Web hosting plans: what's the catch?

In My Humble Opinion
1

Recent developments have forced me back into the wacky and wonderful world of web design. It’s been a while, but I’ve dusted off my mad HTML and SQL skillz, and I’m ready to jump back into the fray. The first step, of course, is to select a domain registry and a hosting package. The former is easy; the latter, however, has me a touch puzzled. I’m looking over various packages, and the prices for a given set of criteria (XGB disk space, YGB transfer, Z email accounts, M domains, N SQL databases) not only don’t conform to any kind of formula, but vary so wildly that I suspect there has to be something I’m missing.

For example, a package from GoDaddy offers 100GB storage, 1000GB transfer, 1000 email accounts, 25 MySQL databases, and unlimited domains (I only need two), for $6.29/mo with a one-year commitment.

Meanwhile, at Domain.com, I can get 20GB storage, 1000GB transfer, 300 email accounts, 15 MySQL databases, and 100 domains (I only need two), for $16.95/mo with a one-year commitment.

There are differences in the fine print, sure. Domain offers SiteBuilder while GoDaddy promises “Free Software!” (don’t care; give me a Windows-based server and an HTML editor and we’re home). Domain also gives you free web analytics (don’t care, that’s what Google software is for), PHP5 (I would friggin’ hope GoDaddy’s package includes PHP of some sort), POP/STMP (again, I would have to image GoDaddy includes this if it offers email accounts), and a few other services I don’t care about. Still, I don’t see this being enough to justify that large a difference in price.

So, what am I missing? All I want is sufficient disk space and data transfer to host a vBulletin board with 50-100 users, along with a few simple HTML pages; two domains, one of which does nothing but redirect to the other; about 100 POP/STMP email accounts; a couple MySQL databases; and a Windows-based server. Shouldn’t be that complicated. Can anyone give me a quick run-down on what else I ought to be looking for? There has to be something that explains the massive differences in pricing for what appear to be similar services. Failing that, anyone got a line on a good hosting package for the sort of thing I described?

As always, any advice is appreciated. Thanks!

2

I doubt you’re missing anything. I had a webhost a few years ago that offered similar stats for around $12/mo, and everything should have gotten cheaper since then. GoDaddy generally is pretty darn cheap, and most of the stuff they’re offering doesn’t really add much to their costs. Most of the capacity won’t actually be used by the average small-time webmaster, so they can afford to offer it. And what’s adding another few hundred email accounts? or domains? A couple bytes added to a database somewhere.

3

I’ve been doing some research in finding some webspace that suits me.
One thing i have noticed it can add alot to price on some webhosting to get unlimited parked domains and add on domains! cPanel aslo seems to add to the price.

I’m going to be purchaing some space from http://www.acmeshells.com/ since they seem really cheap and have been reconmanded by a few people. plus they offer a 10-20% discount on web hosting plans if you pay 6-12months upfront.

4

I think Hostmonster is cheaper than GoDaddy. At 5.95 a month, you get 300 GB of space, 3,000 GB of monthly transfer and 100 MySQL databases and 100 PostgreSQL databases on top of that.

All of these sites share servers and processing though, so perhaps the more expensive ones are dedicated servers?

5

I am still a bit of a neophyte in the web hosting world but I use godaddy and so far I have had nothing but good experiences with them. I am currently driving about 8 domains and so far all is well.

6

You use GoDaddy for domain registration and hosting? Someone told me once that it’s a good idea to use different companies for these two things. Not sure exactly why that was, nor if he was talking out his ass.

I’m also looking into getting a webpage set up. Not sure how much storage and bandwidth i’d need, but i think i’d like to have enough space to store and display a bunch of photos. Apart from that, it would be mainly text.

I’ve always heard good things about GoDaddy, and they’d be one of the first places i check out, but if anyone has other recommendations, i’d love to hear them.

By the way, if you’ve never hosted before, how difficult is it? I mean, i have some pages on my university webspace, but i’ve never had my own domain. Is there anything difficult to learn, or is it all pretty straightforward. Also, i assume i don’t have to use their site building software? I have access to Dreamweaver/Homesite, which i use to code my pages, and i assume that i can just use FTP to upload my pages?

7

After a bit more research, I ended up going with GoDaddy anyway.

To answer your question, it’s not that difficult. If you’ve ever put together an html page (using any software you like; GoDaddy provides a site builder, but I use FrontPage and it works fine) and uploaded it to a subdomain using an FTP client, you’ve got all the skill you need to manage your own hosting account for a simple site.

Domain management is a breeze; simply add the domain to your hosting account and create subdomains as needed. If you need a database, pretty much every package I looked at includes at least one MySQL db. Email accounts are equally simple; just get your POP3/SMTP settings from your hosting service, pop 'em into your email client, and you’re set.

I’ve been out of the web design game for going on seven years now, and I had no trouble hopping back into it. If you’ve had any experience with it at all – or if you’re at all familiar with the structure of the back end of a server – you’ll be just fine.

8

I’ve used Godaddy for hosting for years and I love them. They’re just a really good deal. The support is really great too… call them 24/7 and they are friendly and helpful.