Tag Archive for: Shared hosting

Bluehost Hosting Review 2024

Bluehost is a notable hosting company. It was established in the year 2003, and is currently operating from Utah. The owners of Bluehost are those who own the Endurance International Group. The same group is behind the names such as HostGator and Domain.com etc.

When it comes to Bluehost, the packages start with their ‘basic’ plan. A basic plan usually comprises five email accounts and merely offers 100MB of storage. In addition, a user gets 50GB of website space, free Website Builder and 1-click installation setup for WordPress among other things.

With a ‘plus’ plan, offerings multiply and are in abundance compared to basic such as unlimited websites, subdomains and storage space etc. But there’s more. There is a ‘premium’ offering as well –courtesy of Bluehost. Consider it as plus plan with backup functionality and domain privacy.

Let us now delve into how you can get started with Bluehost hosting and learn about its features that has made it a renowned name in the website hosting industry.

Gearing up for Bluehost account

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You can begin by entering your desired domain that you would like to register for. In the case, where you already own a domain name, simply enter it when asked. You also have the option to transfer a particular domain to Bluehost, if you’d prefer although, that is not a requirement. You can always update the name at a later date.

What follows is an account creation page, where you will be required to enter your personal details including name, email address and contact number. Upon scrolling down a little you will be provided with the option to select the desired plan and this is the part where you are able to scan for pricing and decide the plan which suits you the best.

No matter which plan you opt for, remember Bluehost accepts payments for 36 months in advance. So there’s that. Next, check to see which payment method is more appropriate to you. By default, ‘Pay by credit card’ is selected. Under ‘More payment options’, you can select the desired payment method such as PayPal.

The best part, however, is that you can choose, whether you want a particular plan to be renewed automatically. Choose ‘do not renew’ and by the end of the term, you can either select a new plan or cancel – it’s all up to you. In order to cancel, a user is required to call on the phone number +1 855 984 4546 to schedule the account for deletion or request termination.

Putting it to practice

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Now that the account is set up, the following step is to move towards creating the website. You will be immediately taken to the screen where you can set a new password and access the customer management panel.

Welcome email fills you in with all forms of relevant information such as mail server info, FTP logins as well as a temporary URL is assigned to you. You can bask in the temporary URL until you get a domain and DNS for yourself, up and running (if you don’t have it in place, already).

That way a user is able to access his files, use Bluehost control panel for a wide array of website management functions such as management of FTP, email and so on.  Where a site is already live, it will naturally save user the time plus, you don’t have to manually look up for control panel in Bluehost. Simply utilize the FTP for uploading files whenever you need to.

Ever heard of Weebly? Yes, Weebly – a free website builder. Bluehost has a similar Website Builder in its arsenal. Although, it’s pretty basic but you can employ the WYSIWYG browser-based editor to develop a website that can contain up to six pages and that’s saying something! More functionality is expected in future.

Furthermore, Bluehost bring its users a Mojo Marketplace. What’s that now, you ask? It is a power system that asks for minimal details and in turn, lets you install your desired app without dragging it out in the form of lengthy steps. You also get automated WordPress installation with a Bluehost subscription.

An entire dedicated cPanel area is available for users, especially the experienced ones. If it’s AWStats or Cron Job or PHP Config – you’ll find everything here. Not the perfect website hosting service but Bluehost has proven itself as among the leading hosting provider that is both power-packed and simple to navigate.

How well it fares when it comes to performance?

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Performance wise, Bluehost provides effortless integration of help as well as of hosting control panel. When clicking Support button, it opens up a new panel with a search bar embedded therein rather than opening a new page altogether which can become annoying for people.

In the search bar above, enter your query and you will be provided with the list of guides/articles which you can then refer to for troubleshooting any issues you might run into. Though, each article opens up in a new tab.

When compared with competitors in the market, Bluehost’s support centre is well organized and is aimed at speedy resolution of the problems. Search can display articles from between 5 to 50 per page, giving you the option to sort by relevance or most viewed/helpful allowing you to narrow down results.

