a web hosting company. You just sign up for a reseller hosting account and start accepting clients. Most of those services are one-man shows that can go out of business in a blink of an eye.
Although I have not heard much from Gate.com over the years, it is quite an established company. They have offices in the US, Canada, and Europe, having 250+ full-time employees with 5+ years of experience. This alone gives me a lot of confidence that they won’t suddenly disappear.
Easy Signup
For testing purposes I chose the Core plan. Signing up took me only a couple minutes.
If you don’t have a domain name ready, you can also choose a wp.gate.com subdomain. You can add your own domain later. For this review, I went with hostingmanual.wp.gate.com.
Dashboard
You will have to verify your email address after the signup, so make sure it’s the correct one.
3 Simple Plans
All plans have an impressive feature list. I will dive into them a bit later. In addition to those base features, the main thing that changes with the three plans is performance-related.
Unlimited Traffic – As Much as a Server Can Handle
Gate.com won’t throttle the amount of traffic your virtual server can receive. There is however a limit, namely how much your server can handle.
To scale up, you can sign up for a higher plan and get more RAM, disk space and vCPU cores.
The Core Plan
The Core plan costs $49/mo, and it’s the smallest plan. You can host only one WordPress website on it.
You get the following resources with it:
2GB RAM
50GB Disk Space
2 vCPU Cores
In my personal experience, this is more than enough for at least 10k visitors a day, even more if you don’t install plugins with performance issues and take advantage of caching.
The Growth Plan
With a very steep increase in price, you also get a lot more resources. It is an ideal plan if you have an ultra-high traffic website or have a bunch of WP sites that you need to consolidate at a single hosting company.
The resources are:
8GB RAM
100GB Disk Space
4 vCPU Cores
The Pro Plan
The Pro Plan is a real beast. I think the majority of my readers won’t ever need this much power. It costs a whopping $299/mo, and it can easily take care of a couple of dozen WordPress websites.
It boasts of:
16GB RAM
200GB Disk Space
6 vCPU Cores
With this plan you should be able to run a huge site without employing your own developer and devops team. It’s especially ideal for eCommerce sites that want to grow big.
How does Pricing Compare to Other Hosts?
At first blink it’s more expensive than what most people are used to. Don’t forget though, that you shouldn’t compare it with cheap shared hosting, but rather with virtual private servers. If you look at those, the price is just about right.
The advantages of Gate.com over cheaper shared web hosts:
They specialize in WordPress and know precisely how to tweak it for speed and security.
They give you dedicated resources. With your average shared host, you get “unlimited” resources with hidden limits that are much lower than what Gate.com can provide you.
Unparalleled security: shared hosts get hacked all the time (they are getting better though). Gate.com takes care of security for you at a level that none of the shared hosts can compete.
You (or rather your visitors) get much better website speeds.
Don’t forget that Gate.com will migrate your existing website to their platform free of charge, and they also provide a 90-day money-back guarantee. You can pretty much try them without any risk.
Proper Security
All equipment, including networking, hardware and software, are owned by Gate.com. It means security from the ground up, and it’s an incredibly rare service.
Smart Updates
If you have worked with WordPress, you know that updates come out quite frequently. Gate.com takes care of applying those updates for you in a way that won’t break your site.
Automatic SSL
Free and automatic SSL has become a standard feature at virtually all web hosts. Still, I mention it for people that are not sure it’s a free feature.
Security Status
Inside the WordPress Toolkit, there is a link to Security Status.
WordPress Security Status
Gate.com applies all the recommended security fixes for WordPress websites and displays the current status.
As you can see, some fixes were not yet applied to my account. Using them is just a matter of selecting them and clicking “Secure”.
There is also an “Available Updates” section where you can apply the most recent WordPress updates outside WordPress.
Immunify360
Immunify360 is a third-party software integrated into Gate.com’s service. It provides full protection against the following threats:
Automated malware scanner with cleanup
AI-based Web Application Firewall
Intrusion detection and protection
Proactive defence for PHP-based websites (including WP)
Software patch management
WebShield with integrated captcha
Serious mission-critical websites need this stuff, period!
Immunify360
Most of the Immunify360 functions are self-explanatory. However, I found Proactive defence and Reputation Management worth a couple of words.
Proactive Defence is looking for malicious activity through PHP scripts. You can set what happens when such activity is detected. The default setting is to log the incident. However, you can also set it to kill script execution. It would be interesting to see the rate of false positives on this.
Reputation management periodically downloads IP and domain reputation from a handful of websites and checks them against your domains and IPs.
DNS Security
Gate.com offers DNSSEC by default with all their plans. They use a global network of DNS servers and all DNS communication is signed with public key cryptography. This makes sure that your customers won’t be hijacked and directed to malicious websites.
AI-Powered Virtual Machine Firewall
Each machine is equipped with its own AI-powered firewall. They protect against malicious traffic, including DDOS. DDOS protection costs a considerable amount at other web hosts, if offered at all.
