Technologies

Best Web Hosting Providers: A2Hosting, HostGator and More

We compared some of the most popular web hosting services so you don’t have to.

There are a lot of great reasons to start your own website. Whether you’re looking to create your own blog, kick off a side hustle or build a portfolio, there’s no better time than right now to build a website. It’s an exciting process, too. Picking your own personal design to represent yourself is one of the many exhilarating parts of building your new website. However, there’s a lot more to it than just clicking around and hitting save when you’re happy.

First off, you need to have an idea for what your site should contain or be about, and you have to choose a company to house your website. The number of web hosting services can be confusing and the choice can be hard. So we looked over the data for 22 web hosting services to make things a little easier on you.

You can read more about our criteria for web hosting services, including how we assess security and customer support, and you can check out important web hosting terms to know.

Note: Pricing for web hosting is a bit tricky to follow. Listed prices are generally introductory rates attached to contracts that usually last a year or more and renew at the regular (higher) rate at contract’s end. Make sure to take regular rates into account when trying to figure out a long-term hosting provider. You can also see our recommendations for how web hosting providers should advertise their prices.

Other web hosting services to consider

These services don’t offer one of the three hosting options, don’t include sufficient security features, an uptime guarantee or have some limited customer service options. The following services aren’t as robust as our top picks, but they’re still reasonable offerings.

Dreamhost
Hostinger
SiteGround
GoDaddy
HostPapa
Hostwinds
Bluehost
Glowhost
iPage
Mochahost
WebHostingPad

More web hosting services we looked at

Most of these services specialize in one type of hosting, like shared or WordPress, which means they’re not the best if you plan to grow your site. They also tend to be missing some security features and customer support options. However, they could be right for you and your needs if you have specific or smaller-scale hosting needs.

Liquid Web: No shared hosting. Security features include an integrated firewall and standard DDoS protections. Offers 99.99% uptime and 24/7 chat or phone support. Prices start at $15 a month.

Web Hosting Hub: Offers shared and WordPress hosting. Has free SSL certificates but other security features cost extra. Offers 99.9% uptime and has 24/7 chat and phone support. Prices start at $6 a month.

WP Engine: Offers WordPress hosting. Security features like free SSL certificates and daily backups. Has a 99.95% uptime guarantee and offers 24/7 chat and phone support. Prices start at $20 a month.

Kinsta: Offers WordPress hosting. Security features like free SSL certificates and automatic backups. Has a 99.9% uptime and 24/7 chat support. Prices start at $35 a month.

Pantheon: Offers WordPress hosting. Security features include DDoS protection and automated backups. Offers 99.9% uptime and customer support is available 24/7 via chat, phone or even Slack. Prices start at $41 a month.

Criteria for web hosting services

While we didn’t test the services, we did carefully examine each service’s offerings and ranked them according to essential web hosting features. Here’s what we looked for to determine the best web hosting services. You can also check out CNET’s 11 things to know about web hosting for more information about these and other features.

Hosting plans: We checked to see if the service offered shared, VPS and dedicated hosting plans. Inclusion of all three plan types allows customers to scale their plan up as their site grows.
Security features: Services need to include some basic security features such as SSL certificates, DDoS protections and backups to protect your data as well as your visitors’. The best web hosts do this at no extra charge.
Uptime of 99.9% or higher: An uptime of 99.9% or higher ensures your site won’t go down for more than 20 minutes a month, so you keep losses of readers and sales to a minimum.
Customer support: All services offer some kind of customer support. Some say they offer customer service 24/7, but they mean you can email them any time. That’s a good start, but what if you have an issue that needs immediate attention? Some offer live chat which is better, and others offer phone support which is best.

The best web hosting services meet all four of those criteria. If a service falls short on one or more of those measures, you’ll find it in our list of other web hosting services to consider or our list of additional web hosts we looked at.

