EIG, short for Endurance International Group, was formerly the largest web hosting company in the world, boasting ownership of prominent hosting brands such as Bluehost and HostGator. Rather than creating these companies themselves, EIG acquired them gradually over time.
However, on November 2nd, 2020, EIG declared that it had reached a definitive merger agreement with Clearlake Capital Group, with the deal being an all-cash transaction valued at around $3 billion. The acquisition was completed on February 10th, 2021, with Clearlake announcing that the all-cash deal was worth $3 billion and that the newly formed company would merge with Web.com to create Newfold Digital, with Sharon Rowlands serving as the new CEO.
Why Is EIG Disliked by People?
Over time, EIG-owned web hosting companies have received complaints about their customer service and reliability after being acquired by EIG. This is likely due to EIG’s focus on cost-cutting and eliminating redundancies as a public company. However, the situation has improved in recent years with new leadership and a renewed focus on their primary brands, such as Bluehost, HostGator, and iPage.
The History of Endurance International Group (EIG)
In this post, we are going to take a closer look at the conglomerate that took over dozens of web hosting companies for the past few years — the Endurance International Group, aka EIG.
In case you are not aware – EIG is probably the biggest player in today’s web hosting industry. EIG initially began as BizLand in 1996 and has its HQ in Burlington, Massachusetts, but began buying smaller web hosting businesses to grow its customer base. Today, they own some of the most well-known hosting companies such as BlueHost and HostGator.
In 2011, EIG was acquired by Accel-KKR and GS Capital Partners for an undisclosed amount. Afterward, the company was listed on NASDAQ under the ticker EIGI and valued at $1.2 billion dollars.
At the end of 2020, EIG announced that it has entered into a definitive merger agreement to be acquired by affiliates of Clearlake Capital Group L.P in an all-cash transaction valued at approximately $3.0 billion including outstanding indebtedness therefore, it’s no longer traded on the stock exchange and considered as a private firm. But, from our perspective, nothing changed as the pressure to maximize profit is even larger, as that’s the reason private equity investors are doing deals like that. And you know how would it affect its customer, and by that I mean us.
So currently, EIG has more than 80 web hosting brands under its umbrella (more on this shortly) and over 5 million subscribers all over the world. We will try to cover them all and prepare a list of non EIG hosting companies you can safely use as EIG alternatives.
EIG Hosting, Why Should I Care?
Today, pretty much everyone got the option to start an online business with some great online business ideas, and one of the main reasons for this opportunity is the wide availability of potential web hosting solutions out there, for every use case and pricing expectation.
That’s probably the reason why you are here as well, looking for a great web hosting solution suited to your needs, but, you heard about EIG web hosting and want to learn a bit more about it. Why should you care? The reason is due to the fact that although it seems like there are dozens of potential hosting providers out there, many of those well-known hosting brands such as HostGator, BlueHost, or iPage are owned by one company, EIG. Ok, why should I care?
The main reason is that all the hosting infrastructure is shared between all the hosting brands, EIG had several large-scale outages over the years. The most famous, and perhaps eye-opening, for many customers, occurred on August 2nd, 2013. Millions of HostGator, BlueHost, and HostMonster customers lost services as the EIG data center in Utah took a hit. Many other smaller outages happened as well.
It affected phone lines and servers in all their hosting facilities and was one of the biggest outages the web hosting industry has seen in recent years. As multiple large hosting companies were all under EIG, it made it apparent why they all went down at once.
Secondly, they are known for the technical issues they suffer from and the throttling they do on bandwidth, connections and etc. Customer support suffers as well from long waiting times and delays in providing the help you looking for.
Lastly, it’s a monopoly-like price-setting practice when one company controls the pricing of the hosting solutions by a wide range, across a multitude of hosting companies, that seem fully unconnected at first. It’s called price-fixing, and with this control, EIG companies would be able to set any price they’ll desire without leaving you any choice because you already have a site on their hosting solution and migrating is not an easy task.
Are Bluehost and HostGator owned by EIG?
HostGator and Bluehost are indeed both owned by EIG (Endurance International Group). Bluehost was acquired by EIG in 2010 for an undisclosed sum, while HostGator was sold to EIG on July 13, 2012, for a total purchase price of $299.8 million. Of this amount, $227.3 million was paid in cash at the time of closing.
What Happens for a Hosting Acquired by EIG?
If the past is any indication of the future, we can safely assume that EIG will continue expanding its operations and acquiring more and more web hosting properties. As soon as EIG buys a hosting company, it typically makes several changes to the company such as changing the control panels, equipment, and data center locations, operational changes to existing staff, and starts moving customers to its own network.