Configurations
Even though it is a WordPress web host, they don’t hide the advanced configurations from you. You can tweak every little details about your server. They are using the Plesk control panel. It used to be a bit worse than cPanel, but nowadays it is just as robust..
Databases
The Databases screen delivers all the features needed for working with the database (MariaDB). For more andvanced functionality, you can also use phpMyAdmin.
Databases
File Manager
Depending on your workflow, you might never use this feature. I like it none the less when I want to upload a file that WordPress cannot handle.
File Manager
FTP
FTP is still a very convenient way of transferring files to a server. The FTP screen gives you all the options for setting up and managing FTP accounts.
SSL Settings
You can manage, reissue and remove certificates from the comfort of the control panel.
The following features can be turned on/off with one click:
Redirecting from http to https
HSTS – telling web browsers to access the website only over https.
Keep websites secured – issues a free Let’s Encrypt certificate to all services (e.g. webmail) that belongs to your account.
OCSP Stapling – Your server looks up the validity of the certificate instead of the browser. It should speed up connections.
PHP Settings
You can tweak PHP settings too:
Change these settings only if you know what you are doing.
Git Repository
Some modern workflows include a Git repository and automatic deployment as soon as a new commit is pushed. You can easily set it up with Gate.com. There is a dedicated page where you can specify the URL of the Git repository and what should happen with it.
PHP Composer
There is also a graphical interface for PHP Composer (a PHP package manager).
SEO Toolkit
SEO is a priority for many WordPress blog owners. That’s why you get an SEO Toolkit with Gate.com.
It has four main parts:
Site Audit
Rank tracker
Competitors
Log File Analizer
Site Audit
The Site Audit page gives you an overall score of your technical SEO. The three main categories are Content, SEO, Technology. It also has a nice summary of issues that need improvement.
Optimizing Speed
So far I have worked with the default WordPress installation. Let’s see a speedtest:
This is very barebones, no optimizations were done at all. So let’s speed it up.
First of all, I have turned on gzip compression (would be a nice addition to default settings). Here is how to do it on your own. That simple change has increased PageSpeed to 94% and YSlow to 84%.
Speed Kit
Speed kit is an interesting service that’s included in the Gate.com offering. Based on the description how it works, it’s a CDN without telling you it’s a CDN. It basically reroutes some requests to caching servers. You backend is continuously synchronized with the Speed Kit servers so your latest content is always available through them.
To start out, you can run a speed test right in your Dashboard. Speed Kit shows you the potential improvement when you turn it on.
Interestingly, there is a speed test on their website too:
Speed Kit’s Speed Test
As you can see, I have already activated Speed Kit on my website and it is showing incredible speeds. Less than 200ms is hard to believe.
So I tested it. None of the other tools (Gtmetrix, Webpagetest) could confirm this kind of improvement. Manual testing was not conclusive either. So I had to dig a little.
It turns out that Speed Kit is not a simple CDN service. At the first pageload it installs service workers and all subsequent requests will be faster. The third-party tools I have mentioned test only one pageload, so they don’t pick up the speed improvement. Speed kit has an article dedicated to this question here.
WordPress Performance after SpeedKit
I have tested it with caching plugins to squeeze even more speed out of it but it looks like Speed Kit doesn’t play well with such plugins. My speeds actually deteriorated with caching. It works well with nginx caching, so make sure to enable it in your dashboard.
Support
I had to contact support twice. The first time my issue needed some reasearch so they took some time to reply. The second time they answered my question within 30 minutes. Both times they were knowledgeable and genuinely tried to help. Thumbs up for support!
Who is Gate.com Good For?
Ecommerce sites based on WordPress
High-traffic websites
Mission-critical business websites
People who are not very technical, but need a rock-solid solution
Sites that are prone to cyber attacks and need advance security solutions
Who is Gate.com NOT Good For?
Casual bloggers don’t need this much power. You are good to go with a cheaper host until your site gets noticeable traffic.
This post was created in collaboration with Gate.com. There are no affiliate links in this review.
If you have been looking for a way to save money on web hosting, you have probably heard about 000webhost. This service is powered by Hostinger, and is summed up on the official website as “Zero cost website hosting with PHP, MySQL, Cpanel & no ads!”
It sounds pretty awesome, right? Why pay for web hosting if you don’t have to? Then again, it raises the obvious question: If free web hosting is so great, why isn’t everyone using it?
Let’s take a look at exactly what you can expect if you try out 000webhost’s free plan, including the features, benefits, and the drawbacks. Then we’ll check out some alternatives.
Free Means Free
First of all, you probably are wondering whether 000webhost’s free plan is in the “too good to be true” category. Is this hosting plan really free, or are there strings attached?
The website is pretty clear about this. In large letters on the sign-up page, it declares, “ZERO Costs!” Underneath that it reads, “Create an account, it’s FREE & always will be!”
