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Trust & Transparency

How We Test, Score, and Rank Every Host

Six independent criteria. A 90-day testing window. Six global probe locations. Quarterly recalculations. Zero paid placements. Here's exactly what goes into every ranking on this site — including the parts most review sites won't talk about.

90days
Minimum testing window
6
Independent criteria
6
Global probe locations
0
Paid placements ever

The Six Scoring Criteria

Six independent criteria, weighted to total 100%. Each provider gets a 0–10 score in each category; the final ranking is the weighted average. Tap any card to see what we measure and what a perfect score looks like.

01

Performance

25%

What we measure

Time-to-first-byte (TTFB) and full-page load time, measured every 5 minutes from six global locations: New York, London, Frankfurt, Singapore, São Paulo, and Sydney. Each provider runs an identical WordPress test workload (Twenty Twenty-Four theme + 30 sample posts + 1 woocommerce product) on a comparable mid-tier plan, so all numbers are directly comparable.

Why it matters

A 1-second page-load delay reduces conversions by up to 7% (Akamai). For ecommerce sites, this is the single criterion that most directly affects revenue.

A perfect 10

TTFB under 200ms from all 6 cities, full load under 1.5s, no degradation under load.

02

Support Quality

20%

What we measure

Live-chat and ticket response times tested across business hours and overnight, in English and Arabic where the provider claims Arabic support. We grade on three axes: time-to-first-response, time-to-resolution, and whether the answer was actually correct (not just polite). Test scenarios include "site is down", "billing dispute", and one technical question that requires real expertise.

Why it matters

When something breaks at 2am, fast and accurate support is what separates real managed hosting from cheap shared plans with token chat windows.

A perfect 10

Live response under 60 seconds 24/7, technical answers correct on first try, no scripted deflection.

03

Uptime Reliability

20%

What we measure

Independent third-party uptime monitor (UptimeRobot or equivalent) pings the test installation every 60 seconds for the full 90-day window. We exclude scheduled maintenance windows that the provider announced 24 hours in advance. We report raw uptime percentage, count of unscheduled outages, and longest single outage duration.

Why it matters

Headline uptime claims like "99.9%" sound great until you realize they allow ~9 hours of downtime per year. Real-world numbers vary wildly even between providers with identical SLAs.

A perfect 10

99.99% measured uptime over 90 days with zero outages longer than 3 minutes.

04

Security Features

15%

What we measure

Free SSL coverage (one cert vs. unlimited), DDoS protection, malware scanning, daily off-site backups with one-click restore, isolated containers vs. shared environments, two-factor authentication on the control panel, and how transparently the provider handles breach disclosure historically. Providers that hide breaches or charge extra for basic security primitives lose points heavily.

Why it matters

A single security incident can cost a small business its entire customer database. The host is the last line of defense when an admin clicks the wrong email.

A perfect 10

All security primitives included for free, automatic daily backups with 30-day retention, transparent post-incident reporting.

05

Pricing Transparency & Value

10%

What we measure

Up-front clarity of introductory and renewal pricing, refund-policy fairness (30-day money-back is standard, less is a deduction), hidden fees on signup or domain transfer, and dollar-for-dollar value at the entry tier. We compare advertised vs. actual checkout totals and flag any provider where the price triples on renewal without prominent disclosure.

Why it matters

A cheap headline price that triples on renewal scores worse than an honest mid-priced plan. The total 3-year cost is what users actually pay.

A perfect 10

Renewal price ≤ 1.5× intro price, all fees disclosed pre-checkout, 30+ day money-back guarantee honored without friction.

06

Ease of Use

10%

What we measure

Onboarding flow quality (time to first working WordPress site), control panel design (hPanel, cPanel, custom dashboards), one-click installer coverage for popular apps, and the documentation's usefulness when something genuinely breaks. Tested by a non-technical user as well as a developer to capture both audiences.

Why it matters

For most buyers, the difference between "I'll deal with this myself" and "I need to hire someone" comes down to control-panel quality and docs.

A perfect 10

WordPress site live in under 10 minutes from purchase, control panel intuitive enough that non-developers don't need to call support.

How the Final Score Is Calculated

No black box. Here's the literal formula and a worked example so you can verify any score on the site.

Final Score = (P × 0.25) + (S × 0.20) + (U × 0.20) + (Sec × 0.15) + (Pr × 0.10) + (E × 0.10)

P=Performance, S=Support, U=Uptime, Sec=Security, Pr=Pricing, E=Ease. Each variable is the 0–10 score for that criterion.