Resort to live chat if there isn’t anything on the topic that you are searching for which is unlikely because even a vague search such as ‘PHP’ will dish out some very useful articles at your disposal. Where live chat is not available, telephone (as previously stated) is the best way to get in touch with their team.

Bitcatcha and related performance benchmarks have resulted in excellent speeds specifically when connected via the US. Ping timings from other regions can be a bit slow but don’t hold that against Bluehost.

Final word

With average performance, handy features, excellent support and no BS site management tools – Bluehost is a winner. Can be a pricey option for those on a budget, but with company’s 30-day money back guarantee and resourceful online help, it is not at all a bad bargain.

GoDaddy Hosting Review 2024

GoDaddy doesn’t need introduction as it is easily the hosting platform giant. The biggest in the US and boasts more than 63 million domains. The user base has grown exponentially and presently stands at 14 million. However, just because it has huge numbers that does not automatically makes it a worthy contender for you.

Here’s why, in this review we will try to establish whether or not GoDaddy is best for business. First and foremost, let’s find out about some of its plans.

Plans and offerings

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GoDaddy has a couple of plans up its sleeves. Obviously there is a basic one and other high end plans. Its Economy plan is available on either a three-month basis or for an annual (paid monthly) basis.

Economy plan naturally has limited resources such as support for one website, 100 GB storage and no SSL certificate etc. On the other hand, GoDaddy also offers a Deluxe plan. The plan supports unlimited number of websites, MySQL databases and 25 x 1 GB of storage space which is 10 times that of Economy.

Furthermore and for more premium users, GoDaddy has an Ultimate plan. It is the ultimate offering by GoDaddy as the name implies. As a user, you get double CPU and RAM allocation, DNS coupled with DNSSEC security and a 1-year SSL certificate.

Linux users are especially in luck because those who are well-versed can take advantage of GoDaddy’s cPanel as they are allowed low-level server access, raw access logs plus, year-long trial of Office 365 Outlook with mail and shared online calendar support.

Next, we’ll look into setting things up with GoDaddy.

Setting up an account

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You can set up your GoDaddy account by selecting from a variety of payment terms: these ranges from 1-month, 3-month to 12, 24 and 36 months. Choose whichever is convenient for you.

At the time of signing up, you are provided with some starter addons.

What are they?

These include backup and restore, routine malware scanning or any free trial products which come pre-selected when registering for the service. You always have the option to unselect the boxes for the products you don’t need.

Once the payment is made, the rest of the steps are as easy as 1-2-3. You will first be asked to enter a domain name for your site. After that, you are required to choose the data center (location) where you want your site to be hosted. Lastly, you will be asked to create a cPanel login.

For any newbie, it might be a lot to digest but it’s best to continue with any selection for the time being and proceed towards completing the process. Elements such as choosing of data center or deciding on a domain name (which if not already) can be changed later as well.

It is now time to create that website of yours. So read on.

Establishing a web presence

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When it comes to creating a website with GoDaddy, its Linux based hosting presents you with a cPanel frontend to manage your site. Although, this can be a cumbersome exercise especially for novice users but with time and effort, you can grasp it.

For those of you thinking, “who has the time to learn how to navigate a cPanel?” Well, learning is never wasted. Familiarizing yourself with cPanel can help you traverse many other hosting providers, should a need arises in future as it is used by most.

With a basic GoDaddy plan, you do not get a Website Builder but what you do get is preview sites. Preview sites let you quickly create a professional looking website, in no time. So for whatever the basic plan’s worth, it is enough to get a beginner by.

Moreover, the cPanel and GoDaddy’s Installatron can be used to set up a blog or install CMS (content management system) in place. It could also be used for developing any other web application.

When hosting a WordPress site (given it’s the most widespread platform) with GoDaddy, you will see options such as on auto-update policies and blog admin. But if it proves to be too overwhelming, simply hit install and as stated previously, you can deal with the settings later on.

Hosting provider performance

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GoDaddy has three tier customer support; a knowledgebase with articles including walkthroughs and troubleshooting guides. Secondly, a customer forum or can be referred to as GoDaddy community where other users talk about what’s latest and put forth their concerns. Lastly, a 24/7 contact support number is available for any GoDaddy related queries.

