Review of Some Low Cost Web Hosting Services

I have reviewed some web hosting services that offer good quality hosting at reasonable price.  These are not the best hosting services  and they are suitable only for starters.

<b><u>GoDaddy web hosting:</u></b>
GoDaddy is basically a domain registration company, but they also  provide web hosting services. 

<u><b>Features:</b></u>
With a choice of Linux and Windows based hosting, they provide fairly large disk space and monthly bandwidth and their feature list is more than enough for starters.  Their <b>economy</b> plan, which is the base plan, offers 10GB of storage and 300GB of transfer per month.  You can also get a domain name for $2 with this plan. 

<u><b>Prices:</b></u>
<b>Economy</b> plan starts at $5 per month and the unlimited plan costs $15 per month.  Considering the features offered, the economy plan is quite cheap as compared to other hosting services.
One good thing more about GoDaddy is that you can pay bi monthly, avoiding any long term contract in case you change your mind later.  

<u><b>Support:</b></u>
There are mixed opinions about GoDaddy's support.  Most of the people say they don't get a response within a day.  While for some, their support has been good.  This is a negative point for starters, as anyone hosting a website for the first time will definately need support at some point.

<u><b>Promo/coupon codes:</b></u>
promo10 - 10% discount on your entire order.
promo530 - $5 discount on any order of $30 or more.
promo749 - $3 discount on .com domain registrations.

<u><b>Website:</b></u>
GoDaddy.com

<b><u>Namecheap Web Hosting:</u></b>
Namecheap is also a domain registration company.  It started web hosting business about a year ago and there have been a lot of positive reviews about it. 

<u><b>Features:</b></u>
Their <b>basic</b> plan offers 5GB disk space and 250GB bandwidth.  Their language support options are suitable only for PHP based websites.
But that can still support open source CMS and blogging systems.

<u><b>Prices:</b></u>
At $40 per year, the Basic plan is available only with annual or bi-annual contract, which is bad.  You don't want to get stuck eith them for a year in case find them not up to your mark.
However, you can get a their <b>pro</b> plan for $7 per month with lots of more features.  They also give 14 days money back guarantee for all their plans.
If you are registering a domain name with them, you will get free privacy protection for first year.

<u><b>Support:</b></u>
Namecheap is reputed for good quality support.  Most people have said they received a quick response from their support.  This is extremely helpful for starters.

<u><b>Promo/coupon codes:</b></u>
SAVE7993 - 10% discount on new domain name registrations.

<u><b>Website:</b></u>
Namecheap.com


<b><u>A Small Orange web hosting:</u></b>
A Small Orange is a small and little known company but they have a lot of positive reviews.  Their shared hosting plans are best suited for starters.
<u><b>Features:</b></u>
The basic plan called <b>Tiny</b> offers <b>75MB space</b> and <b>1GB bandwidth </b> per month with a yearly payment.  The next one called <b>Small</b> is also suitable for starters, which offers <b>400MB disk space</b> and <b>10GB bandwidth</b> per month.
One good feature of A Small Orange is that they have a policy of "no artificial limits", which according to them is placing no restriction on services that do not cost them, like adding domains, Emails etc.  They claim, other hosting service providers place restrictions on these services to charge extra when you need them. 
As a result, they offer unlimited databases, sub-domains, add-on domains, FTP accounts and email forwaders etc.
A Small Orange places restrictions on services that cost them, like disk space, bandwidth, memory size etc. 

<u><b>Prices:</b></u>
The <b>Tiny</b> plan is available for $25 per year.  The "Small" plan is available for monthly price of $5, still very cheap.
A Small Orange is not a domain registrar but they register domains through <b>eNom.com</b> for $10 with free privacy protection, a service for which most domain registrars charge extra fees.

<u><b>Support:</b></u>
Fast and friendly support is something A Small Orange is reputed for.
Although their quality of support has gone down due to increase in accounts, but still they are better than most of other web hosting services. 

<u><b>Promo/coupon codes:</b></u>
15percentdiscount - Get 15% discount on every purchase.
5bucksdiscount -  Get $5 discount on every purchase.

<u><b>Website:</b></u>
<a onClick="javascript:pageTracker._trackPageview('/outgoing/article_exit_link');" href="http://refer.asmallorange.com/19071" target="_blank">asmallorange.com</a> 

<b><u>1and1 web hosting:</u></b>
1and1 is a reseller hosting company and they have been quite problematic for some people.  If you so some search about them, you will find that most of the reviews about them are bad.
But being a 12 year old company, they are quite well known too.

<u><b>Features:</b></u>
Looking at their features and knowing the fact that they have a large customer base too, there is little doubt that they are over-sellers.
The basic plan called <b>1and1 Beginner</b> offers <b>10 GB storage</b> and <b>300GB transfer per month</b>.
They also provide free private registration.  There are a host of features that are not available for the basic plan, they are only available for higher plans.

<u><b>Prices:</b></u>
The basic plan is available with a 6 months contract only at the rate of $4 per month.  Its not good to have a 6 month contract with a company that has bad reputation.
They register domain for a reasonable amount of $7.  If you buy a domain name with a hosting plan, you will get free private registration.

<u><b>Support:</b></u>
Their reputation for support is worst as it can be.  But if you are you can tackle minor hosting problems by yourself, then their support should not be a big concern for.  You are looking for a cheap solution after all.

<u><b>Promo/coupon codes:</b></u>
<i>Not Available</i>

<u><b>Website:</b></u>
1and1.com