Somewhat confusing, on top of the form, it says “Start” for free. This may lead you to wonder if the service expires or converts to paid hosting after some time has passed. A moderator on the community forum however has stated plainly, “You can host your website here forever. Our services are free forever.”
So in this case, yes—free means free. There is no catch with the pricing. You are not suddenly going to discover that the company has billed your credit card or cut off your services or anything like that.
Features And Benefits
So what do you get with a free account at 000webhost?
Cpanel included at no extra charge
Free Website Builder and templates
No script, single-click auto-installer to use for Joomla, WordPress, and so forth
Database support for MySQL and PHP
99% uptime
10 GB bandwidth
1 GB disk space
Ad-free
As you can see, that is an abundance of great features. You also get the benefit of working with a company that has a decade of experience and a solid reputation to match. More than 17 million users have chosen Hostinger for their free or paid hosting needs.
Drawbacks
Now, 000webhost is a great option for newbies, and may also fit your needs if you are running a small site.
But if your site grows in popularity or you need to stream or host lots of videos or images, you may be surprised by how quickly you can run through 10 GB of bandwidth.
If you are getting even a few hundred visitors per day, you might very well require more bandwidth than the free 000webhost plan can provide. You could end up exceeding the 1 GB of disk space as well.
The 000webhost free web host plan also has some other severe limitations:
There is no email service included with this plan. You are stuck finding a third party solution for your emailing needs.
Your data will not be backed up at any point. You are solely responsible for maintaining your own backups, and if something happens to them, you have no safety net.
You cannot contact customer service agents in real-time. So if you need a fast solution to an urgent problem, you could find yourself in a lurch.
There are also some other perks which come with Hostinger’s paid plans which simply are not available for the free plan through 000webhost.
An Affordable Alternative: Premium Plans From Hostinger
If you are looking for almost-free web hosting, Hostinger has a pretty amazing plan available for just $0.80 per month. Usually this plan is $5.99, so that comes out to a whopping 87% off as of the time of this writing.
Called the Single plan, it comes with everything you get in the free 000webhost plan, plus the following:
10 GB disk space
100 GB bandwidth
Weekly backups
Personal email account
A free domain name
Live customer service 24 hours a day, 7 days a week
That is a lot more value than you get with the free plan, for an incredibly reasonable price.
Being able to back up your website is very important, as it protects your site from buggy updates, viruses, hackers and other threats.
As to live customer service, it is pretty much vital. If your site is down and you are losing time and money every second, the last thing you want to be doing is waiting around for a reply via email or through the service forum.
Have a bit more to spend? The $11.05 Premium plan is currently 71% off, which means you can snag it for just $3.49 per month. It includes:
Unlimited bandwidth and disk space
Unlimited email accounts
Unlimited databases
Backups every week
One free domain
Host as many websites as you want
SSH
Live customer support 24/7
Shared, VPN and business hosting plans are also available for those looking for other options in terms of pricing and resource allocation.
Free Hosting Is Good, But The Real Value Is In Hostinger’s Paid Plans
With a paid plan from Hostinger, you can scale up your services as you need them. You will have all the resources you require to host a large, successful website, even one which is media-rich. All told, you will still be paying very little to enjoy those premium benefits and features.
Could you just start out free, and switch to paid? Sure; a lot of customers end up doing just that. They test drive the services, and they realize that Hostinger is a great company to be working with, but they also quickly discover they need more from a serious hosting plan.
Hostinger offers a 30-day money back guarantee on their paid plans, so you can try the Single or Premium plan risk-free right now. That means you can hit the ground running with the best value that Hostinger has to offer.
Ready to get started? Just click here to be taken straight to the order page. Good luck, and happy hosting!
Email marketing is a great way to add sales, increase ROI, and reach customers or your target audience in a new way. It’s the most direct way to acquire new leads, convert potential customers, and retain current ones.
This may be a new tactic to some businesses, so we’re here to break it down into easy-to-digest information that you can use to grow your business and see quantifiable results! Read more
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Regardless of the importance of this aspect, online
When it comes to user experience, a website’s loading time is one of the deciding success factors. The patience of visitors is steadily decreasing. Most of them will abandon a site if it doesn’t load within 3 seconds. For a business that means lost sales, leads, and opportunities. It’s a real sales killer. Read more
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Selecting a hosting plan is a crucial part of building a successful website. Whether you are setting up a blog, e-commerce site, company website or otherwise, you need to be sure that your host is reliable, efficient and available to support you when you need them.
Unfortunately, all hosting packages are not created equal, and there are some all-too-easy traps to fall into as you are trying to come up with the best host. Here are some of the most common hosting mistakes that you don’t want to make: Read more
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Dreamhost has been around since 1996 and is known for their quick speed and reliable uptime, WordPress hosting, and their ecommerce features. It’s a great hosting option for people who run a small business.
