Trying to find the right hosting service for your website often feels like an unwanted side quest that requires you to learn a whole new vocabulary of technical terms just so you can compare your options.
In the midst of that process, you’ve also got to sort out which companies you can trust.
We’re here to simplify the process by pointing out a few red-flags to watch out for that will help identify which hosting services to avoid.
“Unlimited” Plans
If you see the term “unlimited” that’s not necessarily a “red-flag” but it definitely warrants looking into. Let’s call it a “yellow-flag”.
The reality is, no hosting plan can be truly unlimited, because hardware and resources are always finite. Even large, cloud-based services have limits somewhere.
This is especially true of shared hosting in which your site would be stored on the same server as other websites and share resources like CPU, RAM and disk space.
Why Do Hosts Use the Term “Unlimited?”
It’s marketing. Most users never hit the thresholds that would cause an issue, so hosts advertise as “unlimited” while quietly enforcing caps behind the scenes.
The Unspoken Limits on “Unlimited”
Hosts that offer “unlimited” plans typically include one or more clauses that allow the host to impose limits if your site starts using more resources than the host was expecting to provide.
So what happens if your site starts using more resources than the host intended to offer?
The host will typically respond in one of 3 ways:
- Throtteling: Your hosting intentionally slows down your website or application to prevent it from using too many server resources. This can result in visitors to your site experiencing long delays and slow load times.
- Asking You to Upgrade: The host may require you to upgrade to a more expensive plan.
- Suspending Your Account: If you’re on a shared hosting plan, your host may suspend your account to protect resources for the other websites that share your server.
The bottom line is that “unlimited” is a misleading marketing term and hosting services that use it aren’t being entirely truthful about what they’re offering. You deserve a more honest breakdown of costs and services.
A Bad Reputation
How do customers feel about this hosting provider?
This factor alone can help you determine which provider to go with.
In our experience, some of the most well-known brands in website hosting have earned some of the worst reputations for customer support and overall hosting experience. So, it’s worthwhile to do a bit of research before you commit to a hosting company.
Here are some tips on where to look when you want for reputation information on a hosting company.
Poor Customer Service
The way a business treats their customers tells you everything you need to know about their values. Here are some common complaints we hear about subpar hosting services.
Unresponsive Support
It takes a long time for your calls or questions to be answered.
Unskilled Technicians
Many companies staff their support lines with folks who don’t have the technical understanding to be able to help you.
- Canned Responses: Prewritten responses that don’t address your problem.
- Long Hold Times: On hold for hours while technicians try to research a problem they don’t understand or pass you from one person to another.
- Misdiagnosing The Problem: When technicians don’t have the skills to resolve your issue, they’re likely to misdiagnose the problem.
The result of all of these issues is wasted time, a lot of frustration and potentially unresolved issues with your website.
Unreasonable Downtime
“Downtime” refers to the amount of time that your website is unavailable to visitors, whether due to routine maintenance, problems with the server your website is on or issues specific to your website itself.
Conversely, “Uptime” refers to the amount of time your site is up and functioning. The industry standard for up time is 99.9% uptime (which still allows for about 8 hours of downtime per year).
When you’re checking for reviews look for customers complaining of the following issues:
- Frequent Server Problems: If a host’s servers are frequently failing, that’s a bad sign. This can be a sign that the host isn’t investing enough in their technology, infrastructure and security to be able to keep your site online.
- Sites Going Down: Sometimes, instead of entire servers going offline, just a few individual websites are impacted. This is often a result of poorly managed shared hosting. Some hosts will pack more websites on a single server than they should to maximize profit. With too many sites competing for limited resources you can end up with poor performance and frequent downtime.
Upselling
Some hosts are known for upselling their customers on all sorts of expensive add-ons they don’t need and won’t use.
Some brands are so notorious for this practice that, anytime we find out a client is working with them, the first thing we do is review their hosting plan to identify all of the unnecessary services the client should stop paying for.
How Research a Hosts Reputation
Type the name of the host you want to look up along with the word “reviews” and see what comes up. Look for complaints that are echoed by multiple users.
If you’re looking for more personalized hosting, try searching for a local hosting provider. Type “hosting” + [your location] into the search. Local hosts should have their own Google profile with reviews.
Ask Tech Savvy Friend
Reach out to a tech savvy friend who has personal experience with one or more hosting companies. Ask what host they use and why.
Pro Tip:
Be selective about who you ask for advice here.
We all have plenty of well-meaning friends who are happy to recommend brand names they’ve heard of, even if they don’t have any personal experience or technical expertise. As we’ve mentioned above, sometimes the companies that focus on building name recognition don’t spend enough resources on customer service.
So, be sure the person you’re asking is both interested in tech in general and has personal experience with hosting companies.
Ask a Web Developer
A web designer or developer is a great resource for hosting recommendations.
How A Developer Can Help
- Experience: An experienced developer will likely have worked with several different hosts over time and that means they know which hosts tend to be more problematic for customers.
- Compatibility: The type of coding your website uses (WordPress, Laravel, Node.js, etc.) may indicate which type of hosting you’ll need to use. A developer can help you determine which hosting is compatible with your website.
- Features: A reputable developer can also help you determine which hosting features you might need and which you don’t need to spend money on.
Check Online Forums
Since it’s always best to get more than one opinion, web development and hosting forums can be a great resource. Here are a couple of places to check for hosting recommendations.
- r/webhosting — Reddit’s web hosting subreddit for reviews, questions, and discussions.
- r/webdev — Web development subreddit where hosting often comes up in project discussions.
- r/sysadmin — Subreddit for system administrators — useful if you’re looking into VPS, dedicated, or cloud hosting.
Digital Point Forums
- forums.digitalpoint.com — Mostly small businesses and independent developers discussing hosting, domain names, and online business.
Tips for Using Forums
- Look for multiple user reviews, not just one-off rants or fanboy posts.
- Search for the host name plus “problem,” “slow,” or “support” to see if people are reporting consistent issues.
- Don’t be afraid to ask questions — most of these communities are happy to help!
Finding The Right Host
Ultimately, looking for the right hosting service is much like looking for any other type of business.
To find the right fit, it helps to:
- Ask the Internet
- Look for Customer Reviews
- Get Expert Advice
If you’re trying to find the right hosting service for your website, feel free to contact us with any questions. We’d be happy to help!