Pros & Cons
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- Robust WordPress hosting plans
- Unlimited data transfers with most plans
- Excellent, 24/7 customer support
- Good money-back guarantee
- Easy service cancellation
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- No Windows server options
- Lacks cloud and dedicated server plans
Hosting.com Specs
| 24/7 Customer Support | |
| Linux Servers | |
| Reseller Hosting | |
| Shared Hosting | |
| SSL Certificate Included | |
| Unlimited Monthly Data Transfers - Shared | |
| Unlimited Monthly Data Transfers - WordPress | |
| VPS Hosting | |
| WordPress Hosting |
There are many web hosts vying for your dollar, so it takes a special service to stand out from the crowded field and prove itself worthy of your investment. Hosting.com (formerly A2 Hosting) distinguishes itself in the competitive web hosting market with terrific customer service and several feature-rich hosting packages. Notably, Hosting's high-quality WordPress plans rival those from our Editors' Choice winner, Bluehost. However, its lack of cloud, dedicated, and Windows server plans prevents it from seizing the crown as one of our top picks overall.
Shared Web Hosting
If you want to launch a site without spending a lot of money, check out shared hosting. A shared package places your site on a server with many other sites, so you literally share resources and lower your overall hosting costs. It's practical and cheap, but it isn't particularly powerful. The main drawback is that the other sites sharing the server can slow your site's load speed with a crash or traffic spike.
(Credit: Hosting.com/PCMag)Hosting.com offers four tiers of Linux-based shared web hosting: Startup, Plus, Pro, and Max. Starter (starting at $7.99 per month with an annual contract) has 15GB of storage, unlimited monthly data transfers, and five email addresses, but you're limited to a single domain. Plus (starting at $9.99 per month with an annual contract) builds on Startup with 30GB of storage,10 email accounts, and two websites. Pro (starting at $12.99 per month with an annual contract) ups the ante with its 50GB of storage, 20 email accounts, and 10 websites. Finally, there's Max (starting at $15.99 per month with an annual contract), which offers 100GB of storage, 40 email accounts, and 50 websites. Each plan includes free domain registration for the first year when committing to an annual contract.
These are respectable shared plans, but they're a step behind HostGator. HostGator features free domain registration, unlimited monthly data transfers, and unlimited email addresses with each shared hosting plan. If you want to explore shared hosting, HostGator is the place to start.
VPS Web Hosting
As with its shared hosting plans, Hosting.com has multiple Linux-based virtual private server (VPS) packages. VPS hosting is like shared hosting in that multiple sites exist on the same server. The difference? VPS hosting offers more resources per site. There are far fewer sites on each server, and each is isolated from its server mates.
Hosting.com offers managed and unmanaged VPS servers. With managed servers, Hosting.com takes care of all aspects of server management, including setup, configuration, security, backups, and maintenance. On the other hand, unmanaged servers require you to handle all these tasks yourself for a more hands-on experience.
Unmanaged VPS XS (starting at $9.99 per month with an annual contract) starts with 4GB of virtual memory, 80GB of storage, and unlimited monthly data transfers. The next tier up, VPS S (starting at $15.99 per month with an annual contract), increases the virtual memory to 8GB and storage to 160GB. VPS M ($24.99 per month with an annual contract) lets you work with 16GB of virtual memory and 320GB of storage. Lastly, VPS L ($60.99 per month with an annual contract) is a plan with a hefty 32TB of virtual memory and 640GB of storage.
Managed VPS plans use the same naming structure and offer the same configurations, but include managed server support. As expected, that white glove treatment comes at a much higher cost than unmanaged VPS. Managed VPS XS starts at $65.99 per month for a one-year commitment, while the highest tier, Managed VPS L, costs you $110.99 per month for the year. The upside is that Hosting.com’s team handles your site's backend, so you can focus on website content without stressing about site maintenance.
All VPS plans come with a free SSL certificate and cPanel. It's worth noting that both managed and unmanaged VPS have root access options for complete website control; it's standard on unmanaged VPS plans, and an option for managed ones.
(Credit: Hosting.com/PCMag)Hostwinds tops Hosting.com in VPS hosting. It has you covered with multiple tiers of managed or unmanaged VPS, plus Linux- or Windows-based hosting, something that Hosting's VPS services lack. Hostwinds even features Minecraft (yes, the video game) VPS server hosting. Like the standard VPS hosting, Minecraft VPS hosting has a slider that lets you quickly select a pre-configured server. The entry-level tier ($4.99 per month) is designed for 10 people; the high-end tier ($328.99 per month) can host 350 people.
Dedicated Web Hosting
Dedicated servers are the most powerful web hosting type, as your website shares zero resources with other sites. If you expect a large amount of website traffic, you should spring for dedicated hosting.
However, Hosting.com lacks dedicated servers. The transition from A2 to Hosting.com has left some plans in limbo, with dedicated servers being the most glaring omission. That said, my conversation with a customer support representative confirmed that dedicated servers are coming in the future.
