The Best CGI Hosting

All of the web hosts on our list support CGI scripts, Server Side Includes (SSI) and Perl (a language in which CGI scripts are commonly written). This gives you the ability to choose your web hosting provider based on the full range of features and support without having to trade off Perl and CGI Script handling functionality for another feature.

As our top-rated web host, Hostgator gets the nod for recommended CGI hosting. They provide:

• Superior reliability and speed
• A CGI script library included with your account
• World-class customer service
• Flexible technical support for developers who may need to adjust certain settings or files

CGI Hosting Ratings
Host Name	Plan	Unlimited						Uptime	Money Back	Web Host Ratings
	Business $12.95/mo Baby $7.95/mo							99.9%	45 Days
	Unlimited Pro $7.95/mo							99.9%	30 Days
	Premium $6.95/mo							99.9%	Any Time
	Professional $6.95/mo							99.9%	30 Days
	Professional $6.95/mo							99.9%	30 Days
	Eco Site $4.95/mo							99.9%	30 Days
	ProLogic $5.95/mo							99.9%	30 Days
	ProPlan $5.95/mo							99.9%	30 Days
	Budget 5 Star $14.99/mo							99.9%	60 Days
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What is CGI?

The Common Gateway Interface (CGI) is a standard protocol for interfacing external application software with an information server (web server). The task of such an information server is to respond to requests (in the case of web servers, requests from client web browsers) by returning output.

Each time a request is received, the server analyzes what the request asks for, and returns the appropriate output. If the request identifies an executable command and possibly arguments, CGI defines a standard way of running the command and returning its output. It defines how information about the server and the request is passed to the command in the form of arguments and environment variables, and how the command can pass back extra information about the output (such as the type) in the form of headers.

What Are CGI Scripts Used For?

A CGI script is one of the methods used in web site design when you want the user to enter information and have your site do something with it. For example, form-mail, poll, banner rotators, guestbooks and search functionality can all be accomplished using CGI scripts. The best part is that numerous CGI scripts encompassing a wide variety of functions can be found on the web for free.

How Do You Use A CGI Script?

On your web server, the CGI scripts are placed in the cgi-bin directory (each domain and sometimes each sub-domain has it’s own). Sometimes, Server Side Includes (SSI) are used to interface your CGI script to your HTML web page. The SSI is a simple interpreted server-side scripting language used almost exclusively for the web. The most frequent use of SSI is to include the contents of one or more files into a web page on a web server.

Server Side Includes are useful for including a common piece of code throughout a site, such as page headers, footers or navigation menus. Conditional navigation menus can be conditionally included using control directives. In order for a web server to recognize an SSI-enabled HTML file and carry out these instructions, the filename should end with a special extension (.shtml, .stm, .shtm) or, if the server is configured to allow this, set the execution bit of the file.