“Unlimited.” When shopping for a shared web hosting service, it’s a popular word used frequently to describe a company’s selling points — in particular, “unlimited disk space and bandwidth.” In light of today’s web sites becoming more sophisticated, increasingly more and more businesses and individuals are turning to web hosting companies that provide unlimited disk space and bandwidth.

But what does “unlimited” really mean? Can a web hosting provider truly provide “unlimited” resources? And do you really need it? Let’s take a look at some key points, as well as a few recommended web hosting providers, to consider when shopping for unlimited disk space and bandwidth:

What does disk space and bandwidth have to do with my website?
Every website is made up of files. These files may be a collection of HTML pages, images, videos, audio, and databases. They can also contain email accounts, access logs, and installed programs or scripts. “Bandwidth” and “disk space” are terms that relate to how these files are stored and how your users access these files.

What is unlimited disk space? And why does it matter?
If you are going to be providing content — and every website does — you are going to need a place in the virtual world to store it. “Disk space” refers to the amount of hard disk space needed on a web hosting company’s server to store these files.

The amount of storage required depends on the type of site you plan to support. Unless you have huge audio video files on your website, unlimited data space may not be a necessity. Regardless, the advantage of going with a web hosting service that provides unlimited disk space is that you won’t have to worry about running out of disk space as the website grow.

What is unlimited bandwidth? And why does it matter?
“Bandwidth” refers to the amount of data that is sent back and forth from your website. Every time you access a website, you are downloading a file — it could be an HTML page, an image, an audio file, or a video file. With every file that is downloaded, data is transferred.

Bandwidth is one of the hardest factors to predict when choosing a shared hosting solution. How much data is transferred depends on the size of the file. Videos, music, and database-driven web applications are all examples of types of content that are typically large file sizes and — as your web traffic increases — require more bandwidth.

The additional costs some web hosting providers charge for exceeding your bandwidth allocation can really add up. Choosing a provider that offers unlimited bandwidth can provide you with the peace of mind to offer any kind of content you wish to as many visitors as you want.

Can a web hosting company truly provide “unlimited” resources?
While no web host can provide infinite bandwidth each month, providers who offer “unlimited” disk space and bandwidth are well-equipped to provide more than enough disk space and bandwidth for the average website. As long as your website’s disk space and bandwidth usage are similar to other small business and personal websites, you won’t have to worry about running out.

What unlimited web hosting providers do you recommend?
There are a number of plans out there who offer unlimited disk space and bandwidth, including all three of BigHosts’ top-ranked hosting companies:

1. iPage Web Hosting
2. Webhostinghub
3. JustHost Web Hosting

To learn more about these and other great web hosting providers, visit our Top 10 Web Hosting List.

With so many hosting companies out there these days – and so little time to make sense of which service might be the best hosting provider for you, it’s easy to get confused. To assist you in making your decision, this post compares the features and benefits of WebHostingHub, one the industry’s newest, with JustHost, one of the industry’s most popular web hosting companies.

Features and services:
JustHost has an established reputation for providing a wide variety of robust features and services that few other companies match. It offers all of the “unlimiteds” (unlimited disk space, unlimited data transfer, unlimited domain hosting, unlimited emails, unlimited MYSQL databases), plus a lot of freebies (free site domain name, free instant set up, free marketing credits for Google AdWords and Yahoo/MSN search that can be used to drive more traffic to your website).

WebHostingHub offers all of these features, too, plus an easy to use site builder tool and free trials to a variety of great services that can help make your website more effective in getting traffic and building relationships online. If you’re an existing website owner, its “no-downtime” transfer process is worth checking out. This allows customers to access a temporary URL to upload files, create email accounts, and make sure everything is working correctly before transferring the domain.

Price:
Both WebHostingHub and JustHost are competitively priced and offer reliable, top quality service. However if you feel more comfortable agreeing to a shorter contract, JustHost might be the better bet. WebHostingHub charges as little as $3.95 a month for a 36-month contract, whereas with JustHost, you’ll pay $3.75 regardless of whether you choose a 12, 24, 36, or 48 month contract.

Ease of use:
When it comes to managing and monitoring your site, cPanel is the interface of choice for WebHostingHub and JustHost. The icon-driven interface is the industry standard in web hosting control panels. It is easy-to-use and easy to learn, allowing you to do everything from review traffic statistics to add new e-mail accounts using the same control panel.

Guarantee:
WebHostingHub is backed by a 90-day full money back guarantee – it’s one of the best guarantees in the industry. If at any point during your three months of service you decide that hosting service isn’t for you, they will give you a complete refund. It’s just that simple. In comparison, JustHost offers a 30-day guarantee.

Conclusion
When it comes to choosing a reliable and affordable web hosting company, both WebHostingHub and JustHost are both smart options. WebHostingHub makes it incredibly easy to get up and running online, while JustHost offers the diverse features and flexibility that many web sites managers desire. Regardless of which service and plan you choose, we hope you find this comparison helpful and wish you success with your web hosting venture.

