Recommended Web Hosts for Beginners
There are a lot of web hosting companies that one can find on the internet. However not all provide great service and might not be good for beginners. We recommend the following two hosts. Both of them provide good service and technical support and also have beginner-friendly features to advanced features on their plans at affordable prices.
HOSTGATOR COUPONS
Get 25% OFF by using coupon code PROMO25OFF when asked for coupon code (remove 'SNAPPY' which gives only 20%).
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Use coupon code MONTH1FREE to get first month for 1 cent
ARVIXE COUPONS
Get first month on any hosting plan using the coupon code 1CENTOFFER
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Get 20% off on your first hosting bill using the coupon code TAKEAWAY20
| Hosting Provider | ||||
| Plan Name |
Baby |
Hatchling
|
Personal | Personal Pro |
| Pricing options |
$4.95/mon - 3 years $5.95/mon - 2 years $6.95/mon - 1 year $8.95 monthly |
$7.95/mon - 3 years $8.95/mon - 2 years $9.95/mon - 1 year $9.95 monthly |
$4.00/mon - 2 years $5.00/mon - 1 year $6.00/mon - 6 months $7.00/monthly |
$7.00/mon - 2 years $8.00/mon - 1 year $9.00/mon - 6 months $10.00/monthly |
| Space | Unlimited | Unlimited | Unlimited | Unlimited |
| Bandwidth | Unlimited | Unlimited | Unlimited | Unlimited |
| Domains | 1 | Unlimited | 6 | Unlimited |
| Subdomains | Unlimited | Unlimited | Unlimited | Unlimited |
| Email Accounts | Unlimited | Unlimited | Unlimited | Unlimited |
| FTP Accounts | Unlimited | Unlimited | Unlimited | Unlimited |
| Control Panel | cPanel | cPanel | cPanel | cPanel |
| Free Domain |  |
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| Free SiteBuilder | |
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| MySQL Databases | Unlimited | Unlimited | Unlimited | Unlimited |
| Fantastico | |
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| Autoresponders | Unlimited | Unlimited | Unlimited | Unlimited |
| Custom Error Pages | |
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| Web Stats | |
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| Backup | Weekly | Weekly | Daily R1 Soft | Daily R1 Soft |
| Support Options |
24x7 Ticket, Phone |
24x7 Ticket, Phone |
24x7 Ticket, Phone |
24x7 Ticket, Phone |
| Advertising Credits |
Google Adwords $100 credits |
Google Adwords $100 credits | |
|
| Money Back | 45 days | 45 days | 60 days | 60 days |
| Visit Hostgator | Visit Arvixe | |||
I don't understand the features that are compared here. What shall I do?
You will find this useful. Read Understanding Web Hosting Features.
I don't understand the pricing mentioned above. How does it work?
Under any web hosting plan, you can pay in different ways. If you pay monthly for the plan, then you'll have to pay slightly higher. If you pay for 12 months (1 year) or more in advance then you'd be paying much lesser for a month. For example, if you choose Arvixe Personal Plan, if you paid monthly then you would pay $7.00 per month, but if you decided to pay for an entire year in advance, then you would just have to pay $60 (which works out to $5 per month).
Should I then pay up for 3 or 2 years to save money?
Um.. no. It is recommended to start with an year or less first. Going for 2-3 years at once might save you a few dollars but that is too long a period to commit to one host. Renewing every year is a much better idea.
Which host do you recommend more: Hostgator or Arvixe?
Well, both are fantastic web hosts with a great track record. We obviously recommend both almost equally. Arvixe plans work out to be slightly lesser than Hostgator and they are very beginner friendly too. However, if you don't know much at all about web hosting, then we recommend you Hostgator because Hostgator has tons of video tutorials that will be very useful once you sign up for a plan with them. It is always easier to learn from videos showing you step by step how things are done. Hostgator also has promotional coupons which can be used to get a discount (see next question). On the other hand if you don't feel you need such a detailed step by step guidance, you can definitely go for Arvixe, they are slightly cheaper and their support is excellent too.
What are coupons? How do you use them?
Coupons are similar to discount vouchers. Every now and then, some companies release a coupon. When you use the coupon while signing up, you get a discount. At the moment, there are Hostgator coupons that get you the first month free if you sign up for a monthly payment cycle. If you sign up for an year or more, you can save 20% off your initial payment. For a hatchling one year plan, this works out to a $23.88 discount, meaning you get the hatchling plan for 1 year for $95.52. If you want to know how to use the coupons for Hostgator, look at Step 3 in How to Buy a Web Hosting Plan.
Arvixe offers a free domain. Shouldn't I just use their free domain feature to register my domain name?
Arvixe is a great company (and an ethical one too). But it is generally recommended not to go through the free domain feature to get the primary domain you want. If for any reason at all, down the line, you want to shift to a different host, then there is a chance that you lose your domain which you got through the free domain feature. This could happen because sometimes the web hosts register the domain in their names. And when you move over to a new host, they could refuse to transfer the domain to you or they could ask you to pay a higher price (than what the domain would normally cost) in order to transfer it to you. That's why it is always recommended to get your primary domain name separately through a registrar. If you register www.michaelsmith.com through your registrar, you can book a not-so-important domain like www.michaelsmith.net (and make it point to www.michaelsmith.com) or some completely different domain using the free domain feature.
What are Google Adwords? Do they really offer free $100 advertising with it?
Yes, they do offer it. However, you can avail this free $100 only if you are not already a member of Google Adwords (Remember we are not talking about Gmail or any other service. We are talking about Adwords program of Google.) If you are new to Adwords, you can use the voucher given by Hostgator for free advertising on Google for your small business or personal site.
Should you have any doubt regarding any plan, visit the respective websites and contact the live sales support or call them up and they should be able to help you out.
Are these the only 2 web hosts? What are some other reliable web hosts?
Have a look at reliable web hosting providers.