AccuWeb Hosting

The Web hosting well is a deep one, with many services vying for your dollar. There are plenty of excellent choices, and AccuWeb Hosting is among them with robust shared, virtual-private-server, dedicated, and WordPress hosting plans that offer plenty of flexibility. Though AccuWeb Hosting doesn't claim top rank in any one hosting sub-category and does suffer from a few minor complaints, it's still an excellent all-around service. In the end, DreamHost and HostGator remain our top picks overall.

Shared Web HostingAccuWeb Hosting is a Web host with incredibly varied shared plans. The company's lower-end, Linux-based solid-state servers start at $3.36 per month for unlimited domains, 10GB of storage, 150 email accounts, and 60GB of data transfers, while the top-tier servers start at $13.56 per month for 50GB of storage, 1,000 email accounts, and 200GB of monthly data transfers.

AccuWeb Hosting also offers Linux Cloud Hosting (starting at $5.06 per month), Windows Cloud Hosting (starting at $6.35 per month), and Windows Classic Hosting (starting at $4.21 per month). This adds up to lots of options for hosting your business or personal site. Also, you shouldn't underestimate the importance of Windows-based servers; they're vital if you want to run .ASP scripts, and some other hosts don't offer them.

These are quality shared hosting plans, but HostGator, the category's Editors' Choice, tops them all. The Web host's shared packages all boast unlimited storage, bandwidth, and email addresses—and unlimited domains if you sign up for either the Baby ($7.96 per month) or Business ($11.96 per month) plans. Likewise, DreamHost's shared packages have unlimited storage, domains, email, and monthly data transfers.

VPS Web HostingAccuWeb Hosting has seven wallet-friendly Linux- and Windows-based VPS plans for webmasters to consider, ranging from Linux Classic (from $7.99 per month) to Windows VPS Reseller (starting at $115 per month). If you need more juice, AccuWeb has a VPS package that tops out at 30GB of RAM, 1,000GB of storage, and 6,000GB of monthly data transfers, with its $315-per-month SkyScraper VPS Reseller plan. Note: You can create 250 email accounts with a Windows VPS plan; you can create unlimited email accounts with a Linux VPS plan.

The number of AccuWeb Hosting packages isn't very different from Hostwinds' offerings. Still, Hostwinds retains its position as the Editors' Choice for VPS hosting. It offers five options ranging from Budget (starting at $7.50 per month) to SSD Windows (starting at $13.50 per month). The company includes unlimited monthly data transfers and unlimited email with every VPS plan, and has a high-end $209.50 per month plan that boasts an impressive 35GB of RAM and 170GB of storage.

Dedicated Web HostingAccuWeb Hosting has three tiers of dedicated hosting: SSD (starting at $105 per month); Low Cost (starting at $110); and High RAM (starting at $455 per month). As with the VPS plan, AccuWeb's Windows-based dedicated hosting plan lets you create up to 250 email accounts; with a Linux-based dedicated plan, you can create unlimited email accounts.

If you want a dedicated server that handles the rigors of high-intensity Internet traffic, you'll be happy to know that you can spec out a high-end server with an incredible 20TB of monthly data transfers, 256GB of RAM, and four 600GB solid-state drives—if you're willing to pay more than $1,000 per month. Still, that's a more wallet-friendly option than what Media Temple offers; its dedicated hosting starts at $2,000 for unlimited domains, 10TB of monthly data transfers, 128GB of RAM, and 1TB of solid-state storage.

Overall, AccuWeb Hosting's dedicated hosting plans are varied and quite flexible. The servers have high-end specs that you won't get from HostGator, which maxes out with a $280 per month server that boasts 25TB of monthly data transfers, 16GB of RAM, and a 1,000GB hard drive. Arvixe, the Editors' Choice for dedicated hosting, surpasses both of them with a top-tier, $357 per month option that includes 32GB of RAM, 1TB of storage, and unlimited monthly data transfers.

Managed WordPressWebmasters who are serious about their WordPress installations will be happy to know that AccuWeb Hosting offers managed WordPress hosting that gives your site the white-glove treatment. This includes a preinstalled content management system, 24/7 support, automatic updates, and multilayer DDoS protection.

