A quick comparison of web hosts as of 10/6/2021

I used to be with a great hosting company, Lunarpages. 19 years of hardly any issues! Unfortunately they've been acquired by "HostPapa", an Endurance International Group brand. EIG is a notorious conglomerate that gobbles up smaller IPP-s one after the other and then uses dodgy tactics to extort money from their clients. See my post A Warning Against EIG Hosting Brands! for an in-depth explanation of why I left and why I recommend against using EIG brands. In this post I'd like to summarize the results of my research into a better alternative.

These will be in no particular order, they are all hosts that seemed reputable to me. What I was looking for:

• A privately owned company with at least an office (that I can find on Google maps). I'm done with large corporations whose sole aim is to maximize profits.
• Possiblity to disable mod_security (or at least set some exceptions...required for OctoberCMS)
• CPanel or directadmin (but no home-grown admin interface thank you)
• Bonus: LiteSpeed, CloudLinux (for isolation), CloudFlare, SSH upon request, NodeJS support, Ghost blog hosting (via softaculous?)
• LetsEncrypt SSL certificates

What did I end up going with? KnownHost.com and Rackforest.com. The former is an american and the latter is a Hungarian company and, both are cheap and have everything I need.

Here's a comparison table of some of the US-based hosting companies I considered:

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I'll also write a few words about my personal and very subjective impression of each, in order of preference:

KnownHost - Birmingham, AL - FB - LinkedIn ♥♥♥

This is an actual company with a footprint in the real world, neither too big, nor too small, but growing rapidly. $10 million revenue, ~44 employees, founded in 2005, with an active Facebook profile with 39k likes. Here's their latest post:

And they seem to be growing:

They have a pretty nice office building that can be found on Google Maps:

And plenty of good reviews on TrustPilot:

Although 3 reviews on Yelp! were not so positive - but I read them, and they didn't convince me that this company actually has issues:

Much better reviews on Google Maps:

What really convinced me was their excellent Wiki – just googling various topic sometimes their Wiki would provide the clearest answer. For example here's their article on hosting a Ghost blog:

They state it right up front that recent versions of Ghost will no longer work in their shared hosting environment. I suspect it's the same with shared hosting plans at other companies, but this was the only company where I could get concrete documentation on the topic. The other thing that convinced me was that they have a data center in Europe as well (leased of coure I'm assuming). And they have a page where they give test IP-s as well as files that you can test download speed with (at your location):

Again, bullshit-free information that I love instead of silly marketing jargon to rattle my mind.

I was able to chat with a friendly sales person. Unfortunately they are not willing to disable mod_security on shared hosting accounts. Understandable I guess but a big negative for me. BUT! After signing up I discovered that I can actually turn it off, or just configure the rules through CPanel (so I guess the salesperson gave incorrect info). Here's some more info on their shared packages.

And here's a second chat session (from a year later):

Here's a pretty funny pitch for KnownHost from webhostingtalk:

“my former provider (Pride Tech) apparently decided to have a shootout with the cops... the fact that i used the word "former" may offer a clue as to who won
i'm looking for a small-ish, ethical, knowledgeable, non-EIG/mega host that offers managed/semi-managed VPS in the $20-30/mo. range
i'm running 1 WordPress site that doesn't get a ton of traffic (2 TB is enough bandwidth)
the 2 hosts i'm considering at the moment are InterServer and KnownHost - both seem to be well liked, but the latter seems like they might be a better co. regarding knowledge, support and package options, but that's just the impression i get looking at their sites - InterServer, on the other hand, has a way better package for roughly the same money”
…Of those two providers, I would have gone with KnownHost, only because I know their support is superb. I get it though as price is a huge part of the equation.
…i don't know if InterServer was recently bought out or what, but their support seems to consist of a bunch of inept monkeys
after several support tickets (over 3 hyper-aggravating days) and a pile of correspondence in them, much of which they apparently didn't bother to read, or screwed up the instructions when they did, i canceled and got a refund
https://www.webhostingtalk.com/showthread.php?t=1790931

SiteGround

Bulgarian company with offices in the UK as well. They are growing rapidly and probably with good reason. Everything seems perfect except that they've decided to roll out their own, self-built admin panel. Now this might not be a big issue, but it would make moving from a CPanel based host difficult. For example, to migrate emails, they recommend doing it through the mail client. This is very cumbersome (I know, I've done it), and it won't be perfect. Moving email accounts with CPanel is super easy. Anyways here are their offices:

And another one:

SectorLink - Secaucus, NJ, US ♥♥

We maintain our own data centers and employees. We do not resell hosting services and server services from other companies. Privately owned since 1996.

