How do I Choose the Best Linux® Hosting?

Choose the best Linux® hosting by paying close attention to the cost, quality, and reliability of the hosting company. For people looking to save money, cost is an important factor that varies quite a bit with Linux® hosting. If you do not shop around, you can end up paying double, triple, or even more for the cost of a hosting package. Next, judge the quality of the service by how happy the current and past customers are with customer service queries, and how technical difficulties are handled. Perhaps the most important aspect of choosing the best Linux® hosting is the overall reliability of the host; rule out hosting companies that frequently have downtime or are reportedly slower than average.

When attempting to host a website on a budget, sometimes it is best to steer clear of the most popular web hosting companies. More often than not, these hosting companies are more expensive than lesser-known but equally good hosts. Big hosting companies continually get more customers by ranking high on search engines and by word of mouth of their many customers. They can also afford to advertise heavily with web-based ads, real life billboards, and more. Due to all this, they generally do not lose money by having higher prices because smaller companies with better prices are hardly competition.

The quality of a hosting package is also an important aspect to many people. Quality is often judged by the helpfulness of customer service, but some people also consider the extra features that come with the hosting package. Either way, an easy way to judge the quality is to read reviews written by current or former customers. If you have friends or family that have tried the Linux® hosting package you are considering purchasing, ask them how they liked it and, if they are no longer a customer, if they would use the same Linux® hosting again in the future.

Of course, the best Linux® hosting has near-perfect up-time. Downtime happens when the hosting company’s servers are unavailable for some reason, usually due to regular maintenance or an unexpected technical difficulty. Most hosting companies track their up-time, with the best being up about 99% of the time. A high percentage of up-time means that your website will be available at almost all times. When the server goes down, however, your website will be unavailable to potential viewers until the hosting company fixes the problem.