Dreamhost currently hosts over one MILLION domains. They didn't get that way by ignoring customers and hosting on servers that don't work. Click this link to see the top web hosts in the world. Dreamhost is number 13, hosting 1,011,383 domains. Godaddy is number one, hosting over 26 MILLION domains:

http://www.webhosting.info/webhosts/tophosts/global/



Bluehost is number 12 on the list above, just ahead of Dreamhost, so that tells me they are probably providing quality customer service as well. BUT here is what you have to understand about these web sites that claim to "review" web hosts. This is from: http://hosting-reviews-exposed.com





Yes, Hostgators customer service is EXCELLENT. If you remember my earlier posts, Hostgator was the company I ALMOST switched too. The only reason I didn't is because of some legal stuff (Hostgator wouldn't allow me to re-sell hosting to my we design clients). But Hostgator was actually my FIRST choice, even before Dreamhost. And they are number 9 on the top web hosts list, also hosting over a million domains. So I also HIGHLY recommend Dreamhost. You can see why if you read my previous posts. Although I don't like their VPS because they increment processor speed along with bandwidth and hosting space. The only way to "start small" with their VPS plans is too also start out on a SLOW processor. :-(


Well what I said, just to be clear, is that I get no commission for the Godaddy code. As a customer of Dreamhost I am entitled to $97 commission on each person that I refer (this was mentioned in the article "Why Dreamhost sucks, posted by Tom), but I have chosen to give $63 of MY bonus back to the person who signs up for service, that's why my promo code includes $50 off (a $50 value), plus a free domain name (a $13 value). Those discounts come directly out of my commission. This is just to be 100% up front with everyone. Regardless of the commission, I wouldn't recommended Dreamhost if I didn't love them, and I CERTAINLY wouldn't be using them myself!

The very LAST thing I want is for people to think that I am posting here with some sort of agenda. I am trying to help people find the best host for their money. If that is not Dreamhost, than don't use them! Hostgator and GoDaddy are also both EXCELLENT web hosts!

Really? What's that all about? If a client clicks on your rebranded hosting page to sign up for hosting, how does HG know they are a design client of yours?

I charge my clients $25 per month for me to host their web sites. That allows me to offer the initial site design at a lower price since I have residual income coming in from the site. Hostgator won't allow their clients to re-sell web hosting on a shared plan. You have to purchase the re-seller plan and give each client their own hosting account, something I don't need to do because I am managing the site for them. GoDaddy has nothing in their terms of service to prevent you from reselling hosting on a shared account. Dreamhost is also OK with re-selling hosting as long as you refer to it as a "maintenance fee" instead of a "hosting" fee. Just a minor detail.

Also, Hostgator WOULDN'T know I was reselling their hosting. But for my own purposes, I don't want to violate the TOS.

Good to know. Thanks for sharing. I always though you can do host on VPS.

Is that true for all HG VPS accounts? You have to have a reseller account?

I was referring to shared accounts at Hostgator. I don't know if they would have an issue with you reselling their VPS, but again, do you see how the VPS is structured? The $19.95 plan only puts you on a .56 ghz processor! You have to pay THROUGH THE NOSE to get put on a faster processor.

Also, just FYI, if you select CPanel for your VPS at Hostgator it's fully managed, but VZ is not. That means if you select VZ you have to manage the server YOURSELF. Software, security, and patch updates as well as routine maintenance will be YOUR responsibility.

You really need to ask Hostgator if you have questions about their services, though, just in case I misunderstood something here.

Na, just asking. I thought you were talking VPS as I that is what you quoted with DreamHost.

I would stick with a reseller account, anyway. Can't imagine why I would need a VPS and definitely would want a managed server if I went with a VPS. cPanel is fine.

I would never host other sites on my shared hosting. Especially if they have email accounts that go along with the domains.

Good luck.

Why not? As long as you understand what sort of resources your provider has allocated to your shared hosting account. Hostgator allows 400 concurrent connections per hosting account, GoDaddy allows 200 (on their "unlimited" plan) and Dreamhost allows 300. Why in the world would you pay for a separate hosting account for each client? The only reason to do that is if you start bumping up against the limit of your resources, but that's unlikely unless you are hosting more than 10 or 20 sites on one account, or are hosting sites with INSANE amounts of traffic. Of course at that point you start wanting to look into VPS....

I should have said domains that I have contracted and I am responsible for. I don't want to be responsible for how other people use their email accounts.

Chad,

Thanks for the additional comments. I was already aware of the unreliability of most web host reviews from the article at the following link, so I wasn't basing my preference of BlueHost on just one review.

http://whreviews.com/

Also, the following comparison charts from the above author are also worth considering:

http://hostpeek.com/

The one thing you did not address, though, is your thoughts on Dreamhost's VPS vs. BlueHost's built-in resource managment feature. In other words, why pay $24 for a VPS from Dreamhost that enables you to manage your resources when you can get practically the same thing from BlueHost for a lot less money?

Tom

Hey!

Wow those are great comparison sites. I visited the BlueHost VPS page and also chatted with their support. They claim there is no limit to the number of concurrent connections or the amount of traffic they can handle on a shared hosting account. They claim it could take "tens of thousands" of concurrent connections before your site would actually be taken offline with them for using too many resources. Keep in mind, GoDaddy is 200, Dreamhost is 300, and Hostgator is 400.

Their shared model DOES provide resource protection typically only found with VPS, so I see no reason not to host with them. But keep in mind there are OTHER reasons people use VPS. One of them is you get full root access through Dreamhost and fully burstable system resources. Dreamhost also includes a unique IP in the cost of their VPS.

There is just no way you are getting the SAME thing with Bluehost for $6.95/month that Dreamhost is offering for $24/month. There IS a point at which your sites could get so much traffic that BlueHost would kick you off their servers, but with a "real" VPS you only have to turn up the resources. I need VPS because I have MANY sites on the same hosting account. Many of them have videos and a few them will be getting ridiculous traffic. (One of my sites is for a newspaper that advertises it's web site in 50,000 copies per month distributed in ten different cities).

If you're not getting very heavy traffic, and don't have too many sites on the same server, and don't mind having to move all your files if you run out of resources, then Bluehost looks just fine to me. More likely that not, unless you have TONS of sites or are getting ridiculous traffic, Bluehost will be just fine for you.