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Top 25 Hosting Companies for Bloggers – Infographic Plus Additional Options

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Hosting Companies for Bloggers

The Blogging.org recently surveyed bloggers about their hosting companies and published the results in an infographic, the Top 25 Hosting Companies for bloggers. The survey included bloggers using WordPress (43%), Blogger (35%), TypePad/Tumblr/Posterous (16%), and other platforms (6%).

Top 25 Hosting Companies For Bloggers - Infographic

While it’s great to know that these hosting companies were the most popular for the 5,600 bloggers surveyed, keep in mind that there are (according to the same infographic) 31 million bloggers in the US alone. Plus, there are lots of other things to factor in to the hosting choices made by these bloggers left out of this infographic including how much traffic the blogs receive, whether they are personal or business blogs, and so on.

So if you’re in the market for a new hosting company, here are some other things to consider beyond just the numbers presented in this infographic.

Hosting Distribution Amongst the Top Websites

BuiltWith, an information provider that tracks 150 million websites and the technology they use, share the following about hosting services used for the top websites. Top websites are defined by the most visited and the most well-known brands.

web-hosting-in-top-million-sites

If you start with the top million sites, you’re most popular hosting choices are GoDaddy which starts at around $6 per month and Softlayer.

web-hosting-top-10000-sites

If you narrow that list down to the top 10,000 sites which are the ones with the most traffic, you’re most popular hosting choices are Rackspace and Amazon.

Hosting for WordPress

Since at least 50% of the top websites use WordPress over other CMS and blogging systems (again according to BuiltWith), let’s start by taking a look at who WordPress recommends.

Then you also have to consider hosting companies build specifically for WordPress including the following.

  • WPWebHost starting at $4.95 per month and shows you plans based on traffic.
  • Web Synthesis starting at $27 per month.

Hosting for the Most Popular Blogs

Now, let’s consider the hosting choices of the most popular, trafficked blogs in the world (according to Technorati at least).

Top 10 Cheap Web Hosting Providers

For those who don’t have a Mashable-sized audience and therefore don’t need dedicated server hosting, you can also refer to the list by TopTenReviews for reviews of the least expensive web hosting options, most starting at $4 per month. These include:

The Point?

So what is the point to all of this? If you’re in the market for web hosting, you’re going to have to do a lot of research based on the following factors.

  • The amount of money you’re willing to spend for hosting.
  • The amount of traffic you are anticipating to receive.
  • The level of support you want (hint – look for sites that have chat, email, and phone support available 24 hours a day).

I would also suggest looking at hosting used by sites similar to yours. You can spy on some site’s hosting choices by going to http://builtwith.com/domain.com – just change domain.com to the site in question.

Also, chat with other bloggers about the hosting they use. You’ll find there will be a wide variety of opinions – while one person may love a company, another may have had an awful experience with them. And sometimes, it will just boil down to experience – no matter how much research you do and advice you get, your experience may be amazing or awful. Web hosting is a tough world to enter – just be as prepared as possible!

Oh, and sign up for Pingdom to get alerts if your site goes down and monthly reports showing your real uptime and downtime.

What is your experience with web hosting? Please share in the comments below and if you’re recommending a hosting service, add in some relevant details like how much traffic you have, how well they handle it, and what plan you use!

About

Kristi Hines is a freelance writer, ghostwriter, and copywriter who develops blog content, ebooks, emails, lead magnets, and website copy for marketing agencies, B2B, and SaaS.

