Why People Choose Our Hosting:
The List We Almost Didn’t Make
Common Blackbird
(Turdus merula)
We observe male blackbirds with their black plumage, bright yellow bills and eye-rings. Females are brown with lighter, streaked undersides and gray throats. Young males have darker bills that lighten through winter. Though typically secretive, singing males perch visibly in spring treetops. We usually see them alone or in small groups.
Illustration by Fífa Jónsdóttir
Comparing 1984 Hosting with other web hosting services
We offer web hosting services that differ from larger providers like Hostinger and Bluehost in several ways. This comparison explains these differences and why they might matter to you
Digital freedom since 2009
We’ve provided privacy-focused hosting from Iceland since 2009. We once tried listing all the reasons why people choose us, but stopped after realizing that talking too much about our values contradicted them.
Over 15 years, we’ve learned that digital privacy requires consistent work rather than marketing claims. Our servers run on Icelandic renewable energy. Our prices show the actual costs. We protect your data without making a fuss about it.
We remain independent and believe that where and how you host your website matters. We don’t claim to be the biggest or the best – just a hosting provider that respects privacy laws and your rights.
Why This Comparison Matters: Why We Compare Hosting ServicesCase for 1984 Hosting
We compare our hosting with larger providers to help you understand the differences beyond just technical specifications. When choosing hosting, you’re making decisions about data privacy, environmental impact, and business values.
What We Measure
Most hosting comparisons focus on storage space, uptime percentages, and promotional prices. These are useful but incomplete. We look at five specific areas:
- Privacy: Where your data is stored, which privacy laws apply, how data requests are handled, and what logs we keep. Iceland’s location and laws provide different protections than US or EU-based hosting.
- Eco-Friendliness: We use Icelandic renewable energy for our servers. We track power usage and hardware lifecycle to reduce environmental impact.
- Open Source Support: We use open source software for our core systems. This isn’t to save money, but to provide transparency and avoid locking you into proprietary systems.
- Technical Features: Server specifications, storage types, security implementations, and available technologies matter for performance and compatibility.
- Business Practices: We show actual costs without promotional prices that increase later. We’re independently owned and make decisions based on privacy values, not investor demands.
Why This Matters
When you choose a hosting provider, you choose who holds your data and under which legal jurisdiction. With increasing digital surveillance and data collection, these factors have practical implications.
We named our company after Orwell’s book as a reminder of why data privacy matters. This comparison helps you see the practical differences between our approach and that of larger providers.
Cushion-plant
(Diapensia lapponica)
We find Diapensia lapponica growing in Iceland’s highlands as small dome-shaped cushions rarely exceeding 5 cm tall. It produces white flowers in June-July and thrives in our harsh climate on rocky, well-drained soils. This Arctic plant has survived here since the last ice age. We’ve monitored its populations since 2008 as our climate changes.
Illustration by Fífa Jónsdóttir
How We Compare: 1984 Hosting and Other Services
We provide a comparison of our hosting services alongside larger providers like Hostinger and Bluehost. This comparison shows differences in privacy approaches, server locations, environmental impact, technical features, and business practices.
- 95%
1984.hosting
9.5
Outstanding privacy protection, eco-friendly approach, and free software commitment
- 75%
Hostinger
7.5
Good performance and value, standard privacy protection
- 65%
Bluehost
6.5
US-based with corporate ownership and standard features
How we calculate our scores
Our ratings are calculated using a simple method anyone can understand. Imagine filling a glass with water – a full glass (10 points) means perfect service, while an empty glass (0 points) means terrible service.
Snowline wintergreen (Pyrola minor)
We find Pyrola minor growing in Iceland’s birch forests and heathlands. This small evergreen perennial produces nodding pink-white bell-shaped flowers on stems about 10-15 cm tall. Its rounded leaves form a basal rosette and remain green through winter. We’ve documented it throughout Iceland, particularly in sheltered areas with partial shade and moist, acidic soil.
Snowline wintergreen (Pyrola minor)
We find Lady’s bedstraw growing in Iceland’s dry grasslands and coastal areas. This perennial herb produces clusters of tiny yellow flowers from June through August. Historically, we used it as bedding material (hence the name) and to curdle milk for cheese-making. Its sweet honey scent intensifies when dried. The plant typically grows 30-60 cm tall in our climate.