Web hosting terms to know

Some web hosting terms can be confusing. If a term in this list or on a web hsoting service’s site has you scratching your head, I’m going to explain them in more detail here.

FAQ

You can check out CNET’s web hosting FAQ or tips to help secure your site for more information, too.

For more on web hosting, check out the best website builders, the best VPN services and the best identity theft protection services.

Technologies

Everything We Know About the Star Wars: Starfighter Movie

Starring Ryan Gosling as a character new to the famed space franchise, Starfighter is set after Episode 9, The Rise of Skywalker.

There’s a new Star Wars movie coming, and with it a trip to a galaxy far, far away in a new time period. Star Wars: Starfighter is scheduled for a May 2027 release, starring Ryan Gosling (yes, Ken from the Barbie movie) as a brand new character for the franchise. We don’t know much about his role or the film yet, though director Shawn Levy revealed a bit last week during the Star Wars Celebration fan event in Japan.

«The movie is a new adventure. It’s new characters,» said Levy. «It takes place in a new period of time after the battle of Exegol, after Episode 9.»

Episode 9 refers to Star Wars: The Rise of Skywalker, which came out in 2019, and the planet Exegol was the site of a battle during the war between the First Order and the Resistance.

No one was surprised to see plans for a new Star Wars movie, given how the franchise has drastically expanded since Disney bought the franchise’s parent company, Lucasfilm, in 2012.

Fans ready for a standalone Star Wars film

The new film has excited superfans like Jimmy «Mac» McInerney, host and producer of the Rebel Force Radio: Star Wars Podcast.

«Superfans like me will be there for anything Star Wars, but I really hope Levy and Gosling will pack the appropriate punch to excite the masses,» McInerney told CNET. «I’m also very optimistic that this will be a standalone story with a solid beginning, middle and end.»

The movie will be set around five years after the events of Star Wars: The Rise of Skywalker, and it won’t follow any of the main plot lines from past films. So it’s not a prequel or a sequel, it’s a new adventure.

Mclnerney thinks the standalone nature of Star Wars: Starfighter might be a good thing.

«Sometimes Star Wars gets crushed under the weight of its existing lore, so it’s nice to know this will be a self-contained adventure,» he said. «This could provide fandom with a nice palate cleanser following the divisive sequel trilogy and propel the franchise into the future.»

For now, you can find all the Star Wars content your heart desires on the streaming service Disney+.

Technologies

Today’s NYT Strands Hints, Answers and Help for April 25, #418

Here are hints and the answers for the NYT Strands puzzle No. 418 for April 25.

Looking for the most recent Strands answer? Click here for our daily Strands hints, as well as our daily answers and hints for The New York Times Mini Crossword, Wordle, Connections and Connections: Sports Edition puzzles.

CNET writers love to cover skygazing, from eclipses to the northern lights to planetary smiley faces. If you love looking up at the stars, today’s Strands puzzle is for you. If you need hints and answers, read on.

I go into depth about the rules for Strands in this story.

If you’re looking for today’s Wordle, Connections and Mini Crossword answers, you can visit CNET’s NYT puzzle hints page.

Read more: NYT Connections Turns 1: These Are the 5 Toughest Puzzles So Far

Hint for today’s Strands puzzle

Today’s Strands theme is: It’s in the stars.

If that doesn’t help you, here’s a clue: Skygazing.

Clue words to unlock in-game hints

Your goal is to find hidden words that fit the puzzle’s theme. If you’re stuck, find any words you can. Every time you find three words of four letters or more, Strands will reveal one of the theme words. These are the words I used to get those hints, but any words of four or more letters that you find will work:

LATE, RENT, DRIP, DAMN, ROSE, ROSES, PRESS, DIME, TAME, TAMED, RUNT, MACE, MACES, DENT, DENTS, CANE, TALL, CENT.