The WordPress Personal Web Hosting plan ($3.99 per month) offers unlimited domains, 10GB of storage, 60GB of monthly data transfers, and free WordPress migration and domain name registration. The WordPress Business Web Hosting plan (5.99 per month) ups the numbers to 30GB of storage, and 100GB of monthly data transfers, and includes search engine optimization and page caching plug-ins. The top-tier WordPress Enterprise Web Hosting plan ($10.99 per month) builds upon the other tiers with 50GB of storage, 200GB of monthly data transfers, and a free Secure Socket Layer (SSL) certificate. All the plans include one-click installation, Google Apps integration, and free daily backups.

These packages nearly rival the ones offered by 1&1, the Editors' Choice for managed WordPress hosting. The top dog boasts WP Basic ($6.99 per month), WP Plus ($9.99 per month), and WP Unlimited ($14.99 per month) plans that include unlimited monthly data transfers, unlimited email, automatic malware detection and removal, automatic WordPress updates, and a curated list of recommended WordPress plug-ins and themes.

Site Creation and E-Commerce Tools Creating an AccuWeb Hosting account is quite simple. After signing up for a plan, I received welcome emails and a note that it could take up to 48 hours for AccuWeb Hosting to set up my account. Fortunately, I didn't have to wait two days; the URL was up and running roughly two hours later.

I appreciated AccuWeb Hosting's custom cPanel back-end interface, as it's far easier to read and navigate than the traditional cPanel. I used it to access the Softaculous software library and to install WordPress as the content management system. I'm quite familiar with WordPress, so it was a breeze to create posts and pages and apply an attractive theme. In fact, even if you aren't familiar with WordPress, it should be simple to use. There is also software for non-WordPress website building, including Joomla and the PrestaShop ecommerce option.

I later used Magento to create an online store. It let me quickly create an attractive shop in just a few minutes by dragging and dropping website elements. I like that Magento has the fliexibility to house multiple storefronts and integrate eBay accounts.

Security OptionsAccuWeb Hosting gives you plenty of options for safeguarding your website from those who would do harm. You can add a 128-bit SSL certificate ($49 per year), SpamExperts spam blocker (starting at $5.85 per quarter), and ID protection (for $8 per year). If you're serious about your site's security, you should look into all of these options.

Excellent UptimeWebsite uptime is one of the most important aspects of a hosting service. While your site is down, clients or customers will be unable to find you or access your products or services—and they might not come back.

For this testing, I used a website-monitoring tool to track my AccuWeb Hosting-hosted test site's uptime. Every 15 minutes, the tool pinged my website and sent me an email if it was unable to contact the site for longer than one minute. I looked at the data for the most recent two weeks for each site's review. In my latest tests, AccuWeb Hosting proved incredibly stable. Of all the Web hosting services I've reviewed, only Arvixe matched its reliability over the most recent testing perioud . As long as it keeps on this course, you can count on it to deliver a rock-solid Web hosting experience.

Impressive Customer Service AccuWeb Hosting offers both Web chat and 24/7 telephone customer support. When you ask a question via Web chat, AccuWeb Hosting serves up links to a knowledge database. When I asked about the difference between regular hosting and cloud-based hosting, AccuWeb Hosting linked to me satisfactory answers. Still, I tested the customer service by asking a representative the same question—and he linked me to the same knowledge base article!

I also gave telephone support (available 24/7) a call with the same question. The rep also gave me a satisfactory answer. I was incredibly pleased by AccuWeb Hosting's help squad. It was easily one of the best customer service teams I've encountered in the Web hosting space.

Money-Back GuaranteeAccuWeb Hosting has a decent 30-day money-back guarantee, but DreamHost bests it with an impressive 97-day money-back guarantee.

A Good Web HostAccuWeb Hosting is a well-rounded service that you can count on for building a rock-solid website. It may fall just short of the Editors' Choice award-winning packages offered by DreamHost and HostGator, but it's worth checking out if you need quality shared, VPS, dedicated, or managed WordPress hosting.

Source: AccuWeb Hosting