Our hosting provider scoring method
We rate hosting providers using five equally important categories to help you compare options objectively.
Our five rating categories:
-
- Privacy: How well they protect user data, their jurisdiction, and privacy policies
- Eco-Friendliness: Their energy sources, efficiency measures, and carbon offsetting
- Open Source Support: Contributions to open projects and use of open standards
- Technical Features: Uptime, performance, security practices, and infrastructure quality
- Business Practices: Pricing transparency, support quality, and ethical operations
We assign points based on documented testing and research. The overall score represents the average of these five categories, with privacy and eco-friendliness weighted slightly higher. This reflects our priorities as an Icelandic company operating in a country with strong privacy laws and renewable energy.
Our team updates these scores quarterly, or whenever a provider makes significant changes. We publish our full methodology on our documentation site, including specific test parameters and data sources.
Each category is scored on a scale from 0 to 10:
A fairly simple scoring calculation
Each category (1.Privacy, 2.Eco, 3.Open Source, 4.Technical, 5.Business) is scored out of 10.
✓ = 9.5
~ = 6.0
✗ = 3.0
The category score is the average of its rows; the overall rating is the average of the five category scores.
A comparison of web hosting providers
(1984.hosting, Hostinger, and Bluehost) rated across multiple evaluation criteria.
We rate hosting providers using five equally important categories to help you compare options objectively.
Structure:
- The vertical axis (y-axis) shows scores on a scale from 0 to 10
- The horizontal axis (x-axis) displays five categories: Privacy & Freedom, Green & Eco-Friendly, Free & Open Source, Technical Advantages, and Business Practices
- For each category, there are three colored bars representing each hosting provider
Color Coding:
- Green bars: 1984.hosting
- Orange/amber bars: Hostinger
- Blue bars: Bluehost
Key Insights:
- 1984.hosting (green) consistently scores highest across all categories, with scores ranging from 8.5 to 9.8
- Hostinger (orange) typically occupies the middle position with scores between 5.5 and 8.0
- Bluehost (blue) generally has the lowest scores, ranging from 4.0 to 7.5
- The “Technical Advantages” category shows the smallest gap between providers
- The “Free & Open Source” category shows the largest disparity between providers
- 1984.hosting scores particularly high in the “Green & Eco-Friendly” category (9.8)
The chart effectively illustrates the relative strengths of each hosting provider across different evaluation criteria, with 1984.hosting appearing to be the highest-rated option overall.
🔒 Table 1. Privacy & Freedom Comparison
| Feature | 1984 Hosting | Hostinger | Bluehost |
|---|---|---|---|
| Legal Jurisdiction | ✓Iceland - Strong privacy laws | ~Lithuania/US - Standard privacy | ✗US - Subject to surveillance laws |
| Freedom of Expression | ✓Core company mission | ~Standard policies | ✗Subject to US restrictions |
| Data Protection | ✓Proactive privacy protection | ~Standard GDPR compliance | ~Standard compliance |
| Government Requests | ✓Notifies users, resists when legal | ~Standard compliance | ✗May comply without notification |
| Privacy-First Approach | ✓Founding principle | ~Business feature | ~Business feature |
🌿 Table 2. Environmental Sustainability Comparison
| Feature | 1984 Hosting | Hostinger | Bluehost |
|---|---|---|---|
| Energy Source | ✓100% Renewable (Geothermal/Hydro) | ~Partial renewable claims | ~Standard grid mix |
| Carbon Footprint | ✓Minimal due to Iceland location | ~Standard | ~Standard |
| Cooling Efficiency | ✓Natural cooling (Iceland climate) | ~Standard cooling systems | ~Standard cooling systems |
| Environmental Commitment | ✓Core founding principle | ~Marketing feature | ~Marketing feature |
| Sustainability Reporting | ✓Transparent reporting | ✗Limited reporting | ✗Limited reporting |
📦 Table 3. Technical Features Comparison
| Feature | 1984 Hosting | Hostinger | Bluehost |
|---|---|---|---|
| DNS Service | ✓Free unlimited DNS service | ~Basic DNS included | ~Basic DNS included |
| Storage Limits | ✓Unlimited on many plans | ~50-200 GB depending on plan | ~50 GB on basic plan |
| Bandwidth | ✓Unlimited | ✓Unmetered | ✓Unmetered |
| VPN Support | ✓Pre-configured Wireguard & OpenVPN | ✗Not included | ✗Not included |
🔓 Table 4. Open Source Commitment Comparison
| Feature | 1984 Hosting | Hostinger | Bluehost |
|---|---|---|---|
| Software Philosophy | ✓Committed to Free Software | ~Mixed proprietary/open source | ✗Primarily proprietary |
