Methodology
How we rank hosting providers
Every score on this site comes from a published formula applied to public data. Nobody pays for a position, and affiliate commissions do not change scores.
The score formula
| Factor | Weight | How it's measured |
|---|---|---|
| Starting price | 30% | Lowest monthly price of a current plan. $3/mo scores 10, $30/mo scores 4, linear in between. |
| Renewal price | 20% | How much the price rises after the first term. No increase scores 10; doubling scores 5. |
| Refund & billing | 10% | 30+ day money-back scores 10, hourly billing 8, a shorter refund 6, none 4. |
| Uptime guarantee | 20% | Uptime percentage in the provider SLA: 100% scores 10, 99.9% scores 9, 99.5% scores 5. |
| Features | 20% | Number of listed features such as backups, snapshots, firewalls and IPv6; 6 or more scores 10. |
Where prices come from
Plan prices are taken from each provider's public pricing page. The full research snapshot dates to 2026-10-27; Hetzner was rechecked on 2026-10-28. Each review shows the date its prices were applied and links to the source. Advertised prices are not a guarantee of capacity or the final checkout total.
How directory listings are checked
A scheduled checker visits listed websites every hour in small batches, follows redirects and reads the page for service keywords. Sites that clearly fail are hidden after repeated failures; sites that block automatic checks are marked for manual review rather than removed. Editors confirm entries by hand and the date is shown on each host profile.