Why HostScore? 3 Reasons Why Our Data Paints a Clearer Picture

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The quality of your web host dictates the happiness of your life as a website owner. Pick a great web host and you will likely have a good life (and sound sleep at night). Select the wrong one and you’ll be destined to live the never-ending webmaster horror story. 

Even if you decide to move away from a bad host, that will involve time, effort, and money. This is one of the primary reasons why professional bloggers and experts stress so much on choosing the right web host from the very beginning.  

This is why we created HostScore – to offer better insights to consumers like you. 

1. Better Accuracy in Judging Hosting Speed Performance

For those who haven’t noticed, websites that offer reviews of web hosts (including my own site WHSR) are fairly static. This doesn’t mean that the content isn’t updated by that test carried out on hosting services are ‘snapshots’.

For example, if site X were to review host Y today, it might be that host Y is experiencing technical difficulties, or perhaps even simply having a bad day. There are simply so many factors that contribute to the performance of a web host ranging from server location to network speed.

Because of these factors, testing the speed of a server might not reflect the accurate performance of the hosting provider as a whole. To illustrate this, let’s take the case of Interserver which we monitored and charted its speed over a 30-day period.

Interserver speed from Bengaluru (September 13th, 2019) – 802ms.

Example - Interserver speed test - extreme bad result
From our test node at Bengaluru, India, speed recorded from here was 802ms on the 13th of September. This is a terrible speed for a server response.

Interserver speed from Bengaluru (October 6th, 2019) – 386ms.

Example - Interserver speed test - extreme good result
However, that same test node recorded a speed of 380ms on the 8th of September – which is a good result.

Now, imagine a site which reviews Interserver based on a speed test from Bengaluru on the 13th of September – the review will likely cite poor performance. This means that while the review was not wrong, it didn’t recognize performance over an aggregated amount of time – only at one specific time and date.

Poor performance results taken on specific times and times might result in a hosting provider getting stuck with a poor (or great) review for months or even years before site X revises it. The problem is that this presents consumers with inaccurate information.

HostScore resolves this inaccuracy by constant monitoring from test nodes at multiple locations around the world. This allows us a bird’s eye view of data collected, which we then aggregate to present to most consistent results to consumers.

Example - Interserver speed test
In the case of the Interserver tests, our results would have presented an aggregate speed of 500ms, which is fairer to the host and more accurate to the consumer. It’s a win-win situation on both ends.

2. Latency Tests from 10 Locations

What is latency
Data travel time is constrained by physical distance.

Latency refers to the time needed to send a packet from the source to the destination. This varies depending on physical distance – the longer the distance, the higher the latency. Most free speed testing tools online offer speed tests from one location at a time.

You can only run speed test from one location with most free tools.

The problem with this again is inaccuracy in judging a host quality. HostScore reduces that drastically by simultaneous speed testing from 10 different locations at a time. This allows us to present users with a much better idea of real web host performance.

3. Verified User Reviews Only, Sorted by Wilson Score Interval

A lot of hosting reviews found online are written by unverified users. In order to get as many user reviews as possible, many sites allow unverified users to write them. Furthermore, many of these sites are using simple average calculation model to sort user ratings, which has been shown to be a flawed system.

Although the process might be more cumbersome to users, HostScore only published reviews from verified users – and we take the time and effort to verify each review manually. Our system is based on a simple yes/no format which is then sorted using a better scoring model (Wilson Score Interval).

Make Use of Our Data

As you can see from these three key points that make HostScore unique, we are aiming to create a results and ratings system that offers a much higher degree of accuracy and reliability compared to traditional methods.

HostScore combines hard data with the collective experience of our seasoned reviewers to present as factual and accurate results as possible. The final element in our results are the opinions of verified users which act as a check and balance.

We understand that readers are betting their money on our results and have made our entire process as simple and transparent as possible. Remember that results are a general indication of the performance and reliability of a host. Each website will likely have unique needs and for the best fit, we urge you to also read our review and comments on each individual hosting provider before making a final purchasing decision.


Disclaimer

Last but not least, it’s important for you to know that…

  1. HostScore is not unbiased – editor’s rating carries 20% weight in our calculation. Plus, we use affiliate links at HostScore.net – we get paid when you order after clicking our link.
  2. Personally I have worked with some of the companies for more than a decade. Some of us met in person and became friends in real life. 
  3. There are some known limitations in HostScore methodology.
  4. Even if we were robots that has no emotion and work purely based on algorithm – you should still be skeptical.  

Article by Jerry Low

Jerry Low has immersed himself in web technologies for over a decade and has built many successful sites from scratch. He is a self-professed geek who has made it his life’s ambition to keep the web hosting industry honest. For latest personal updates and news, follow Jerry on Facebook and Twitter.
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