shouldiuse.io

VERDICT

Should I use Webhostingtalk?

Not disclosed - webhostingtalk.com

Depends. This is a free hosting discussion forum, not software you buy — useful for researching hosts and deals. Read skeptically: negative reviews have reportedly been deleted and the site itself was breached in 2016.

Confidence

Medium. Based on 30+ public sources; many snippets truncated, quotes omitted where verbatim text unavailable

Ratings

  • Value for money
  • Ease of use
  • Feature depth
  • Support quality
  • Security posture

Pricing

Not disclosed

ModelNot disclosed
Monthly feesNot disclosed
HardwareNot disclosed
Free tierYes

Best for

  • Hosting pros vetting providers
  • VPS and dedicated-server deal hunters
  • Following industry security news

Not for

  • Anyone buying software — this is a forum, not a tool
  • Non-technical buyers wanting simple host rankings
  • Shoppers who trust on-site reviews blindly (moderation complaints)

Gotchas - check before you buy

high

2016 breach exposed emails and passwords; check HaveIBeenPwned if you had an account

medium

Negative reviews may be removed; verify complaints on Reddit or LowEndTalk

medium

Provider offers are paid advertising, not editorial endorsements

low

Site has had public outages reported by peers

Pros and cons

Pros

  • Large, long-running community of hosting providers and buyers
  • Decades of searchable host reviews and deal threads
  • Active security forum tracking real CVEs (cPanel, WHMCS, GitLab)

Cons

  • Low 2.9/5 Trustpilot rating for the site itself
  • User reports negative review was deleted by moderators
  • 2016 breach exposed 515,711 user records
  • Paid advertising mixes promotions into the discussion

Sources & method

Analyzed 9/20/2026 - 8 sources - Breached in September 2016 via vBulletin (~516K records exposed); no security page found.

official x1review x4security x2news x1
  • Web Hosting Talk Data Breach (2016), vBulletin breach exposed roughly 515,711–536,000 user records.

Key stats

  • Value for money: 4/5

    Rating

  • Not disclosed

    Starting price

  • 8

    Sources

  • Analyzed

  • Value for money: 4/5. Free to read; ad-supported
  • Ease of use: 2/5. Guess: dated vBulletin forum interface
  • Feature depth: 3/5. Decades of threads, no actual tooling
  • Support quality: 2/5. Moderation complaints; deleted negative review
  • Security posture: 1/5. 2016 breach exposed ~516K records
  • 2.9/5 Trustpilot rating site's own user reviews
  • 515,711 records Breach size September 2016 vBulletin breach
  • Free Cost ad-supported community forum

Pricing

Free tier: Yes

Security

Breached in September 2016 via vBulletin (~516K records exposed); no security page found.

  • Web Hosting Talk Data Breach (2016)vBulletin breach exposed roughly 515,711–536,000 user records.⁴

What users say

Users value its depth and long history but criticize moderation, outages, and give it a poor 2.9/5 on Trustpilot.

Full analysis

Based on 30+ public sources; many snippets truncated, quotes omitted where verbatim text unavailable

A free hosting forum, not a product. Good research source, but cross-check reviews elsewhere.

Methodology

Based on 30+ public sources; many snippets truncated, quotes omitted where verbatim text unavailable

Sources

  1. Web Hosting Talkwebhostingtalk.com
    official
  2. Web Hosting Talk Reviews — Trustpilottrustpilot.com
    review
  3. Webhostingtalk.com deleted my review — Redditreddit.com
    review
  4. Web Hosting Talk Data Breach — HaveIBeenPwnedhaveibeenpwned.com
    security
  5. Vulnerabilities forumwebhostingtalk.com
    security
  6. Is advertising at WebHostingTalk worth it?hostingdiscussion.com
    review
  7. WebHostingTalk is Down — LowEndTalklowendtalk.com
    news
  8. Reprise Hosting review — very satisfiedwebhostingtalk.com
    review

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