Cheap web hosting plans are popular at the moment

Besides the high (and unlimited) bandwidth trends for shared hosting, currently there is a surge of cheap hosting plans and specials.

There are reasonable boundaries for prices, of course. Web hosting may seem like a part of the big abstract world of cyberspace, but it's actually very concrete, requiring physical space and equipment, sound business operations, and knowledgeable support technicians. It takes money to host web sites, provide support, and keep servers running safely and smoothly, so I wouldn't advise anyone to go looking for a $1 plan. (Imagine, considering hourly wage, how much support time would a dollar cover?)

However, at the moment there are an increased number of plans in the $5 range. Competition always being keen in the area of shared hosting, you'll find a variety at this price range: some regular plans, some temporary specials, and some starter plans. So, if you've been looking to get into a new hosting plan at a low price, now may be an opportune time to look around.

Should you pay less or more for hosting? That question has been around, relating to all sorts of products, for as long as people have been buying and selling. Hosting plans typically feature numbers, and we have a tendency to line up product numbers and look for the fellow who's got the biggest and smallest numbers in the relevant columns. It's best to look for the host you like and trust best within your budget, rather than making a decision on numbers alone.

Also, many plans are discounted when paying for one or more years in advance. This saves money, but remember that when paying month-to-month or for a relatively short prepayment term, you have much greater flexibility. Many hosts have a range of payment options, so be sure to look them over.

If your pocketbook is hungry for inexpensive hosting, here are some sample hosts offering low-cost plans:

(These prices are listed as of 10/29/2008 and may change in future.)

InMotion Hosting has personal-class hosting plans from $3 to $5, requiring a two-year prepayment.

IPower is currently discouting its plan to $4.95 with a one-year prepayment.

Lunarpages Web Hosting is offering a special price of $4.95 with a one-year prepayment.

Pair Networks has a starter plan for $5.95 monthly.

StartLogic offers its plan for $5.95 with a one-year prepayment.

Web hosts are going green

I was recently surprised to notice that a company I use for web hosting had gone green. Logging into my customer account at another site, I saw that they too were promoting green hosting. That personal connection made me realize that the trend is truly here, and spreading. Folks, the age of ecosensitive hosting is upon us!

This will be of interest to anyone who takes a stand (other than neutral) regarding the green movement and all things environmental, so for those of you with a relevant ecological or political persuasion, here is information on some of the hosting companies who advertise green services.

DreamHost uses renewable energy credits and energy conservation methods.

Green Geeks utilizes wind to power its operations.

HostGator is using renewable energy credits based on powering and cooling its servers.

Pair Networks uses carbon offsets and energy conservation.

The unlimited bandwidth trend and what it means for you

Over the last two years, hosting plan bandwidth offerings have increased dramatically, with the terabyte* becoming a standard feature in advertisements. Now we are witnessing a comeback in "unlimited" hosting plans, where bandwidth and disk space are unmetered. In the highly competitive world of high-bandwidth budget hosting, the battle of the big numbers inevitably leads off the charts. Hence, unlimited. With more and more major hosts joining the trend, it looks like unlimited plans may be poised to rule the roost for a while.

Along with bandwidth (the amount of data transferred due to traffic to your site) and storage (space used on a computer hard drive to hold your web pages) other unlimited features are often thrown into the deal. Especially, an increasing number of hosts are allowing unlimited domains per account. This means you can host yoursite1.com, yoursite2.com, and so on, without purchasing a separate plan for each. (Not to be confused with free domain names, which some hosts also provide.)

So, what does the current unlimited bandwidth trend mean for the consumer? Compared to the previous terabyte plans, the change is not as big as it may appear. The numbers are no longer counted, but it's likely that you're still getting approximately the same level of service. In essence, the new plans are saying, "Don't worry, if you have a typical web site suitable for shared hosting, we've got you covered." However, there are still practical limits on what you can accomplish with these plans; they simply aren't measured officially in terms of raw data transfer.

