The Web Hosting Monopoly Map: 6 Companies Pretending to Be 200

You think you’re choosing between Bluehost, HostGator, Web.com, HostMonster and Hosting.com, Rocket.net, Verpex, FastComet?

You’re picking between eight brands owned by just two companies.

The web hosting industry is an illusion of choice. In my opinion, it’s really just 6-7 massive conglomerates that bought up hundreds of hosting brands, then kept the old names to make you think you’re comparing independent companies.

You’re not.

You’re comparing Newfold Digital to Newfold Digital. World Host Group to World Host Group. team.blue to team.blue.

This is your monopoly map.

⚡ 30-Second Verdict

The web hosting industry is controlled by 6-7 major conglomerates pretending to compete
Newfold Digital owns 25+ brands including Bluehost, HostGator, Domain.com, Web.com
World Host Group owns 12+ brands including A2 Hosting (now Hosting), Verpex, Rocket.net
team.blue owns 100+ brands across Europe (mostly smaller hosts)
The pattern: Buy company → keep the name → degrade service → maximize profit
“Independent” reviews are bullshit when comparing brands owned by the same parent
Actual independent alternatives: Scala Hosting, Hetzner, ChemiCloud

The Big 6 (Really 7) Consolidators

Here’s who actually controls the hosting industry:

1. Newfold Digital (The Biggest Empire)

Formerly: Endurance International Group (EIG)

Owns 25+ brands including:

Bluehost
HostGator
Domain.com
Web.com
iPage
HostMonster
JustHost
FastDomain
Site5
Register.com
BigRock
ResellerClub
Even Yoast SEO (the WordPress plugin you trust)

What they do: Buy popular hosting brands, keep the names, degrade service quality, maximize profit margins through aggressive upselling and renewal price increases.

According to Wikipedia, Newfold Digital was formed in 2021 when EIG was acquired by Clearlake Capital Group and Siris Capital Group for $3 billion. They merged it with Web.com to create the current entity.

The pattern is consistent across all their brands:

Outdated servers (1-second TTFB is common)
Aggressive CPU throttling causing 5xx errors
Renewal prices jumping 200-338%
Support quality declining post-acquisition
Hidden resource limits despite “unlimited” marketing

I’ve written about their specific tactics in my Bluehost/HostGator article.

2. World Host Group (The Quiet Consolidator)

Owns 30+ brands including:

Hosting.com (formerly A2 Hosting - they literally renamed the company to just “Hosting”)
Rocket.net
FastComet
CirrusHosting
CloakHosting
ColombiaHosting
DedicatedNow
DollarHost
DomainZ
Doteasy
HostForWeb
Hosting.co.uk
HostingRaja
HostMDS
LuxHosting
MochaHost
MonsterHost
Nimbus Hosting
RadiantEdge
SpidyHost
Stablepoint
SuEmpresa
VeronaHost
Verpex
VPSCheap
WebCentral.au
WebHostingBuzz

What they do: Similar playbook to Newfold, but less public information available. They’ve been aggressively acquiring brands since around 2020-2021.

The most notable acquisition was A2 Hosting (a previously respected independent host) which they not only bought but literally rebranded as “Hosting” - erasing decades of brand equity.

Why this matters: A2 Hosting used to be recommended as an “independent alternative” to EIG hosts. Now it’s owned by another consolidator using the exact same playbook.

3. team.blue (The European Empire)

Owns 100+ brands including:

names.co.uk
Raidboxes (German managed WordPress hosting)
Top.Host
Webnode
Keliweb (Italian)
GURU
Catalyst2
And 90+ more smaller European hosting brands

What they do: According to their own website, team.blue is “Europe’s largest private provider of digital presence services” with over 100 brands across 20+ countries.

They’re doing to Europe what Newfold did to North America - buying up regional hosting companies and consolidating under one corporate umbrella while keeping local brand names.

Why this matters: If you’re in Europe and think you’re choosing a “local” hosting provider, you’re probably still giving money to team.blue.

4. Automattic Inc (The WordPress Empire)

Owns:

WordPress.com
Pressable
WP Cloud
WooCommerce (the e-commerce plugin)
Tumblr
Simplenote
And 20+ other products

What they do: Automattic is different - they actually built most of these products rather than acquiring and degrading them. But they’re still a consolidator with monopoly power in the WordPress ecosystem.

The conflict of interest: Automattic controls WordPress.com hosting, the most popular e-commerce plugin (WooCommerce), and has significant influence over WordPress.org development. That’s a lot of vertical integration.

5. DigitalOcean Holdings (Cloud Infrastructure)

Owns:

DigitalOcean
Cloudways (managed cloud hosting platform)

What they do: Acquired Cloudways in 2022 for $350 million. Unlike Newfold/World Host, they’ve maintained service quality post-acquisition (so far).

