HostScore FAQs - How HostScore Works

1. What is HostScore really?

HostScore™ is our proprietary calculation indicating the service quality of a web hosting service.

The final result of HostScore is made up of a weighted sum of factors which heavily influence the quality of a web host. The combination includes priceScore, perfScore, featScore, supportScore, and uxScore – which is our scoring for a hosting provider in pricing, performance, features, customer support, and overall user experience.

2. Does Highest HostScore mean a web host is best for my website?

Not necessarily.

Different websites have different needs. HostScore is effective in judging the overall quality of a web host in terms of server performance, various essential features, and general user’s experience. However, it doesn’t consider the particular needs of certain types of users. Please refer to our guide in the “Choose” category for more detailed recommendations.

3. Why does uptime have the highest weight in HostScore calculation?

Uptime is the amount of time which a web hosting service is accessible. It reflects on the reliability of the service – an important part of overall quality.

We place great emphasis on “Uptime” because of the massive implications possible when a site goes down. These implications surpass mere inconvenience and can result in potential consequences ranging from loss of financial opportunity to brand damage.

Nothing is more important than having a 24×7 operating web host so your users can reach your website at anytime from anywhere they want. Having the fastest server in the world means little unless the server can be reached.

4. Why is Host X running on 100% uptime but gets a poor rating?

There are a number of possibilities why a host may score poorly even if they are running on 100% uptime;

They may perform badly in terms of speed. Server response speed carries significant weight in our perfScore calculation. Speed is measured from 10 locations worldwide, a host will need to match our benchmark from all these locations to get a good score in speed.
Poor user experience. We use AI system to monitor overall user feedbacks across the Internet. A web host that has poor or very few user reviews in platforms like G2 and TrustPilot will have relatively lower ratings in our uxScore calculation.
Lack of common features. Our featScore consider the typical features you can get in the market. For example, if most providers are offering free SSL in their shared packages and Host X does not – then this will cause its ratings to drop drastically.

5. I spotted a mistake on your website, what can I do?

While we endeavor to provide information which is as accurate as possible, there may from time to time be errors. For this we apologies and would deeply appreciate if you would kindly use this contact form to inform us so we can rectify the errors as soon as possible.

6. How often is your data updated?

Our HostScore data and web host listings are updated at the beginning of every month.

7. How can I add my company to HostScore.net; how much does it cost?

Listing on HostScore.net is free of charge. We will, however, require quite a number of details about your service from you.

HostScore FAQs – How HostScore Works