How We Test Web Hosting: Our Full Methodology

Every rating and recommendation on Host Reviewers is based on independent testing, not on marketing claims or commission rates. This page explains exactly how we test, what we measure, how we score, and how often we retest — so you can judge the reliability of our recommendations for yourself.

What We Test

We open a real, paid hosting account with every provider we review — we do not rely on free trials, sandbox environments or vendor-supplied data. Each account is tested across five core categories:

1. Speed (weighted 25%)

We install a standard WordPress test site with common plugins and a realistic image-heavy homepage on each host, then measure page load time using GTmetrix and Pingdom from multiple global testing locations. We record the average across at least 10 test runs taken over several days to smooth out short-term network variance.

2. Uptime (weighted 25%)

Marketing pages routinely claim “99.9% uptime guarantees” that are rarely independently verified. We run our own 24/7 uptime monitors on every host we review using UptimeRobot, checking availability at regular intervals around the clock. The uptime percentages published in our reviews come directly from this live monitoring data, not from provider claims. We publish a monthly uptime report summarising real monitoring data across every host we track.

3. Support quality (weighted 20%)

We contact each provider’s live chat, email and (where available) phone support with real technical questions of varying difficulty, and record response time, resolution accuracy and overall helpfulness. A fast response to a wrong answer scores lower than a slower, correct one.

4. Features and usability (weighted 15%)

We verify every advertised feature actually exists and works inside a real account — free SSL, one-click WordPress installs, staging environments, backup frequency and control panel usability are all checked hands-on rather than taken from the provider’s feature list.

5. Pricing transparency (weighted 15%)

We record both the advertised introductory price and the actual renewal price, since renewal pricing is often two to five times the headline rate. Our comparison tables always show real long-term cost, not just the number used to attract new customers.

How We Score

Each category is scored out of 5, then combined using the weights above into a final rating out of 5. A host with excellent speed and uptime but poor support will score noticeably lower than a host that performs well and consistently across all five categories — we do not let one strong metric mask others.

How Often We Retest

Hosting infrastructure changes — providers upgrade hardware, change data centre locations, or quietly cut support staffing. We retest every reviewed host at least once per quarter, and our uptime monitoring runs continuously rather than as a one-time snapshot. Review pages display a “Last tested” date so you always know how current the data is.

What We Do Not Do

• We do not rank a host higher because it pays a higher commission.
• We do not publish a rating for a host we have not personally tested. Where we reference a provider’s own published data (for example on a new comparison page), we label it clearly as researched rather than lab-tested.
• We do not accept payment in exchange for a specific review score.
• We do not hide a provider’s real weaknesses to protect an affiliate relationship — every review includes a “Who should not use this host” section.

Corrections and Updates

Pricing, features and performance change. If you find outdated or inaccurate information anywhere on this site, we want to know — contact us here and we will investigate and correct it.

See also: About Host Reviewers | Affiliate Disclosure | Monthly Uptime Reports