Also, some customers have noticed a significant reduction in the level of customer/technical support following the purchase of a hosting company by EIG.
Another example. Since the purchase of HostGator, some customers have become frustrated with the quality of service. Some have noticed a delay in response time when submitting tickets. Also with accounts being moved from SoftLayer to the EIG data center in Provo, UT there has been an increase in customer complaints. On the outside, HostGator among most of EIG’s other acquisitions has remained the same, while all the changes took place in the administration and technical side of things. It is possible that HostGator is not the same company we once knew to be reliable and focused on high performance. So it’s a great idea to stick to hosting companies not owned by EIG.
The Sad Truth – With EIG owning a number of the top web hosting companies in the industry, even if you are dissatisfied with one host and choose to switch to another there’s a good chance that you might still end up with a company owned by EIG (see the full list of EIG brands below and stick to non EIG web hosting).
Now, it’s important to mention the EIG cycle. EIG’s business focus is to acquire other web hosting providers with their customer base and keep their brand operating (so it’s not disclosed that they become an EIG brand), but inside the company, to unify all the support, marketing, technological, and infrastructure departments. Now, fewer people are working to provide you the service you previously had – immediate degradation to the quality of service you used to receive.
In this case, even if the customer will leave EIG-operated web hosting service A, and will move to EIG-operated web hosting service B, he will still stay an EIG customer! Rinse and repeat.
That’s why you should remember to verify that the hosting you going to work with is a non-EIG one. For example, the non-EIG & highly secured hosting service by DreamHost.
Start hosting with DreamHost, a non EIG hosting provider >>>
Hosting Companies and Brands Under EIG
What is EIG? EIG is an umbrella company for approximately 80+ companies, many of which are web hosting companies. Some others are online presence studios and services that are eventually, tightly coupled to the parent company (EIG) business.
The following is a list of the host companies acquired by EIG over the years with a list of EIG alternatives to follow:
- 2slick (2slick.com)
Probably belongs to EIG since April 2010 or earlier. - AccountSupport (accountsupport.com)
Belongs to EIG since April 2010 or earlier. - ApolloHosting.com (apollohosting.com)
Belongs to EIG since April 2010 or earlier. - AptHost (apthost.com)
Belongs to EIG as a part of wwwh.com since at least June 25, 2015. - A Small Orange (asmallorange.com)
Acquired by EIG in July 2010. - Arvixe (arvixe.com)
Acquired by EIG in October 2014. - Athenix Corporation, Athenix Inc. (athenixinc.com)
Belongs to EIG since 2012 or earlier. - Berry Information Systems L.L.C. (berryinfosysllc.com)
Belongs to EIG since April 2010 or earlier. - BigRock (bigrock.com)
Acquired in January 2014. - BizLand (bizland.com)
The former name of EIG. Founded in 1996. - BlueDomino (bluedomino.com)
Belongs to EIG since April 2010 or earlier. - BlueFur (bluefur.com)
Belongs to EIG since at least 25, June 2015. - BlueHost (bluehost.com)
EIG Bluehost acquisition is one of the biggest here. Acquired by EIG in November 2010. Now it’s Bluehost EIG. - Constant Contact (constantcontact.com)
Constant Contact is a member of EIG since around 2019. - Cloud by IX (cloudbyix.com)
Acquired by EIG in Q4 2015 with IXWebHosting. - Directi Web Technologies (Directi, directi.com)
Acquired in January 2014. - Domain.com
Belongs to EIG since October 2011 or earlier. - DomainHost (domainhost.com)
Belongs to EIG since April 2010 or earlier. - Dotster (dotster.com)
Belongs to EIG since July 2011 or earlier. - Dot5Hosting.com (dot5hosting.com)
Belongs to EIG since May 2007 or earlier.
iPower, StartLogic, and Dot5Hosting were acquired by EIG at the same time in 2007. - EasyCGI (easycgi.com)
Belongs to EIG since July 2009 or earlier. - EntryHost (entryhost.com)
Belongs to EIG since April 2010 or earlier. - Escalate Internet (escalateinternet.com)
Belongs to EIG since April 2010 or earlier. - FastDomain (fastdomain.com)
Has become part of Bluehost since December 2006 (or earlier).
