Picking a webhost is a lot like picking apples. On the outside, an apple may look delicious, but be rotten inside. Or reversely, a webhost service may look unprofessional on the outside, but be a great webhost on the inside. The key is in user experiences, and I have compiled my own and other's experiences to help determine which webhosts deliver the best services.

First, we will list the contenders who have made it into my top five: 1&1 Hosting, Yahoo Hosting, iPowerWeb, LunarPages, and DreamHost. In order to make the list, the companies had to be competitively priced, provide 24/7 support, and have atleast a 99% uptime. Any webhosting company that doesn't have those three things doesn't deserve a look. That said, this list has been significantly reduced for your convenience, highlighting five companies that I believe deserve a look for different reasons.

Our first webhost review involves 1&1 Hosting, the largest webhost by customers, and for a long time with number of domains as well. The 1&1 hosting price is what is so lucrative: $2.99 a month for webhosting is amazing then to top it off the $2.99 1&1 hosting plan offers 1 free domain name, 5 GB space with 250 GB bandwidth. For budget webhosting, 1&1 hosting is definitely the way to go.

Next up, Yahoo Hosting, a company that was conceived for the Internet is now hosting it. Yahoo has many smart features including one that will install WordPress for you! WordPress it the most famous blogging software, and Yahoo Hosting will setup the process for you. Yahoo Hosting also comes with a free Akismet license, which is an anti-spam filter for your blog. If you host with someone else you'll have to pay the $5/mo fee! That's just the tip of the iceberg, my favorite feature is the 'site snapshots' which backup the changes to your website every 4 hours. You can restore back to any of the site snapshots easily.

Our third webhost, iPowerWeb, is a large small webhost. By that, we mean they haven't received quite the large publicity of the other webhosting companies, but are a relatively large in the webhosting industry, and certainly deserving of big-name recognition. iPowerweb offers one of the best domain name deals around. At $2.99 for the first year, domains have never been so inexpensive. iPowerWeb is also very personal with their customers; you will have an account executive assigned to you, who will take care of your every need, just like a good waiter.

LunarPages won my attention in 2001, with the Los Angeles blackout during which they maintained operability. While perhaps server uptime during a national disaster may not be a high priority for you; for many, including myself it's an insurance policy all into itself. That said, it speaks well for uptime when there isn't a blackout or disaster. LunarPages also has been one of the first of the support-driven smaller companies to take a price dive, from the industry standard of $7.95 to $6.95 a month.

Then finally there is DreamHost, who while lacking a competitive price makes the list because of their offering VPN service, and Ruby on Rails support. Those two services are a must for many small businesses, and the DreamHost webhosting plans are still a fraction of the normal cost for those webhost services.

Conclusion: For those on a budget 1&1 defeats all. 6-month pay cycles, free domains, and no setup fees at incredible rates, can't be beat. For VPN, DreamHost delivers a great service. For those looking for great service with powerful hosting: Yahoo, iPowerweb, and LunarPages are the way to go.