Here's how it works. Web hosting servers (computers that serve information to the internet) have finite capabilities, just like the computer you're using right now to view this page. When you buy a hosting plan, you are sharing a server with other accounts. Each account gets to use a portion of the server; some may use more and some less, but altogether the accounts will not exceed the server's capacity. Rather than looking at bandwidth per se, hosts will be looking at how much of a server's resources and speed are being used by a web site, whether the resource usage is caused by traffic, scripts, or other factors. As long as you don't cause problems for the server, you're fine. In a nutshell, this means you will have plenty of bandwidth for a typical website, but don't expect to give YouTube a run for its money on a low-cost shared hosting account.

Here are five major hosts with unlimited bandwidth plans:

BlueHost is offering one plan with unlimited transfer, storage, and domains.

HostGator features unlimited bandwidth and space, with unlimited domains on Baby and Business accounts.

HostMonster offers a single plan with unlimited bandwidth, storage, and domains.

InMotion Hosting has unlimited traffic and storage on its Business Class plans, with multiple domains.

Omnis Network features unlimited transfer, space, and domains, with plans for Linux and Windows.

* A terabyte is more than a thousand GB (gigabytes), or an amount of data equivalent to more than a trillion characters of text stored in ANSI format. For comparison, currently most desktop computer hard drives hold less than a terabyte.

Cartika introduces High Availability Linux clustered hosting

Clustered application hosting specialist Cartika Hosting has launched a unique new clustered hosting environment named HAL (High Availability Linux).

In press release quotes, CEO Andrew Rouchotas states that the system "is more reliable and robust then a dedicated server and solves the typical problems associated with shared hosting environments."

Among other advanced features, the new HAL plans offer higher bandwidth and storage space compared to the existing shared clustered hosting offerings: listed plans range from 250 GB to 1 terabyte of monthly bandwidth in an enterprise-level redundant and balanced environment designed for extremely high reliability, burstability, and scalability.

In other words, not your typical shared hosting plan.

Family-friendly web hosting options

When you purchase budget web hosting, you benefit from sharing the cost of a web server with other accounts. That's what makes it possible to have a full-featured web site of your own for only a few dollars per month.

But what other kinds of pages reside on that server along with yours? There are many people who would feel morally uncomfortable knowing that their web sites share server space with "adult" materials and support the same providers that host pornography. Others might be concerned about the technical issues involved and potential effects on the server.

If you count yourself among one of those groups and would like to make sure that your web pages are located on a family-friendly or non-adult server, I have good news. It's very easy to find a host that prohibits such content. The Terms of Service or Acceptable Use Policy is the logical place to look for this information, and there are plenty of companies with adult content restrictions.

However, you should not assume that a no-adult-content policy necessarily indicates a moral opposition to explicit materials. Sometimes this is indeed the case, and hosting policies are based on the owner's beliefs. The web hosting industry has created opportunities for a multitude of large and small businesses, and some of those entrepreneurs hold religious beliefs and/or moral convictions that influence their operations. But there are also other common and significant reasons for content restrictions.

From a web host's viewpoint, there are important technical considerations, such as the higher bandwidth and resource usage that adult sites typically generate. That means fewer customer accounts per server (leading to lower profits for the host unless these accounts pay higher fees) or else the resource usage can impact server performance. Adult sites may also invite unwelcome opposition from activists, cause servers to be blacklisted, offend other customers, and increase the risk of illegal content. Thus, adult and regular hosting are often viewed as different propositions, and many hosts prefer not to mix them.

This combination of reasons works well for the consumer, leading to plenty of choice for the family-friendly webmaster who wants to build his or her site in a neighborhood free of red-light districts. If you're on the lookout for relatively clean online turf, here are several popular hosts who provide limits on adult content.

(Remember, this list is based on the Terms of Service of the respective web hosts and does not imply a company's position on any moral issue; we're looking only at the practical results of the policies, and not at the reasoning behind them.)

BlueHost prohibits "pornography, nudity, sexual products, programs or services."

HostMonster does not allow pornography or nudity, and provides specific details on this policy: "Women must be wearing a top and bottom (not see through). Men must be wearing clothing on the bottom."

IPower prohibits "adult, obscene or pornographic materials."

Omnis Network states: "Sites containing adult material, links to adult material or adult-oriented merchandise are not permitted."

Pair Networks restricts adult-oriented sites, explaining: "we believe that adult content is not well-suited to shared hosting services."

StartLogic does not permit "adult, obscene or pornographic materials."

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