Answers for today’s Strands puzzle

These are the answers that tie into the theme. The goal of the puzzle is to find them all, including the spangram, a theme word that reaches from one side of the puzzle to the other. When you’ve got all of them (I originally thought there were always eight but learned that the number can vary), every letter on the board will be used. Here are the nonspangram answers:

SWAN, CROSS, DIPPER, HUNTER, MAIDEN, CENTAUR

Today’s Strands spangram

Today’s Strands spangram is CONSTELLATIONS. To find it, start with the C that’s the first letter to the left on the top row (easy!), and wind across and down.

Toughest Strands puzzles

Here are some of the Strands topics I’ve found to be the toughest in recent weeks.

#1: Dated slang, Jan. 21. Maybe you didn’t even use this lingo when it was cool. Toughest word: PHAT.

#2: Thar she blows! Jan.15. I guess marine biologists might ace this one. Toughest word: BALEEN or RIGHT.

#3: Off the hook, Jan. 9. Similar to the Jan. 15 puzzle in that it helps to know a lot about sea creatures. Sorry, Charlie. Toughest word: BIGEYE or SKIPJACK

Technologies

Today’s NYT Connections: Sports Edition Hints and Answers for April 25, #214

Here are the hints and answers for the NYT Connections: Sports Edition puzzle, No. 214, for April 25.

Looking for the most recent regular Connections answers? Click here for today’s Connections hints, as well as our daily answers and hints for The New York Times Mini Crossword, Wordle and Strands puzzles.

There are some funny names for basketball errors, and a few of them are in today’s Connections: Sports Edition. And yes, the NFL draft is still going on, so there’s one of those categories, too. Read on for hints and the answers.

Connections: Sports Edition is out of beta now after making its debut on Super Bowl Sunday on Feb. 9. That’s a sign that the game has earned enough loyal players that The Athletic, the subscription-based sports journalism site owned by the Times, will continue to publish it. It doesn’t show up in the NYT Games app but now appears in The Athletic’s own app. Or you can continue to play it free online.

Read more: NYT Connections: Sports Edition Puzzle Comes Out of Beta

Hints for today’s Connections: Sports Edition groups

Here are four hints for the groupings in today’s Connections: Sports Edition puzzle, ranked from the easiest yellow group to the tough (and sometimes bizarre) purple group.

Yellow group hint: On your mark, get set…

Green group hint: Whoops in hoops.

Blue group hint: Picked first.

Purple group hint: Opposite of «go.»

Answers for today’s Connections: Sports Edition groups

Yellow group: Track and field events.

Green group: Basketball violations.

Blue group: Previous No. 1 NFL draft picks.

Purple group: ____ stop.

Read more: Wordle Cheat Sheet: Here Are the Most Popular Letters Used in English Words

What are today’s Connections: Sports Edition answers?

The yellow words in today’s Connections

The theme is track and field events. The four answers are 100 meters, decathlon, pole vault and steeplechase.

The green words in today’s Connections

The theme is basketball violations. The four answers are 5-second, backcourt, goaltending and traveling.

The blue words in today’s Connections

The theme is previous No. 1 NFL draft picks. The four answers are Burrow, Fisher, Long and Luck.

The purple words in today’s Connections

The theme is ____ stop. The four answers are back, jump, pit and short.

Toughest Connections: Sports Edition categories

The Connections: Sports Edition puzzle can be tough, but it really depends on which sports you know the most about. My husband aces anything having to do with Formula 1, my best friend is a hockey buff, and I can answer any question about Minnesota teams.

That said, it’s hard to pick the toughest Connections categories, but here are some I found exceptionally mind-blowing recently.

#1: Series A Clubs, Jan. 11. Answers: Atalanta, Juventus, Lazio, Roma.

#2: WNBA MVPs, Jan. 21. Answers: Catchings, Delle Donne, Fowles and Stewart.

#3: Premier League team nicknames, Jan. 17. Answers: Bees, Cherries, Foxes and Hammers.

#4: Homophones of NBA player names, Jan. 26. Answers: Barns, Connect, Heart and Hero.