Bluehost was later acquired by EIG. - FatCow (fatcow.com, fatcowhosting.com)
Became EIG in May 2007 or earlier. - FreeYellow (freeyellow.com)
Belongs to EIG since May 2007 or earlier. - Globat ([email protected], globat.com)
Belongs to EIG since April 2010 or earlier. - Homestead Technologies, Inc. (homestead.com)
Belongs to EIG since April 2010 or earlier. - HostADay (hostaday.com)
Belongs to EIG since April 2010 or earlier. - HostCentric (hostcentric.com)
Belongs to EIG since April 2010 or earlier. - HostClear (hostclear.com)
Bought by JustHost in October 2011, which was later acquired by EIG - Host Excellence (hostexcellence.com)
Acquired by EIG in Q4 2015 with IXWebHosting. - HostGator (hostgator.com)
Acquired in June 2012. - HostNine (hostnine.com)
Is a sister company of A Small Orange (ASO), which is an EIG. - HostMonster (hostmonster.com)
Is a sister company of BlueHost, which was acquired by EIG. - HostYourSite.com (hostyoursite.com)
Belongs to EIG since April 2010 or earlier. - HyperMart (hypermart.com, hypermart.net)
Belongs to EIG since May 2007 or earlier. - IMOutdoorsHosting (imoutdoorshosting.com)
Belongs to EIG since April 2010 or earlier. - IdeaHost (ideahost.com)
Belongs to EIG. - Impress.ly (impress.ly)
BigRock, which is a part of EIG, launched impress.ly on 15, Dec 2015. - Intuit Websites
Acquired and become EIG company in August 2012. - iPage (ipage.com)
A tool used by iPage and turned into a brand.
Belongs to EIG since May 2007 or earlier. - iPower (IpowerWeb, ipower.com)
Belongs to EIG since May 2007 or earlier.
iPower, StartLogic and Dot5Hosting were acquired by EIG at the same time in 2007. - IX Web Hosting (ixwebhosting.com)
Acquired by EIG in Q4 2015. Now redirects to BlueHost. - JustCloud (justcloud.com)
Belongs to EIG since February 2014 or earlier. - JustHost (justhost.com)
Acquired by EIG in 2010. - LogicBoxes (logicboxes.com)
Acquired by Directi, which was bought by EIG. - MyDomain (mydomain.com)
Belongs to EIG. - NamesDirect (namesdirect.com)
Belongs to EIG since 2011 or earlier. - NameZero (namezero.com)
Belongs to EIG since 2011 or earlier. - NetFirms (netfirms.com)
Was acquired by EIG in 2011. - NetworksHosting (networkshosting.com)
Belongs to EIG since April 2010 or earlier. - Nexx (nexx.com)
Was acquired by EIG in 2012 or earlier. - PowWeb (powweb.com)
Belongs to EIG since April 2006 or earlier. - PureHost (purehost.com)
Belongs to EIG since May 2007 or earlier. - ReadyHosting (readyhosting.co.uk, readyhosting.com)
Belongs to EIG since April 2010 or earlier. - ResellerClub (resellerclub.com)
Acquired in January 2014. - SEO Hosting (seohosting.com, seowebhosting.net)
Was part of HostGator which was later acquired by EIG. - Site5 (site5.com)
Belongs to EIG since the 4th of August 2015. - SiteBuilder (sitebuilder.com)
A part of EIG since Q2 2015. - Sitelio (sitelio.com)
A part of EIG. - Sitey (sitey.com)
A part of EIG since Q2 2015. - SouthEastWeb (southeastweb.com)
Probably belongs to EIG since April 2010 or earlier. - Spry (spry.com)
Belongs to EIG since April 2010 or earlier. - StartLogic (startlogic.com)
Belongs to EIG since May 2007 or earlier.
iPower, StartLogic, and Dot5Hosting were acquired by EIG at the same time in 2007. - SuperGreen Hosting (SuperGreenHosting, supergreenhosting.com)
Merged with JustHost, which was later acquired by EIG. - TightHost (tighthost.com)
Belongs to EIG since April 2010 or earlier. - TypePad (typepad.com)
Belongs to EIG since 2014 or earlier. - UsaNetHosting (usanethosting.com)
Belongs to EIG since April 2010 or earlier. - Verio (verio.com)
Belongs to EIG since the 4th of August 2015. - Virtual Avenue (virtualave.net)
Belongs to EIG since May 2007 or earlier. - VPSlink (vpslink.com)
Belongs to EIG since April 2010. - Web2010 (web2010.com)
Belongs to EIG since April 2010 or earlier. - WebDevHosting (webdevhosting.com)
Belongs to EIG since April 2010 or earlier. - WebHost4Life.com (webhost4life.com)
Belongs to EIG since April 2010 or earlier. - webhosting.info
Acquired by Directi, which was bought by EIG. - WebSiteBuilder (websitebuilder.com)
A part of EIG since Q2 2015. - WebstrikeSolutions (WebstrikeSolutions.com)
Belongs to EIG since April 2010 or earlier. - Webzai (webzai.com)
Acquired by EIG in the 3d quarter 2014. - World Wide Web Hosting (wwwh.com)
Fictitious Names: PRESSED, WEBSITE.ME, WP MANAGED HOST.