| Control Panel | ✓Free Software (i-MSCP) | ~Custom proprietary panel | ✗cPanel (proprietary) |
| Open Source Values | ✓Core company principle | ~Business consideration | ~Business consideration |
📊 Table 5. Business Practices Comparison
| Feature | 1984 Hosting | Hostinger | Bluehost |
|---|---|---|---|
| Pricing Transparency | ✓No renewal price increases | ✗Significant renewal increases | ✗Significant renewal increases |
| Company Ownership | ✓Independent company | ✓Independent company | ✗Owned by Newfold Digital |
| Business Model | ✓Ethics-first approach | ~Growth-focused | ✗Corporate/profit-focused |
| Upselling Tactics | ✓Minimal | ~Moderate | ✗Aggressive |
How We Present Our Hosting Provider Comparisons
We use spider charts (also called radar charts) to show how hosting providers compare across seven key areas. Each line extending from the center represents a different hosting aspect we measure.
The colored shapes on our charts indicate each provider’s scores. When a shape extends further in any direction, it means that provider performs better in that category. A complete circle around the outer edge would represent a perfect score.
We designed these charts to help you quickly compare providers based on what matters to you. You can see at a glance which provider excels in specific areas by looking at where their colored shape extends furthest.
The total colored area gives you a sense of overall performance—larger areas generally indicate better all-around service. We update these measurements quarterly based on our testing.
More than 250 reasons
to choose 1984 Hosting over other hosts
🔒 Privacy & Freedom (50 reasons)
- Icelandic jurisdiction with strong privacy laws
- Does not blindly follow DMCA requests
- Transparency and resistance to overreaching surveillance
- No data sharing with third parties
- No tracking or analytics on customer websites
- Strict data minimization policies
- No mandatory personal information collection
- Anonymous payment options available
- No backdoors for government access
- Transparent warrant canary system
- Proactive notification of data requests
- Legal team dedicated to privacy protection
- Regular privacy audits
- Staff trained in privacy best practices
- No monitoring of customer communications
- Strong encryption for all data transfers
- Secure server infrastructure
- Privacy-respecting backup systems
- No content filtering or censorship
- Freedom of expression as core value
- Protection from political censorship
- Resistance to corporate censorship
- No content monitoring
- Strict data deletion policies
- Data stored only in Iceland
- No data centers in surveillance-heavy countries
- No cooperation with mass surveillance programs
- Transparent privacy policy
- Clear terms of service
- No hidden clauses in agreements
- No automatic consent to data sharing
- Opt-in only for any data collection
- Respect for customer anonymity
- Support for privacy-enhancing technologies
- No logging of visitor IP addresses
- No tracking cookies on company website
- Privacy-respecting customer support
- No requirement for personal identification
- Support for Tor and other privacy networks
- Encrypted customer databases
- Secure password storage practices
- Two-factor authentication support
📦 Technical Features (50 reasons)
- Unlimited DNS zones and DNSSEC
- Pre-configured WireGuard and OpenVPN
- Nextcloud supported natively
- High-performance SSD storage
- NVMe storage options
- RAID data protection
- Daily automated backups
- 30-day backup retention
- One-click backup restoration
- Custom backup scheduling
- Unlimited email accounts
- Spam and virus filtering
- IMAP/POP3/SMTP support
- Webmail access
- Email forwarding
- Email autoresponders
- Unlimited MySQL databases
- PostgreSQL support
- phpMyAdmin included
- SSH access
- SFTP access
- Git repositories
- Cron jobs
- PHP version selection
- Python support
- Ruby support
- Node.js support
- HTTP/2 support
- HTTPS/SSL certificates
- Let's Encrypt integration
- Custom SSL certificate installation
- CDN integration
- DDoS protection
- Web application firewall
- Malware scanning
- Intrusion detection system
- Real-time security monitoring
- One-click CMS installation
- WordPress optimization
- Drupal support
- Joomla support
- Custom server configurations
- Nginx server
- Apache server option
- Server-side caching
- Redis support
- Memcached support
- IPv6 support
- 99.9% uptime guarantee
- 24/7 server monitoring
📊 Ethical Business Model (50 reasons)
- No upselling or price hikes on renewal
- Independent Icelandic company
- Driven by mission, not shareholders
