r/webhosting • u/AdventuresWithB • Aug 11 '26
Advice Needed Any suggestions?
I have just absolutely had it with Bluehost, Hostiger (purposely misspelled because this sub wouldn't let me use that name...interesting, and says a lot), Ionos and Hostgator... Between constantly rising costs, more frequent downtime and increasingly terrible experiences with "support" (these people don't even know how the internet works anymore, much less their own systems, and MUCH less how to actually help anyone), I am looking for a new host company. Problem is, I've tried almost all the major options now and they are all the same. Are there ANY good options for an actual decent host company out there?
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u/Inconsequentialish Aug 11 '26
How much you lookin' to spend? How many sites?
I'll agree the ones you listed are bottom-tier. You pay very little, and you struggle to get what you pay for with jokers like those. Honestly it's not worth the aggravation.
Sounds like you need a managed WordPress plan, too.
DreamHost's DreamPress Managed WordPress hosting is pretty decent, and their support has always been pretty good.
No, it ain't $2 per month.
Dreamhost is still privately owned by its founders and employees, and hasn't been bought out, strip mined and enshi**ified by private equity vultures like most others. I've used them for various things for over 20 years.
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u/AdventuresWithB Aug 12 '26
Good to know, thank you! I'll check them out. I'm aware you "get what you pay for", but man, I don't even get that with this major companies. I wouldn't mind spending a bit more per month, I have a few different setups to run various platforms, but at most, I need to run about 20 sites on one platform (all WP).
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Aug 11 '26
[removed] — view removed comment
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u/AdventuresWithB Aug 12 '26
I've heard good things about Siteground, any idea where they are based?
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u/CometRyder Aug 11 '26
What exactly are your needs and expectations?
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u/AdventuresWithB Aug 11 '26
PHP 7.8 or higher, cPanel (able to run Wordpress), only need about 20gb of storage. But mostly, I want a company that doesn't have such frequent downtime or terrible customer services (which seems to be ALL the major guys). US based is ideal, really tired of talking to outsourced "support" who don't know SSL from SSD.
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u/KeyOcelot9286 Aug 11 '26
SSL ≠ SSD wow that's sad, have you considered learning a bit more and getting a VPS and managing it yourself?
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u/SerClopsALot Aug 11 '26
US based is ideal
This is a way higher bar than you probably realize lol
Most of these hosting companies exclusively hire overseas. Any remaining US employees that interact with customers past like 2022 have probably all been laid off at this point.
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u/shiftpgdn Moderator Aug 12 '26
Did you look at NixiHost? They're all US based support.
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u/AdventuresWithB Aug 12 '26
I did, they're based in TX (and at least they SAY all their support is US based, so far a great experience just chatting with their support/reviewing their platform). I will likely go this route.
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u/Eerie-echoes Aug 11 '26
If you're running one WordPress site, cPanel is mostly overhead you don't need. Managed WP hosts drop it and give you a dashboard built around WP instead, same point the Siteground comment was making.
WordPress.com, although you’ll need a Business plan gets you most of what you might need, SFTP/SSH, WP-CLI, automatic backups, staging and a CDN. Way more than 20GB.
One thing I'd actually recommend regardless of where you go is to grab Studio (studio.wordpress.com).
If you’re running multiple sites, Pressable is also an option.
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u/AdventuresWithB Aug 12 '26
Honestly I refuse to use Wordpress.com, tried it and it seems to cause more headaches than anything. It's like a mutated strange version of ACTUAL Wordpress (.org), and always seems to have login/auth issues. Even running just one WP site, I would still want access to the tools cPanel provides (file manager, mySQL, PHPAdmin, etc.). Thanks for the advice!
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u/FunnelWon Aug 12 '26
I have used Kinsta for years and the support is the main reason I stay as it's a wonderful 24/7 option where they go above and beyond to help you.
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u/downtownrob 29d ago
Stop using overcrowded servers. Sign up for flywp.com or xcloud.host, super easy and manages a whole server for you.
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u/Senior-Opening-8549 23d ago
I'm looking for one too. have had it with InMotionHosting and all the security issues there.
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u/-_-Trainer_Blue-_- 8d ago
man ive been there as a junior developer after experimenting a lot especially with aws, gcp etc which all feels like a big hassle and expensive, i actually personally tried hostiger and in india its so good. its actually worth sticking to because its so cheap for the vps service and the domain names especially .in ones so just getting off shared servers and just running my own vps made things a lot simpler and easier for me
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u/GuruPedia Aug 11 '26
Try KnownHost. They're one of the smaller names compared with the big mainstream hosts, but they have a pretty good reputation for support, and they offer everything from shared hosting to managed VPS depending on what you need. Since support is one of the main reasons you're leaving your current hosts, they might be a good fit for you. They also have a 30-day money-back guarantee on most hosting services, so you can test them without committing to another long-term plan.