Head-to-Head Comparison, iPowerWeb and Hostrocket.

THE REVIEW
What we spent
Because we are talking about "budget" here, we really ought to start our comparison with a look at the hard costs. iPowerweb comes out on top since their basic plan is just $7.95 a month, paid annually, while Hostrocket's "economy" plan is $9.95 if you pay for two years. We always go with the cheapest plan, but want to be sure we can get our money back if the host doesn't measure up. iPowerWeb gives you a 30-day guarantee, while Hostrocket offers 14 days to check it out.

What we didn't get
It used to be we didn't expect much with a free host, but now that we have to shell out hard cash we're pretty picky about what we get. First of all, we want our pages ad-free, and of course that is the biggest benefit to paid hosting. Those pesky banners, and the downright annoying pop-ups are a thing of the past with both these hosts. We control our own content, which is the way it should be.

What we got
It's pretty easy to compare apples to apples when looking at web hosting features, since most paid hosting plans offer similar features. Both iPowerWeb and Hostrocket come with a substantial amount of web space, with iPowerWeb now getting the edge due to their 500mb disk allotment compared to Hostrocket's 350mb. Either way it's more than enough for most web sites especially since they both allow 30 gigabytes of monthly bandwidth. Both provide plenty of POP3 email accounts and full FTP, so that's pretty much a wash. You can expect FrontPage support from any paid host, plus perks like Perl, CGI, Mysql, and web based stats. You'll find all of that and a long list of other features with both these hosts.

A big advantage
One area where many hosts differ greatly is in providing domain names. Everyone who is serious about their website needs a top level domain name. To make it easier to get one, some web hosts are now providing name registration services or domain transfers as part of the hosting package. iPowerWeb gives you a top level domain name for free, which is a big advantage. Hostrocket provides domain registration too but you must pay extra for it.

Customer support
Obviously since we already have a little web experience we didn't need a lot of customer support. But when there is a problem, like the web host is down, we expect a quick response from the support team letting us know what is going on, and giving us assurance that our precious web site is still there. We feel like iPowerWeb does a better job in this area, and letters from many other users confirm our conclusion.

The Verdict
Although both hosts offer similar features at a great price, in the end it came down to customer support and ease of use. We have to give iPowerWeb a definite edge in this area as they readily responded to our queries and gave us that comfortable feeling that all was being taken care of and somebody was actually at their post keeping watch over the whole business 24/7. That factor, plus the killer $7.95 price, no setup fee, and free domain name gave iPowerWeb the nod as our top pick of the month.

Visit Hostrocket

Visit iPowerWeb

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