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Introducing HostScore.net – A New, Data-Driven Way to Choose A Web Host

This is a special announcement about the launching of my new project HostScore.net – a website where we publish hosting performance data and easy-to-understand metrics for web hosting consumers.

HostScore™ is the proprietary calculation, based on a weighted combination of server speed, uptime, editor’s and user’s rating; indicating the service quality of a web hosting service. The algorithm is designed in a way that we the owners, will only have 20% saying power in the score calculation.

Why HostScore is Created?

The primary mission of HostScore is to bring accurate, data-driven details to web hosting consumers.

Transparent + Data-Driven Hosting Reviews

One of the most critical elements missing from the industry is transparency for consumers, and HostScore was designed to solve that. I wanted to give you – the hosting shoppers, the power to make your buying decisions based on factual, transparent, data-driven hosting reviews and have access to the raw data itself.

HostScore algorithm and calculation are published on site. Our data is compiled and transformed into multiple charts in our hosting reviews. Our relationship with other hosting companies are clearly disclosed in the site’s disclosure page.

Hopefully, this will both help consumers and at the same time urge web hosting companies to step up their game to compete.

HostScore Demo / Screenshot
HostScore is calculated and published on homepage every week.
HostScore Demo / Screenshot
Hosting speed is measured every four hours from 10 locations at HostScore.net.

More Choices for the Consumers

Also – HostScore.net will be a platform to cover not just the primary hosting brands, but smaller hosting brands that want to capture new customers. Personally I am based in Malaysia; my small humble team consists of members living in the United States, Italy, Russia, Philippines, and Indonesia.

We have seen so many good, smaller hosting companies being forced out of business due to unjust global competition. I wish HostScore can bring the user's attention to not just the 5 – 10 popular international brands; but also smaller local hosting companies in their region.

Trusting Our Data: Learn How is HostScore Calculated?

This is how HostScore is calculated.

HostScore = (0.40 * A) +(0.30 * B) +(0.20 * C) +(0.10 * D)

Uptime (A)

“Uptime” is the measurement of service availability and carries a 35% weight in our scoring model.

HostScore's primary uptime monitoring location is in the United States. If a test from that location fails, the status is verified from other locations.

Speed (B)

“Speed” is the measurement of website response time (in milliseconds, ms) and has 30% weight in the HostScore scoring model. Our system measure TCP acknowledgement time in milliseconds (ms) – the lower the number, the faster the website.

Hosting speed is tested every 4 hours from 10 locations around the world. Different speed benchmarks are used for Shared and VPS hosting. We expect websites hosted on VPS plans and Website Builders to load more quickly.

Editor’s Score (C)

“Editor's Score” carries a 20% weight and factors in other features or experiences noted during the review process. The reason we are leaving 20% saying power in the system is because there is more to web hosting than merely uptime and speed, even though those are key considerations. This includes items such as how streamlined the on-boarding experience is, whether customer support is quick and useful, what features might be present on certain hosts, or even the finer details of the company’s terms of service.

User’s Score (D)

“User's Score” is based on collected verified user ratings (currently we checked users Facebook or LinkedIN profiles). Right now I am using Wilson Score Interval (more explanation here) lower bound, 95% confidence interval to sort user reviews. The method has been proven to work in major upvote/downvote systems which abound on the Internet. User’s rating contributes 15% to the HostScore calculation.

How Often is HostScore Updated?

We refresh the speed and uptime data every day 00:00 UTC.

HostScore for each hosting service is calculated weekly and published every Sunday at 00:00 UTC.

Monthly HostScore is updated and published on the first day of the month at 00:00 UTC.

Please Help!

  • Your feedback What do you think about HostScore? Please let me know what you think by using this contact form or just tweet to me.
  • Social Love HostScore is on Twitter, Facebook, and LinkedIn. Please connect, share, like, tweet us to your friends and followers.
  • Give us your hosting reviews 15% of HostScore is determined by user’s review. The more user reviews we have, the better our scoring model will work. So please leave your hosting reviews at HostScore.net.
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Article by Jerry Low

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