What Is Hostwinds?
Founded in 2010 and headquartered in Seattle, Washington, Hostwinds functions as a web hosting company. They focus on a variety of web hosting services, encompassing shared, VPS, dedicated servers, and cloud hosting. They aim to provide reliable and cost-effective web hosting solutions to businesses and individuals worldwide. Hostwinds is acknowledged for its exceptional customer service, swift dedicated servers, and easy-to-navigate control panel.
Let’s learn more about Hostwinds with SiSu Freedom in this article!
How Hostwinds Works
Hostwinds provides web hosting services for customers seeking to place their websites or web applications online. They run data centers worldwide and manage servers to support this.
They offer various hosting options:
- Shared Hosting: Ideal for small businesses or individuals not needing extensive server resources. It lets multiple websites share server resources like CPU, RAM, and disk space. Features include a free SSL certificate, cPanel control panel, a one-click app installer, and unlimited email accounts and subdomains.
- Business Hosting: Tailored for high-traffic websites with demanding workloads. Utilizes Solid-State Drives (SSD) and offers increased CPU processing time, higher node limits, and outbound email limits.
- Reseller Hosting: This enables individuals or businesses to buy Hostwinds’ hosting packages and resell them without mentioning Hostwinds. Users get a control panel to manage hosting accounts and create custom plans, perfect for web designers or entrepreneurs offering hosting services.
- White Label Reseller: Allows users to sell hosting plans under their brand while using Hostwinds’ infrastructure and support. Clients receive web hosting services under the user’s company name and branding.
- VPS Hosting: Provides a virtual private server (VPS) to host websites or applications. Hostwinds offers four Windows and Linux-based hosting plans.
- Dedicated Hosting: Offers fully customizable servers for specific needs. Users can select server configurations, including the operating system, RAM, storage, bandwidth, and IP addresses.
- Cloud Hosting: Flexible hosting solutions that can scale as per business requirements.
Is Hostwinds Right for Me?
Hostwinds suits small businesses seeking unlimited storage and bandwidth, particularly if expecting substantial website traffic. Yet, those seeking more cost-effective alternatives might consider other providers, as many competitors offer comparable features at lower rates.
Hostwinds caters to:
- Customers and businesses in search of diverse hosting options: With shared, VPS, dedicated, and reseller hosting, Hostwinds provides a variety of plans to suit different needs.
- Web developers, designers, and entrepreneurs: Offering hosting packages for resale with Hostwinds managing the technical side, along with full root access, various operating systems, customizable server setups, and a 99.9999% SLA.
- Small and medium-sized businesses: Hostwinds’ business hosting packages include solid-state drives, an updated cPanel, a simple Softaculous installation, and a Weebly website builder.
Hostwinds might not be suitable for:
- Customers looking for more affordable options: Its plans are slightly pricier compared to competitors, making it less ideal for budget-conscious users.
- Businesses requiring comprehensive backups: Hostwinds’ cloud hosting backups are an additional purchase, and they don’t allow a single add-on for multiple hosting plans.
- E-commerce businesses: Hostwinds lacks hosting plans tailored specifically for e-commerce, suggesting that better alternatives might be found elsewhere for such businesses.
What Sets Hostwinds Apart
Hostwinds proudly asserts full ownership of its servers, systems, and infrastructure, enabling swift and economical issue resolution. This, the company asserts, allows for passing on cost savings to its customers.
Every plan includes unlimited storage, bandwidth, and email accounts. Additionally, they provide complimentary website migration handled by support experts, assisting in devising personalized migration strategies.
Hostwinds Features
Hostwinds provides a strong lineup of features designed to fulfill the requirements of users in search of dependable and versatile hosting. This solution streamlines website migration, offers free SSL certificates, and ensures unlimited storage and bandwidth.
Storage and Bandwidth Limits
Hostwinds provides limitless bandwidth and disk space, extending even to its Basic plan. This allows unrestricted data flow between websites and visitors, without any caps or additional charges. On the other hand, unmetered bandwidth imposes boundaries on bandwidth usage. While it doesn’t limit visitor data transfer, it might impose speed limitations on the server.
Extras and Inclusions
Hostwinds packages encompass complimentary SSL certificates, a free domain, and a dedicated IP. The promotional deal is applicable solely for the initial billing cycle. Post that period, the price renews at a marginally higher rate.
Ease of Use
Hostwinds offers an intuitive control panel to oversee your hosting account, equipped with convenient features like one-click app installations, a powerful website builder, file management tools, swift shortcuts, and email account creation utilities.
User Dashboard/cPanel
Hostwinds’ cPanel offers website management features. Within the dashboard, you’ll find a file manager, email accounts for hosted domains, and FTP accounts. Additionally, there’s the choice to back up the entire cPanel or utilize Apache SpamAssassin for spam elimination.