Belongs to EIG since at least June 25, 2015. - Xeran (xeran.com)
Belongs to EIG since April 2010 or earlier. - YourWebHosting (yourwebhosting.com)
Belongs to EIG since April 2010 or earlier
Conclusion, Avoid EIG Web Hosting
The fortunate fact is that several other highly reputable hosting companies in the industry still have not been taken over by EIG. Slowly but surely, many hosting companies are finding out about EIG and will refrain from a deal if it means a reduction in service, support, and reliability for their customers.
That’s why I recommend you avoid any hosting provider under the EIG umbrella and choose non EIG hosting services for your site. Next, you will find a list of non EIG hosting companies you can use safely.
EIG Alternatives for Web Hosting
There are options available for those who are looking for non-EIG web hosting. The following independently owned and operated web hosting companies are some of the best in terms of reliability, price, customer service, and performance.
DreamHost Hosting
For example, check out DreamHost, a non-EIG, reliable, and SSD-based web hosting solution. We have already been using them for a couple of years on numerous websites and absolutely satisfied with them. Great uptime and support when I need it. It’s one of the best non EIG hosting services available.
Also, with the 90-day money-back guarantee period, you can feel safe with your money. My first choice. You can also read our DreamHost review.
Start hosting with DreamHost >>>
SiteGround Hosting
SiteGround is a non-EIG hosting solution that positions itself as a company offering high-quality, “well-crafted” hosting solutions. It got more unique developer-oriented features. For example, on “GoGeek” plan they do free PCI compliance and free Git & staging areas. You can also read our SiteGround review.
Start hosting with SiteGround >>>
WP Engine Hosting
Web hosting offered by WP Engine is a more expensive and premium managed WordPress non-EIG webhosting for demanding users such as agencies and enterprises. You can also read our WP Engine review.
Start hosting with WP Engine >>>
I’ll be updating this post once new companies will be acquired by EIG. Bookmark this page to be able to refer to it once you decide to buy hosting to make sure it does not belong to EIG.
Feel free to ask us any questions about the hosting provider you consider!
My website is hosted on DreamHost which I really like due to its stability and helpful support. Furthermore, their servers are extremely reliable, secure and fast, I don't remember when the last time we had a server downtime. If you sourcing for a great hosting service, go grab it.
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Hey there! I just wanted to ask if you ever have any trouble with hackers? My last blog (wordpress) was hacked and I ended up losing many months of hard work due to no data backup. Do you have any solutions to prevent hackers?
Yes, you should use WordPress security plugins such as WordFence, BulletProof Security, Sucuri Security or iThemes Security.
I think this is among the most vital info for me. And i am glad reading your article. But want to remark on some general things, The website style is ideal, the articles is really nice : D. Good job, cheers
Sure, happy to assist izzi. Enjoy the content and avoid EIG hosting!
Good day.
Thanks for this wonderful information. All through today, I have been frustrated when I saw Bluehost suspended my hosting acct. And even threatened to ban account next time.
This is an account that is only 2months old already been attacked by hackers and malware. And I paid for 2years upfront.
Please, Bro, I want you to know that I host websites (WordPress) for clients and I have over 20 websites as we speak, what plan on “DreamHost” will be good for me and my clients?
I was considering the Shared Unlimited. But Please I need you to advise me considering the following factors;
1.. security measures
2. Amount of Storage space
3. policy over banning or suspending accounts
4. customer service (like live-chat and email respond)
5. Bandwidth
6. do they offer Cpanel?
Please, I need your quick reply on this so that I can start making my move right now.
Finally, I also read through the comments you recommended someone to use any of the security plugins you mentioned. My question is; will the free plan of any of the plugin serve reliably????
Thanks. I will be on this page waiting for your response – BlueHost has put me in a confused state right now. I need a quick and reliable solution. Thanks
Hi Emmy. Yes, you describe a known tactic applied by hosting companies from the EIG list.