So the provider has its users well covered, from all ends. If you delve into the knowledgebase a little, you will notice a limited number of FAQs. But do not be turn off by this since when you actually search about a particular topic, a list of technical articles will show up in your results. If you know what and where to look for in those articles, knowledgebase is for you.

Customer forum does not get many questions answered, perhaps because much of it is handled at the first tier level support. On an average, some 25 people may come looking for answers or answer questions posted therein. The downside is if you are actually waiting on an answer, it might take several days before a solution is proposed or the matter is resolved.

Contacting the team on their provided phone number can be a bit of hassle. Not only the navigation is confusing but you will be asked to enter customer ID, select the service you are calling for, phone PIN and so on so forth. This inadvertently increases wait times and can be a challenge for people low on patience.

In terms of server performance, GoDaddy fares positively on Bitcatcha Speed Checker and WebPageTest is reported to be around 0.4 seconds and that’s just for the ‘first byte’. The results are indeed good and considering these are for its basic hosting account – is not short of a feat!

Final word

(And) that’s all she wrote.

Amidst wide array of product offerings, optimal uptime and above average performance, GoDaddy has cemented itself as a leader in the hosting industry. It may be that you have to spend premium for addons such as Website Builder and extra features (Managed WordPress hosting) but in the end, it’s worth it.

Furthermore, a 30-day refund option is at your disposal. Therefore, you don’t have a lot to lose if things don’t turn out for you the way you had hoped. However, there’s a catch. Conditions vary. If you happen to be subscribed to a plan which is of less than a year, the grace period allowed is only 48 hours.

Whether or not it’s best for your business, we leave it up to you.

Best Shared Hosting Providers of 2023

What is Shared Hosting?

Shared hosting is web hosting where the service provider serves pages for multiple websites in which each website has its own Internet domain name from a single web server. Most of the web hosting companies provide shared hosting these days. Even though shared hosting is a pocket friendly approach for business when they need a web presence initially, but as the traffic increases beyond a certain amount, they then need to switch to dedicated hosting.

How does shared hosting work?

Shared hosting has multiple websites that are stored in one single server sharing the common resources. The hosting charges vary depending on your plan where ordinary features will cost relatively lesser than plans with distinct features.

Types of Shared Hosting and which one to choose?

There are two main types of Shared Hosting that are based on the server’s operating systems: Linux Shared Hosting and Windows Shared Hosting. As the names suggest, Linux shared hosting servers have Linux based operating system (such as Ubuntu, Cloud Linux, etc) and Windows shared hosting servers have Windows as their operating system.

As mentioned above, the user must pick the right web hosting platform depending on comparasion and what programming language they are using, which script will work with which server, and what platform was used to develop your website/application. For instance, if your website/application was developed using an open source or a different coding language, then Linux will be a good choice. However, if you developed your website/application using .NET framework or any other Windows-based too, then Windows hosting is a better choice.

Best Shared Hosting Servers Available Today

Score Features
Best Shared Hosting Providers of 2023 11

Starts From $2.95

95
FREE Domain Registration FREE SSL Certificate 24/7 Support WP CLI cPanel & SSH Access
Best Shared Hosting Providers of 2023 12

Starts From $4.99

97
FREE Website Transfers & Migrations 24/7 Expert Support Corero based Multi-Layer Defense
Best Shared Hosting Providers of 2023 13

Starts From $3.92

92
24/7/365 Guru Crew Free Migrations Managed SSL Certificates Daily Backups
Best Shared Hosting Providers of 2023 14

Starts From $119

90
3-5 Dedicated IPv4 IPs DDOS Protection 24/7/365 Live Support
Best Shared Hosting Providers of 2023 15

Starts From $8.99

89
FREE Domain Registration One-click migration 24/7 Support Daily backups with 1-click restore
Best Shared Hosting Providers of 2023 16

Starts From $27.45

85
Fully Managed Dedicated IP and Resources Automated Backups 24/7 Support
Best Shared Hosting Providers of 2023 17

Starts From $119.99

83
FREE Domain Registration FREE drag and drop site builder 24/7 network monitoring 24/7 phone and chat support
Best Shared Hosting Providers of 2023 18

