How We Test
This page explains exactly how we evaluate web hosting providers. We aim to be transparent enough that you could repeat our tests yourself. Every review on HostRanker follows this process, and we record the date each host was tested.
Buying and setting up
We sign up for each host as an ordinary customer, paying the standard public price with our own money. We do not accept free or discounted reviewer accounts, because they do not reflect what you would actually receive.
On each account we install a standardised test site — a typical content website with images, a database and a handful of pages — so that we are comparing like with like across providers.
Measuring performance
We monitor speed and reliability continuously rather than taking a single snapshot. Our measurements run for at least several weeks before we publish, and we keep monitoring afterwards so we can flag changes.
The main things we measure are:
- Page load time, tested from several locations including the UK
- Server response time under both light and heavier load
- Uptime, monitored at short intervals around the clock
- Time to first byte, as an indicator of raw server speed
Testing support
We contact each host's support team with genuine questions, using live chat, email and phone where offered. We note how long we wait, whether the answer is accurate, and whether the agent actually solves the problem.
We test support at different times of day and on weekends, because a host that is responsive at midday on a Tuesday may not be when you have an outage on a Sunday night.
Reading the small print
Headline prices in web hosting are often introductory rates that jump sharply on renewal. We record both the sign-up price and the renewal price, and we look closely at refund terms, included features and any add-ons that are pushed at checkout.
We also flag practices we consider unfair, such as charging for backups that should be standard or making cancellation deliberately awkward, so there are no nasty surprises after you have signed up.