DreamHost uses a custom-built panel to manage your websites, databases, email, and billing and not cPanel. If you must to go with it, I’m suggesting you to try SiteGround but I think DreamHost solution is great as well.
The hosting that you will choose depends on the traffic that those 20 websites would generate. I would suggest you look at DreamHost VPS for requirements like those.
As for security plugins, I’m using the free version Wordfence and it’s great.
Congratulations on having 1 of the most sophisticated blogs I’ve come throughout in some time! It’s just incredible how much you can take away from something simply because of how visually beautiful it’s! You’ve put with each other a great blog space –great graphics, videos, and layout. This is absolutely a must-see weblog!
Thanks Olivia. I’m happy that the content here, about EIG providers, helps you.
Helps a lot. Thank you.
I have a little digital children’s DVD audio book where the pages turn, with sounds and voices reading the book and the set includes the book pages that can be downloaded, and the sound audio book for download and a Teacher’s Guide. What company is set up to deliver this set to the customer as a download? I wanted to have a second site as a safety net in case there is a future problem with what I already have to make sure that it is always up.
Hi Joanne, good luck with your project, it sounds awesome!
I would go with my favorite – DreamHost (my site is hosted on it as well). Check it out.
Thanks for taking the time to talk about this, I feel strongly about it and really like mastering more on this subject. If feasible, as you acquire experience, would you mind updating your blog with much more information and facts? It is very helpful for me.
Sure, I’m updating the post with new EIG company acquisitions all the time.
Sure, it does go a long way to help. When I started receiving websites building in 2013, my instructor recommended Godaddy and Hostgator.
Since then I was sold. Hostgator has been where I refer my clients to since I started building websites in 2016. Now I have not had any issues maybe cus of the fundamentals I received during training. However, I cannot count the number of hacking attempt signals I get.
I see guys acquiring domains and reselling them on Godaddy, like some kind of mining domains. Searching for expired domains and selling them. Are they into some stocks or something?
I want to thank you for this post. Once these domains expire, I’ll be pulling then to non-EIG immediately
Thanks, Lami, glad you liked it and shared your story.
Yes, once you can, it’s a great idea to move for a reliable, non-EIG hosting provider.
EIG companies is like hornets, once they attach their stingers into you.
They’ll hurt your online presence.
Constant Contract, Bluehost, HostGator, ResellerClub, iPage, TypePade, WebSite Builder
those owners would had never made wealth without you; never gotten past their Beta Test. Heck boys who founded HostGator would never gotten out of South Florida smiling if wasn’t for you. What got all them is that social diesease called: GreedyPockets.
Later when you found out hidden truth why your Blogs or Website was struggling, those you once trusted left you with a social distraction called: MT Pockets.
Shape Up – Get Wise – Stay Away From EIG companies they’ll sting you everytime, and like not say Thank You!
Great Suggestion. Bluehost EIG, HostGator EIG, iPage EIG, all of those should be avoided. Pick non EIG providers.
Do you know of a law suit in this challenging times. EIG needs to fold. I was a HG customer since 2007 and I have purchased the top UNLIMITED page tier and only to be told I had to eliminate pages cause of too much content. I also was accused of something from billing and when I provided proof the employee of HG vindictively did the wrong doing they offered a credit not a refund a credit no appology not a thing then they accused me of gambling sites and took my entirte network of over 50 sites down. I physically had a heart attack I had pain in my arms for days. and till this day have returning pains from it. Yes 50 sites remember this is content over 12 years in the makings keep in mind i sold 2-300 addiitional domains also.
Then to make things totally wwierd I was accused of wrong doing yet they sent me a check for the full amount I had spent with them since opening the first domain. If i was so much in the wrong why such a refund. and till this day they send me domain renewal messages along with hosting invoices. I dont think they thought thisone through cause im still awaiting a refund for the current sites they didnt take down. and they nwere all paid for with the same bank account and card info.
I reached out to EIG the CEO is a piwece of “crooked crap” the employees i have black listed everyone i talked to. they fail to know I am a web master and i own a employee rating page, where i have over a 1000 businesses that use the service for vetting applicants. so whats funny is hg lets an employee go they file for unemployment. they get denied the job and remain on the unemployment where EIG has to continue paying the bill.
Sorry to hear that. It sounds like a terrible behavior from the EIG hosting companies. I really hope it will solve out for you.
Do you know if ionos.com is an EIG or non-EIG?
As for May 2020, ionos.com is not an EIG hosting service.
If you looking for a new hosting provider, consider DreamHost or SiteGround, they are the ones we tested and recommend.