Starts From $3.95

81
Free SSL Certificates Daily Backups Staging Tool Free CDN
Best Shared Hosting Providers of 2023 19

Starts From $180

78
Free migration Free Website Builder 24/7 Support DDOS Protection GUI Based Control Panel
Best Shared Hosting Providers of 2023 20

Starts From $3.95

77
Free setup & Domain name WordPress ready hosting Free Website Migration 24/7 Support Free SSL Certificate
Best Shared Hosting Providers of 2023 21

Starts From $2.95

74
Free setup & Domain name WordPress ready hosting Free Website Migration 24/7 Support Drag n' Drop Builder

1. Bluehost

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BlueHost is a cloud-based web hosting service that is popular today for its flexible pricing plans. They offer plans for shared hosting, virtual private servers, and reseller hosting along with domain registration. If you are looking for web hosting plans that are generous in terms of bandwidth with a lighter price tag, then BlueHost is your option to go for. BlueHost web hosting offers four different plans for Shared Web Hosting where all plans have unmetered bandwidth: The Basic Plan for $2.95/monthly (this includes 50GB SSD storage, free SSL, standard performance, one included domain, five parked domains, and 25 subdomains with five email accounts), The Plus Plan for $5.95/monthly (this includes unlimited websites, unmetered SSD storage, free SSL, standard performance, one included domain, along with unlimited sub domains, unlimited parked domains, and unlimited email accounts), The Choice Plan for $5.95/monthly (this includes unlimited websites, unmetered SSD storage, free SSL, standard performance, one included domain, unlimited parked domains, unlimited sub domains, and unlimited email accounts), and lastly The Go Pro Plan for $13.95/monthly that offers everything from the Choice Plus plan along with higher performance, dedicated IP, SSL certification, domain privacy, and code guard basic.

 

2. Inmotion Hosting

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Inmotion Web Hosting is one of the largest independent web hosting companies today. They offer the best web hosting services and plans that are affordable and cater to almost everyone, especially small businesses. Shared Hosting is good for static websites that are database-driven and require content management systems along with customized applications. Their highest selling Shared Hosting Plan is Power that retails for $8.49/monthly and is recommended for small businesses, followed by Pro that retails at $14.71/monthly which is ideal for developers and growing businesses. Lastly, Launch that retails at $6.39/monthly and is their basic shared hosting plan that caters to all skill levels.

3. A2 Hosting

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A2 Hosting is a web hosting service provider that provides solutions “to developers” that are made “by developers”. They offer a wide array of services among which there are also shared hosting, cloud hosting, VPS hosting, dedicated hosting, and reseller hosting. A2 Hosting is known to offer uptime of 99.9% along with privately owned servers that can be accessed by their own technical team only. A2 Hosting provides three types of Shared Web Hosting Plans: Lite that is priced at $3.92 with unlimited storage, unlimited bandwidth, one domain, and 25 email accounts. Swift that is priced at $4.90 with unlimited storage, unlimited bandwidth, unlimited domains, as well as unlimited number of email accounts. And lastly, Turbo that is priced at $9.31 with all the features being offered in the Swift Plan along with A2 Site Accelerator and a Turbo feature that is 20 times faster than usual.

4. Hostgator

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Hostgator is one of the biggest web hosting that is an ideal option for those who are just starting out. However, if you are someone who is truly serious about their website and requires the proper plan, there are other options available. For a starter, HostGator’s Shared Hosting has quite noble pro’s such as a generous 45 days long money back guarantee, an average uptime of 99.98% (because what good is a website when its unstable, inconsistent, and not responding on time?), enhanced security with protection against DDoS attacks, and most importantly easy to use interface that’s perfect for beginners. HostGator’s highly recommended is the Business Plan that retails at $5.95/monthly (provides unlimited domains, unmetered bandwidth, free SSL Certification, free upgrades to positive SSL, free dedicated IP, and free SEO tools), followed by Baby Plan that retails at $3.95/monthly (provides unlimited domains, unmetered bandwidth and free SSL certification only), and lastly Hatchling Plan that retails at $2.75/monthly (provides single domain, unmetered bandwidth, and free SSL certification only).

