How We Review Services

At hostingy.net, we believe that quality reviews must be backed by real data, not marketing promises. That’s why we test every hosting service using a set of professional tools and standardized scenarios. Our reviews are impartial and honest — we apply the same evaluation standards to all services.

Test Scenarios

We test each hosting in four realistic scenarios that simulate both common and demanding operational conditions:

  1. Clean WordPress — a default installation without optimizations. We measure the basic server performance and how it behaves "out of the box".
  2. Content Blog — a realistic installation with plugins, posts, and images. We test with cache both off and on to measure the actual impact of optimization.
  3. WooCommerce E-shop — an e-commerce scenario with 1,000 demo products. We simulate the real load of an online store.
  4. Synthetic Benchmarks — isolated tests of individual server components (CPU, disk, database, network).

Tools We Use

Website Speed and Performance

  1. Google PageSpeed Insights — we measure Performance score, First Contentful Paint (FCP), Largest Contentful Paint (LCP), Cumulative Layout Shift (CLS), and Time to First Byte (TTFB).
  2. GTmetrix — we test TTFB, total load time, Speed Index, page size, and number of requests.

Server Benchmarks

  1. Hosting Benchmark Tool — synthetic tests of CPU, file system, database, WordPress, and network.
  2. Speedtest Pro — CPU/PHP, MySQL, and disk I/O operation benchmarks.
  3. Query Monitor — we measure page generation time, number and speed of SQL queries, and memory usage.
  4. sysbench — tests of RAM throughput, CPU performance, and file operations.
  5. fio — measuring disk IOPS and throughput (random reading of 4K blocks).
  6. ioping — measuring disk latency.

Load Testing

  1. k6.io — three testing modes: Spike (sudden load), Ramp-up (gradual increase), and Sustained load (continuous load). We measure average response, 95th percentile, maximum response, requests per second, and error rate.
  2. Loader.io — we test response time, number of processed requests, and error rate under load.
  3. Apache Benchmark (ab) — measuring throughput for static requests.

Availability Monitoring

  1. UptimeRobot — continuous monitoring of server availability. We record uptime percentage, number of outages, and total downtime.

Network Tests

  1. Speedtest CLI — measuring download speed, upload speed, and latency of the server’s network connection.
  2. iperf3 — testing internal network throughput.

What We Evaluate

Speed

We measure key metrics that directly affect user experience and SEO: Time to First Byte (TTFB), Largest Contentful Paint (LCP), total page load time, and server response under varying load levels.

Availability (uptime)

We monitor every hosting continuously. We track actual availability in percentages, number and duration of outages, and server stability during traffic peaks.

Server Performance

We test raw hardware performance: processor speed, disk operation throughput, database performance, file system speed, and network response.

Features and Technology

We evaluate available technologies (PHP versions, HTTP/2, HTTP/3, SSL certificates, backups), control panel, management options, and additional services.

Customer Support

We test the speed and quality of technical support responses through available channels (chat, email, phone, ticket system).

Price and Value

We compare plan prices with offered performance and features. We highlight hidden fees, differences between introductory and renewal prices, and contract termination conditions.

How We Rate

Our ratings are based on a combination of measured data and qualitative assessment:

  1. Comparative Benchmarks — measured values are compared to the average of the given category (shared hosting, VPS, dedicated server).
  2. Real Scenarios — we evaluate performance in conditions that reflect actual operation of websites and e-shops.
  3. User Reviews — alongside our tests, we also consider feedback from real users of hosting services.

Each review contains an overview of strengths and weaknesses, detailed test results, and clear recommendations on who the service is best suited for.

Independence of Reviews

The operation of hostingy.net is funded through affiliate programs. This means we may receive a commission if you purchase a service through our link. However, this cooperation never influences the results of our tests or ratings. We test all services with the same tools, under the same conditions, and according to the same criteria — regardless of whether we have an affiliate relationship with the provider.

More information can be found in our affiliate disclaimer.