I’d stay away from them, I had a website and suddenly security issues popped up. They revoked the ssl certificates without notifying me and told me I had to purchase the free ssl cetificates from lets encrypt. I told them to reinstate my certificates which were valid for another year or shove it. They reinstated it and I went with inmotion. Now Im looking at dreamhost.
On two separate occasions, onions messed up two years apart when I temporarily changed host. the problem is that even if I paid by card. I got an email after email demanding payment or else big fines. I tried to email them and wake them up because I had mail from them saying paid +1 year. sent 10 emails and got a few replies but no solution I had to as for a superior support person after threatening to youtube it. can not remember the first issue right now but it was not resolved within reasonable time and emails. no return or rebate was offered, moved to another host of course.
From a previous user of Hypermart …..
Thanks for posting this article. I had started to notice a number of things wrong with them, including a dramatic increase in monthly charges. I’m done with them now.
Up to now, I was not aware of EIG, or of their ownership of several hosting services. Will now consider your recommendations.
What you describe is the standard behavior of a provider from the EIG hosting companies family. It’s good that you decided to move out as early as possible. Go with one of the EIG hosting alternatives suggested above. Much less hosting-related frustration going forward.
Hey mate, thanks for the article. So which non-EIG hosting would you recommend?
Also, I am a bit puzzled that WordPress recommends BlueHost which is an EIG company. Why would that be the case then?
WordPress also recommends DreamHost and SiteGround – they are relatively expensive and don’t seem to have a lot of articles about them as do BlueHost or HostGator?
I found the chat option for HostGator particularly responsive. But then I do not know if that is because I’m a potential new customer and not an existing one.
Well, BlueHost is EIG and HostGator is EIG as well, and that what this article is about. EIG hosts got great user acquisition channels – that means that they will be great when they trying to turn you into paying customers. But, many different problems could appear later on (read the article for more details). I’m suggesting DreamHost hosting solution, they are fast, reliable, and non EIG.
I’m currently on namecheap and they are really slow at times. I’m looking at inmotion as a potential replacement. I see you suggest Dreamhost and Siteground. But do you think they are fast and good for wordpress? WPengine is too pricey. Thanks and stay safe.
Hi Angel. I love Namecheap as a domain registrar but not using it as a hosting provider (a while ago noticed some not-so-great speed reviews of it as well). I agree that WPEngine is for a bit different type of customers (bigger enterprises). Both Dreamhost and Sitegroud hosting solutions got great speed and uptime performance (for example, this site is hosted on Dreamhost) together with fast support and accessible dashboards. You can’t go wrong with both of them.
Thanks for this article…. My only problem is the fact that WordPress have been recommending bluehost from many years now. They should be aware of the multiple complaints from bluehost and hostgator users over the years but they still keep on recommending these hosting networks over others. Don’t you think something look fishy about this? Why are they still recommending such platforms to their users? I hope WordPress is not in any way affiliated or working with this EIG network?
Hi Stan, that’s exactly as you said – the official WordPress site earns an affiliate commission on every customer they redirect to Bluehost or Hostgator which are EIG company hosting brands. Go with a non EIG one like Dreamhost.
Thanks for this information Johnny. It took days for me reading reviews and this article has helped me decide which hosting provider to subscribe. Dreamhost is always in my list until I heard about EIG and was validated here. By the way, do you know if the prices e.g. Starter and Unlimited in Dreamhost increases upon renewal? This was not indicated in their pricing.
Sure, happy to assist. Dreamhost is a great web hosting service I’m using for many years already. As for pricing, it will jump to ~$7-10/month on the lowest plans (depends on which one specifically you will pick). Great prices for a non-EIG hosting.
Hello Johnny! I have read your posts while our group was choosing a company for web hosting. That helped me a lot!
Happy to hear that my EIG hosting list has been assisted you. If you still haven’t picked one, my two favourite EIG alternatives are DreamHost and SiteGround.
Hi Johnny,
A very detailed article, especially in reference to the reduced quality of service that happens after EIG acquires a company. I had several websites hosted on HostGator years ago. They were my first experience in web-hosting. HostGator started off very helpful and once had great service. Their fees were also very affordable, being that I was of very limited income (still kind of true of me today).
All was fine for about a year or two, until my own websites got hacked and trashed. HostGator’s “tech support” folks seemed like they did not really know their jobs very well, and the response was painfully slow. Worse, their web-servers kept having problems – with even several times their data center in Provo “crashing”. When I discovered my sites were defaced, I tried to clean up the mess and restart my websites anew. Their web-server was so slow, and many of the files I wanted to delete would not delete!