Worked example

Hypothetical provider X scored:

Criterion Score Weight Contribution
Performance 8.5 25% 2.125
Support Quality 9.0 20% 1.800
Uptime Reliability 9.8 20% 1.960
Security Features 7.5 15% 1.125
Pricing Transparency & Value 8.0 10% 0.800
Ease of Use 9.0 10% 0.900
Final Score 8.71 / 10

The Testing Process

Every provider goes through these four stages before any score appears on the site.

  1. 01

    Signup as a real customer

    We pay full retail price for a mid-tier plan using a personal email and a real credit card. No comp'd accounts, no special treatment. The provider doesn't know we're testing them — the experience is what any paying customer would get.

  2. 02

    Deploy the standard test workload

    Identical WordPress installation: Twenty Twenty-Four theme, 30 sample posts, 1 WooCommerce product, 5 plugins. Every provider runs the same workload so performance numbers are directly comparable.

  3. 03

    90-day measurement window

    Performance probed every 5 minutes from 6 cities. Uptime monitored every 60 seconds. Support tested with at least 3 tickets across business hours and overnight. Pricing and policy disclosures audited at signup, day 30, day 60, and day 90.

  4. 04

    Score, peer-review, publish

    Raw numbers go to a second editor who scores independently and compares. Disagreements over 0.5 points trigger a re-test of the affected criterion. Only after consensus does the score get published — and it's recalculated every 90 days from scratch.

What We Don't Do

Most hosting review sites won't talk about the practices below. We don't engage in any of them.

  • Accept payment to manipulate rankings. Affiliate commissions are disclosed but never affect scores. A provider can't buy a higher position.
  • Fabricate or solicit fake reviews. User reviews are verified-purchase only. We don't buy them, generate them, or accept them in exchange for free hosting.
  • Cherry-pick favorable test windows. The 90-day window is fixed before testing begins. We don't end early when results look good or extend when they don't.
  • Hide the criteria a provider scored low on. Every review shows the breakdown, including the criteria where the provider underperformed. Top-line scores never hide weaknesses.
  • Recommend hosts we wouldn't use ourselves. If a host scores below 6.0/10 on average, we don't feature it as a recommendation regardless of commission rate. The rankings list shows the data; the recommendations show the result.
  • Test on free or upgraded plans. Every test plan is paid with a personal credit card at retail price. We don't accept comp'd accounts, journalist trials, or "professional reviewer" upgrades.

Frequently Asked Questions

Do you make money from these reviews?

Yes. We earn affiliate commissions when readers sign up via our links. Every commercial relationship is disclosed on the relevant page. The commission rate doesn't affect ranking — a host that pays a higher commission can rank below one that pays nothing if their scores are lower.

How often are scores updated?

Quarterly. Every score is fully re-tested every 90 days from scratch — not just adjusted. Major incidents (security breach, sustained outage, leadership/policy change) trigger an immediate off-cycle review regardless of where we are in the quarter.

Can a hosting company request to be added or removed?

Companies can submit themselves for review and we'll add them if they meet the basic eligibility criteria (active for 12+ months, public pricing, and a customer-facing brand). We don't accept removal requests; if a provider's score drops, the page updates — it doesn't disappear.

What if I disagree with a score?

Submit verified feedback through the per-review feedback form. If you're a customer with documented evidence (screenshots, support transcripts, billing records), we re-test the affected criterion within 14 days. If the evidence holds up, we update the score and credit the source publicly.

Why six criteria, not more?

Each additional criterion below 5% weight adds noise without adding signal — readers can't hold seven dimensions in their head and decision quality drops. We tested 4-, 6-, and 8-criterion versions of this methodology and 6 produced the best balance of granularity and clarity.

Are the test workloads public?

The exact configuration (theme, posts, plugins, server-test scripts) is published on the methodology repo and updated whenever it changes. Any provider can clone it, deploy locally, and verify our numbers — and several have.

Do you test for Arabic-market suitability specifically?

Yes. Performance probes include Cairo and Riyadh as additional cities (beyond the standard 6). Support is tested in Arabic where the provider claims Arabic support, and we score the Arabic experience separately if it's materially different from the English one. Hosts with no Arabic support don't get penalized — they just don't get the bonus.

See the Rankings in Action

Now that you know how the scores are built, browse the full list of providers ranked by overall performance.

View Hosting Rankings

Disagree With a Score?

Submit verified feedback. If your evidence holds up, we re-test within 14 days and update the score publicly.

Submit Feedback

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