I need to know the names of five (5) web hosts that meet the following
criteria:

1) let you run Perl cgi scripts

2) let you *manually* change .htaccess files (i.e. you don't have to
go through a web interface to change the .htaccess file)

3) have monthly hosting fees of under $20, with no required
multi-month commitment

4) obviously, they must provide FTP access.

Hi there!

I would have happily pointed you to my own webhost, Featurprice, but
for the fact that you don't want a minimum contract.  (Featureprice
requires a yearly commitment, but offers everything you want, starting
at $60/year.)

So let's find 5 others for you, with no minimum contract (.htaccess is
handled manually via FTP with each).  I've been careful to include
only those which allow your *own* cgi directory, instead of merely
access to a script library:

WebQuarry - Rock Solid Web Hosting
http://www.webquarry.com/

Standard plans include:

30 Days Free
30 Day Money Back Guarantee
24 hour FTP updates
Counters
Guestbooks
Web Bulletin Boards
Access to Raw Log Files
Formhandlers
Your own CGI Directory
10 to 200 Mb. or more
Unlimited hits
Web Statistics
PHP Support
POP3 Email
Perl 5
Frontpage 2000 Support
Unix Shell
Passworded Web Pages
24 Hour Monitoring
Free domain name registration

Hosting packages start at $8.95/month, no minimum contract. 

SpringRose.com
http://www.springrose.com/

Standard accounts include:

    * Your Own Domain
    * 500 Megs of Space
    * 50 POP Accounts
    * Unlimited Email Aliases
    * Unlimited Auto Responder
    * Subscribable Mailing List
    * MYSQL Support
    * Miva Empressa
    * Microsoft Frontpage 2000 Support
    * Your own private 24 Hour FTP, Telnet, and CGI-Bin
    * Secure Server (SSL)
    * WWW Account Control Panel
    * T3 Connections
    * Cisco Routers
    * No Minimum Contract Commitments

Priced at $15.95/month

Xyclone.net
http://www.xyclone.net/webhosting

All Accounts Feature:
- Unlimited Technical Support
- 99.9% Uptime Guarantee
- No Minimum Contract
- Virtual FTP Server
- Graphical Statistics
- Unlimited E-Mail Forwarding
- Unlimited E-Mail Aliases
- Weekly Tape Backups
- Java & Java Servlet Support
- Access to Raw Stats - Unlimited E-Mail Auto-Responders
- SMTP and POP3 E-Mail Access
- Private CGI-Bin plus CGI Script Library
- Server Side Includes
- SSL Secure Server
- Microsoft FrontPage 2000 Server Extensions
- Python & PHP Scripting Support
- RealMedia Support

Accounts start at $13.95/month


Web Site Source
http://www.webhostingpicks.com/c_websitesource.php

Standard accounts include:

RealAudio 
Anon FTP
RealVideo 
Secure Server 
Perl/CGI 
PHP 
FrontPage
SQL/Database

No minimum contract, starting at $10.96/month

KindNet
http://www.kindnet.com/home/hosting.html

All accounts include:

    *  Virtual hosting (i.e. www.yourname.com)
    * Unlimited e-mail POP3/IMAP accounts/aliases
    * 99.9% uptime
    * Toll free technical support
    * No minimum contract
    * 30-day unconditional money-back guarantee (excluding setup fees)
    * FTP account access
    * Anonymous FTP available
    * Full cgi-bin
    * Web-based virtual-host control panel
    * Redhat Linux UNIX/Apache web servers
    * Microsoft FrontPage extensions supported
    * Monthly web traffic reports
    * Available web-based e-mail interface 

Pricing starts at $20/month.



I hope these are a good start for you!  Good luck!

missy-ga

Search terms included: [ web hosting "no minimum contract" ]

Very helpful answer.  Would have been even more helpful if the
.htaccess requirement had been explicitly verified with the web hosts.

