Have you ever wondered if there are truly the most horrible web hosting providers you must avoid? No need to be afraid, I’m here to take away the uncertainty. Let’s explore these nasty providers now.
If you want to run a successful WordPress blog, there are several basic things need to be taken care of. Your main requirements include a space to store your site’s files and every details about how your blog is going to work. And that’s exactly where Web Hosting comes handy.
Web hosting is an important element of your blog or website, but it’s often an afterthought. However, with so many options and factors to consider, that’s far from ideal. You don’t want to get stung by a bad choice, and the wrong thing will hurt your business. For this reason, you need to do your homework and read reviews. The purpose of this article is to help you avoid the worst web hosts out there.
Web Hosting Providers To Avoid
Atspace
When we first started working with Atspace, they were definitely in need of some upgrades. Almost every young freelancer I know used a free host when they were first learning how to code.
We got our feet wet with atspace and quickly realized that not even in Freetown does anything come for free. Hosting is free at atspace.com until you receive traffic (traffic).
Once you start getting a substantial amount of traffic, your atspace hosting package will inevitably become a cheap billboard for their subpar services.
One of their many questionable practices is error page marketing, in which they lead users to advertisements on error pages. Hostgator uses the same practice but gives a convoluted way to avoid it.
A variety of error messages continue to pop up regardless of whether we use their free or premium service.
Their WordPress hosting services are nothing short of a celebration of mediocrity, since over half of the cutting-edge capabilities required to run a speedy content management system (CMS) website don’t function there.
It’s amusing that their support staff won’t be able to pinpoint any issues with their server, but instead will point the finger onto you, the plugins, the theme, or even WordPress itself.
This host is just suitable for learning and hosting low-traffic static XHTML websites and should not be used for any commercial purposes.
GoDaddy
In my opinion, they should stick to selling domain names and stay out of the hosting market altogether.
There is no help available, the service times out at an alarming rate, and their advertising is really obnoxious.
After having a horrible experience with their regular hosting, being duped into their managed WordPress hosting, and then having another negative encounter with their managed wp hosting, I am now giving them another try on a low-traffic page to test if the user response I received is accurate.
The reason Godaddy is among the worst web hosts is unclear. From what I’ve heard, godaddy is sufficient for most people. Godaddy is the most well-known domain registrar, yet their web hosting is subpar. Godaddy provides hosting services for both Windows and Linux, and their own custom control panel is available with both operating systems. However, if you look around on web hosting and web development communities, you’ll discover a lot of people complaining about them. The worst part is that unlike with other hosting companies, you won’t receive prompt and expert assistance. Godaddy’s customer service is only available by email, so expect to wait several days for a response.
Mocha host
Although Mocha Host did not actually provide us with the opportunity to investigate their services, I am convinced that it will not be any more helpful than the epileptic assistance that their sales crew provided to us.
Their server setup time is not even close to being reasonable, it takes a ridiculous amount of days for them to react to support tickets, and it was obvious that this firm was a poor substitute for a hosting service.
It was a mistake for us to visit their homepage, and it continues to be to this day; as a result, our server was put into maintenance mode as we waited for their setup, which ultimately did not materialize.
We have only provided a condensed version of the tale here because we are unable to endorse such stupidity, not even for a free hosting service.
1and1 Hosting
Our experiences with 1and1 hosting were not dissimilar to those we had with Godaddy; the procedure of canceling our account with them was time-consuming and difficult. We were forced to let the one-year plan expire without even considering extending it for another year.
We are aware of the bad marketing strategies that they employ, and as a result, we have no plans to ever revisit their homepage, even if more positive news and reviews emerge.
What is it about 1and1 hosting that makes people so angry? Simply due to the fact that their hosting server is broken and they have the worst policy possible to retain your business. Their servers are included on multiple blacklists, and there are no plans to remedy this. 1and1 gives you free domain names, but if you wish to move your website hosting elsewhere, they will do everything in their power to prevent you from doing so and may even block your access to your domain name in order to coerce you into using their servers to host the website.
When it comes down to it, a cheap web host does not necessarily equate to a bad web host; nonetheless, the majority of bad and dreadful web hosting companies use inexpensive marketing strategies to attract their victims.
Pacific host
Pacifichost now holds the number one spot on the list of the worst web hosting companies. Why should you not use PacificHost? Because their marketing team makes it a point to always try to convince customers to leave positive reviews for their hosting service by using a variety of enticements. The pacifichost company has made the announcement that they would provide the cheapest and litespeed web hosting service possible, along with practically everything being unlimited. As a consequence, they create an unlimited number of hosting accounts on the same hosting server, which results in a connection that is painfully slow and extremely prone to instability.