~26 employees, founded in 1996, 774 likes on Facebook with the last post a few days ago:

Google reviews are fine but not many:

Searching for their office well it looks like it's in a pretty dodgy location?

I mean turn around on Google Maps and this is what you see:

I did find some convincing raving reviews about them though:

Absolutely top notch! I am a web developer and I have used them personally since 2009. I have so many clients that end up with terrible operations like Godaddy, Bluehost, etc. and I have often recommended Sectorlink as the best alternative. I've probably sent about 25 clients to Sectorlink over the years, and I host about 10 on my server...and the person who recommended them to me still uses them exclusively! Top notch customer service, very rare if any down time, and incredibly knowledgeable staff, and I do not give out 5 stars easily. Sectorlink is an exceptional choice for web hosting, SSL, etc.

Falling revenue and employee count:

The thing is, this is just not very convincing for me. They might provide great service now, but if they're not growing and they just have this one location, perhaps they are just looking to be acquired by EIG. But I could be wrong, do your own research!

Interserver - Secaucus, NJ, US ♥♥

Co-Founders Mike Lavrik and John Quaglieri started InterServer in 1999. Also a solid-looking company, around 50 employees, 29,700 likes on Facebook, so many positive reviews on TrustPilot that it's a bit suspicious (they must have some incentive going on):

But also many likes on Google Maps:

They seem to be located in a shared office building, but it looks modern enough:

They also have a good article on how to disable mod-security (but why they don't reccommend it).

My main issue with them was that I just couldn't find out how much they charge for shared hosting! I mean, sure, they have introductory pricing:

but how much will it be a year from now, what is the regular rate? Couldn't find it anywhere. And what is the asterisk for? There are no footnotes on the page I took the above screenshot from. Also found this about them (although you'll find negative feedback about any company):

An absolutely awful company, which is unfortunate as they are locally based.  First, their customer support claims 24/7 availability.  It's a gimmick.  Phone support hangs up on you.  Chat places you on 1 hour hold times.  They will also lose your communication "tickets".

In any case they look good enough to me!

Veerotech - Raleigh, North Carolina, US - LinkedIn ♥

I read a lot of good about this company on Reddit, in fact it is in their list of official recommendations (in addition to NixiHost, iWebFusion, and KnownHost).

They are 100% privately owned with their own equipment. They have 70 likes on Facebook and have posted recently:

They are listed on linkedin as a company of 1-10 employees. So I'm guessing it's a fairly small operation. Their address is a PO Box, and I couldn't find any office location on Google Maps. At the same time they state on their site that they have "Over 220,000 data center square feet at full build".

Their revenue seems to be falling though as well as their employee count, both bad signs:

What nailed the coffin for me on them was some of their recent posts where they are offering discounts with the hashtag #medicalfreedom for people who refuse to vaccinate. Now I am not a staunch pro-vaxer by a mile, but a hosting company should focus on business, and not on divisive public health / political issues that have nothing to do with IT.

I have sent them a letter with my questions (no online chat available):

Krystal Hosting - UK - FB - LinkedIn ♥

This is a bigger company, I guess the biggest indepentent IPP in England. Mostly good reviews on FaceBook. Their site is excellent, unfortunately when pinking their servers from my phone every once in a while a packet was lost. Strange. But definitely worth considering.

They have a "meet the team" page which is awesome.