What really topped it all off,
Was when their “tech-support” folks seemed more interested in selling me a subscription to “SiteLock” (another EIG-owned brand). SiteLock does NOT deal with security issues that originate within the web-server itself. After several frustrating attempts at resolution, I finally had to decide to just leave HostGator altogether. I will never refer anyone to HostGator or any (known) EIG-owned brands!
What was really upsetting, after the fact of leaving, is that HostGator kept spamming my email with notices of unpaid bills. – This even after three months of departing from them! I finally had to threaten legal actions upon them, on the basis of harassment, if they continued to spam me. I also transferred my domains over to NameSilo – as the domain registrar I originally registered my domains on – was YOU GUESSED IT – also owned by EIG.
NameCheap did me well for a while on web-hosting. Only problem was, they often took it upon themselves to modify my htaccess files, whenever they made any changes to their web-hosting server environment. This is all fine and good, as long as they inform me of any changes to be proposed to any of my configuration files, rather than leave me guessing – and worrying about sudden, unexpected changes I discover later. This is because I use a lot of advanced web-application protection and defenses. (Lessons learned from having my own sites hacked.) They are still a good non-EIG company to work with though.
I have also had good experiences with A2Hosting (another non-EIG company), who also offer VPS as well as dedicated web-hosting for very reasonable prices.
All in all,
I have learned a LOT about the web-hosting landscape. So, thorough articles like this one, do a tremendous service to the public!
– Jim S.
Wow, Jim! Thanks for sharing your story. And you obviously right, we always learn and keep on learning about the site web-hosting landscape.
Thank you so much for keeping this article up. I’m embarrassed to admit I actually worked at EIG. Or first Hostgator then EIG. Working there was hell as I watched them destroy one newly acquired company after another. I was laid off with half the staff in Austin when they started moving much of their support to India. I felt so bad for the customers, especially at some of the smaller companies that had been getting such terrific service prior to EIG buyouts. I had a totally great VPS hosting company called Servint, but they were bought out by Leaseweb a year or so ago and it’s gone downhill, so I am searching out new VPS for a couple small sites I wanted to start working on, but sure as hell didn’t want to get into another bloody EIG company in the process of murdering it’s unsuspecting client base. I’ve never worked anyplace before that so blatantly did not give a crap about their customers. I was thrilled to get laid off, the place was giving me PTSD…LOL
Happy to hear that the article helps, thanks for sharing. You prove that every single sentence about EIG providers is correct. I hope your new job is much more satisfying and fulfilling.
mddhosting.com is another independent web hosting company that should be mentioned. Great customer service, very good security. I’ve been with them for 5 years now.
Highly recommended.
Thanks, Margaret. I’m not familiar with them.
How much can you tell us about how vulnerable we are concerning EIG’s political policies. After the AWS takedown, I wonder how quickly a hosting company can take down legal content. Thanks!
A really important topic Terri. I’m almost sure that EIG will try to follow any government and public requirement and if necessary, will take down controversial content.
Thanks for the heads up about EIG. Looks like I can cross off HostGator as one of the hosts on my list to try out. I too love DreamHost. Their admin panel is awesome, and they offer multiple hosting solutions. Most of you in the comments will probably go for shared or the DreamPress (wordpress) hosting, which is fine for a small website, but if your site is a busy one, I recommend getting low end VPS at $15. The cool thing about their VPS is that they manage the infrastructure; they take care of the operating system and patching, but the downside is that you don’t get full root access. If you’re just hosting small sites, this won’t be a problem though. I would suggest that you learn how to install wordpress manually so that you can host multiple wordpress sites into one VPS, and the money the client would pay for hosting would just be passed on to you as profit.
If you’re a full stack developer like me, they also have cloud computing at cheap prices. I also recommend Digital Ocean if you want cheaper options for cloud servers. Other good sites I’ve heard of are Linode, InMotion Hosting, and Liquid Web (this one is HIPAA compliant if you have a medical web app).
Lastly, avoid GoDaddy like the plague. They overprice their crap and their servers are really slow, especially when logging in via SSH.
Thanks for the feedback Ozzy, I’m using DreamHost as well, it’s a reliable and affordable provider and of course, a non-EIG one.
