Shared Hosting Shakedown: iPage, FatCow, 1and1, BlueHost and DreamHost
I've used a mix of BlueHost and a private server over the last 5 years to handle my domain and webhosting needs. I figured it was time to see what other shared hosts can provide to see if I've been missing out on anything.
Here's what I consider to be critically important in a shared hosting provider:
- Email hosting
- Subdomains
- DNS management
- Ability to host more than one domain per account
Find out how these services compare after the jump!
References:
- iPage [ipage.com]
- FatCow [fatcow.com]
- 1and1 [1and1.com]
- Bluehost [bluehost.com]
- Dreamhost [dreamhost.com]
How did you select these providers?
I looked around to see which shared hosting providers were offering discounts for signup. iPage, FatCow and 1and1 were running deals that included domain registration for a year and wound up costing around $10 to $20 per year. Dreamhost ended up costing about $30 for a year at promo pricing I have been using BlueHost for about 5 years now.
So, lets give each service a blurb:
iPage / FatCow
It turns out that both iPage and FatCow share the same back end infrastructure in some way. The deals were the same, the control panels look the same and in general they behave the same in every way I can determine. How do they stack up in terms of features and functionality?
You can setup as many email accounts as you like, but they all have a 500MB limit unless you pay extra $$ to upgrade to 2GB
Subdomains
No subdomains out of the box, you can pay extra to get them but the pricing is unclear.
DNS
No advanced DNS to speak of, you are limited to a very simplistic UI
Multi-domain
You can host as many domains on the account as you like. I didn't see any indication of any limits.
1 and 1
With 1&1 I decided to try out their 'windows hosting' as I've never personally hosted a domain on a windows shared host before. I work with IIS on a professional basis almost every day, so I was curious to see how different the shared host version would feel. In the end it looks like I have a fair amount of control via web.config file so my options aren't too limited.
Out of the box you get 100 'basic' email accounts. They come with 2GB of space per account, which isn't bad.
Subdomains
You get 100 subdomains, which I'm guessing would be split across all domains you have registered to your account.
DNS
You do have control of DNS, so that's a HUGE plus
Multi-domain
You can have many domains attached to your account. You'll need more accounts if you need 100 emails per domain, though.
Bluehost
These guys are my baseline. 5 years ago I selected them because of their feature set and pricepoint. They've been rock-solid and easy to work with and I've been satisfied with their service.
Unlimited email accounts of up to unlimited size, so that's pretty awesome
Subdomains
Unlimited subdomains, they let you edit DNS as you like
DNS
I feel very comfortable working with the DNS Zone editor. I can control every aspect of hosting that I need to be successful
Multi-domain
No limit to the number of domains you can host, but it gets cumbersome once you hit 20 or 30.
Dreamhost
These guys seem to be pretty high-end. They are currently touting a changeover from HDs to SSDs for hosting accounts, so I anticipate page load speeds to be pretty good! I really like how they cater to a more advanced user. You have to know what you're doing to get a page uploaded.
Unlimited email accounts of up to unlimited size, which is nice.
You can only set an email retention for up to 999 days, though. After that, messages are moved to an 'old-messages' folder which I presume is to help reduce load on their imap server
Subdomains
No limit on subdmains
DNS
You can add and edit DNS records, but there are some records you can't mess with (like email), so it comes close to BlueHost but doesn't quite give you the same degree of control.
Multi-domain
There are no limit to the number of domains you can host
Conclusion & Ranking
As of the time of this writing [June 2015], I rank the services from best to worst:
- Bluehost
- Dreamhost
- 1and1
- iPage / FatCow
Bluehost takes the top spot as it is infinitely configurable, which is what I want in a hosting provider.
Dreamhost takes a close second as it has a goofy system which requires messages older than [up to] 999 days to be moved to an old messages folder.
1and1 comes in 3rd as it provides power and flexibility, but it wants you to buy more once you get past 100 domains or email accounts. It's a solid shared windows host, though, so if you want to go .NET these guys are worth a look for low-end hosting.
FatCow / iPage come in last in this list. It's not for what they offer so much as what they lack. I think that a novice would find the experience here to be serviceable, it's just not really what I'm looking for. I'll probably not keep these accounts.