Security
Hostwinds employs Secure Socket Layer (SSL) protocol and Internet Encryption Software to handle sensitive data, like credit card information. Free AutoSSL certificates are provided on shared and business hosting accounts. Additionally, RapidSSL and WildCard SSL certificates are available for an extra fee.
Nightly Backups
Hostwinds conducts daily website backups to safeguard crucial data and files. In case of issues like malware attacks, you can restore your website to a relatively recent version. Furthermore, you have the freedom to retain your backups indefinitely and access them whenever needed. This feature stands out as basic shared hosting plans often offer backups biweekly, weekly, or none at all, making this level of backup frequency quite uncommon.
Weebly Website Builder
The shared and business hosting plans offer Weebly, a user-friendly drag-and-drop website builder. It’s perfect for new small business owners aiming to build straightforward websites independently. With diverse themes available, you can personalize the layout and ensure it’s mobile-friendly. Alternatively, you can opt for other website builders like WordPress.
Hostwinds Performance
To thoroughly evaluate Hostwinds, we conducted multiple performance tests spanning several months. Employing GTmetrix, we assessed full-page loading speeds, while Sucuri helped gauge international load speeds. Additionally, UptimeRobot was utilized to measure site uptime – as you might have guessed.
Our testing utilized a website designed to replicate a fully functional site, incorporating HD images, JavaScript, and various other elements.
Sucuri
The international loading times showcased significant variation, ranging from an average of 0.697 seconds as the fastest to 4.364 seconds as the slowest, with an average of 3.338 seconds.
Performance near the data center was commendable, but notably poor in other regions. Hostwinds provides only three data centers – Seattle, Dallas, and Amsterdam – so locations outside these areas might experience slower loading times.
GTmetrix
The complete page load times spanned from a speedy 0.9 seconds to a slower 2.9 seconds, averaging 1.82 seconds. Generally, it’s advisable to maintain website load times under 2 seconds to retain user engagement, as visitors tend to leave beyond this threshold.
Your website’s performance significantly influences how people perceive your company and brand, making it an essential consideration. For business-oriented sites, opting for one of the Business plans or selecting a host with consistently superior performance might be preferable – for instance, Hostinger, which secured the highest score for shared hosting in our performance assessment.
UptimeRobot
The server uptime is claimed to be 99.9999%. However, over a span of three months, UptimeRobot documented an uptime of 99.982%. It’s not particularly poor, but it falls short of the assurance made by the marketing department.
SiSu Freedom’s Verdict
Hostwinds, a web hosting service, prides itself on swift speeds, 99.9999% server uptime, and unrestricted storage across all its plans. Customers appreciate the seamless website migration with just a few clicks and the provision of free SSL certificates. While Hostwinds caters to the preferences of small businesses with its feature set, its pricing tends to be higher compared to its competitors.
Pros
- Infinite storage and bandwidth
- Hostwinds possesses 100% ownership of its servers
- Around-the-clock customer support
- Nightly backups are included in the basic plan
- Complimentary SSL certificates
- Limitless subdomains
Cons
- The starting price for the most affordable plan is $5.24 per month
- No hosting specifically designed for e-commerce
Hostwinds Pricing and Plans
| Basic | Advanced | Ultimate | |
| Introductory Pricing | $5.24 per month | $6.74 per month | $8.24 per month |
| Renewal Pricing | $6.99 per month | $8.99 per month | $10.99 per month |
| Storage | Unlimited disk space | Unlimited disk space | Unlimited disk space |
| Contract Lengths Available | One, three, six, we, 24 and 35 months | One, three, six, we, 24 and 35 months | One, three, six, we, 24 and 35 months |
| Bandwidth | Unlimited bandwidth | Unlimited bandwidth | Unlimited bandwidth |
| Free Domain Name | Not available | Not available | Not available |
| Free SSL Certificate | ✔ | ✔ | ✔ |
| cPanel | ✔ | ✔ | ✔ |
| Security | ✔ | ✔ | ✔ |
| Business Email | ✔ | ✔ | ✔ |
| Money-Back Guarantee | 72 hours | 72 hours | 72 hours |
| Uptime Guarantee | 99.9999% uptime guarantee | 99.9999% uptime guarantee | 99.9999% uptime guarantee |
| Customer Support | Live chat or ticketing system available 24/7 | Live chat or ticketing system available 24/7 | Live chat or ticketing system available 24/7 |
Basic
Unlike the majority of web hosting plans, every Hostwinds plan offers limitless storage and bandwidth, alongside an array of additional features like business email, a free SSL certificate, built-in security, and 24/7 support. The Basic plan stands apart by providing hosting for a single website, starting at $5.24 per month in terms of pricing.