In addition to that, their people spam everywhere on the internet in an attempt to publish good remarks. If you search “pacific” on “webhostingtalk,” you will discover that almost all of their customers are unhappy with the service they provide; nevertheless, there is always someone who will answer with the same nice comments, which is absurd. The same writing appeared on several articles across our website, which is also considered spam.
Webhostingpad
In reality, Webhostingpad is not an ethical choice for a web hosting service. They do appear to be an inexpensive option at first glance. Just $1.99 per month for unrestricted access to everything. However, you are required to pay the full amount for four years in advance! As soon as they have your business, they will bombard you with a variety of offers that entice you to make a purchase. They generate an unlimited number of hosting accounts on a single server but provide a lower level of assistance in order to increase their profits. Their customer service representatives operate more like a sales team than a technical support staff. They will continue to work on your problem indefinitely but will never find a solution.
Just consider the very beginning: why are you required to sign a contract for a 4-year service without having a complete comprehension of the commercial trick?
Network Solutions
Network solution is without a doubt the most egregious illustration of poor hosting from corporations that register domain names. The well-known domain registrar Network Solutions offers a wide variety of domain-related technologies. Nevertheless, the quality of their hosting service does not inherit any of their domain expertise. Their team most certainly does not have enough reserves to provide a hosting service that is dependable and high performing. People have to pay a higher price for their service compared to the majority of other hosting providers in the meantime.
The five web hosts listed above are among the worst.
Simply put, we are only interested in gaining your business and could care less about the other details. You won’t find many people that have great things to say about their service. According to the comments from actual customers, the dissatisfaction percentage is an astonishing 90+ percent. If you found any of the aforementioned brands listed in any best web hosting ranks, you should be aware of the website and leave it as soon as possible because it is providing fake recommendations, which will ultimately result in the failure of your website.
Others
Other terrible experiences we’ve had with web hosting are outlined in the following for your education:
- 000webhost
- Smartweb (a local web hosting company)
- Syskay (a Local hosting company)
- Yahoo Small Business Hosting (Aabaco Small Business)
Because all of the hosting firms that are listed above also provide re-seller web hosting, we decided to omit re-seller hosting services from this list in an effort to make it as straightforward as possible.
It is quite evident that there is no purpose in ranking the worst reseller hosting companies, the top reseller hosting companies, and anything else like that. One or two of the hosting companies that are previously recognized on this list are responsible for our worst, greatest, and average experiences with reseller hosting. These hosting providers are already named.
The 15 Worst Practices Web Hosting Companies Are Doing Right Now
1. They boast about having servers that work quickly, but in reality, their servers are very slow.
The web hosting companies Bluehost, Godaddy, and Hostgator are not immune to this issue. They have a very forceful and aggressive marketing strategy. However, you will be astonished to learn how many individuals complain about the performance of their server, which makes them a less than ideal alternative for organizations that want to cater to high volumes of traffic.
2. An extremely frustrating and unintuitive user experience that makes the low cost of the service seem even less appealing.
The goal of user interface design is to make it simple for customers to carry out a task in a way that is both efficient and aesthetically pleasing. However, if you are getting a lot of problems and the content of the website doesn’t make any sense, or even worse, if they don’t even have Cpanel, the few dollars that you are saving aren’t worth it at all.
Have no idea how to differentiate between a good and a bad user interface?
This post provides you with a lot of helpful insights on how to differentiate between the two.
3. It can take many hours before you are put in touch with someone who can assist you with a problem.
Some hosting firms believe that their product is completely sold once it has been purchased by a customer. They do not place a high priority on addressing problems raised by customers. In point of fact, they very certainly have low-cost call center representatives who aren’t even equipped to fix the issue that you’re having. Imagine the annoyance of having to wait an hour to talk to someone or have a conversation with them, only to be left with no resolution or pleasure at the conclusion of the ordeal.
4. They bill you for items that you had no intention of purchasing and do so regardless of this fact.
Imagine getting a fee for a number of domains that you have no intention of renewing at all. Due to the fact that it is tucked away in the tiniest print of their terms and conditions, there is always the possibility that you have already committed to it without even realizing it. But despite that, it would be helpful if they gave you some advanced warning. Or, at the very least, you should have been sent a confirmation email before they began charging you for the service.
