Hosts

While I do not host, I thought I’d share my knowledge and experience of hosts.

Quick Price/Space Lowdown
Surpass: $60/year | 200 GB space | 2000 GB bandwidth | 10 add-on domains
Dreamhost: $119.40/year** | 500 GB space | 5 TB bandwidth | unlimited hosted domains
Holdfire: $40/year** | 4 GB | 125 GB bandwidth | 5 add-on domains OR custom plans starting at $12/year | 500 MB space | 5 GB bandwidth | 2 add-on domains

** promo codes available

Surpass and Dreamhost
Ah, yes, the two big hosts you’ve probably heard quite a bit about - including some horror stories. I was hosted under a friend’s reseller account at Surpass for two and a half years. The uptime was excellent and during my hacking fiasco a couple years back, they were quite to reply and help get things sorted out. Their most basic shared hosting plan is $60/year for 200 GB space / 2000 GB bandwidth / 10 add-on domains. That’s a lot of space, though, so unless you plan on 1) using it for yourself or to host friends/others, or 2) using your add-on domains, it may not be worth it.

If that’s an issue with you, Dreamhost may not be a good idea either. I have several friends who are hosted there and love it, and I am now hosted under a friend’s account now. Something to be aware of is that Surpass uses cPanel, which I love and find very nifty and easy to use, but Dreamhost has its own control panel. However, it is just as easy to use, albeit it does not have as many features. Anyways, Dreamhost has just one hosting plan - $119.40/year for 500 GB space / 5 TB / unlimited hosted domains. Again, that’s a lot of space, although it may be ideal for fansite owners. There are numerous promo codes that’ll get you $50 off though.

Holdfire
Holdfire has now been around for several years, and I find that they’ve proved to be a very reliable host. And their plans offer just the amount of space you’ll need! $40/year $20 the first year using promo code HOSTIGG for 4 GB space / 125 GB bandwidth / 5 add-on domains. (The promo code applies to any of the shared or reseller plans for a 50% one-time discount.) And if that even sounds like a lot to you, Holdfire also offers custom plans, starting at $12/year with 500 MB space / 5 GB bandwidth / 2 add-on domains (with VERY customizable upgrades).

Wondering how much space and bandwidth you really need? To give you an idea, I only use about 100 MB of space and 720 MB of bandwidth (these numbers include this blog, my fanlisting collective, and 27 fanlistings).

Just can’t afford hosting?
There are plenty of generous people out there who offer domain hosting. If you’re a very frequent member at a big message board, you could also try posting there and try to get hosted by someone who you might know somewhat well (if you worry about reliability). For fansites, I love Oranges Are Cool - they are very generous but relatively new. Of course, you probably already know of fan-sites.org or Elite Fan.

Or you can try one of these free domain hosts (or simply people who offer domain hosting for free) I’ve stumbled upon across the web:
- f.erocio.us
- InTheCrush.com
- Crash-Concept.org
- Artificial Night Hosting
- ForgottenMemories.org
- Or try Despair.nu’s Host Directory

I hope this may have been helpful. If you are offering free domain hosting, I’d be happy to link you here. However, I will not list any paid hosts that I have no experience with or have never heard of.