CiteLadder asked Claude Sonnet 5.5 a set of web hosting buyer questions through the Anthropic API. Each question ran three times in three conditions: from memory, with web search available, and with an instruction to search first. SiteGround was the brand named most often from memory. Hostinger led when Claude was told to search. This page reports what Claude said. It is not a ranking of which host is best, and API results can differ from the Claude apps.
What was asked
The questions covered the ways buyers ask about hosting. Some were general picks, some named a buyer or use case, some focused on price, and some on features or shortlists. Examples:
- "What's the most reliable web hosting company right now?"
- "Best hosting for a small online store with a few hundred products?"
- "Which host is best for deploying a Node.js or Python web app?"
Other prompts asked about free hosting, backups, CDNs, SSH and Git deployment, managed WordPress and VPS providers. Each condition produced 60 answers. The requests gave no current date. Another model listed the brands in each answer, and code did the counting.
What Claude named from memory
With no tools, Claude named 80 distinct brands, with an average of 11.3 brands per answer. None of the 60 answers used search.
SiteGround appeared in 67% of answers and was named first 16 times. Hostinger and Netlify each appeared in 58% of answers. Kinsta appeared in 57% and was named first 12 times. WP Engine (55%), Cloudways (53%) and Vercel (50%) followed. DigitalOcean, Linode and Cloudflare completed the top ten.
The answers were fairly consistent. Run agreement across the three runs was 70.9%. SiteGround was named in every run for 12 prompts, Netlify for 11, and Hostinger and Kinsta for 10 each. The top three brands took 16.2% of all mentions, so the field was spread wide.
How often Claude searched when it could
When web search was available but not required, Claude searched in 10 of 60 answers. It ran 21 searches in total. Most answers still came from what the model already knew.
The top of the list barely moved. SiteGround appeared in 68% of answers and Hostinger in 63%. The answers did name more brands overall: 120 distinct brands, with an average of 11.9 per answer. DreamHost and Bluehost entered the top ten in this condition. Run agreement fell to 63.9%.
What changed when Claude was told to search
With an instruction to search first, every one of the 60 answers used search, with 279 searches in total. Answers got shorter, at an average of 6.8 brands each. Run agreement dropped to 46.3%, so the same question gave more varied answers across runs.
The leader changed. Hostinger appeared in 60% of answers and was named first 19 times, with an average position of 2.6. SiteGround, the leader from memory, fell to 47%.
- Kept in the top five: SiteGround, Hostinger, Kinsta and WP Engine.
- Left the top five: Netlify, from 58% from memory to 23% after search.
- Entered the top five: Cloudways, at 38%. Its share was 53% from memory, so it rose in rank because others fell further.
Bluehost and IONOS each appeared in 22% of answers in this condition. Neither was in the from-memory top ten. The top three brands took 21.2% of mentions, a more concentrated list than from memory. None of the answers carried inline citations.
What Claude searched for
Claude's queries read like buyer searches. 53.1% contained the word "best". Examples:
- "best web hosting uptime 2025 tested results"
- "Hostinger vs Bluehost vs namecheap vs IONOS free domain SSL hosting price renewal"
- "Render vs Railway vs Fly.io pricing 2025"
46.2% of queries included a year. 123 queries used 2025 and 9 used 2026. The requests gave no date, so these years reflect what the model assumed. Queries often added detail beyond the prompt, such as renewal prices, live chat response times and named competitors.
Which sites the searches returned
Review and comparison sites dominated the results. cybernews.com and hostingadvice.com each came back in 34 searched answers, or 57%. hostadvice.com appeared in 45% and websiteplanet.com in 43%. tomsguide.com, tech.yahoo.com and techradar.com followed, along with dev.to for developer questions.
Two vendor sites made the list. bluehost.com came back in 40% of searched answers and inmotionhosting.com in 28%. Bluehost's own pages showing up this often lines up with Bluehost appearing in the search top ten.
What a hosting brand can take from this
From memory, Claude leans on well-known names and repeats them across runs. A brand that is not already in that set is unlikely to appear unless Claude searches.
When Claude searches, a small group of hosting review sites shapes what it reads. Coverage on cybernews.com, hostingadvice.com, hostadvice.com and websiteplanet.com matters for these answers. Your own pages can also be returned, as bluehost.com shows. Pages that state renewal prices, free domain and SSL terms, and uptime results line up with how Claude phrases its queries. Content dated for the current year matches queries that include a year.
Results moved between runs once search was on. A single check is not enough. Measure across repeated runs and track the change over time.