HostMonster and JustHost are two of the biggest names in web hosting companies. Easy to use and affordable – both services offer similar features and benefits, making the task of choosing between the two a little tricky. While both hosting companies are smart choices, there are some distinct differences that should help you choose the one that is right for your website.

Compare HostMonster & JustHost on Our Expanded Comparison Chart

Pricing
With regard to pricing, JustHost costs slightly less than HostMonster. For a two to three-year contract, JustHost charges $2.95 a month when you use the 50OFF coupon code. Plus, regardless of what contract length you choose, there are NO set up charges and a free domain number is always included. In comparison, if you choose a 24-month contract at HostMonster, it will cost $3.95 a month. While there is typically also a $30.00 set-up fee and $10.00 domain registration charge, both are waived if you choose a 12, 24, or 36-month contract.

Update: In February 2011, HostMonster changed its minimum contract to 1 year and now charges $4.50/month whether you purchase a 1, 2 or 3 year contract. There are no set-up fees and a free domain still comes with every package. If price is your primary concern, BigHosts.com is one of the only places where you can purchase JustHost.com for only $2.95/month!

Features
Many features of the two web hosting companies are the same. Both JustHost and HostMonster use cPanel, the most popular web hosting control panel out there. Both services offer Fantastico and a wide selection of free software and scripts; allowing you to start a blog, build your own e-commerce enabled website for small business, conduct polls and surveys, build a forum, and much more.

One key difference is that JustHost is designed to allow you to easily accept PayPal payments, where HostMonster is not. However it is still possible to set up this functionality through PayPal.

Both plans offer unlimited domain names and email accounts per contract, have shopping cart capabilities, spam filters, streaming audio/video options, and MySQL databases. FrontPage extensions allow you to customize your website with both companies. Both also offer basically unlimited bandwidth and disk space.

Security
JustHost and HostMonster pride themselves in employing industry best practices to ensure optimal security. Both use SSL and encryption to secure any information exchanged between your customers and your website. HostMonster also provides SSH or Secure Shell Access, which means you have a secure channel to use when making changes to your site. This feature is also available with JustHost for an additional $19.95/year.

Customer Service
Customer service is a critical component of a web hosting service – both JustHost and HostMonster have strong reputations for fast and friendly support. Both companies offer 24/7 phone support, email support and live chat. HostMonster guarantees a wait time of two minutes or less for phone support and all HostMonster calls are handled within the United States. For self-help customers, JustHost offers a video tutorials library for customers to access to try to fix issues on their own – a service not provided by HostMonster.

Bonuses
Both companies offer bonuses to new contracts. HostMonster offers $75 in free search engine advertising credits, as well as free domain name for life, free set up (with two-year or longer plan), and free domain privacy service. JustHost offers a free domain name, free set-up, and $50 in advertising credits. Both offer a no-questions-asked 30-day money back guarantee. JustHost backs up their service with a 99.9% uptime guarantee – if not, you’ll receive a free month of hosting.

Conclusion
HostMonster and JustHost both offer reliable, secure web hosting with excellent customer service. The main differences are the difference in price and set up costs when choosing shorter contracts. Use these factors to help you make your decision as you choose between these two top 10 web hosting companies.

Setting up a website is not always the most affordable thing you could do. First you have to design it, which might cost you something if you are not yourself a designer. Then you have to buy a domain name. Finally, you have to host the site. One way you can save a little money is to get your web hosting through one of the top domain hosts. Not only are most of the top hosting companies the cheapest out there, but most of them also offer a free domain name.

Compare Top 10 Web Hosting & Free Domain Names

Why They Do This

The main reason that web hosting providers offer free domain names with their packages is competition. If the competition is offering this and one particular company is not, you will likely move on. There is simply too little difference between the various providers for you to be willing to lose out on a freebie like this.

The other reason is to get customers. Offering a free domain name is a huge marketing point. They can offer it as a “free gift,” drawing customers in.

Finally, because these web hosting companies register so many domain names each year, they can get a great rate on the registration and renewal. The cost to them is much lower than it would be to you, so in the end both you and the host win. They win because they get your business, and you win because you do not have to pay for your domain name.

Which Company to Choose

Almost all of the top web hosting companies offer a free domain name. You will need to choose the company that best meets your other needs, looking at factors like what type of service they offer (U.S. based or not), the amount of space and bandwidth you will get, the other built in features, and, of course, the price. HostMonster, one of the top-rated web hosting providers, offers a free domain name. So does FatCow, which is known for its excellent price, and JustHost, which is currently running a special making it one of the cheapest options out there.

Free Domain for Life?

One feature to look for as you shop for a web hosting company is the offer of a free domain name for life. This means that you will never pay for your domain name, even if you change providers. The domain registration is taken care of. This will give you the flexibility to shop for a different web hosting company if your needs change or you find one that has a better offer.

Read the Fine Print

Remember, you might have to register for a contract of a certain length to get the free domain name. Always read the fine print before you sign up for web hosting assuming that you will have a particular freebie. If a company requires a two-year contract for a particular price or a free domain name, make sure it has the right products and services for your current and future needs. This will ensure that you are happy with the service for the entirety of your contract.

