GoDaddy

GoDaddy charges a monthly fee for its Linux- or Windows-based shared Web servers, but it reduces the price if you commit to a multi-month or annual package. Unfortunately, GoDaddy requires you to sign up for its pricier Deluxe or Ultimate plans (starting at $8.99 and $14.99, respectively) for the option to pay for Web hosting on a month-to-month basis (the basic Economy plan requires you to sign up for a minimum of three months). This may not have much (if any) impact on businesses, but a cash-strapped blogger may not appreciate GoDaddy's lack of a single-month option in its Economy package. In that regard, Arvixe (starting at $7 per month) is a better option.

GoDaddy's Economy basic shared hosting package includes a free domain name (in the form of yoursite.com) that you can keep as long as you use GoDaddy, 100GB of storage, the ability to host one website, unlimited monthly data transfers, and a skimpy 100 email addresses. The Deluxe plan (starting at $8.99 per month, or $4.49 per month with an annual commitment) builds upon the Economy package by adding unlimited storage, unlimited website hosting, and 500 email addresses. The Ultimate package (starting at $14.99 per month, or $7.49 per month with an annual commitment) adds a premium DNS management tool, 1,000 email addresses, and a one-year SSL Certificate.

GoDaddy has solid shared hosting plans, but HostGator£2.54 at HostGator UK still reigns as the PCMag Editors' Choice for shared Web hosting services. Like GoDaddy, HostGator boasts unlimited domains, storage, monthly data transfers, and a choice of Linux- or Windows-based servers, but tops its rival by offering unlimited email.

DreamHost

Dreamhost tierless shared Web hosting plan (starting at $10.95 per month, or $9.95 per month with a one-year commitment) offers unlimited disk storage space, domains, email, and monthly data transfers. Dreamhost gives you your first .com, .net, .org, or .info domain for free, but you have to pay the registration fee for all others.

Most competitors, including HostGator£2.54 at HostGator UK (the Editors' Choice for shared Web hosting), offer unlimited domains only as part of their higher-tier plans, making Dreamhost particularly attractive. That said, HostGator is one of the few Web hosts that PCMag has reviewed that offers Windows-based shared Web hosting. That's a big deal, as there are many businesses that require Microsoft's operating system to run specific software. HostGator also offers unlimited month data transfers, storage, and email.

If you want a month-to-month Dreamhost hosting option, be prepared to dig for it a bit, as the information is buried in the bowels of Dreamhost's site. Or, just hop over to shared-hosting favorite HostGator, where it's extremely easy to find.

Virtual Private Server Packages

Dreamhost offers Linux-based VPS Web hosting (starting at $15 per month) for businesses that need more power or expect higher traffic volumes. Dreamhost's VPS plans offer unlimited email, storage, and monthly data transfers, which is a nice perk. However, the base memory is quite low; the $15 per month plan offers only 300MB of RAM. On the other hand, the highest configuration ($249 per month) maxes out at 16GB of RAM. Of the VPS Web hosts we've reviewed, only Media Temple$20.00 at Media Temple - Shared offers more RAM (64GB).

Still, Hostwinds$4.50 at Hostwinds - Shared, the PCMag Editors' Choice for VPS hosting, has wallet-friendly well-rounded VPS offerings that start at $7.50 per month for 1GB of RAM, 25GB of disk space, unlimited monthly data transfers, unlimited email, and half a CPU core and scale to $172 per month for 28.5GB of RAM, 600GB of disk space, unlimited monthly data transfers, unlimited email, and eight CPU cores.

Dedicated Web Hosting Packages

Dreamhost's dedicated server options (starting at $169 per month) aren't radically different from what many competing Web hosting services offer—you get 1TB of storage and can configure the servers with up to 16GB of RAM—but you get a highly desired feature: unlimited data transfers per month. That's a huge deal for people or companies with highly trafficked sites. Not even HostGator, the PCMag Editors' Choice for dedicated server Web hosting, can boast that.

