Comparing Two Unlimited Hosting Plans
Picking a web hosting company that provides a good shared hosting plan is very important to keep your websites open and your costs down. Every company has its own advantages and disadvatanges. In order to get the best deal, there are several things you should consider in any plan such as the features you need and the price offered. You should also think about the number of sites that you intend to build, besides considering how much web space and bandwith you need at the moment and in the future.
To help you choose a hosting company with a shared hosting plan that offers unlimited domain feature, below is the comparison between two unlimited web hosting companies which I have used personally, Hostony and Hostgator:
Last Updated: Dec 2006
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Hostony (Special Plan) |
Hostgator (Baby Plan) |
| Basics |
| Disk Space |
300GB |
100GB |
| Bandwith |
3 TB |
1 TB |
| Domain |
| Hosted Domains |
Unlimited |
Unlimited |
| SubDomains |
Unlimited |
Unlimited |
| Parked Domains |
Unlimited |
Unlimited |
| Free Domain |
1 |
No |
| Database |
| MySQL |
Unlimited |
Unlimited |
| PostgeSQL |
Unlimited |
No |
| PhpMyAdmin |
Yes |
Yes |
| Billing |
| Setup Fee |
Free |
Free |
| Price |
$12.85/month (paid for 6 months) |
$9.95/month |
| 30 Day Money Back Guarantee |
Yes |
Yes |
| Uptime Guarantee |
99% |
99.9% |
| Price Freeze Guarantee |
Yes |
No |
| Email |
| Email Accounts (POP3/IMAP) |
Unlimited |
Unlimited |
| SMTP |
Yes |
Yes |
| Web Based Email |
Yes |
Yes |
| Forwarding/Aliases |
Unlimited |
Unlimited |
| Autoreply |
Unlimited |
Unlimited |
| Mailing Lists |
Yes (20) |
Yes (?) |
| Catch-all Forwarding |
Yes |
Yes |
| AntiSpam Features |
Spam Assassin |
Spam Assassin |
| FTP |
| FTP Accounts |
Unlimited |
Unlimited |
| Web Based FTP |
Yes |
Yes |
| Technical Features |
| PHP |
4.3.x (patched) with Zend Optimizer |
PHP 4 or 5 |
| Perl |
5.8.7 |
5.8.7 |
| Tool Command Language (TCL) |
Yes |
No |
| VRML |
Yes |
If there are no server side requirements, this may be possible. |
| WAP/WML/Wireless Support |
Yes |
Yes |
| Python |
Yes |
Yes |
| Server Side Includes (SSI) |
Yes |
Yes |
| Site-wide CGI Access |
Yes |
Yes |
| Private cgi-bin |
Yes |
Yes |
| XML |
Yes |
Yes |
| Logs and Statistics |
| Webalizer Site Statistics |
Yes |
Yes |
| AWStats |
Yes |
Yes |
| Access to Raw Logs |
Yes |
Yes |
| Access to Error Logs |
Yes |
Yes |
| Analog |
Yes |
Yes |
| Referrer log |
Yes |
Yes |
| Protection |
| Hotlink Protection |
Yes |
Yes |
| IP Deny Manager |
Yes |
Yes |
| Password Protected Folders |
Yes |
Yes |
| GNU PG PGP Clone |
Yes |
Yes |
| Instant Backups |
Yes |
Yes |
| Ecommerce |
| Shopping Cart |
Agora, RedHat Interexchange |
Agora, Instant osCommerce, Instant ZenCart, Cube Cart |
| SSL Support |
Shared SSL |
Shared SSL |
| Other Technical Features |
| CPanel Control Panel |
Yes |
Yes |
| Support for .htaccess |
Yes |
Yes |
| Cron Job Editor |
Yes |
Yes |
| ModRewrite |
Yes |
Yes |
| Streaming Video and Music |
No |
Yes |
| Customized Error Pages |
Yes |
Yes |
| Redirect URL |
Yes |
Yes |
| Nameserver Record Management |
Yes |
No |
| Custom MIME Settings |
Yes |
Yes |
| Curl |
Yes |
Yes |
| GD |
Yes |
Yes |
| Image Magick |
Yes |
Yes |
| SSH Access |
Upon Request |
No |
| Site Building |
| Fantastico |
Yes |
Yes |
| Site Builder |
Soholaunch |
SiteStudio |
| Frontpage |
Yes |
Yes |
| Instant Blog |
b2evolution, Nucleus, pMachine Free and WordPress |
b2, b2evolution, Nucleus, pMachine Free and WordPress |
| Instant Portals |
Drupal, Geeklog, PHP-Nuke, phpWebSite, Post-Nuke, Siteframe, Xoops |
Drupal, Geeklog, PHP-Nuke, phpWebSite, Post-Nuke, Siteframe, Xoops |
| PHP Nuke |
Yes |
Yes |
| Instant Forum |
phpbb, SMF |
phpbb, Invision, and Yabbse |
| Instant Guestbook |
Yes |
Yes |
| Instant Counter |
Yes |
Yes |
| Instant Formmail |
Yes |
Yes |
| Search Engine |
Yes |
No |
| Support |
| Free Module Installation |
Yes |
Yes |
| Free Script Install |
Yes |
No |
| Free Upgrades |
Yes |
Yes |
| Bonus |
| |
1 Free Domain Name
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So, who is the best between Hostony and Hostgator? Both of them offer unlimited domain feature besides the other ones which look similar. The answer is it depends on your requirements such as what kind of scripts you want to use? Do you need PostgeSQL or Streaming Video and Music? Besides your current needs, once again, it would be a good idea to think also about your needs in the future.
You need to know how much bandwidth (data transfer speed) and disk space your web site(s) needs to run properly. Hostony offers larger disk space and larger bandwith than Hostgator.
Many people said that you should stay away from long term contracts. In other words, you should avoid anything long-term until you are sure you are happy with the services of the web host. A monthly contract allows you to test a host's services and reliability. You can spot trouble early and leave the host behind without losing big bucks in the process. From the above list, you may have noticed that Hostony allows you to host unlimited domain if you pay for 6 months. Although I am quite satisfied with its services, but if you are in doubt, I recommend you to choose its Profi plan. With Profi plan, you can host up to 10 full-featured domains. In case you want to build more websites in the future, you can upgrade to the Special plan.
Now, how about the bonuses? Although I suggest you to never buy a product because of the bonuses, it is not a sin to take a look about them after you are sure that the main product has met your requirements. In this case, it is obvious that only Hostony gives bonuses. This unlimited hosting company offers 1 free domain for its new customers.
If you do your homework and plan ahead, there won't be any errors when it comes to web hosting costs. Now it's all up to you whether you want to use Hostony or Hostgator to host your sites. You are always the best decision maker for yourself.
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