Brand shares in each condition
Share of the 60 answers (20 prompts, three runs) that named each brand. "Prompts named in every run" counts the prompts where the brand appeared in all three runs from memory.
| Brand | From memory | Prompts named in every run | Told to search |
|---|---|---|---|
| SiteGround | 66.7% | 12 | 46.7% |
| Hostinger | 58.3% | 10 | 60% |
| Netlify | 58.3% | 11 | 23.3% |
| Kinsta | 56.7% | 10 | 36.7% |
| WP Engine | 55% | 9 | 33.3% |
| Cloudways | 53.3% | 9 | 38.3% |
| Vercel | 50% | 9 | not in top 15 |
| DigitalOcean | 45% | 8 | not in top 15 |
| Linode | 40% | 7 | not in top 15 |
| Cloudflare | 33.3% | 4 | 21.7% |
| DreamHost | not in top 15 | 25% | |
| Bluehost | not in top 15 | 21.7% | |
| IONOS | not in top 15 | 21.7% |
Sites Claude's searches returned
When told to search. Share of answers whose searches returned at least one page from the site.
| Site | Answers | Share of searched answers |
|---|---|---|
| cybernews.com | 34 | 56.7% |
| hostingadvice.com | 34 | 56.7% |
| hostadvice.com | 27 | 45% |
| websiteplanet.com | 26 | 43.3% |
| bluehost.com | 24 | 40% |
| tomsguide.com | 20 | 33.3% |
| tech.yahoo.com | 19 | 31.7% |
| techradar.com | 18 | 30% |
| dev.to | 17 | 28.3% |
| inmotionhosting.com | 17 | 28.3% |
The 20 prompts
- What's the most reliable web hosting company right now? (best overall)
- Which web host has the best uptime and customer support? (best overall)
- Best web hosting provider for a new website? (best overall)
- Who are the top-rated shared hosting providers these days? (best overall)
- Best hosting for a small online store with a few hundred products? (for a specific buyer or use case)
- Which web host should a freelance designer use for client sites? (for a specific buyer or use case)
- Best hosting for a high-traffic blog that gets traffic spikes? (for a specific buyer or use case)
- What hosting do agencies use to manage dozens of client websites? (for a specific buyer or use case)
- Best web hosting for a beginner with no technical skills? (for a specific buyer or use case)
- Which host is best for deploying a Node.js or Python web app? (for a specific buyer or use case)
- Good hosting for a nonprofit website on a tight budget? (for a specific buyer or use case)
- Best managed hosting for a WooCommerce shop that needs speed? (for a specific buyer or use case)
- What's the cheapest decent web hosting for a personal portfolio? (budget or free)
- Are there any free web hosting services that aren't terrible? (budget or free)
- Cheap hosting that includes a free domain and SSL? (budget or free)
- Which web hosts offer free daily backups and one-click restores? (feature-led)
- Hosting providers with built-in CDN and data centers in multiple regions? (feature-led)
- Which hosts give SSH access, Git deployment, and staging environments? (feature-led)
- Compare the top managed WordPress hosts on speed and support. (comparison shortlist)
- Shortlist the best VPS hosting providers and how they differ. (comparison shortlist)
Frequently asked questions
Which web host did Claude name most often?
From memory, SiteGround, in 67% of answers. When told to search first, Hostinger, in 60% of answers, named first 19 times. This reflects what Claude said, not which host is best.
Does Claude search the web for hosting questions on its own?
Rarely. With search available, it searched in 10 of 60 answers. Most answers came from memory.
Which sites did Claude's searches rely on?
Mostly hosting review sites. cybernews.com and hostingadvice.com each came back in 57% of searched answers, followed by hostadvice.com and websiteplanet.com. bluehost.com was the vendor site returned most often, at 40%.
Will the Claude app give the same answers?
Not necessarily. This study used the Anthropic API with no current date in the request. The Claude apps can behave differently, and answers varied between runs even under the same conditions.
Track how often AI recommends your brand
CiteLadder tracks whether ChatGPT, Gemini, Claude and Google AI Overviews name your hosting brand, where it appears in the answer and which competitors show up beside it. Every result links back to the recorded answer, so you can check exactly what was said.
Visibility over time
| Series | 8 Sep | 15 Sep | 22 Sep | 29 Sep | 6 Oct | 13 Oct | 20 Oct | 27 Oct |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Acme Analytics | 27.9% | 29.6% | 30.2% | 31.8% | 32.5% | 33.1% | 34.2% | 38.4% |
| Northwind | 46.0% | 45.2% | 45.8% | 44.6% | 44.1% | 43.5% | 42.9% | 41.7% |
| Lumen | 30.4% | 31.0% | 29.8% | 30.6% | 29.9% | 29.2% | 28.8% | 27.5% |
412 answers to 120 prompts across 4 engines, week of 27 Oct – 2 Nov 2026
Brands
| Brand | Visibility | Change |
|---|---|---|
| Northwind | 41.7% | down 1.2 pts |
| Acme Analytics | 38.4% | up 4.2 pts |
| Lumen | 27.5% | down 1.3 pts |
| Fathom Labs | 16.9% | down 0.2 pts |
Acme Analytics by engine