Good information. I’ve managed a men’s fraternal site hosted since 2009 on aplusnet, owned by the Deluxe company. This provider never makes the tech lists for “best hosts”, but it’s worth considering. Affordable levels and reliable uptime. Several site builder tools including WordPress. Custom site building service is available but I haven’t used it myself. Pretty good trouble ticket response. About 5 years ago some of our users who accessed internet through a regional cable provider suddenly could not reach our site. Thinking our host might be getting flaky I looked at Hostgator and BlueHost but stuck with aplusnet. Tech support worked with the cable company and figured out Google spam service was inaccurately flagging our site for spamming. They’re forgiving with volunteer self taught webmasters. A couple of years ago, I missed the fact that the company was discontinuing support for PHP version 5 across all its hosted sites. This shut down a critical custom app that runs on our site. Tech support rolled back our version to one that supported our code until I could update it.
Interesting reply Ben, happy that you shared it. Personally, I prefer more global and known companies for a web hosting services.
I so agree with this list! Hostgator was stellar until 2012, then it was a downward spiral ever since. Bluehost is also a bummer.
Yes, Hostgator and Bluehost are two of the most prominent EIG hosting providers. Should be avoided.
Hello Johnny! I have read your posts while our group was choosing a company for web hosting. That helped me a lot!
Happy to assist! What hosting have you picked?
How much can you tell us about how vulnerable we are concerning EIG’s political policies. After the AWS takedown, I wonder how quickly a hosting company can take down legal content. Thanks!
It’s not completely clear, but EIG is a big corporation that I think it’s safe to assume they will follow any take-down request pretty quickly.
I recommend DreamHost as well, both excellent hosting companies. Thanks for keeping this list up to date.
Truly Appreciate you!
Thanks. Sure, trying to keep it up to date, and yes, DreamHost is a fine hosting provider.
Thanks for the post. I was just about to go with Hostgator after a bad experience with Bluehost (even though I knew they were owned by the same company, so yeah, stupid). Last week I’d tried Siteground. Bought and paid for my plan and then customer service disappeared. I could not find it anywhere. I finally requested a refund and then was able to talk to Sales, since I was no longer a customer (crazy right?). The guy said they still have customer service, but they have eliminated having an easy way to access it. He said I should go into billing and then try to get tech support via billing. He also said they’d recently changed their service availability. Finally, he said he hoped they’d fix it soon. I’d love to know if you have any information on this Siteground update. I’m still looking for a host. 🙁
Hello Johnny,
What is your opinion of using AWS, Azure or CloudFlare for hosting?
For WordPress and eCommerce sites.
BTW – I have tried HostZPresso, InfiniteHosting, ProfitHost (anything Mike McKay promotes DOES NOT WORK) – All of these simply do not work; I had to get a refund. Don’t even waste your time. All pathetic stories. I can’t believe Warrior Plus would even promote this kind of crap.
Looking for hosting for 5 websites – WordPress and eCommerce sites.
Had JustHost which converted me to Bluehost – that dog sure doesn’t hunt.
Thank you.
Hi Jerry, you sharing now the common experience of users that work with EIG hosting like Bluehost or Hostgator, and all the other low-quality white-label web hosting services promoted on Warrior Plus. Those must be avoided.
Personally, I’m working with DreamHost, SiteGround, and WP Engine – depending on the kind of client I’m working with. All the 3 are non-EIG and reliable hosting server providers.
Do you know if verpex.com is an EIG or non-EIG?
They look like an independent company, but be advised – it could change at any point in time.
For my start-up business, I chose the web hosting provider that has amazing features but is going quite expensive as they are linked to the EIG platform. So I listed SiteGround & DomainRacer these companies as low cost. Please give me your advice on them.
I would go with SiteGround. Reliable, great performance, and affordable pricing.
who is the owner of just host now? is it web.com or still eig because in their bill.web.justhost.com is written instead of eig.justhost.com
Justhost is still an EIG hosting company. Simplest way to know it? When reviewing your credit card statements, you will see:
(“EIG” Prefix) + Just Host URL + Just Host Phone Number.
Here’s a quick question. I have 2 domains currently with iPage (EIG). I am currently locked out of both because iPage does not recognize the known good passwords and will not provide any form of password reset – I have spent over 5 hours now with iPage chat support (used to be they provided phone support). All the hosts I have approached say that I need a code to transfer domains from iPage but that requires me to access my domains – which iPage has effectively locked me out of.
What options do I have in getting away from iPage specifically and EIG in general? (I had already approached siteground and will probably go with them).
Sorry to hear another feedback about a bad experience with EIG webhosting company. Yes, you must receive a special code to do the domain transfer. Is the “Forgot Password” on their page not helping?