With my experience in internet security and web services, I’m often asked for recommendations for reliable web hosting options.

The answer for this very much depends on the kind of website you’re running and the kind of web hosting you need.

Small website on a shared server or VPS

The number of options for shared hosting is just about endless and providers are a dime a dozen. But this is why you need to know which ones are truly reliable and trustworthy and not fly-by-night scam operations.

1. HostGator

HostGator is a terrific host I’ve used over the last many years. Their uptime is outstanding and 24/7 support is second to none. They do shared, cloud, VPS and also reseller hosting with a 99.9% uptime and 45-day money back guarantee. To make it even better, you can get an active HostGator coupon to get your entire first month for just 1 cent so you don’t have anything to lose. HostGator Experts is a good resource for information on using this highly recommended host.

2. DreamHost

I have been using DreamHost on and off for the better part of a decade. The three things I can tell you are very consistent about them is the uptime guarantee, reliability and the support. Along with a very efficient up-the-chain ticket system, there is also live chat support for quick questions or inevitable emergencies. But their best feature is their little known about refund policy that lets you use their service for 97 days and still get your full money back for any reason whatsoever.

3. Namecheap

Namecheap is the newest entrant in the field but man do they provide a great value. In fact, the their hosting starts at $10 for a full YEAR of service! That includes 20 GB of SSD disk space, unlimited bandwidth and hosting for up to 3 websites in your account. They have 100% uptime guarantee SLA with an extremely helpful staff.

4. 1&1

1&1 has been around for years and, while they’ve always been known for their fantastic support, they’ve now recently added rock-solid scalable website hosting to their catalog. Even better, they also offer a 1and1 99 cent hosting discount to get started.

You really can’t go wrong with any four of these. But what if your needs won’t fit into a shared hosting account? Let’s look at the second option.

Large website on a dedicated server

If you have a larger website that needs dedicated resources, I highly recommend a dedicated server. Actually, with the prices now, it doesn’t even have to be expensive. They’re really quite affordable now and the added benefit is that you control the entire box. You can typically find a dependable dedicated server at Dreamhost starting for under $50 all the way up to the high end servers. I have used them and can vouch for the uptime. I’ve now been with them for 6 months with not one instance of a network outage.

Namecheap also offers dedicated servers starting at $58.88 / month but we have a Namecheap dedicated server coupon for 25% off that will bring your cost down to a wicked $44.16 for a Xeon E3-1220 v3 with 4 Cores running at 3.1 GHz with 8 GB DDR3 RAM, 500 GB HDD and 10 TB bandwidth.

You can also see our DreamHost dedicated server review. Although, I should mention that I didn’t include it here because the price is slightly higher.