I recently received an E-mail from a reader who wanted to know if Yahoo’s Web hosting was worth what they are asking for it. Now, I have never used Yahoo’s Hosting (other than using GeoCities many moons ago) so I thought I would take an in-depth look at what they are offering and how it compares with the rest of the Web hosting market out there.
The first thing I looked at were the costs for the hosting plans they are offering. The starter plan is $11.95 a month. The standard plan is $19.95 a month. The professional plan is $39.95 a month. Right now lets just look at the standard plan since it is the plan in the middle. For about $20 a month you get 75 GB of bandwidth and 4GB of disk space. Doesn’t sound too bad just yet. Now lets see what kind of prices you can get somewhere else. After visiting FindMyHosting.com, I put in the bandwidth and disk space of Yahoo’s standard plan and told them to show me other offers.
The first result I got was from ZestHost and it was for $8 a month for 5GB of disk space and 125 GB of bandwidth. The next came from YR Host and for $12.50 you can receive 10 GB of disk space and 150 GB of bandwidth. The prices just don’t match up now, do they? So you would have to think that Yahoo Web Hosting is offering something else that these other companies can not, right?
Well going back to the price chart on Yahoo’s Web hosting Web site, it looks like the setup fee is waved! Personally I haven’t seen a Web hosting company charge for account setup in around five years or so. So what are you paying extra for? You are paying for the Yahoo name. Mixing in other Yahoo services, they are able to bring in more features than other Web hosts out there can. Think of it as buying a 12 pack of Pepsi compared with a 12 pack of Mr. Cola. They both taste exactly the same, but when you buy Pepsi you are also buying the brand name. So that is the reason Pepsi costs a little more.
Now I do have to say something nice about Yahoo’s Web hosting services though. They have a great list of articles and resources for you to dive into and learn more about setting up your Web site. Also Yahoo’s domain names are priced to compete a little better with some of the other domain name companies out there. You can get your domain name from Yahoo for only $10 or so in most cases. That is pretty cheap. I’d like to see Yahoo’s domain name offices have a little talk with the folks in the Web hosting offices. It doesn’t seem like they are on the same page.
So should you use Yahoo for your Web hosting needs? They have a lot of great options, but I would suggest that you do a little shopping before you settle down with one company.
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