Cheap Web Hosting for your website?

The old saying that goes like this “You get what you pay” in regards to quality of a products is partially true when it comes to web hosting. However, one main difference is the nature of how web hosting works at the lower end of the scale. Shared web hosting over the years has really reached the bottom end of where prices can go. Large web hosting providers have driven down prices dramatically, but do require a pre-payment of 12 months or more in return. New web hosting providers trying to compete with these companies have to go through a cut throat process to gain customers. The main difference I see here is that these newer web hosts do not require a pre-payment of 12 months or more – they offer lower prices on a month by month basis.

That’s where things get out of whack and that’s where cheap web hosting can put your website at risk. While the larger web hosts have enough cash flow to work things out, smaller web hosting providers do not. When things do not work out as they hope, they have to eventually shutdown business and take everything down with them. That is the situation you want to avoid. Cheap web hosting is a good deal if you do your homework upfront. You can save a lot of money by going with a cheap web host, but you have to pick a web host that is established and has a proven track record.

If you are able and willing to pre-pay going with a provider like JustHost or IX Web Hosting you easily cut your web hosting cost in half. You can bring your web hosting fees down to less than $4.00 per month without losing out on features, bandwidth, disk space, or support. However, you need to determine if your website is a good fit for one of those web hosts. Most personal or small business websites fit that category well. Websites of power users or larger business websites do not fit well.

The following list shows my current favorites for cheap web hosting (in no particular order).

Host Gator

Host Monster

IX Web Hosting