Loklo Media 3D Animation Blog

So – you need a website, and a domain, and have somehow narrowed the choice of domain provider and hosting solution down to either GoDaddy or Hostmonster.

My “authority” on the subject: I provide some web design services and I operate over a dozen of my own various sites.

So, here’s what I can share with you from my own personal experience with both.  Personally, and for Loklo Media, I use GoDaddy for my domains and deluxe hosting plan.

GoDaddy

I find that the “backend” controls are a bit confusing, but very powerful in what they allow and provide.  Recently the Deluxe hosting went from 1500MB (1.5 GB) of Bandwidth per month to Unlimited, which is awesome.  (I don’t use much bandwidth, and neither will you, unless you’re streaming movies, or offering several large files for public download consumption).  It also gives me 150 GB of storage.  Now, while it’s not “unlimited”, it’s still more than I’ll ever use.  And I use a lot.  The “average” website will normally use less than 100MB, with 1-2 databases.  But the deluxe plans allow me to host multiple sites (multiple domains) on the same plan.  So, as I said above, I’ve got about a dozen or more sites, but I don’t have to pay for extra hosting.  Just domain purchase and renewals.
I like my GoDaddy setup.  FTP works, and had I been more wise at the beginning of it all, I would have requested to have my account set up with SSH access instead of FTP.  I can still transfer over to a SSH account, but it means backing up all of my databases and transferring them, which I don’t want to do.  So I just live with FTP for now. (If it ain’t broke, don’t fix it).

Domain Sale! $7.49 .com at GoDaddy
$1.99 Web Hosting

Hostmonster

Hostmonster is great for the price… it’s low, and it’s “unlimited” (fine print says that unlimited is more of a loosely defined “lots”, and they say “within reason”).  Though you can have unlimited storage, bandwidth, subdomains, domains, emails, databases, etc.  Price for price, feature for feature, Hostmonster is a better deal than GoDaddy.  But I prefer GoDaddy’s backend over Hostmonster’s backend most of the time.

Hostmonster uses the fairly standard cPanel for backend control of features, stats, email, settings, etc.  This is nicer for the average user, and is easier to drill down and find the feature or setting you want to change.  But I find that it’s not as flexible once you want to make a change.  At least with DNS type stuff.

I personally don’t use Hostmonster, but it’s what I recommend for my clients – of course I always give them a choice, and let them have it in their (or their business) name.  So I’ve used it a fair amount.

Sign Up For Hostmonster Hosting and Free Domain

Arvixe

Arvixe provides Similar hosting as Both GoDaddy and Hostmonster, but with a slightly lower price – the difference being fewer allowed domains – the personal plan ‘only’ allows you 6 – otherwise, much else is the same.  The hosting is offered in multiple pricing tiers, depending on your needs. The average business will feel comfortable with the basic plans.  See the table below, then if it works, sign up for Arvixe Web Hosting and Domain.

* Just like a shoe sales person, Loklo Media receives commissions when purchases are made through the links above. *