How We Rank and Review Web Hosts

What we evaluate

Every hosting provider we review is assessed against six criteria. These are the things that matter most to someone running a small business website, a side project, or a first-time blog in Africa.

Support quality. We look at available channels (live chat, ticket, phone), response times, and whether the answers are actually helpful. A host with 24/7 chat that gives copy-paste responses scores lower than one with business-hours support that solves real problems.

Pricing transparency. We check sign-up pricing, renewal pricing, and whether important features are included or upsold separately. Hosts that advertise low introductory rates but double the price on renewal get called out.

Ease of setup. How long does it take to go from purchase to a working website? We evaluate the control panel, WordPress installation process, and DNS management. A beginner should be able to get a site live without calling support.

Local performance. For African websites serving African visitors, server location matters. We prioritise hosts with datacentres in South Africa or Nigeria over those routing traffic through Europe or the US.

Backups, SSL, and security. We check whether automated backups are included or charged extra, how often they run, and whether you can restore them yourself. Free SSL certificates should be standard in 2026 — we note when they are not.

Email hosting. Many small businesses need professional email addresses. We assess how many mailboxes are included, whether there are sending limits, and whether email is bundled or an add-on.

What we don't do

We do not fabricate speed tests, uptime percentages, or benchmark scores. You will never see "in our tests, this host scored 99.7% uptime" on this site because we have not run those tests.

Instead, we rely on publicly available information, official provider websites, and the general reputation each host has built over time. When we describe a host as reliable or fast, we use language like "known for" or "reputation for" — not made-up numbers.

We do not accept payment for rankings. A host cannot pay to be listed first. Our affiliate disclosure explains how we earn money and why it does not affect the order of our recommendations.

How affiliate relationships work

Some links on this site are affiliate links. When you click one and make a purchase, we may earn a commission at no extra cost to you. This is how we fund the site — writing, researching, and keeping pages current.

Our affiliate partnership does not determine rankings. If a non-partner host is genuinely better for a specific use case, we say so. You can read the full details on our affiliate disclosure page.

How often we update

We aim to review and refresh every page on the site every three to six months. Hosting providers change their pricing, plans, and features regularly, and we want our recommendations to reflect what is actually available today.

When a page is updated, the "last updated" date at the top of each page reflects the most recent review. If you notice something outdated, we welcome feedback.

You can see our current recommendations for South Africa and Nigeria.