Who Do Rockstar Bloggers Host With?
You've got grand plans for your blog. Naturally, it's going to be big - really big. But before you hit your rhythm with insightful, savvy posts, there are practical considerations - like where to host it.
With so many web hosts to choose from, that's no easy decision. That's why we compiled this handy guide to where the web's top 100 blogs (by Technorati ranking on August 8 2008) are hosted.
If they're good enough for these guys, right...?
Top Blogger's Favourite Web Hosts
This graph shows every web hosting company appearing more than once in the top 100. It excludes sites hosted in-house and Akamai's caching service.
And the Winner Is...
Media Temple and Datagram are twice as popular as any other host on the list, ignoring free blog hosting (eg, BlogSpot) and in-house hosting (eg, AOL's blogs). These two web hosting companies account for 19 of the top 100 blogs between them.
However, six of the Datagram blogs are published by one company (Gawker Media). Ignoring Gawker's multiple votes, one host is clearly far more popular than the rest.
Media Temple hosts over twice as many top blogs as any other web hosting company in the list.
Surprise Entries & Omissions
DreamHost are best known for offering cheap, shared hosting, rather than for hosting high-traffic sites. Given their customer offering - no SLA, no telephone support, no dedicated servers - it's a surprise to see them make the top 100.
Likewise, we're surprised to learn that eight of the top 100 blogs are hosted on BlogSpot - Blogger's basic, free blog host - and Six Apart. None of the top 100 blog's are using Wordpress.com's hosted service, a surprise given the popularity of WordPress itself.
The World's Top 100 Blogs & Their Hosts
The list of top blog hosts in full.
| Web Hosting | ||
| 1. |  | The Huffington Post | Datagram |
| 2. |  | TechCrunch | Media Temple |
| 3. |  | Gizmodo | Datagram |
| 4. |  | Engadget | |
| 5. |  | Boing Boing | Priority Colo |
| 6. |  | Lifehacker | Datagram |
| 7. |  | Ars Technica | |
| 8. |  | icanhascheezburger.com | Layered Technologies |
| 9. |  | ReadWriteWeb | Media Temple |
| 10. |  | Mashable! | Media Temple |
| 11. |  | Smashing Magazine |  |
| 12. |  | Gigazine |  |
| 13. |  | Daily Kos | Voxel |
| 14. |  | Gawker | Datagram |
| 15. |  | Seth's Blog | Six Apart |
| 16. |  | Official Google Blog | Blogger |
| 17. |  | TreeHugger | Pair Networks |
| 18. |  | Kotaku | Datagram |
| 19. |  | Dosh Dosh | Media Temple |
| 20. |  | Blog di Beppe Grillo | IT.net |
| 21. |  | PerezHilton.com | Voxel |
| 22. |  | Problogger | LogicWorks |
| 23. |  | Jauhari | DreamHost |
| 24. |  | TMZ.com | |
| 25. |  | Daily Blog Tips | Doreo |
| 26. |  | The Caucus Politics | |
| 27. |  | PostSecret | Blogger |
| 28. |  | Think Progress |  |
| 29. |  | The Wrong Advices | Media Temple |
| 30. |  | The Consumerist | Datagram |
| 31. |  | Copyblogger | LogicWorks |
| 32. |  | Threat Level Wired Blog | Akamai |
| 33. |  | uthink | Maxnet |
| 34. |  | Valleywag | Datagram |
| 35. |  | TUAW | |
| 36. |  | GigaOM | Layered Technologies |
| 37. |  | Neatorama | |
| 38. |  | Bits (NY Times) | |
| 39. |  | Joystiq | |
| 40. |  | CrunchGear | Media Temple |
| 41. |  | Dooce | Liquid Web |
| 42. |  | Talking Points Memo | RackSpace |
| 43. |  | The Drudge Report |  |
| 44. |  | Scobleizer | Layered Technologies |
| 45. |  | The Daily Dish | Six Apart |
| 46. |  | Crooks and Liars |  |
| 47. |  | Blogscoped |  |
| 48. |  | TopTut.com |  |
| 49. |  | The Web Standards Project | Layered Technologies |
| 50. |  | Wired Blogs: Gadget Lab | Akamai |
| 51. |  | Zen Habits |  |
| 52. |  | /Film | Media Temple |
| 53. |  | A List Apart |
|
| 54. |  | Autoblog | |
| 55. |  | Ben Smith's Blog |  |
| 56. |  | Wired Science | Akamai |
| 57. |  | Kottke.org | |
| 58. |  | Mac Rumors | SoftLayer |
| 59. |  | Yanko Design | Liquid Web |
| 60. |  | Freakonomics | |
| 61. |  | Apartment Therapy | Liquid Web |
| 62. |  | The Sartorialist | Blogger |
| 63. |  | Search Engine Land | Tiger Technologies |
| 64. |  | delicious:days | Domain Factory |
| 65. |  | Webware | |
| 66. |  | The Corner | |
| 67. |  | VentureBeat | RackSpace |
| 68. |  | Microsiervos | Media Temple |
| 69. |  | Political Radar | Six Apart |
| 70. |  | NewsBusters.org | Razor Servers |
| 71. |  | Glenn Greenwald, Salon.com | Raging Wire |
| 72. |  | TravelPod | |
| 73. |  | The Underwire | Akamai |
| 74. |  | Hot Air | RackSpace |
| 75. |  | Pajamas Media | Dynamic.com |
| 76. |  | Seeking Alpha | Herakles |
| 77. |  | Signal vs Noise | |
| 78. |  | Coding Horror | CrystalTech |
| 79. |  | Deadspin | Datagram |
| 80. |  | How to Change the World | Six Apart |
| 81. |  | Gothamist | LogicWorks |
| 82. |  | Google Operating System | Blogger |
| 83. |  | Stereogum | Tier zero |
| 84. |  | Pharyngula | RackSpace |
| 85. |  | Engadget Japanese | |
| 86. |  | PaulStamatiou.com | Media Temple |
| 87. |  | Danger Room | Akamai |
| 88. |  | mentalfloss magazine | iServe Technologies |
| 89. |  | Pronet Advertising | Media Temple |
| 90. |  | Crave | |
| 91. |  | ShoeMoney | |
| 92. |  | Matt Cutts | Pair Networks |
| 93. |  | TorrentFreak | Steadfast |
| 94. | | Signal vs.Noise | |
| 95. |  | Techdirt | iSparks |
| 96. |  | Dlisted | R. Palondikar (huh?) |
| 97. |  | Daring Fireball | Level3 |
| 98. |  | Cinematical | |
| 99. |  | Core77 | |
| 100. |  | O'Reilly Radar | Sonic.net |