- Transparent pricing
- No hidden fees
- No long-term contracts required
- Prorated refunds for unused service
- Fair cancellation policy
- No auto-renewal without consent
- Clear service descriptions
- Honest marketing
- No misleading claims
- No fake reviews or testimonials
- Fair employee compensation
- No exploitation of workers
- Diverse and inclusive workplace
- Equal opportunity employer
- Transparent company operations
- Published company values
- Ethical supply chain
- No business with unethical regimes
- Support for digital rights
- Support for internet freedom
- Support for net neutrality
- Support for data privacy legislation
- Advocacy for ethical tech policies
- Community involvement
- Educational initiatives
- Scholarships and grants
- Support for local economies
- Fair tax practices
- No tax avoidance schemes
- Transparent financial reporting
- Ethical investment practices
- No funding from questionable sources
- Customer-focused decision making
- Responsive to customer feedback
- Community-driven development
- Democratic workplace practices
- Employee input in company decisions
- Work-life balance for employees
- Remote work options
- Flexible working hours
- Parental leave policies
- Mental health support
- Professional development opportunities
- Ethical customer data practices
- No selling of customer data
- Clear privacy policies
- Commitment to ethical hosting
🌿 Environmental Sustainability (50 reasons)
- 100% renewable energy sources
- Natural cooling thanks to Iceland's climate
- Minimal carbon footprint operations
- Geothermal energy powered data centers
- Hydroelectric power utilization
- Zero fossil fuel energy use
- Energy-efficient server hardware
- Optimized server utilization
- Low power consumption design
- Heat recycling systems
- Minimal water usage for cooling
- Sustainable building materials
- LEED-certified facilities
- Paperless operations
- Digital-only billing
- Sustainable office practices
- Remote work options to reduce commuting
- Carbon offset programs
- Environmental impact reporting
- Transparent sustainability metrics
- Eco-friendly hardware procurement
- Responsible e-waste disposal
- Hardware recycling programs
- Extended hardware lifecycles
- Refurbished equipment usage
- Minimal packaging
- Biodegradable packaging materials
- Local sourcing when possible
- Partnerships with environmental organizations
- Environmental education initiatives
- Tree planting programs
- Support for climate research
- Advocacy for renewable energy policies
- Sustainable transportation policies
- Electric vehicle charging stations
- Bicycle-friendly facilities
- Public transportation incentives
- Sustainable food options in office
- Vegetarian/vegan catering options
- Composting programs
- Zero waste initiatives
- Plastic-free workplace
- Energy-efficient lighting
- Smart building technology
- Seasonal temperature adjustments
- Environmental impact assessments
- Sustainable growth planning
- Environmental management system
- ISO 14001 certification
- Annual sustainability goals
🔓 Open Source Commitment (50 reasons)
- Uses Free and Open Source Software (FOSS)
- No vendor lock-in with proprietary panels
- Transparency through open standards
- Open source control panel
- Linux-based servers
- Open source mail servers
- Open source database systems
- Open source web servers
- Open source monitoring tools
- Open source security tools
- Contributions to open source projects
- Support for open source communities
- Open source development tools
- Open documentation
- Open APIs
- Open standards compliance
- No proprietary lock-in
- Easy data migration
- Open format data exports
- Freedom to modify software
- Freedom to inspect code
- Freedom to distribute modifications
- Support for open source CMS
- Support for open source e-commerce
- Support for open source forums
- Support for open source wikis
- Support for open source email clients
- Support for open source office suites
- Support for open source graphics tools
- Support for open source audio tools
- Support for open source video tools
- Support for open source development environments
- Open source virtualization
- Open source containerization
- Open source backup solutions
- Open source security auditing
- Open source penetration testing
- Open source encryption
- Open source authentication
- Open source authorization
- Open source firewalls
- Open source intrusion detection
- Open source log management
- Open source monitoring
- Open source analytics
- Open source project management
- Open source collaboration tools
- Open source communication tools
- Open source documentation tools
- Sponsorship of open source events