LiquidWeb

This seems like an excellent company as well unfortunately they only do managed hosting. Here are their offices:

DotEasy - B.C., Canada ♥

Very nice website and lots of good reviews on Google:

Founded in 2000. They have a nice office location I'm guessing in a shared office building (Suite 210-3602 Gilmore Way, Burnaby, B.C., V5G 4W9 Canada)! Perhaps the same as website.com hosting solutions (same location on Google Maps).

Thing is, they don't offer any VPS or dedicated hosting options. So if I want to grow in the future I'd have to find another host (again...).

GeekStorage - Norman, Oklahoma

Very interesting, "employee owned" company? Revenue under 5 million, less than 25 employees, only 236 likes on Facebook with the last post from 2015. Not a lot of reviews either on TrustPilot:

This is their location, a P.O. box (PO Box 1709, Norman, Oklahoma, 73070, United States):

Supposedly with I'm assuming leased data centers in Chicago, IL and Falkenstein, Germany. Found a negative review that seems pretty authentic on webhostingtalk.

Their address is supposedly 555 S. Independence Blvd, Virginia Beach, VA23452 but I can't find anything on Google Maps.

The only place you can get honest reviews for this host, yelp... See for yourself, you'll find a series of bogus reviews across the website either paid for, or self inflected.

InMotion

One of the big guys. Perhaps too big. Neither TrustPilot nor Google Maps reviews are convincing:

Hostround - Dover, DE - FB - not on LinkedIn ♥

I had a hard time finding useful information about the company. I think they are quite small. Their offices are supposedly at "8 The Green #5393, Dover, DE 19901, United States" however those don't look like office buildings to me on Google maps. It looks like the town center with pretty historical red buildings!

On the plus side I chatted with them - they were quick to reply - and they wrote that they would be able to disable mod_security if necessary. The person seemed knowledgeable as well.

JaguarPC

Founded in 1998 by a USAF Veteran, Greg Landis. Address seems to be a residential house (P.O. Box 1108, 77441 Fulshear, Texas, USA)?

HostWinds - Seattle, WA - FB - LinkedIn ♥

10k likes on FB and 200 positive reviews - so that's good. Some users seem to take issue with them initiating charges without prior notification. The sales rep confirmed this on chat and also explained that it's not possible to disable mod_security on their shared accounts. A shame. When I asked if they might be acquired by EIG, she responded "I have no idea what my boss wants to do." They have datacenters in three locations, including Amsterdam (although I think the rep said they don't have shared hosting there) and a nice office in a beautiful location.

Others to consider:

StableHost.com

Looks like a reputable company however some users have complained on their facebook page about a fall in their quality of service after they were acquired by "MG." I'm not sure who MG is but I've learned my lesson about what happens when a good hosting company gets acquired by a giant so I'm staying away for now. At least they are allowing comments on their facebook page! That's a good sign.

Chemicloud - Newark, Delaware - LinkedIn

I was able to talk with an agent via chat fairly quickly. He was quite friendly and frank when I asked if they have offices. He said that they basically work distributed. So this is a small outfit as well.

+ "Never worry about Email blacklisting again! We’ve partnered with MailChannels to have your emails always delivered to the Inbox of your recipients."

However, I couldn't find any info about their datacenters. I suspect they are piggybacking on others. They don't have a Facebook company "page", only a personal page.

Skystra - LinkedIn

These guys have many good reviews however they aren't really a traditional IPP. They make use of google cloud infrastructure to provide a certain type of hosting with their own custom control panel. Ping latency was pretty bad when I tested it so I gave up on them there.

And some others:

• CloudWays is another option (paired with Linode for example): How to Install October CMS on Cloud Hosting
• Kualo Limited 20-22 Wenlock Road London, N1 7GU United Kingdom
  Revenue: <$5 Million, Employees: <25

• MDDHosting - seems like a very small operation
• HawkHost - FB - LinkedIn
• hostiso (supposedly Zurich-based but can’t find it on google maps)
• https://radwebhosting.com/shared-hosting, nice portal!
• GeekStorage? - FB - Norman, Oklahoma, not on LinkedIn
• https://researchasahobby.com/best-website-hosting-companies-fooling/reliable-web-hosting-recommend/
• https://researchasahobby.com/hosting-performance-charts/