If your operation requires dedicated servers, take a look at the feature-packed AccuWeb. AccuWeb offers customizable or prefab Linux—or Windows-based dedicated servers, starting at $123 per month for 8GB of RAM, 1TB of storage, and 20TB of monthly data transfers. These servers also scale considerably if you need more power.
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Cloud Web Hosting
Cloud hosting differs from traditional hosting in that it spreads resources across multiple servers, whereas traditional hosting pulls power from a single server. Unfortunately, Hosting.com doesn't currently offer cloud hosting. Instead, consider DreamHost. DreamHost's Linux-based packages start at $0.0075 per hour (for 512MB of RAM, 80GB of storage, and unlimited monthly data transfers) and top out at $0.0800 per hour (for 8GB of RAM, 80GB of storage, and unlimited monthly data transfers). Liquid Web is another notable host with cloud options, and it has an array of Windows servers, unlike Hosting.com.
(Credit: Hosting.com/PCMag)WordPress Web Hosting
WordPress is synonymous with web hosting and a service that powers more than 40% of the web. It's easy to see why: WordPress is easy to use and has a rich theme and plug-in ecosystem that lets you tweak the content management system as you see fit.
If you want to use WordPress, Hosting.com has many noteworthy packages. Its four shared WordPress hosting plans—Starter, Plus, Pro, and Max—are identical to the company's shared web hosting plans, though marginally more expensive. The low-end and high-end packages cost $8.99 per month and $17.99 per month, respectively, with an annual contract.
If you require something a bit more hands-off, Hosting.com lets you sign up for managed WordPress servers. With a managed WordPress server, the company handles updates. If you're focused on one website, the Starter plan starts at $27.99 per month per year as a managed WordPress package. That scales up to the Max plan, which starts at $59.99 per month per year. These server plans otherwise have the same features as Hosting.com's shared and WordPress plans.
Bluehost has Editors' Choice-worthy WordPress plans, starting at $15.99 per month for 10 websites, 10GB of storage, DDoS protection, malware scanning, and 40,000 monthly visitors. They max out with the $24.99-per-month eCommerce Essentials tier, which lets you build 100 sites, store 100GB of data in fast-speed NVMe storage, allow 400,000 visitors, and use AI creation tools. Alternately, Bluehost also has an excellent website builder that integrates WordPress functionality and offers tremendous flexibility. Bluehost's multiple WordPress options give you lots of flexibility for building websites.
Reseller Web Hosting
If you're looking to get into the web hosting business, but don't want to deal with infrastructure matters, check out Hosting.com's reseller hosting packages. The plans start at $49.99 per month for a one-year term and scale up to $115.99 per month annually. These plans offer unlimited email and up to 250GB of storage and 3500GB of monthly data transfers. In addition, Hosting.com lets you apply your own branding to the servers you rent, and it supplies 24/7 tech support.
Hosting.com's reseller packages aren't quite as robust as Hostwinds, which has a variety of packages that are sure to please anyone thinking about getting into the reseller business.
Commerce and Security
If you plan to sell products, check out Hosting.com's many e-commerce tools. You can use PrestaShop, OpenCart, WooCommerce, or another tool to construct an online store. All offer a one-click setup that lets you get started fairly easily. Magento, a common and popular e-commerce app, lets you easily drag and drop elements to create a store.
Naturally, you'll need a Secure Socket Layer certificate to accompany that store. It encrypts the data between your shop and customers' browsers for safe online transactions. Hosting.com's SSLs start at $29.99 per year for a one-year certificate and 256-bit encryption and climb to the $449.99 Organization Validation Wildcard SSL.
Customer Support, Uptime Promise, and Refunds
Website uptime is a vital element of web hosting. If your site goes down, clients or customers will be unable to find you or access your products or services. It's in your best interest to find a reliable web host that can keep your site up and running. Otherwise, customers may go elsewhere, and they might never come back. Hosting.com promises 99.9% uptime.
If you're ever in need of technical assistance, Hosting.com's aptly named Guru Crew is available to lend a helping hand. Available 24/7/365 via phone or live chat, the Guru Crew is one of the best customer support teams I've encountered in the web hosting space. I contacted the team on a weekday morning to learn which plans offer Windows-based hosting (none do!) and how to install WordPress. I waited just a few seconds before a Guru Crew member fielded my questions. Hosting.com's customer service squad ranks up there with GoDaddy as the best in the business.
Hosting.com's money-back guarantee grants you a full refund if you cancel your account within a 30-day window. You can cancel services directly from your account page, so you don't need to submit a ticket, the case with many other web hosts.
Final Thoughts
(Credit: Hosting.com)
Hosting.com
Robust WordPress options and a knowledgeable help desk make Hosting.com a service worth considering, but you must look elsewhere for cloud, dedicated, and Windows servers.