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{ 33 Responses }

  1. Sam Matla says:
    GoDaddy is horrible really, they're all advertising and don't deliver quality. Fine for domain registering, but I wouldn't go near them for hosting. I was stuck on a server with 6500 other websites, that's just unacceptable. Changed to bluehost and it's been far better ever since.
  2. Dennis says:
    Host Gator has always been good to me for hosting. Their "sister" company SEO Hosting is one of the best and affordable Class C hosting companies for individuals who want Dedicated IP hosting. GoDaddy is good as well. I would say their best offering is the customer service, although I here people complain about them quite a bit. I guess it all comes down to personal experience and preference. I love you use of the infographics in your post. It made it very enjoyable to read!
  3. Sally Brown says:
    Hi, Great review of hosting sites. I currently use Bluehost and have been very happy with it. I was with ipage, but was not very happy with service there. Bluehost is awesome!
  4. Christa says:
    Amazon is at #5 and I used to think that Amazon was leading the league of Cloud service providers. Quite a nice info-graphic, I've always been fan of them. Explains the details with so much interactivity.
  5. John Rampton says:
    Thanks for the mention and killer article about our infographic.
  6. Simon says:
    I'm with DreamHost but that's just because I found it slightly easier than HostGator when I was just starting up. I had no idea at all what I was doing - and still don't most of the time! - but they made my life a little easier. Are they okay? Or is there somewhere even easier? I realise they might not be the cheapest but I'm happy to pay a bit more for ease of use.
  7. Bishwajeet says:
    Most of the bloggers start with Hostgator shared service and even I did and its actually quite good for all those newbie bloggers as they dont have enough traffic at that point of time and the amount of support provided by Hostgator is awesome.
  8. Marco says:
    Hi! For my websites i use one.com as hosting. It is pretty cheap if you don't have much traffic to your site. Thanks for the list of other hosting companies. It is very usefull.
  9. Jakes says:
    Wow I stumbled on the right post. I have already bought a domain name and I was wondering which hosting provider should I prefer. Most of the providers you listed here are new to me. Hence, I should admit that you left me in quite a dilemma on whose service should I buy. Anyway, I guess, I would probably move with HostGator :-)
    • Kristi Hines says:
      I would like to think I gave you more options to choose from. :)
      • Jakes says:
        Of course you did. The post was great. It's always good to know you are having a lot of options when you are going to buy a product
  10. akhilendra says:
    Hosting requirement depends upon the kind of site one is planning to launch or have, blogs with not much load go for shared and VPS hosting where players like Godaddy, hastgator and ipage have got strong presence whereas in case of bigger blogs like mashable, they prefer something like amazon to power their sites as they can afford it and their requirements are different than an average blogger. Thanks for sharing such a in-depth analysis.
    • Kristi Hines says:
      Exactly Akhilendra. That's why you really have to look at your goals when it comes to blogging / traffic and make sure the hosting you choose is going to be able to handle it.
  11. Anton Koekemoer says:
    Hi Kristi, One of the most comprehensively compiled info-graphic I’ve seen to date. Personally glad to see Hostgator is still on top of the hosting list – as I keep on referring clients to use their services, and personally still satisfied with their services for quite a long time.
    • Kristi Hines says:
      Hostgator always gets great reviews Anton, especially from the WordPress / blogging community. :)
  12. Suzanne says:
    Kristi, you always provide such great information! I noticed that my hosting company is #18 on the list. I have heard quite a bit about hostgator and blue host so I think a change is coming next year as I plan out 2013.
    • Kristi Hines says:
      Thanks Suzanne. Mine hosting provider is in the same spot on the list. :)
  13. Robert says:
    I remember the first time I tried to use HostGator (on BlackFriday sale opportunity). Before that I have used BlueHost as well as Dreamhost. But I would say HostGator is the best choice with fast and reliable hosting and the support is awesome too.
    • Kristi Hines says:
      Thanks for sharing your experience Robert! BlackFriday is a great time to buy just about anything, including hosting - HostGator does have a lot of great deals around then.
  14. Aditya says:
    Hosting service is the soul of every site on which everything works.If not chosen correctly it can harm your traffic so opting for the best since the start according to the budget and service they provide should be taken seriously.For me HostGator is rocking at the moment.
    • Kristi Hines says:
      Exactly Aditya! If you have bad hosting, it's going to show in your load time and down time which is terrible for users and sometimes even search.
      • Aditya says:
        Yes Kristi,if the load time is huge then the bounce rate will also increase which nobody wants.Although it doesn't have any effect on the rankings but still....
  15. Lakhyajyoti says:
    Great post. Most of the host companies you have shared in your post are new to me. HostGator is my favorite host among all of them.
    • Kristi Hines says:
      Glad that I introduced you to some new companies Lakhyajyoti! Although if HostGator is working well for you, it's best to stick with them!
  16. Becca says:
    It is very important that you understand in detail as to what are the features that your hosting company provides you with. Thanks for the tips as I was looking for cheap and services of hosting provider.
    • Kristi Hines says:
      You're welcome Becca! I hope you find a good and inexpensive hosting provider for your website. :)
  17. Servando Silva says:
    I'm with Host Gator and Blue Host at the moment. I'm actually fine with both, however, I'm thinking to move on to synthesis later. As long as there's a simple way to install Wordpress and great tech support I'll go for it.
    • Kristi Hines says:
      That's usually how I feel Servando. If the hosting provider doesn't make it easy to install WordPress, then they probably don't host it well either.
  18. Allie says:
    Kristi, As always a thorough job you have done. I got lucky. I went with the advise of one blogger 2 years ago and sign up with BlueHost. I knew they were good but I have wondered if I spent more (just a little) than competitors but get the same service. I am happy to say I am happy with Bluehost. ~Allie
    • Kristi Hines says:
      Hosting isn't a bad thing to splurge on Allie, especially when you consider the lack of stress that some have to go through when they have bad hosts.