Web host recommendation

[Sebastian H]

Since I got to know people here as helpful and honest, I thought I might ask here if anyone has a recommendation for a good web host. Someone recommended Godaddy.com, but a couple of things tipped me off that they're not as honest as I'd wish a person who I do business with to be. Their 50 K long license agreement, in a tiny corner, is a case in point. I rather spend my time trying to understand code than legalese. And it's not something to be taken lightly; "agreements" like the following, signed by gullible consumers, provide job security to thousands of lawyers:

[We] will not be liable for any loss you incur due to any unauthorized use of your Account. You, however, may be liable for any loss [we] or others incur caused by your Account, whether caused by you, or by an authorized person, or by an unauthorized person.
(BTW, the word "any" occurs 156 times in that agreement.)

So, is there any honest web host out there?

[Bob Phillips]

Wow, that is some clause!

I use OrcsWeb, http://www.orcsweb.com, and I am very happy with them.

[Sebastian H]

Thank you. It seems their cheapest plan is $69/month? I realize that I should have made it clear that I'm only looking for something very basic. My goal is helping a small African nonprofit with their website. So we're talking about a dozen or two pages, a dozen or so e-mail addresses, and no overwhelming traffic. My original plan was to go ahead setting up a nice website for them under a different domain name, and when they like what I put there, change that to a redirect. But just now I realized that I can just use a trial website for that, such as Dreamhost offers. Dreamhost, btw, also offers free hosting to US nonprofits, which gives me some hope that someone might offer free or rebated hosting to nonprofits in Africa.

[Bob Phillips]

Don't MS offer free web hosting within all of that Live Essentials nonsense?

You could also approach one of the web hosting companies and ask if they would like to support your efforts in return for emblazoning their name.

[Sebastian H]

Thank you, I'll check this out!

[tpoynton]

I've heard good things about dreamhost. All shared hosts have their share of problems, but to your honesty point (which I'll read as transparency) - dreamhoststatus.com is the main reason I just opened an account there.

[ajn946946]

Although maybe not what you are looking for, I use Linode VPS to run several sites. Highly recommended.

[martincrow]

I will suggest hostmonster, they are good in the prices and regulations.

[Smitty]

My wife uses 1&1 (www.1and1.com (http://www.1and1.com)) for all of the sites she manages (12+), and she loves thier customer service. I think my blog runs about $4/month to host, and domain name registration is $5/yr. If you talk to them I'm sure they'll have some kind of non-profit rate.

[monarchd]

I've been using Hosting Matters (hostmatters.com) since 2001 for all my client sites. Respond very quickly to support tickets, keeps things patched and updated, etc for quite reasonable prices.

[jqdx27]

In order for a web host to even be considered, it must meet these minimum requirements that are typically required by most people looking for a web host:

PHP/MySQL Support (both PHP4 and PHP5 support)
Reliable (99.9% uptime guarantee)
Reputable (at least 2 years old and have over 10,000 existing clients)
Affordable (at most $10/month)
Linux/UNIX hosting server
At least 30-day money back guarantee
FTP and SSH access (even if you don’t use it often, it’s very handy to have available)
Easy to use control panel
Ability to hosted multiple domains on 1 account (at least 10, preferably unlimited)
At least 1TB of bandwidth per month to ensure you never pay surprise fees
At least 30GB of disk storage
Detailed statistics
Fast support (either phone or e-mail)
Free setup and accepts Paypal

[jorgea]

I use ixwebhosting.com for 4 sites.

[Meghan88]

I would recommend BlueHost and HostMonster.
The prices are quite reasonable and the quality of service is at its best.

[Ajaman]

50 webs is a good one