Not someone who typically reads the small print? Read this post to learn how bypassing reading the terms and conditions might lead to more troubles in the long run for your website, and then check out the content.
5. They tempt you with pricing that can’t be beaten, but then they make you regret your decision when you discover how poorly their server performs.
Cheap hosting is not a viable alternative unless you are willing to put up with a website that is regularly down and in which each page takes an interminable amount of time to load. If you are serious about providing your website visitors with a positive experience while they are on your site, it is in your best interest to pay a few additional money for hosting that is both stable and quick.
6. Without giving you any prior notice, they will begin charging you one month sooner than was originally agreed upon, and then they will ignore you.
Some hosting businesses will try to pull a fast one on you by charging you for something you are unaware of, which is one of their underhanded tactics. They might send you an email informing you about an additional service as an alternative, along with a link that says “click here for more.” And you, assuming it was safe to do so, click it, only to later discover that it was a link to a purchase page. The next step is that your account will be charged for a service that you did not even request. What a royal pain in the neck this is! (and wallet).
7. When you run into problems, they will try to upsell you on a website builder by saying that everything should function great after you have purchased the website builder.
It gives you the impression that hosting providers intentionally design their services to be difficult to use on purpose in order to provide an opportunity for them to offer you additional services. Sadly, this is almost always the case, particularly with free hosting options. There is a purpose to the fact that utilizing their service would give you headaches, and that purpose is to persuade you to pay in order to get rid of the headaches.
8. They make it difficult for you to connect a domain name that you bought from somewhere else to your website. Or move a domain out.
Another typical tactic utilized by free hosting providers is to make it extremely difficult for you to locate the DNS settings. In addition to this, they insist that you purchase a domain name from them rather than somewhere else and aggressively encourage you to do so.
A related typical tactic is for premium web hosting providers to make it rather difficult to transfer a domain you’ve registered through them to another registrar. This is done in order to discourage customers from leaving their service. This typically takes the form of making the domain transfer procedure more difficult than it needs to be or hiding their domain transfer instruction deep within a mountain of other Knowledgebase items, which is typically located in the “Miscellaneous” section.
9. They provide free hosting, but you have no control over the majority of the back-end (or even front-end) functionality of your website.
If you are not an experienced web developer who is familiar with all of the strategies necessary to extract the most value possible from free hosting services, you are likely better off going with a paid hosting provider. You may already acquire a good number of the tools that can make your life simpler at a price that is reasonable. In addition to this, the overall performance of the server will almost always be improved. Free hosting requires you to swallow your pride and make do with whatever features and capabilities are available.
10. They entice you with the promise of “unlimited” hosting, but then they push you to upgrade as soon as your website is no longer a ghost town.
A terrifying experience that a lifestyle blogger named Lisa Koivu went through demonstrates how sly certain hosting companies can be. She recounts her experience with Bluehost by describing how she was experiencing difficulty with the loading of her website. After that, Bluehost advised her that she might consider upgrading to a VPS because her website was experiencing an excessive amount of traffic. Therefore, she did.
Unfortunately, this merely caused even more issues, which resulted in even longer periods of unavailability for her website. In addition to this, she is now required to pay a higher amount for hosting, despite the fact that the issue has not been rectified. Therefore, it is not always safe to believe what your hosting provider says.
Bonus
11. When they provide “unlimited” packages on a shared hosting service, it is not unlimited, and you will ultimately experience problems due to excessive consumption if you sign up for one of such packages.
When it comes to hosting, there are some businesses that will advertise deals that are just too good to be true, promising you the world. But anyone who is acquainted with high-pressure sales tactics understands that you should never put any faith in offers of this nature.
If you choose an unlimited plan with the expectation that it would actually be unlimited, you are setting yourself up for both short-term and long-term disappointment, not to mention a significant amount of headache. Get in touch with someone who can walk you through the entire transaction and explain all of the ins and outs of the agreement rather than depending solely on the information that is provided to you in the marketing brochures that they provide. At the very least, you will be able to enter the situation knowing more about what you are getting yourself into.
Conclusion
When evaluating potential web hosts, there are plenty of things to look for. Some of the most important ones we discussed above include service level agreements, domain name availability, and server location.
If you’re in need of an affordable web hosting company, always make sure to conduct a comprehensive review of the hosting provider’s reputation. It’s also helpful to check their customer support service, and upload/download speed. These factors will likely play the most important role in determining which web host is right for you. Help us know how useful this information was to you, leave a comment!