Unfortunately, Dreamhost lacks Windows-based dedicated servers; it's Linux or bust. If you want a build a website using Microsoft's operating system as the foundation, we suggest checking our HostGator, which has Linux and Windows dedicated servers.

Dream Delayed

Signing up for Dreamhost was straightforward, but we were surprised that we couldn't get started right away. A banner message across the top of the account screen stated that Dreamhost would contact us when our account was ready. We were perplexed that we had to wait about five hours before receiving an email confirming that our account had been setup and we could get started. Considering that most services, including Arvixe, Network Solutions$2.99 at Network Solutions, and GoDaddy$3.99 at GoDaddy - Shared let you start immediately, five hours seems an excruciatingly long wait.

HostGator

HostGator offers month-to-month shared Web hosting plans, but it pushes hard for you to sign up for longer terms, starting at six months. We were irked that, during the signup process, HostGator defaults to a three-year term. It's one thing to encourage users to not go month-to-month, but pushing them into three years right from the start is a bit much.

That said, HostGator offers Editors' Choice award-winning shared Web hosting packages that give small- and medium-sized business the room to expand their Web presences. The Hatchling plan (starting at $7.17 per month) offers unlimited disk space, bandwidth databases, and email addresses, plus support for one domain and third-party applications such as content management systems and e-commerce platforms. The Baby plan (starting at $7.96 per month) builds on the Hatchling offering by adding unlimited domains. The top-tier Business plan (starting at $11.96 per month) includes highly specialized options, such as a free toll-free phone number and a private SSL (secure socket layer) certificate.

Although many of the best Web hosting services we've reviewed offer unlimited monthly data transfers, storage (except SiteGround£2.75 at SiteGround UK), and email (except GoDaddy $3.99 at GoDaddy - Shared), HostGator is the PCMag Editors' Choice for shared Web hosting due to its multifaceted awesomeness. For example, HostGator's one of the few Web hosts that we've looked that that offers Linux- or Windows-based shared hosting. The Windows server option is an important one if you plan to create (or migrate) a site built on an ASP.NET framework.

Arvixe matches HostGator nearly beat for beat in the shared hosting game, but HostGator offers slightly more bang for the buck with the inclusion of a private SSL certificate and free toll-free number. If you're looking for outstanding shared Web hosting, take a gander at HostGator.

Virtual Private Server Packages

HostGator offers Linux-based VPS hosting starting at $19.95 per month. If you need more power, expect high traffic volumes, or have specific compliance requirements that prevent you from using shared servers (but you don't want to pay dedicated server prices), these are good options to consider.

The most basic VPS plan, Snappy 500, starts with 512MB RAM, 25GB disk space, and 500GB of monthly data transfers. The most advanced, Snappy 8000, offers 8GB of RAM, 240GB of disk space, and 3TB of monthly data transfers. The Web host's plans are much more flexible than Network Solutions's$2.99 at Network Solutions offerings, but not quite as well-rounded as Hostwinds's$4.50 at Hostwinds - Shared, the PCMag Editors' Choice for VPS hosting.

HostGator's rival has wallet-friendly well-rounded VPS offerings that start at $7.50 per month for 1GB of RAM, 25GB of disk space, unlimited monthly data transfers, unlimited email, and half a CPU core and scale to $172 per month for 28.5GB of RAM, 600GB of disk space, unlimited monthly data transfers, unlimited email, and eight CPU cores.

Dedicated Server Packages

HostGator's dedicated server packages start at $139 per month, and it offers an excellent set of features for its price. Arvixe may offer an obscene amount of memory (you can configure one of its dedicated servers with an incredible 96GB of RAM!), but you'll pay for it: Arvixe's lowest-tier dedicated server starts at $429. If you want to save a few chips but still have a very balanced dedicated Web host, HostGator is the way to go.

HostGator users can customize their servers with up to 1TB of storage, 16GB of RAM, and an impressive 25TB of monthly data transfers that bests the offerings from Arvixe (10TB), GoDaddy (20TB), and many other Web hosts. Dreamhost, on the other hand, is a rare Web host that offers unlimited data transfers per month.

