One year ago to the day I started using WebHost4Life to host DataWebControls.com. Since then, I have used WebHost4Life to host a number of hobby Web sites. I've gotten probably a dozen of so emails over the past year from people asking me if I'd recommend WebHost4Life. "webhost4life review" is consistently one of the more popular Google search queries that leads people to ScottOnWriting.NET. For these reasons I've decided I might as well post my WebHost4Life review online.
The Good
When people check out WebHost4Life's hosting plans two main attractions jump out:
- The price - you can host a data-driven ASP.NET Web application for $9.95 per month. (Keep in mind you have to pay for the entire year up front, although they do have a 30 day money back guarantee.) That includes Microsoft SQL Server and 100 email inboxes. One downside is that you only get 150 MB of disk space, something that can quickly fill up if you want to host an image gallery or other larger files. However, 150 MB is adequate for most sites. I'm only now just nearing the limit, and I have several folders of images on a personal site, as well as a year's worth of log files saved.
- The bandwidth policy - in that, there is none. That's right, you get unlimited bandwidth. Many sites cap you at 2-10 GB per month. While many personal sites don't exceed this, blogs have a way of jacking up the bandwidth requirements. ScottOnWriting.NET, for example, hogged over 8 GB in April 2004. I easily break 10 GB per month with my other sites hosted through this same account. Other "discount" hosts would likely charge a premium for this higher transfer rate.
In addition to the cost and bandwidth benefits, one of the benefits you don't truly appreciate until you start hosting with WebHost4Life is that they make it a breeze to host multiple accounts. For example, I have one $9.95/month account with WebHost4Life, yet host the following sites:
That's seven sites with a shared SQL Server database access for $9.95 / month. If you want separate SQL Server database instances for each site, that's possible too for a nominal charge.
The Bad
When people ask, "Should I host my site on WebHost4Life" the first question I ask is, "Is this a personal or hobby site, or is it mission-critical?" If uptime and prompt customer support are vital, WebHost4Life is not for you. You get what you pay for, and if you need a top-notch Web host, you'll have to pay more than $9.95 per month. I've not used OrcsWeb for a number of years, so I don't know if they're still as awesome as they once were, but I did host with them in 1999 and 2000, and would highly recommend them based on my experiences back then. Their prices for a SQL Server accessible site are much higher than WebHost4Life's, clocking in at $65/month, but if you need the guaranteed uptime and responsive support, it's money well spent.
Case in point: when setting up DataWebControls.com I had some FrontPage Extension issues. I contacted WebHost4Life's tech support through their online system. Sadly it took a bit over 24 hours to get a response, which basically asked if I wanted them to reset FrontPage Extensions. I said, "Sure," and it was another 24 hours or so before the reset occurred. So, while the site was live, I could not work on the site through Visual InterDev, and had to manually FTP the files. The good news is since that time, I've not had any problems requiring correspondence with tech support! :-)
Conclusion
In the end, WebHost4Life is, in my opinion, a great choice for a Web hosting company for those who want an affordable host for hobby or personal Web sites. If you are creating a Web site where you cannot afford to play cat and mouse with the technical staff, then choose a higher tiered provider, but be prepared to pay more (naturally).
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If you do decide to host with WebHost4Life and want to send a few bucks my way, sign up by clicking here. I'll get a 20% commission, and you will get instant karma, and a guaranteed spot in my heart. :-)
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