5. Godaddy

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Godaddy is a world leading domain registrar that offers many coupons and discounts for their customers. So if you are looking to buy hosting server or domains at a cheaper price, Godaddy is your choice. How Godaddy works is that once you purchase a web hosting plan, Godaddy is secure web hosting that stores your site on one of their servers and assigns its unique DNS. The DNS the serves as the address that allows people from around the world to find your website and view it. So when you buy a hosting plan from Godaddy, you are basically buying a space of one of their servers. Godaddy offers four plans to its customers: Economy Plan starting at $7.99/monthly that is recommended for newbie websites that require the basic resources for the kick start (Economy offers one website, 100BG of storage, unmetered bandwidth, and free business email for the first year along with free domain with the purchase of the annual plan), Deluxe Plan starting at $10.99/monthly that is recommended for those that require more space and flexibility for multiple websites (Deluxe offers all of the features from Economy along with unlimited websites, unlimited storage and unlimited subdomains), Ultimate Plan starting at $16.99/monthly that is recommended for complex websites with heavy traffic (Ultimate offers all the features of Deluxe along with two times faster processing power and memory, free SSL certification for an year, free premium DNS, and unlimited databases), and lastly Maximum Plan starting at $24.99/monthly that is recommended for complex websites that have high resolution pictures and videos (Maximum offers all the features of Ultimate along with twice the power and memory, twice the maximum site traffic, and free SSL certification for the full term).

6. Hostinger

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Hostinger is a web hosting service provider that caters to web developers in specific and aims at making their web developing process easier and smoother. Hostinger provides shared hosting and scalable virtual private servers that is highly optimized for WordPress along with drag-and-drop website builder. Hostinger is your choice if you are looking for good value of money, high quality site management system that is similar to cPanel, does not have limitations to site building, and give others secure access to your website. Hostinger has three types of Shared Web Hosting Plans: Single Web Hosting that is priced at $0.80/monthly with 10GB Storage, 100GB bandwidth, one domain, one email account and one time the processing power and memory, Premium Web Hosting that is priced at $2.96/monthly with unlimited storage, unlimited bandwidth, unlimited domains, unlimited email accounts and two times the processing power and memory along with weekly backups, and Business Web Hosting that is priced at $7.95/monthly with all the features form Premium Plan along with free SSL certification and four times processing power and memory along with daily backups.

7. Ipage

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iPage is a web hosting service provider that has a unique “one size fits all” shared hosting plan. iPage has an uptime of 99.94% along with user friendly interface. Unlike other websites that use cPanel control Panel, iPage uses vDeck control panel. vDeck is for professional online business owners that require an expandable powerhouse control panel whereas cPanel is for small to medium sized business owners that have little technical skills and would be better off with simpler user interface. As mentioned earlier, their “one size fits all” shared hosting plan starts at the basic cost of $1.99/monthly. How it works is that you sign up for an iPage account where you choose your new domain name. Next, you choose the length of your term (it is recommended to opt for three years plan to get the absolute best worth of your price). Lastly, iPage provides a variety of add-ons such as domain privacy, website security, site backup, site restore, etc, that increase the price of your plan depending on your needs. Some of these add-ons are worth keeping, for instance domain privacy that costs $10/monthly or site backup that costs $1/monthly. In short, iPage is basically a make-your-own-meal where the toppings you choose in the end is what makes that meal “fit you”.

8. SiteGround

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SiteGround is a web hosting service provider that has all the solutions needed for WordPress projects that may be new or established. In comparison to other web hosts, SiteGround is a better option for WordPress projects along with cheaper management system and way more features. SiteGround offers three different plans for its customers: Startup Plan priced at $3.95/monthly – this gives you all the essential hosting features that you will need to get started with a new website or to amp up an existing average-size blog/personal/business website as long as its under 10,000 unique visits/month regularly. Grow Big Plan priced at $5.95/monthly – this is for customers who require more resources and premium features in addition to the essential features that are being provided in Startup. Grow Big will accommodate to those with either a single more heavily trafficked website or multiple average-size websites. Its good for basically those who want to host all their sites in one account. Lastly, GoGeek Plan priced at $11.95/monthly – this is perfect for customers with heavily visited or resource intensive websites. GoGeek customers are hosted on server that is shared by fewer users.