That said, HostGator beats Dreamhost when it comes to operating system options. The company's dedicated servers come in Linux and Windows flavors, which isn't as commonplace as you might think; Linux tends to dominate the field. In fact, HostGator is one of the few Web hosts we reviewed that scored well and offered both operating systems. Even Dreamhost, one of our favorite hosting services, lacks Windows-based dedicated servers. Balance and price gives HostGator the dedicated hosting Editors' Choice nod over the competition.

InMotion

InMotion offers three Linux-based shared Web hosting plans. The most basic, Launch ($7.99 per month with an annual subscription), supports two websites and up to six domains. Power ($9.99 per month with an annual subscription) nets you six websites and up to 26 domains, while Pro ($15.99 per month with an annual subscription) offers unlimited websites and unlimited domains. All InMotion shared hosting plans include unlimited email, storage, and monthly data transfers, which is a nice touch.

That said, HostGator£2.54 at HostGator UK gets the nod as the PCMag Editors' Choice award-winning shared Web hosting service. InMotion's rival also offers unlimited domains, email, storage, and monthly data transfers, and it adds the choice of Linux- or Windows-based server. The Windows option is an important one if your site has software that runs on an ASP.NET framework.

VPS Hosting Plans

InMotion offers decent VPS hosting, but it starts at a pricey $44.99 per month. Of the VPS services we've tested, only Media Temple with its insane RAM (64GB) and storage (600GB) capacities, costs more money for entry-level VPS hosting. Still, you get decent specs with InMotion, including unlimited email, 8GB of RAM, and 4TB of monthly data transfers with InMotion. Note, however, that Bluehost£2.56 at BlueHost UK has very similar specs for $29.99 per month.

Hostwinds$4.50 at Hostwinds - Shared, the PCMag Editors' Choice for VPS hosting, has wallet-friendly, well-rounded VPS offerings that start at $7.50 per month for 1GB of RAM, 25GB of disk space, unlimited monthly data transfers, unlimited email, and half a CPU core and scale to $172 per month for 28.5GB of RAM, 600GB of disk space, unlimited monthly data transfers, and unlimited email.

Dedicated Hosting Plans

You can configure the company's Linux-based dedicated Web servers (starting at $189 per month) with 1.2TB of storage, 15TB of data transfers per month (which tops Arvixe's 10TB and SiteGround's 5TB), and an impressive 64GB of RAM (the majority of Web hosts we've tested offer 16GB).

Inmotion has solid dedicated Web hosting plans, but HostGator—the PCMag Editors' Choice for dedicated hosting—has better all-around packages. HostGator's servers have up to 25TB of data transfers per month (which is quite generous) and a choice of Linux- or Windows-based operating systems.

Setting Up an InMotion-Hosted Website

We chose the Launch plan, but were disappointed to learn that we had to sign up for a full year. Like most Web hosts, a discount is applied to the first term (for up to three years). InMotion discloses its renewal rates, so you don't get any surprises. In this case, we paid $4.89 per month, discounted from the regular rate of $7.99 per month.

After we chose a domain, funtechtimes.com, the upselling began. First, we were offered an upgrade to the Power plan, then domain privacy ($9.99 per year), managed hosting services, and email protection packs from McAfee. Finally, we were offered the option to add a free content management system (CMS) to our account: WordPress, PrestaShop, or Joomla. At checkout, there was an option to pay by purchase order or check, which we hadn't seen before.

We were worried when the confirmation page said that an account specialist would contact us by phone to help us get started; we couldn't log in otherwise. However, the call was quite helpful, and we weren't pushed into making any additional purchases. The representative asked a few questions about the type of website we wanted to build, and then emailed us welcome materials, including WordPress installation instructions, since we had told her we wanted to create a blog.

