Webmentor Ireland

Web Hosting Comparison Table explained

All web hosting packages listed are Linux Apache MySQL PHP (LAMP)

Nowadays, the price of Windows vs Linux hosting is no longer an issue. It used to be that Windows was way expensive which is why many people chose LAMP based hosting instead.

These days, I prefer LAMP for reasons that are a bit too technical for the scope of this article. Put it this way, Windows hosting is not designed to make the most of modern SEO. It doesn't let you get at the internals easily (like the old mini engines!) and its a real headache when things go wrong. You will need Windows web hosting if your web site has been designed using ASP/.NET/Visual Basic. If its a choice, ask your developer where their experience lies.

BTW, many of the companies listed also do Windows hosting, so you can check them out if that's what you're looking for.

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All web hosting packages listed are on Shared Servers

Again, this is down to price. Shared Server packages are affordable - your web site shares a space on your chosen web host's computer with up to 200 or so other users. Obviously, you could take a performance hit if the other customer's web sites are very busy.

The next leg up the ladder is a Virtual Server where the webhost's computer is partitioned to make it feel like you are independent from the other customers on the computer. You have more control over the software but then again you need more expertise to run it and the price can be upwards of 10x that of a Shared Server package. If you pick your Shared Server package carefully, you will find ones that match Virtual Server offerings in the amount of control you have. For your average web site, a Virtual Server is unnecessary. A Shared Server package on Apache that provides you with a fully featured Control Panel (eg CPanel, HSphere etc) is about as much control as you could possibly want.

The ultimate in web hosting is of course a Dedicated Server, where nobody else but you is on the computer. The downside of a Dedicated Server is that you gotta have the staff to run it, security is an ongoing nightmare and its incredibly expensive. You wouldn't be doing this unless your web site was mission-critical.

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All prices shown on the table include VAT at 21%

That's right - because web hosting companies in Ireland have adopted the industry habit of NOT including VAT. However, not everyone is VAT registered. For this reason, the Web Hosting Table shows the price including VAT.

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Only top tier features displayed on the table

Given the space contraints of a physical table, we had to make some hard decisions. In the end space , bandwidth , number of POP3 emails, and guaranteed uptime made it in. We wanted to include spam/virus control for email, Control Panel (type and if available), .htaccess (a feature beloved of web developers because it really extends what you can do programming-wise - but some hosts won't provide it for security reasons). And finally Support (type, paid/unpaid, when available) and backups. There just wasn't room.

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Features not mentioned that you can assume ARE included

You can assume that all the packages listed have the following features included in the price, and if they don't, it'll be highlighted in the table under the column headed 'Important Information':

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Be your own detective - some packages come with inducements

If you click the link given for each package, you might find that they are offering some nice inducements. We can't list them since they change from time to time. On offer from some companies are

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Features worth paying for

Just bear in mind that a feature worth paying for is one that you need. Having said that, here are a list of features that might fit the bill:

A decent fully featured Control Panel - eg CPanel or HSphere. Means you can do stuff like add subdomains, configure spam filters, use phpMyAdmin to configure your database, ban IPs, call up your web statistics program, password protect directories and so on. You can do all this whenever you want to without paying your host extra for it. Some advertised Control Panels really only let you see what your billing is.

Free unlimited support - this is worth paying for IF you need the support. If you're paying a web company to develop and maintain your web site for you, then you don't need web hosting support. All the packages listed offer support, some paid, most are free, some by email, some 24/7, etc etc - so do check it out before buying.

Guaranteed uptime - and this needs to be written in as part of your Service Level Agreement (SLA) to be believable, after all they are offering you an actual money-back guarantee if their server goes down more than the stated guaranteed uptime. Don't take it as read from the table. Get a contract and read the small print. Promises like 'Our server hasn't gone down in 30 years' are just that - promises.

Reduced price IE domain name - the price from the registry (source) is €65 + 21%VAT. Some web hosting companies are offering you web hosting along with an IE domain name for as low as €29 + VAT. That's a €40pa saving whichever way you look at it. Personally I wouldn't sacrifice the control of my domain name for €40pa, on the other hand it does represent a considerable saving. In any case, your rights over your IE domain name are well protected under Irish law. If you want a login/password from the registry you are perfectly entitled to ask for it, and you can change the Billing Contact for your IE domain whenever you want to.

Fully featured spam/virus control - if your company is doing a lot of email through your web site, it might well be worth paying for this feature. Essentially all email is scanned by the web host's computer on its way in, or way out, from your office. This is lightyears beyond a basic spam filter in a Control Panel which you configure yourself.

Backups - some (not all) web hosts perform an automatic backup of all data on their servers on either a daily, weekly or monthly basis. Its worth a lot when your web site goes Pete Tong - even if you're lucky enough to have a control panel and the option of doing it yourself (which you did, last year sometime, right? Or was it the year before...?)

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Features NOT worth paying for

A free or reduced price .com domain name - yikes, avoid this one like the plague. Go register one yourself at godaddy.com for less than US$10.00pa. Then at least you own and control it. See the issues here .

A free OSCommerce Shopping Cart - oh please! OSCommerce Shopping Cart IS FREE. Any half decent web hosting company out there will install it for you for - yup, FREE. And if they don't have the time, they sure shouldn't mind if you go ahead and install it yourself.

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Some Web Hosting Companies have been deliberately excluded

The web hosting companies listed below advertise web site hosting but have been excluded from the Web Hosting Table for the reasons given. Webmentor will be happy to include companies, where appropriate, if they can provide us with sufficient information to give them a listing. Just to clarify - we are only listing companies who can provide standalone LAMP based web hosting (no bundled packages only). Sorry, but for obvious reasons, we're not listing companies who don't provide a contact number, or those who do but never pick up their phone.

They are:

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Web hosting companies are invited to comment on their offering

Webmentor welcomes submissions from any of the Web Hosting companies listed to expound more on their offerings. If you are interested, please contact us.

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Why does some web hosting cost so much more than others?

Its a good question. The reason we compiled the table was to highlight how reasonably priced most business web hosting packages are in Ireland. However, there are also huge price disparities. It behoves us all to know what we're paying for.

Some of the more expensive hosts listed are offering great bang for the buck with extra features such as free unlimited support, realtime spam and virus protection, and genuine guaranteed uptime. Others are just plain overcharging. Indeed, some of the cheaper hosts may have hidden charges which we've tried to highlight, but the table cannot always make those differences clear.

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Webmentor - the final word

Webmentor is not tied to any web hosting company. We are fully independent. All our clients get the services and the web hosting that is best suited to their needs, and they pay for it direct.

Many Irish businesses are paying over and above €300 per year for hosting - but who are they paying, and for what?

I met a fellow recently who told me he was paying over €800 pa for web hosting and a .com domain name - no extras, mind. How in god's name is this possible?, I wondered. When he mentioned the web hosting company involved, and a very fine web hosting company at that, I was shocked, since their priciest package is just under €250! But he wasn't dealing with them direct, and he had no idea of what web hosting or domain name registration actually cost. IMHO this kind of thing just gives the industry a bad name.

The message here is simple - you can get more than satisfactory web hosting in Ireland for under €100pa incl VAT. If you're willing to go the €100 - €200 route then make sure you're getting the extras you want such as free unlimited support, fully featured spam/email protection and guaranteed uptime. If you're not sure about the technical features, then why not email and ask us before you choose the package. There's definitely money to be saved on web hosting which could be better spent elsewhere!

Webmentor - Get the facts b4 u get the web site!