About HostDir
An independent reference for the layers of infrastructure that sit underneath the modern web. We map the providers people use, the data centers they run inside, the domain extensions they buy, and the protocols that hold the lot together.
HostDir started as a directory of web hosting companies. It has grown into a working reference covering every layer of the modern web's plumbing. Today we list 4,156 active hosting providers across 33 countries, 5,156 carrier-neutral and operator data centers sourced from PeeringDB, every domain extension in the IANA root, a working set of free utilities for the things engineers actually look up at 2am, a glossary of 270 networking terms, ten long-form pillar guides, a daily news desk and an open community forum.
None of it requires an account. None of it asks for an email. None of it is for sale, except clearly-labelled sponsorship slots that exist outside the editorial ranking. We are funded by a one-time $15 listing admin fee, modest sponsorship, and the goodwill of people who would rather pay a little to read something honest than read for free and be sold to.
HostDir is built by Chris Lever, who has been tangled up in the hosting industry for the better part of twenty years. Back in 2005 he founded StoneRocket, a free hosting community from the Post2Host era, where members earned genuine hosting, with PHP, MySQL and a proper control panel, by taking part in the forum. It grew to tens of thousands of visitors a month before that model, and the whole world of forum-funded hosting, quietly faded away.
HostDir is what that same itch looks like two decades on. The tools have changed and the industry has consolidated into a handful of giants, but the thing that started it, a real fascination with how the web actually gets hosted and who runs the machines underneath it, never went anywhere. If you want the full story of the era StoneRocket belonged to, we wrote it up in the Post2Host deep dive.
- Quality-weighted by review count, not raw stars.
- Country pages boost locally headquartered providers.
- Hosts present in 15+ markets take a small per-page tax.
- Sponsored slots are labelled and excluded from the algorithm.
- The model is described on every country page.
- Free to read. No paywall, no signup.
- $15 one-time to list a hosting company.
- Sponsored slots are clearly labelled.
- Corrections published inline when something is wrong.
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Editorial labelling
Sponsorship and paid placements are shown in clearly labelled slots, separate from editorial rankings, news coverage and pillar guides.
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Reviews never bought
User reviews are first-party, moderated, and tied to an account. Providers cannot purchase positive reviews. Suspected coordinated activity is removed.
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Human editors
Every story, profile and guide is written by a human editor. Pillar guides are fact-checked against the relevant RFCs and vendor documentation.
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Updated daily
Provider data is refreshed continuously. PeeringDB-sourced facility and network data syncs nightly. The news desk publishes daily on weekdays.
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Corrections welcome
If a number on this site is wrong, please tell us. We log corrections and dateline-stamp pages when material facts change.
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Open contact
Editor and tip-line addresses are on every page. We read what readers send us, including the complaints.
Hosting provider data is curated continuously and enriched via LLM-assisted extraction from each provider's public website. Pricing reflects the entry-tier starting price for each category and excludes the <$1 promotional teaser rates that ad copy is built on. Reviews are user-contributed and moderated.
Data center, IXP and network data is synchronised from PeeringDB, the canonical operator-maintained registry. Country attribution for networks is derived from the registered organisation country.
Domain extensions are mirrored from the IANA root zone database. Domain WHOIS uses RDAP. Network WHOIS uses Team Cymru's DNS service. Cipher and protocol detection uses live TLS handshakes.
For the methodology behind a specific page, see its dateline footer. Where editorial judgement is involved (locality weighting, country-page tie-breakers, exclusion of obvious teaser pricing), the rule is described inline.
Corrections, scoops, sponsorship enquiries
We try to reply to everything that isn't an SEO pitch within two business days.