Arvixe

Arvixe's shared plans give you the option of hosting your website on a Linux- or Windows-based server, so you have plenty of flexibility for laying your site's foundation. Like HostGator£2.54 at HostGator UK (the Editors' Choice for shared Web hosting services), Arvixe offers a standard monthly Web hosting charge, but kicks savings your way if you commit to a multi-month or annual package. Unlike GoDaddy$3.99 at GoDaddy - Shared, Arvixe lets you choose a one-month plan with any package tier; GoDaddy requires you to sign up for its pricier Deluxe or Ultimate plans (starting at $8.99 and $14.99, respectively) to receive a one-month option. If you're looking to pay for Web hosting on a month-to-month basis, Arvixe is an attractive solution.

Arvixe's PersonalClass shared Web package plan includes a free domain name you can keep as long as you use Arvixe, a free domain transfer, unlimited monthly data transfers, unlimited storage, unlimited email, and the ability to host six domains. If you opt for PersonalClass Pro ($7 per month), you can host as many domains as you like.

Arvixe also offers BusinessClass hosting (starting at $30 per month, or $22 per month with a two-year commitment) that increases your website's reliability and uptime by decreasing the number of sites with which you share your server. It also gives you a dedicated IP address, a free SSL certificate, unlimited storage and bandwidth, and the ability to host six domains. BusinessClass Pro (starting at $42 per month, or $35 per month with a two-year commitment) adds unlimited domain hosting.

These are excellent shared hosting plans, but HostGator just beats Arvixe to reign as the Editors' Choice for shared Web hosting. Although both services offer the choice of Linux- or Windows-based hosting, and unlimited domains, email, storage, and monthly data transfers, HostGator tosses in a free toll-free phone number and a private secure socket layer (SSL certificate).

DedicatedClass Servers

If you decide to go the dedicated server route, prepare to spend some heavy coin. Arvixe's dedicated servers start at a pricey $429 per month—the majority of Web hosts that we've reviewed have dedicated hosting packages starting at under $200 per month. That said, Arvixe's dedicated servers are more wallet friendly than Media Temple's$20.00 at Media Temple - Shared dedicated servers, which start at a whopping $2,000.

You can configure an Arvixe dedicated server with up to 96GB of RAM (Media Temple one-ups it with servers featuring 128GB of RAM), 2TB of storage, and a relatively low 10TB of data transfers per month. In fact, of the Web hosts we've tested, only Siteground offered less in the way of monthly data transfers (5TB). Dreamhost, on the other hand, doesn't cap data.

Arvixe has an impressive RAM capacity, but in terms of bang for the buck, we prefer HostGator, the PCMag Editors' Choice for dedicated Web hosting. HostGator users can customize dedicated servers (starting at a far more-affordable $139 per month) with up to 1TB of storage, 16GB of RAM, and an impressive 25GB of monthly data transfers for nearly $300 less per month. Plus, HostGator's monthly data transfers—arguably the most-important aspect of Web hosting—top the offerings from Arvixe (10TB), InMotion Hosting$3.49 at InMotion - Shared(15TB), GoDaddy (20TB), and many other Web hosts.

VPSClass Servers

If you're in need of a Web hosting setup that's more powerful than shared Web hosting, but far less expensive than dedicated Web hosting, Arvixe has excellent VPS packages starting at $20 per month. Regardless of the tier you select—there are six in total—you'll enjoy unlimited email, domains, and monthly data transfers. That freedom is important if you envision your company greatly growing over time. Arvixe's Linux VPS selections top out at 3GB of RAM and 100GB of storage, while the Windows VPS plans max out 4GB of RAM and 100GB of storage.

That said, Hostwinds$4.50 at Hostwinds - Shared edges out Arvixe to take the crown as the PCMag Editors' Choice for VPS by offering up to 28.5GB of RAM, 600GB of disk space, unlimited monthly data transfers, unlimited email, and a Windows server option. If you plan to build (or migrate) a site built on an ASP.NET framework, you'll appreciate Arvixe's Windows-based VPS packages.