I'm in the process of starting a web design business and want to be able to provide hosting for my clients.

I want a small, low-cost plan that I can expand depending on the demand for hosting.

From what I've seen so far, SonataWeb and VARhosting seem to be the best options. Does anyone have any tips on these two (or others that offer similar plans @ $10/mo or less)?

Thanks,
WannaB_Geek.

I've heard good things about both.

I would suggest SonataWeb over Varhosting, though I do not have any experience with either one just knowledge from reading numerous forums about complaints and compliments.

Originally posted by WannaB_Geek
........From what I've seen so far, SonataWeb and VARhosting seem to be the best options. Does anyone have any tips on these two ........ ?

It's worth noting that Varhosting offers to support your customers directly, saving you the hassle of dealing with the day-to-day tech support issues your signups might have.

Also, Varhosting offers billing software included free with their reseller plans, while with Sonata you'd have to purchase the add-on separately(unless I'm mistaken?).

Another thing worth looking at is their uptime guarantees.... you decide if the difference is worth caring about.

Anyhow, both are definitely well regarded as the previous posters show. So you would probably be fine with either. Just depends what features you are interested in and if it's enough to help you narrow down to a decision.

Originally posted by jmweb
I would suggest SonataWeb over Varhosting, though I do not have any experience with either one just knowledge from reading numerous forums about complaints and compliments.

I am hosted with with sonataweb for past six months, and am amazed with support speed and response. Though I rarely require their support, as the servers are up always, haven't witnessed the server load going out of control. Terry takes extra care to ensure that server is secure, with regular installation of patches and so on.

I did faced problems at two instances during my six months stay, due to a security feature of 406, that conflicted with my phpnuke sites, but that was taken care of in minutes.

Remember, Sonata is not a cheap reseller, like any good host provider, they offer good services and charge for it. Also given the fact that they are in this industry for more than 18 months, gives a secure feeling.

Honestly sonata is too good to be true, but that is the truth. :pray:

I used SonataWeb for a couple of months. They have one of the best reputations on this forum. I would say your clients would be safe with them. Terry is very open with everything that goes on with the servers and network.

Out of the two I would have to recommend SonataWeb. You can also take a look at some other hosts that have a good reputation on this forum and compare.

Cheers

I would recommend SonataWeb too. I wrote a review on them about a month ago (it's somewhere on WHT, just search), and my verdict still stands. I'll post another review in a couple of months time.

You won't go wrong with SonataWeb.

Is this sonataweb's website?

http://www.sonataweb.net

It seems to be temporarily down.

Originally posted by iceshake
Is this sonataweb's website?

http://www.sonataweb.net

It seems to be temporarily down.
I'm not aware of any downtime with Apache lately. It's possible that your IP range was nullrouted due to some DDOS attacks we were having on Friday, however that's unlikely as very few were blocked.