# Data Sources & Transparency — Best Hosting Match

**Last verified:** 2026-06-26  
**Editorial policy:** All scores based on published benchmarks and independent testing. No proprietary lab tests claimed.

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## What Our Scores Represent

Scores on this site are **editorial**, synthesized from **public, verifiable sources**. Each hosting provider receives a weighted score (0–100) calculated across 8 categories:

| Category | Weight | Sources |
|----------|--------|---------|
| **Performance** | 20% | HostingStep WordPress benchmarks, VPSBenchmarks.com, GTmetrix, provider documentation |
| **Uptime SLA** | 18% | Published Service Level Agreements, independent monitoring (UptimeRobot, Pingdom historical) |
| **Support Quality** | 15% | Published support hours, response time SLAs, independent reviews |
| **Security & Compliance** | 12% | SSL/TLS support, published security policies, compliance certifications (GDPR, PCI-DSS) |
| **Ease of Use** | 12% | Control panel maturity (cPanel, Cloudways, Plesk quality), documentation quality |
| **Value** | 10% | Official pricing, money-back guarantee terms, promotional pricing vs. renewal |
| **Scalability** | 8% | Upgrade paths, resource limits, documented scaling procedures |
| **App Support** | 5% | One-click installers, pre-configured stacks (WordPress, Drupal, Magento) |

**We do not claim to have deployed personal WordPress sites on 30+ hosts or run proprietary performance testing.** Every score is traceable to a published source.

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## Primary Sources

### 1. HostingStep WordPress Benchmarks (Shared + Managed)
- **URL:** https://hostingstep.com/wordpress-hosting-benchmarks/
- **Testing methodology:**
  - 24/7 synthetic monitoring across 19 North American locations
  - TTFB (Time to First Byte) measurement
  - Core Web Vitals (LCP, FID, CLS)
  - Load testing (0–100 concurrent users via Loader.io)
  - Identical WordPress installation across all providers
  - 525,600+ data points annually per provider
- **Coverage:** Hostinger, Bluehost, DreamHost, SiteGround, IONOS, A2 Hosting, GreenGeeks, InMotion, HostGator, Namecheap, Kinsta, WP Engine, Cloudways, Pressable, Rocket.net
- **Recurrence:** Annual comprehensive report (2025 full-year data, updated June 2026). 24/7 monitoring
- **Why:** Industry standard for WordPress hosting comparison. Longest-running independent benchmark. Transparent methodology, real WordPress setup

### 2. VPSBenchmarks.com (Cloud/VPS Hosting)
- **URL:** https://www.vpsbenchmarks.com/
- **Testing methodology:**
  - Geekbench 6 (CPU single/multi-core)
  - FIO (disk I/O)
  - iPerf3 (network throughput)
  - WordPress page load time
  - Sysbench (sustained load testing)
- **Coverage:** DigitalOcean, Vultr, Linode, Hetzner, Liquid Web
- **Recurrence:** Ongoing trials (new tests monthly)
- **Why:** Only source for cloud/VPS hosting performance metrics. Matches HostingStep in rigor

### 3. GTmetrix Performance Monitoring
- **URL:** https://gtmetrix.com/
- **Data:** Real-world page performance (TTFB, Largest Contentful Paint, server response time)
- **Coverage:** Can monitor any hosting provider
- **Why:** Validates TTFB claims. Public reports available for major providers

### 4. Provider Published SLAs & Documentation
- **Uptime guarantees:** Official Service Level Agreements (99.9%, 99%, etc.)
- **Datacenter info:** Published infrastructure details
- **Support hours:** Official support SLAs
- **Security:** Published compliance certifications (ISO 27001, SOC 2, PCI-DSS)

### 5. Independent Monitoring & Reviews
- **UptimeRobot / Pingdom:** Historical uptime data (public trend pages)
- **Third-party reviews:** Professional hosting review sites (Web Hosting Hub, Tech Radar)
- **Community feedback:** Trustpilot, G2, independent blogger reviews

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## How Scores Are Calculated

**Performance (20%):**
- TTFB from HostingStep benchmark → scaled to 0–100
- Load capacity (concurrent users handled) → scaled to 0–100
- Core Web Vitals score → scaled to 0–100
- Average across available metrics

**Uptime SLA (18%):**
- Published SLA percentage direct (99.9% = 99/100, 99% = 88/100, 95% = 75/100)
- Historical uptime data from monitoring services (validation)

**Support Quality (15%):**
- 24/7 support: 100/100
- Business hours: 70/100
- Response time SLA
- Community/review sentiment

**Security & Compliance (12%):**
- SSL/TLS auto-renewal: 10 pts
- GDPR compliant: 15 pts
- PCI-DSS certified: 15 pts
- SOC 2 audit: 15 pts
- Scored to 100 max

**Other categories:** Weighted combination of provider documentation and verified capabilities

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## Data Update Schedule

- **Monthly:** TTFB data from HostingStep (new benchmarks published)
- **Quarterly:** Pricing and SLA verification
- **Quarterly:** Support quality assessment (via reviews)
- **Annually:** Comprehensive source re-verification

**Last update:** 2026-06-26

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## What We DON'T Claim

❌ We have personally deployed 30 WordPress sites  
❌ Proprietary hosting lab or testing infrastructure  
❌ Running our own TTFB measurements  
❌ First-person "hands-on testing"  
❌ Custom hosting benchmarking methodology  

**All performance data comes from HostingStep, VPSBenchmarks, or provider documentation.**

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## Affiliate & Transparency

- **Affiliate status:** Not active (editorial only)
- **Conflicts of interest:** None; we take no payment for placement
- **Correction policy:** Email contact@besthostingmatch.com if you find inaccurate data

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## Questions?

Contact: contact@besthostingmatch.com

We're committed to transparent, verifiable hosting data. If a benchmark is outdated or a provider SLA has changed, please report it.