How We Test Hosts

Every review we publish is based on a hosting account we pay for ourselves - never on a vendor's talking points, a sponsor, or a forum thread. We treat three primary sources as authoritative:

• The account we sign up for and pay for - the canonical source for real speed, uptime, support quality, and the limits a host actually imposes. We use the dashboard and run the tests ourselves and quote the exact numbers where they matter.
• The host's published plans, pricing, and docs - where hosts spell out the renewal costs, resource caps, and fine-print terms that the headline pricing page leaves vague.
• Our own benchmark runs and screenshots - captured during testing when a host's real-world performance differs from what it advertises. We record the measurements and note the host and date.

Speed & Uptime

• Real performance: the load times and response speeds we record on a live WordPress site, and the test conditions they were measured under (location, plan, caching).
• Plan exceptions: throttling on entry plans, traffic or visit caps, and how performance holds up under load.

Plans & Limits

• What you actually get: whether storage, bandwidth, and site counts match the marketing, and how the host handles overages (throttle, upsell, surcharge).
• Resource caps: CPU, memory, inode, and entry-process limits - and which workloads can't run on the plan at all.

Pricing & Outcomes

• Renewal-price hikes: which plans jump at renewal, how much they jump, and how to avoid it.
• Add-ons & true cost: intro price vs. renewal price, migration fees, backups, and how much the real bill lands at.

Support

• How you can get help: live chat, ticket, or phone - and how fast and how knowledgeable the responses actually are when we contact them.

When a host changes any of these, we re-test the affected review and re-baseline any ongoing comparisons that reference it.

A host review with no date is useless - a speed number only matters if the date is current. So every review we publish carries a visible “Last tested” date showing the day we last measured the host on an account we pay for.

What the Date Means

The “Last tested” date is not the publish date and not an automatic timestamp. It is the day a human on our team last ran our tests on the host and confirmed that every figure in our review - speed, uptime, plans, pricing, limits - still matched. If a detail changed, the review was updated before the date was moved.

Why It Matters

Hosts quietly raise renewal prices, tighten resource caps, and migrate customers to slower hardware without announcing it. The date is how you tell whether what you're reading reflects the host's performance today or last year. We would rather show an honest, slightly older date than fake recency.

While the specifics vary by host, every review follows a consistent core process:

1. 1Sign up and pay- we create a real account on the host's plan, pay for it ourselves, and set up a live WordPress site to test on.
2. 2Run the benchmarks - we measure load times and uptime, then dig into the plans, renewal costs, resource caps, exceptions, and support channels.
3. 3Cross-check the edge cases - throttling on entry plans, overage handling, migration fees, backup costs, and support response quality are tested directly, not assumed.
4. 4Quote the exact numbers - where a result is contested or surprising, we show the host's own dashboard or our measurements so readers can see the source.
5. 5Date-stamp it- we record the test date and attach the “Last tested” stamp shown on the published review.
6. 6Log the details - the speed numbers, pricing, source URLs, and any quoted figures are recorded in a standardized internal sheet that the fact-checker and senior editor reference during the editorial review.
7. 7Editorial sign-off - a second editor confirms every figure traces back to our hands-on testing before the review is published.

Testing isn't a one-time event - hosts change, so we re-check them on a cadence and whenever something prompts it.

• Scheduled re-testing - major host reviews (Hostinger, SiteGround, Bluehost, Kinsta, and the like) are re-tested on accounts we pay for on a regular cadence, and the “Last tested” date is refreshed each time.
• Trigger-based re-testing - when a host announces a plan or pricing change, or a reader reports that performance no longer matches our review, we re-test the affected review right away.
• Seasonal re-testing - intro-deal and renewal-pricing reviews are re-checked ahead of major sale seasons, since these change every year.

Transparency means being honest about the limits of testing, not just the strengths.

• Unverified vendor claims- we don't present a host's marketing promise as a measured result. If we haven't confirmed it on an account we pay for, we say so.
• Outdated benchmarks- we don't publish a speed number without a “Last tested” date. A figure with no date is treated as unverified.
• Crowdsourced performance data - we do not average forum claims, user reports, or comment-section anecdotes into a published review. Those may flag something worth re-testing, but the numbers themselves always trace to our own hands-on testing.
• Guaranteed outcomes - testing a host tells you how it performed for us, not that your specific site and traffic will see identical results. Where outcomes vary, we say so and point you to our speed and performance guides.