Why this matters: Cloudways was the main competitor to independent managed cloud providers like Scala Hosting. Now it’s part of a public company with quarterly earnings pressure.

6. AttractSoft GmbH (Budget Host Consolidator)

Owns:

AwardSpace
Atspace
Alotspace
ZettaHost
LeadHoster
Reseller Cluster

What they do: Focus on free/budget hosting with heavy upselling. Acquired multiple free hosting providers and now cross-promote paid upgrades across the network.

Why this matters: Less significant than others, but shows consolidation happening even at the budget/free tier.

7. GoDaddy (Standing Alone, For Now)

Owns: Just GoDaddy (and a few domain registrars)

What they do: GoDaddy is large enough to be its own monopoly. According to their investor relations, they manage over 84 million domains and host millions of websites.

Why they’re here: While not a consolidator buying other brands, GoDaddy is massive enough to distort the market through aggressive marketing spend and affiliate commissions.

In my opinion, their business model relies on confusing pricing, aggressive upsells, and making it difficult to leave. I’ve written about this in detail in my GoDaddy exposé.

The Illusion of Choice

Here’s what the hosting comparison websites don’t tell you:

“Independent” Comparisons That Aren’t

When PCMag compares Bluehost vs HostGator vs iPage, they’re comparing:

Newfold Digital
vs Newfold Digital
vs Newfold Digital

When review sites compare Hosting.com vs Verpex vs Rocket.net, they’re comparing:

World Host Group
vs World Host Group
vs World Host Group

It’s the same company competing with itself.

Why They Keep the Old Names

If Newfold renamed all their brands to “Newfold Hosting,” customers would notice the monopoly.

Instead, they keep names like “Bluehost” and “HostGator” because:

Existing brand equity - People already know and trust these names
Illusion of choice - Customers think they’re comparing independent companies
Market segmentation - Different brands target different customer types
Affiliate gaming - They can pay commissions on “competitive” comparisons between their own brands

The Acquisition → Degradation Pattern

Every major acquisition follows the same pattern:

Year 1: “Nothing will change! We’re committed to maintaining quality!”

Year 2: Quietly migrate to shared infrastructure, reduce support staff

Year 3: Increase renewal prices, remove “free” features, add upsells

Year 4: Aggressive resource throttling, force upgrades to higher plans

Year 5: The brand is now just another Bluehost clone

This happened to:

HostGator (acquired by EIG in 2012, degraded by 2014)
A2 Hosting (acquired by World Host Group, renamed to “Hosting”)
Site5 (acquired by EIG in 2012, shut down in 2023)
And dozens more

Why This Matters For Your Website

1. You Can’t Escape By “Switching”

If you’re on Bluehost and switch to HostGator because of bad service, you’re still on Newfold servers.

The migration accomplishes nothing except resetting your renewal clock (which benefits them).

2. Reviews Are Compromised

When every major comparison involves brands owned by the same parent companies, “independent” reviews are impossible.

Review sites are comparing:

Newfold’s cheap brand (iPage)
vs Newfold’s mid-tier brand (Bluehost)
vs Newfold’s “premium” brand (Bluehost Pro)

It’s the same infrastructure with different marketing.

3. Your Data Is Centralized

Hosting industry consolidation means:

Fewer companies controlling more websites
Single points of failure affecting multiple “brands”
Shared infrastructure across “competing” hosts
Privacy policies controlled by parent companies

When Newfold has an outage, Bluehost, HostGator, HostMonster, and 20+ other brands all go down together.

4. Innovation Stops

Why would Newfold improve Bluehost’s infrastructure when customers who leave just move to HostGator (also Newfold)?

They have no incentive to compete on quality when they own all the “alternatives.”

The Actual Independent Alternatives

Here are hosts that are genuinely independent (for now):

Scala Hosting

Owned by: Private company (founders: Chris Rusev, Ivo Tzenov)

What makes them different:

Built their own control panel (SPanel) instead of licensing cPanel
OpenLiteSpeed instead of Apache (faster, more efficient)
Dedicated resources instead of oversold shared hosting
No hidden limits or aggressive throttling

Try Scala Hosting (Free Migration - No Price Increase)

Commission disclosure: I make +$100/sale. They rank #1 because they’re actually good, not because of commission rates.

I could make $150+ from Bluehost but I don’t recommend them because they’re terrible.

Hetzner

Owned by: Private German company (family-owned since 1997)

What makes them different:

Honest resource allocation (clearly stated: 20GB NVMe, 20TB bandwidth, 2GB RAM)
No “unlimited” bullshit marketing
€4.49/month for VPS with actual dedicated resources
Strong privacy protections (German data laws)

Get Hetzner Cloud (Best Price-to-Performance, No Forced Upgrades)

Commission disclosure: I make $0 from Hetzner. I recommend them because they’re honest.

