1. Best & Good Website Hosting Providers Matrix (Restored #tablepress-1 Data)
In our hosting research at Websites Made Simple, we divided providers into two tiers: Best Website Hosting (SiteGround, A Small Orange, InMotion, Arvixe, Web Hosting Hub) and Good Website Hosting (Bluehost, HostGator, DreamHost, GreenGeeks, Site5), comparing promotional vs renewal pricing and server features:
| Hosting Metric | SiteGround | InMotion | A Small Orange | Bluehost | HostGator | DreamHost | GreenGeeks |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Monthly Plan | $3.95/mo (+ $14.95 setup) | Annual Only | $5.00/mo | Annual Only | $8.95/mo ($0.01 1st mo) | $10.95/mo | $9.95/mo |
| 1-Year Plan | $3.95/mo ($47.40 total) | $6.99/mo ($83.88 total) | $4.16/mo ($50.00 total) | $4.95/mo ($59.40 total) | $5.56/mo ($66.72 total) | $8.95/mo ($107.40 total) | $4.95/mo ($59.40 total) |
| 2-Year Plan | $3.95/mo ($94.80 total) | $5.99/mo ($143.76 total) | $4.16/mo ($100.00 total) | $4.45/mo ($106.80 total) | $4.86/mo ($116.64 total) | $7.95/mo ($190.80 total) | $4.45/mo ($106.80 total) |
| Renewal Price | $9.95/mo | $7.99/mo | $5.00/mo | $7.99/mo | $6.95/mo | $8.95/mo | $9.95/mo |
| Money-Back Guarantee | 30 Days | 90 Days | 45 Days | 30 Days (Pro-rated) | 45 Days | 97 Days | 30 Days |
| Control Panel | cPanel / Site Tools | cPanel | cPanel | Custom cPanel | Standard cPanel | Custom DreamHost Panel | cPanel |
| SSD Storage Drives | Yes (All Plans) | Yes (All Plans) | Yes (All Plans) | Select Tiers | Standard RAID | Yes (SSD Optional/Included) | Yes (RAID-10 SSD) |
| Daily Backups | Free Daily (30 Copies) | Free Automated Backups | Daily Backups Included | Weekly / Courtesy | Weekly Courtesy | Automated Snapshots | Nightly Backups |
| Cloudflare CDN & Caching | SuperCacher + Free CDN | Max Speed Zones | Cloudflare Ready | Cloudflare 1-Click | Cloudflare Available | Built-in Caching | LiteSpeed + CDN |
Additional providers benchmarked in our historical TablePress #1 dataset: Arvixe ($4.00-$5.00/mo, cPanel, free domain for life), Web Hosting Hub ($5.99-$6.99/mo, 90-day guarantee, cPanel), Site5 (multi-datacenter cPanel hosting), and managed WordPress specialist Page.ly (/the-super-simple-2-minute-wordpress-installer-page-ly/).
2. Bluehost vs HostGator: Which Website Hosting Provider Has It All? (/bluehost-vs-hostgator/)
One of the most frequent questions from our readers (34+ comments) is whether to pick Bluehost or HostGator when starting a first WordPress blog:
- HostGator Strengths: Flexible month-to-month billing options (including the famous
1CENTfirst-month promotional code documented in/hostgator-1-cent-coupon-code/), a generous 45-day money-back guarantee, and an un-modified standard cPanel layout that matches our step-by-step video tutorials. - Bluehost Strengths: Official WordPress.org recommended host since 2005, includes a free first-year domain registration on 12/24/36-month plans, and provides streamlined 1-click WordPress provisioning.
- Why SiteGround Rose to #1: In our later 2015-2018 testing, SiteGround outperformed both Bluehost and HostGator in TTFB server response times, free daily 30-copy backups, SuperCacher dynamic caching, and sub-5-minute live chat technical support.
3. A Brief Introduction To cPanel: Software For Managing Your Website (/a-brief-introduction-to-cpanel-software-for-managing-your-website/)
Published in September 2011, our cPanel primer demystifies the Linux web hosting control panel used by SiteGround, HostGator, Bluehost, and InMotion:
- Mail Section: Create custom domain email addresses (such as
[email protected]), configure webmail (Roundcube/Horde), and set up email forwarders. - Files Section: Use the browser-based File Manager or FTP Accounts to upload theme files, inspect
wp-config.php, or download manual archive backups. - Domains Section: Manage Addon Domains (hosting multiple websites under one Baby/GrowBig account), Subdomains, and DNS Zone Editor records.
- Software / Services Section: Launch 1-click script installers (QuickInstall, Softaculous, Fantastico) to deploy WordPress in under two minutes.
4. Curated Web Creator Toolkit (/resources/)
Our recommended stack for independent publishers: Namecheap (domain registration), SiteGround / HostGator / Bluehost (cPanel web hosting), WordPress.org (CMS), StudioPress Genesis Framework (centric-pro-charcoal theme architecture), Squarespace (all-in-one hosted alternative), and Mozilla Firefox with developer inspection tools.