Advanced
Alongside all the features included in the Basic plan, the Advanced plan offers hosting for up to four websites, with pricing starting at $6.74 per month.
Ultimate
Building upon the Basic plan’s offerings, the Ultimate plan provides unlimited website hosting and starts at just $8.24 per month, making it an excellent value for businesses handling multiple websites.
Hostwinds Customer Service and Support
Hostwinds provides round-the-clock live chat and a ticketing system accessible for all paid plans. Additionally, users can access an extensive knowledge base from the account dashboard. However, it doesn’t offer phone support, which is a limitation.
Hostwinds Alternatives and How They Compare
[wptb id=18096]Hostwinds vs. Namecheap
Namecheap provides diverse hosting plans: shared, WordPress, reseller, VPS, dedicated, and email hosting.
Each plan includes unmetered bandwidth, a free SSL certificate for one year, and a 20GB SSD storage limit. Conversely, Hostwinds offers unlimited disk space, hosting without limits, and a lifetime free SSL certificate.
Both offer customer support through live chat and a knowledge base. Regarding uptime guarantee, Namecheap’s 100% uptime slightly surpasses Hostwinds’ 99.9999% uptime.
Hostwinds vs. A2 Hosting
Hostwinds and A2 Hosting are recognized as prominent web hosting services in the market, providing similar services. Both assure uptime, unlimited bandwidth, free SSL certificates, robust cPanel, and business email.
Initially, A2 Hosting draws attention with its lower prices but lacks ample storage in its basic tier. Hostwinds, on the other hand, provides unlimited disk space, positioning itself as the preferable choice.
Hostwinds vs. Bluehost
A significant contrast between Hostwinds and Bluehost lies in their focus. Hostwinds offers various hosting plans, encompassing reseller, VPS, dedicated, and cloud hosting. Conversely, Bluehost excels in WordPress hosting.
Regrettably, Bluehost doesn’t disclose its uptime guarantee. Their most basic plan includes a 10GB SSD storage limit, while Hostwinds provides unlimited disk space. For an affordable WordPress hosting solution, Bluehost stands out. However, if you desire a broader range of hosting options and an intuitive interface, Hostwinds might be the preferable choice.
SiSu Freedom’s Expert Opinion
Hostwinds suits entrepreneurs, designers, web developers, and small to medium-sized businesses seeking dependable hosting services. It provides unlimited bandwidth and disk space, free SSL certificates, and free website migration. Additionally, it features a Weebly website builder for creating websites and conducts nightly backups for securing sensitive data.
Frequently Asked Questions (FAQs)
Is Hostwinds a good web host?
Hostwinds’ shared hosting plans fall in the middle ground when compared to other hosts. While it’s not subpar, it also doesn’t notably distinguish itself. However, Hostwinds’ prices are higher than those offered by its strongest competitors. If you seek budget-friendly yet impressive hosting, checking out Hostinger’s latest deals might be worthwhile.
Is Hostwinds’ VPS hosting any good?
Certainly, VPS hosting typically outperforms shared hosting, and Hostwinds’ VPS hosting likely follows this trend. Hostwinds’ VPS plans are notably cost-effective compared to numerous other providers. If you’re venturing into your first VPS experience, Hostwinds might be worth considering purely based on pricing.
Does Hostwinds offer shared hosting?
Yes, Hostwinds provides shared hosting among its array of services. Since this review primarily focuses on shared hosting, if you seek specifics, I highly suggest scrolling back up. To reinforce my previous statement: it’s decent, but there’s room for improvement.
How do you reach Hostwinds’ support?
The Hostwinds support team is available 24/7 through phone, live chat, email, and the ticket system. If you’re interested in details about support, consider scrolling back up to the support section. My personal experience with the support team was somewhat uncertain. Nonetheless, there are indeed ample avenues to contact them.
What is shared hosting?
Shared hosting involves sharing a server with other websites. You’ll have your own account and occasionally a dedicated IP address for hosting your website. Depending on the web hosting service, the company may back up all server data, encompassing that of other users. This cost-effective plan is suitable for most website types.
Where is Hostwinds based?
Hostwinds LLC, headquartered in Seattle, is renowned as a prominent web hosting company, recognized for its comprehensive range of services including shared server hosting, VPS hosting, cloud hosting, and dedicated server hosting.
What is the best-shared web hosting service?
The ideal shared web hosting service for your team hinges on your specific requirements. Hosting platforms differ in their features, pricing, and additional offerings. Considering these factors, HostGator emerged as our top choice among shared web hosting platforms.
What is a dedicated web server?
In contrast to a shared hosting plan, a dedicated web server is a service where your website resides on its own server. The primary advantage is enhanced security and faster speeds, especially beneficial for high-traffic websites. However, this option comes at a higher cost.
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