Lunarpages vs HostICan
Both Lunarpages (review) and HostICan (review) are established web hosts. Lunarpages was founded in 2000 in California. HostICan, a new host, was started in 2003 and is based in Virginia. The two companies have similar service offerings, but as always, it is the small details that can make the biggest difference. This review of Lunarpages and HostICan compares those small differences so that you can make an objective decision on the right host for you.
Each host offers various shared, virtual private server, and dedicated hosting plans. Lunarpages also offers reseller hosting, while HostICan does not. The offerings are summarized below:
Lunarpages
Shared: Linux and Windows
Virtual Private Servers: Linux and Windows
Dedicated: Linux and Windows
Reseller: Linux
Control Panel: cPanel for Linux, Plesk for Windows
Sitebuilder plan
HostICan
Shared: Linux
Virtual Private Servers: Linux and Windows
Dedicated: Linux and Windows
Control Panel: cPanel for Linux, Plesk for Windows
Merchant Accounts
Bandwidth
A big difference between the two hosts is that HostICan provides “Unmetered Bandwidth.” They define this as no restrictions on bandwidth or how an individual uses it. In HostICan’s terms of service, they do restrict the use of this unlimited bandwidth so that it may not be used for the purpose of providing a download service for movies, torrents, images, etc. They require that the unlimited bandwidth be used for website-related content only. HostICan offers two tiers of hosting, with unmetered bandwidth only available on the second tier plans. Since Lunarpages only offers one plan in each hosting category, HostICan’s unmetered plans are not compared below.
Shared Hosting Plans
The shared hosting plans at each host offer similar features. The pricing on the most basic plan may even look identical ($6.95 at the time of writing). Yet look closer and you will find that the pricing stated at each host is for their longest billing cycle. At the three month billing cycle, Lunarpages is two dollars cheaper a month, and they offer much more disk space and bandwidth than HostICan (1,500 GB vs. 600 GB and 15,000 GB vs. 6,500 GB, at time of writing).
VPS
When it comes to virtual private hosting, Lunarpages offers more disk space and bandwidth and charges less for any given billing period. Lunarpages offers one plan each for Linux and Windows VPS, while HostICan offers the choice between two.
What about Dedicated Hosting?
It is more difficult to compare the two companies’ dedicated plans because their pricing, disk space and bandwidth vary widely. On their first tier dedicated plan HostICan provides more than three times as much disk space, three times as much bandwidth, twice as much memory, and about the same processor, but for $100 more a month. On HostICan’s second level dedicated plan you get their advertised “Unmetered Bandwidth” and roughly the same disk space and memory as Lunarpages for $30 more a month than Lunarpages. If the unmetered bandwidth is valuable to you, it may be good to choose HostICan.
Both hosts state that they provide 99.9% uptime. While HostICan guarantees this, Lunarpages only makes a promise that their uptime is within these limits. If uptime is critical, it may be worth going with HostICan as they back their claim with a guarantee.
Lunarpages wins on shared, virtual private, as well as dedicated hosting when it comes to price. If unmetered bandwidth is of value, then it may outweigh the cost savings to go with HostICan. Both hosts offer common features with their hosting, yet they do each have a few of their own unique offerings that may make up your mind for you. For example, if reseller hosting or a site builder is of interest, choose Lunarpages as HostICan does not provide these services. If a merchant account would be of value, go with HostICan.
The quality of hosting is bound to be good whether you choose Lunarpages or HostICan. Yet it’s likely you will find that those small details can really make all the difference.
www.Lunarpages.com vs www.HostICan.com