ChemiCloud

Owned by: Private company (founder: Chris Irenee)

What makes them different:

100ms global TTFB performance
Clearly stated resources (3 CPU cores, 3GB RAM, scalable to 6/6)
500,000 inode limit (2.5x higher than Bluehost’s 200,000)
No aggressive throttling or forced upgrades

Try ChemiCloud (Free Migration - Clear Pricing)

Commission disclosure: I make ~$100/sale. They’re a genuine alternative to SiteGround (which has been degrading since their aggressive monetization push).

Others Worth Mentioning

Hostinger - Independent and growing, though support is hit-or-miss
Kinsta - Independent managed WordPress hosting (premium pricing for should-be-free features)
SiteGround - Still independent, but went downhill with aggressive monetization (CPU limits, removed free features)

How To Check If Your Host Is Independent

Before trusting any hosting company, do this:

1. Check Wikipedia

Search “[host name] ownership” on Wikipedia. Look for:

Parent company listed
Acquisition history
“Subsidiary of” mentions

2. Check Their “About” Page

Look for:

Parent company disclosure
Corporate owner mentions
Private equity backing
Recent “partnership” announcements (often code for acquisition)

3. Look For Infrastructure Changes

Signs a host was recently acquired:

Server migrations to “improved infrastructure”
Control panel changes
Support quality suddenly declining
Pricing structure changes
Features becoming paid that were free

4. Search Reddit

Go to Reddit and search:

“[host name] acquired”
“[host name] ownership”
“[host name] changed”

Users notice degradation quickly and discuss it.

The Consolidation Timeline

Here’s when major acquisitions happened:

2010-2012: EIG goes on buying spree

HostGator (2012)
Site5 (2012)
BigRock (2014)

2013-2016: EIG continues expansion

HostMonster (already owned)
JustHost (already owned)
Domain.com (2016)

2018-2021: Private equity takes over

2018: EIG acquired by private equity firms
2021: EIG merged with Web.com to form Newfold Digital

2020-2024: World Host Group emerges

Multiple acquisitions including A2 Hosting
Renamed A2 Hosting to just “Hosting”
Acquired Verpex, Rocket.net, and 10+ others

2022: DigitalOcean acquires Cloudways

$350 million acquisition
Cloudways remains operationally separate (so far)

2020-2024: team.blue builds European empire

Over 100 acquisitions across Europe
Mostly smaller regional hosting companies

2025:

Rocket.net gobbled up by Hosting.com to scale its platform, access capital, and have its products offered to hosting.com customers

What You Should Do

If you’re on a consolidated host (Bluehost, HostGator, etc.):

Check your resource usage - Are you hitting hidden limits?
Monitor uptime - Use UptimeRobot to track outages
Review your renewal date - Don’t get hit with 338% increases
Plan migration before you hit resource limits

If you’re shopping for hosting:

Verify ownership before committing
Read recent Reddit discussions (sort by “new”)
Check renewal prices upfront
Look for clearly stated resource limits
Avoid “unlimited” claims (covered in my unlimited hosting article)

If you’re already on independent hosting:

Stay there (unless you have specific issues)
Monitor for acquisition news
Have a backup plan in case they get acquired

I recommend Scala and ChemiCloud even though they’re smaller and could theoretically be acquired.

Why?

Because right now, today, they’re:

Providing actual value for the price
Not aggressively throttling resources
Transparent about limits and performance
Better than the consolidated alternatives

If World Host Group or Newfold acquires them tomorrow, I’ll update this article and pull my recommendations.

That’s the difference between me and PCMag - I’ll tell you when shit changes.

The Bottom Line

The web hosting industry is 6-7 companies pretending to be 200.

In my opinion, this consolidation:

Reduces actual competition
Degrades service quality across the board
Makes “independent” reviews impossible
Centralizes too much infrastructure control
Eliminates genuine alternatives for consumers

Your best options:

Hetzner - Honest VPS with clearly stated resources (€4.49/mo, $0 commission)
Scala Hosting - Independent managed hosting with dedicated resources (+$100 commission)
ChemiCloud - Fast shared hosting without aggressive throttling (~$100 commission)

Avoid:

Anything owned by Newfold Digital (25+ brands)
Anything owned by World Host Group (12+ brands)
GoDaddy (independent but predatory)
Hosts advertising “unlimited” anything

Don’t Trust Me - Verify Everything

Seriously. Check the ownership yourself:

Search Wikipedia for each host before buying
Read Reddit threads sorted by “new” to see recent complaints
Check parent company financial filings (public companies must disclose)
Look for acquisition announcements in hosting news

If I’m wrong about ownership, the public records will prove it.

Full disclosure: I make money from Scala Hosting (+$100/sale) and ChemiCloud (~$100/sale). I make $0 from Hetzner. I could make $150+ per sale recommending Bluehost or HostGator, but I don’t, because they’re owned by Newfold and they’re terrible. The goal is to rank hosts honestly while admitting I take affiliate money from the good ones.