9. Interserver

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InterServer is another best web hosting for WordPress. It has affordable plans along with a wide choice of features and functionalities. InterServer helps give its users the ability to easily add and manage virtual servers from the solution’s control panel that can be scaled with the use of a web-based control panel. InterServer is the only web host that offers an uptime of 100%. InterServer provides one package only for Shared Web Hosting – Standard Web Hosting Plan that is priced at $5.00/monthly which provides unlimited SSD storage, more than 450 Cloud Apps, SitePad Website Builder, unlimited email accounts, Intershield Protection, and 30 days money back guarantee. Along in this plan, they also include free Inter-Insurance that will investigate, restore, and prevent issues from occurring in the migration process of the account.

10. Hostpapa

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HostPapa is an independent web hosting and domain name registration provider that offers a spectrum of services form shared hosting to VPS servers with their prime focus on small business owners rather tan bloggers or online- only operators. HostPapa offers three plans for its customers to choose from where all three plans are inclusive of their essential features: Starter Plan that is ideal for a basic blogger or website and priced at $3.95/monthly. It includes two websites, free domain registration, 100GB of disk space and unlimited bandwidth. Next comes the Business Plan that is ideal for small business owners and priced at $5.95/monthly. It includes unlimited websites, free domain registration, unlimited disk space, unlimited bandwidth, and advanced features (unlimited add-on domains, unlimited email accounts, unlimited MYSQL databases, and two times more CPU and MYSQL resources). Lastly, there is the Business Pro Plan that is priced at $12.95/monthly while being deal for small businesses that want enhanced performance, increased security and speed. It includes all the features of Business Plan along with Performance Enhancement Feature (Rocket Fast Servers, 300% performance boost, fewer accounts per server, website builder with unlimited pages, and four times more CPU and MYSQL resources) and Security Enhancement Feature (Premium Wildcard SSL, Automated Website Backup, Protection Power Pro, and Domain Privacy).

11. GreenGeeks

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GreenGeeks is a web hosting provider that sets itself apart from the other web hosting providers by focusing on being as environmentally friendly as possible. They cater to everyone from beginners to large companies while keeping the plans affordable and inclusive of plenty useful features. GreenGeeks offer three plans to customers: Ecosite Starter for small websites or blogs that are just getting started while being priced at $2.95/monthly. The plan includes unlimited SSD Disk Space, unlimited bandwidth, unlimited email accounts, unlimited hosted domains, one free domain, site builder, website transfer, and many more features. Second plan is Ecosite Pro for growing websites that require more speed and resources while being priced at $6.95/monthly. It includes all the features from the starter plan along with WordPress optimized servers for faster loading, automatic updates for security, security scanning plus brute force and DDoS protection and built-in PHP caching along with CloudFlare CDN for faster loading. The third plan is Ecosite Premium for small businesses that have very busy websites or online stores with higher traffic while being priced at $16.95/monthly. Since it is more for technical users and developers, it includes all the features from premium plan along with advanced features such as pre-installed Git, PHP version selection, and WP-CLI for direct command line access.

CONCLUSION:

There is no such thing as the “best” web hosting provider or the “perfect” web hosting provider. Each web hosting provider mentioned above has different features to offer at different prices. For instance, if you are someone who cares about environment while wanting the best performance, GreenGeeks is a good option. However, if you are someone who needs shared web hosting that works well with WordPress, then InterServer or HostPapa are good options. At the end, you decide based on three questions: How many domain names do you want to point to your hosting account? How many website software you want to run of your hosting server with determine your database need? And lastly, what is the disk space you need that depends on how many files (in terms of images, text, PDF, etc.) would you want on your server. When you break your need into these categories, at least you will be able to compare grapes to grapes and get the best out of your price.