It’s simple – just click on the “Big Deal” graphic at the top of this page and use coupon code “50off”

As a website owner, you want fast, reliable, secure web hosting services for your website. You might be thinking that you will have to pay significantly for this service. JustHost provides a reliable, feature-packed web hosting plan, at a much lower price than the competition.

Read the full Justhost.com Review

The Pricing

JustHost has a monthly cost of $5.95. With this plan you do not have to sign a contract that locks you into the host for an extended period of time. However, this is not necessarily an affordable choice, especially when you can get a plan with a fairly short contract for much less money elsewhere.

JustHost also offers 6 and 12 month plans. The 6-month plan is $3.95 per month, and the 12 month plan is $3.49 per month. Again, this does not give you much savings over the other plans out there. The real affordability hits when you purchase a 24 month or longer contract. Then the price can be as low as $2.95 per month.

JustHost is a little tricky, though. When you go to the website, these are not the prices you will see. If you want the prices mentioned above, even the $5.95 for the monthly contract, you need to enter the coupon code 50OFF when you sign up. Move quickly too, because these prices may be a limited time offer. Also, the $2.95 per month for the two to three year contracts is a special pricing being offered right now, but not highly advertised. Use the coupon code (50OFF) and you will see it when you sign up.

Hidden Fees

Some of the other “affordable” web hosting companies will offer a low monthly cost, but they will charge other fees. You will pay for your domain name, set-up, and other steps along the way as you get your website up and running. This is not the case with JustHost. JustHost charges no set-up fee, includes the domain name purchase in the price of the plan, and has no other hidden fees. You simply pay your monthly amount as agreed, and you have hosting.

Comparative Hosting

Maybe you think that getting hosting this cheap will compromise the product. If you need something very specific from your host, JustHost may not work, but for most website owners it has everything they need. It uses the popular cPanel user control panel, allows for Front Page extensions, has Fantastico, offers PayPal support, and supports several languages. JustHost is a fairly comprehensive website hosting provider. They even offer a few freebies to new customers, such as a free domain name for life and $50 in free search engine credits.

Guarantees

JustHost gives a 99.9 percent uptime guarantee to all of its customers. Also, they offer a money back guarantee. If you are unhappy with the service at anytime, not just in the first 30 days, you will get a full refund for your remaining contract. Finally, you have the guarantee that you will always talk to a real person when you call the support number. In general, it is an excellent plan with a good price.

JustHost is frequently rated as one of the best new web hosts on the Internet. In fact, in 2009 it won the Top New Web Host award form BigHosts.com. What makes this host so unique? Here are the top ten reasons to buy web hosting from JustHost.com

Read the full Justhost.com Review

1 – Price

At just $2.95 per month, JustHost.com’s price is hard to beat. If you apply a coupon code (50OFF) you can get a two or three year contract for $2.95 per month. If you want to pay monthly you will pay more ($5.95 per month) but regardless there is no setup fee, even for the month-to-month payment option.

2 – Reliability

Server down time costs you money, so JustHost.com offers 99.9% uptime, and this is guaranteed. They use load balancing technology, backbone connections, and backup servers to ensure that websites stay live.

3 – Support

When you have a problem with or question about your JustHost.com account, you can call, send an online ticket or email, or use the live chat help feature. This ensures that no matter what time of day it is, you can get help. You also get access to around 200 video tutorials.

4 – Ease of Use

JustHost is very easy to use. It employs the cPanel control panel, which most agree is the easiest to navigate. Even ordering the hosting service is simple, with straightforward order forms. With Fantastico, Front Page extensions, and MySQL database capabilities, the website is easily customized as well.

5 – Features

Features available with a JustHost.com account include support for a variety of languages, shopping cart capabilities, a spam filter, PayPal support, unlimited email accounts per domain, blogging software, webmail capabilities, and website statistics.

6 – Space

JustHost.com offers unlimited disk space, which technically means it is large enough for a website that uses 20 megabytes or less of space. Larger sites are typically better served with dedicated hosting.

7 – Bandwidth
JustHost.com offers “unlimited” bandwidth. This means that sites that use 10 gigabytes of bandwidth per month (or less) can be supported by the host’s infrastructure.

8 – Security

This web hosting company encrypts all data exchanged between a website and any customers. The servers are stored in secure building and have security protocol built into the network. You can manage your website using SSH for an additional $19.95 per year.

9 – Free Items

With your account, you receive a free domain name, which is free for life. If you choose to change hosts at some point, our domain name is not stuck with JustHost.com. You can take it with you. You also receive unlimited email addresses. Currently, JustHost.com is offering a $50 credit for search engine marketing for new signups. The website builder is also free, and it comes stocked with many excellent design templates. Every account gets access to a free script library, including scripts like phpBB, Joomla, osCommerce, and WordPress.

10 – Customer Satisfaction

JustHost.com has a no-questions-asked guarantee. If you are not satisfied with the service, you can cancel at any time, and you will be refunded the remainder of your contract, minus any domain registration fees the company paid on your behalf.