Another good company is Hurrican Electric located in Northern
California. The url is http://www.he.net

Their cheapest account is $9.95 a month and comes with the following
features:

True Virtual Host (http://www.yourname.com) 
Domain Name Registration 
Support for FrontPage 98 
Support for PHP 4 
Your Own Secure Web (SSL) Directory 
Your Own MySQL Database 
Your Own Standard Web Directory 
Your Own cgi-bin Directory 
Your Own Anonymous FTP Directory 
Direct Access Via FTP 
Direct Access Via telnet 
Direct Access Via ssh 
Gigabit (1,000 megabit/second) Backbone 
Multiple Connections For Backup And Redundancy 
Battery Backup and Emergency Generator 
High Performance Carefully Managed Web Servers 
Online Billing Information 
 POP3 Authenticated SMTP 
Multiple POP3 Mailboxes per Account 
Unlimited Mail Forwarding 
Unlimited Mail Autoresponders 
Detailed Daily Web and FTP Activity Reports 
Access To Raw access_log Files 
Server Side Includes 
Email Forms 
cgiwrap 
cgiemail 
Full Shell Account 
Full Unix Development Environment 
Java and Javac 
Perl 
Tcl 
gcc 
crontab 
Web-based

Hi, you can also try http://ranchoweb.com/webhost/

I know that they allow all that you require.

I'm with a host that is great and the support is excellent.

http://www.alwayswebhosting.com

A bit about Alwayswebhosting:

---------------------------------------------
Starter Plan $11.95

www.YourName.com (reg'd separately)
150 MB of Disk Storage
20 POP3 email accounts with web-based access
60GB/month bandwidth
100% FrontPage Compatible
Web Control Panel
NO setup fees
QUICK Setup (< 1 hr on avg)
99.9% Up-Time Guarantee

---------------------------------------------

Gold Plan $16.95
www.YourName.com (reg'd separately)
450 MB of Disk Storage
Unlimited POP3 email accounts with web-based access
60GB/month bandwidth
100% FrontPage Compatible
Web Control Panel
NO setup fees
QUICK Setup (< 1 hr on avg)
99.9% Up-Time Guarantee

---------------------------------------------

Platinum Plan $26.95
www.YourName.com (reg'd separately)
2,000 MB Disk Storage!!
Unlimited POP3 email accounts with web-based access
60GB/month bandwidth
100% FrontPage Compatible
Web Control Panel
NO setup fees
QUICK Setup (< 1 hr on avg)
99.9% Up-Time Guarantee

---------------------------------------------

Also included:

» Unlimited Hits
» Full FTP Access (24/7)
» Full SSH (secure Telnet) Access (24/7)
» SSL Support
» Raw Access Logs
» Graphical Stats
» Wireless Content Ready
» No forced ads on your page

---------------------------------------------
 » Unlimited Aliases
» Unlimited Email Forwards
» Unlimited Auto-Responders
» SMTP (Outgoing) Mail Server
» Default "Catch All" Email
» Web-based Mail (like Hotmail)
» Built in spam filters (i.e. SpamAssassin)
---------------------------------------------

 » PHP 4.2.1
» Perl 5.61 (latest version!)
» Personal CGI-BIN + free scripts
» MySQL 3.23.45 (unlimited databases)
» Python
» Flash/Shockwave
» Java/Applets & JavaScript
---------------------------------------------

 » Server Side Includes (SSI)
» Full directory .htaccess usage:
   ... Password Protect dirs
   ... Custom 404 Error pages
   ... and more! Full configuration!
» Use of standard Unix utilities
---------------------------------------------

 » Unlimited domains per account
» Unlimited Subdomains (___.site.com)
» $15/yr Domain Registration
» Your Own Domain Name
» Online Domain Management
» Free Domain Pointing 
---------------------------------------------

 » High Performance, 1Ghz, RedHat Linux Servers
» Secure server environment
» Ultra Fast Connection (Over 4.7 GB/s!)
» 24/7 Network Monitoring
» 99.9% Uptime Guarantee

---------------------------------------------

Hope this helps


Candyman