Hostwinds is a web hosting company that focuses mainly on low-cost web hosting for small blogs and websites. However, they also have plans for growing companies, blogs, and even well-established enterprise companies, agencies, and designers.
If you are looking for the perfect web hosting for your website, this Hostwinds review will give you exactly the information you need to make an informed decision. There are also recommendations below the review, just in case, Hostwinds isn’t for you.
Hostwinds Overview
Hostwinds offers several types of hosting: shared, reseller, business, VPS, and dedicated servers. All shared, business, and reseller hosting plans have unlimited disk space and unmetered bandwidth. Hostwinds offers automatic nightly backups to all of their users, and free dedicated IP addresses with almost every plan. SSD (solid state drive) hard drives, which are faster than other data storage, are also an option. All VPS and dedicated servers are fully managed.
Hostwinds also offers a 100% uptime guarantee to all clients. With cloud storage and redundancies in place to protect the servers, a guarantee of 100% uptime is now possible, but it is still rather new in the web hosting industry.
Pricing Information
Hostwinds offers many different types of web hosting plans. Whatever the budget, you’ll surely find the perfect plan. Pricing of the plans differs based on how many months you are paying at one time and. For VPS and dedicated servers, the prices vary based on the type of RAM, hard drive, and core.
| Package Name | Dedicated to | Price | Disk Space | Bandwidth | Websites | Hosting Type |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Shared – Basic | Startups/Small Blogs | $4.50-$6.50/mo | Unlimited | Unlimited | 1 | cPanel |
| Shared – Advanced | Growing Businesses | $5.50-$7.50/mo | Unlimited | Unlimited | 4 | cPanel |
| Shared – Ultimate | High Traffic, Designers | $6.50-$8.50/mo | Unlimited | Unlimited | Unlimited | cPanel |
| Business – Basic | Small Business | $5.00-$7.00/mo | Unlimited | Unlimited | 1 | cPanel |
| Business – Advanced | Growing Business | $7.50-$9.50/mo | Unlimited | Unlimited | 4 | cPanel |
| Business – Ultimate | Established Business | $10.00-$12.00/mo | Unlimited | Unlimited | Unlimited | cPanel |
| Reseller – Basic | Small Hosting Company | $25.00/mo | Unlimited | Unlimited | 10 cPanel Accounts | cPanel/WHM |
| Reseller – Advanced | Mid-sized Hosting Company | $50.00/mo | Unlimited | Unlimited | 25 cPanel Accounts | cPanel/WHM |
| Reseller – Ultimate | Larger Hosting Company | $100/mo | Unlimited | Unlimited | 75 cPanel Accounts | cPanel/WHM |
| VPS – Windows | Enterprise | $16.99-$848.99/mo | 20GB-500GB | Unlimited | Unlimited | cPanel/WHM |
| VPS – Linux | Enterprise | $9.99-$735.99/mo | 20GB-500GB | Unlimited | Unlimited | cPanel/WHM |
| Minecraft VPS | Minecraft Gaming | $11.99-$843.99/mo | 20GB-500GB | 10-350 Max. Players | N/A | Custom |
| Dedicated Servers | Enterprise | $99 and up | 1TB-12TB | Unlimited | Unlimited | cPanel/WHM or Custom |
Security & Risk
With a focus on speed and reliability, nightly backups, and 24/7 tech support, Hostwinds is making efforts towards even higher security. For VPS, DDoS protection is available, but not standard, like it is with the dedicated servers. They do offer redundancies on both of these plans to be able to guarantee 100% uptime. These redundancies include multiple carriers, Level 3, and Zayo. VPS and dedicated servers are all fully managed, which means their professionals monitor and maintain them 24/7.
Usability & User Friendliness
CPanel is the industry standard of hosting administration software. It is easy-to-use, and offers the user a lot of control over their hosting services and features. Hostwinds uses cPanel for every plan they offer.
Hostwinds also provides users with Softaculous, which is a marketplace of scripts, forums, content management systems, and more. Softaculous gets rid of the clunky installation process by providing a way to automatically install every software it offers in seconds.
Customer Support & Additional Info
Hostwinds offers 24/7 customer support via live chat, telephone, and a ticket system. You can reach all of these options from their homepage, or from your account. They also offer 24/7 monitoring of their VPS and dedicated servers. So, they are able to take care of problems and upgrades as fast as possible.
Hostwinds Overall Rating
Here are the Hostwinds pros and cons.
What we like:
- Reasonable Prices – Even for their VPS and dedicated servers, Hostwinds offers affordable prices for their hosting.
- Great Customer Service – They’re easy to get in contact with, and very helpful.
What we don’t like:
- Security Not Consistent – Webmasters expect more security for VPS and dedicated servers, but there seems to be no real emphasis on security for shared hosting.
Rating
Web Hosting Plans & Prices: 5/5
Security & Risk: 3/5
Usability: 4/5
Customer Support: 5/5
Hostwinds Top Alternatives
Has our Hostwinds review helped your decision? If not, check out these three hosting services that we also recommend.
- Bluehost – A popular hosting company in the industry, Bluehost offers low-cost hosting solutions for those who are just starting out. Like Hostwinds, they also have room to grow. The downside to Bluehost is they are also one of the slowest in the industry.
- A Small Orange – Homegrown hosting on a budget is exactly what A Small Orange offers. While they do not offer VPS or dedicated servers, they do offer the lowest prices around for shared hosting. They are fast, and have a 99.96% average uptime.
- JustHost – JustHost is probably the fastest web hosting service around for shared hosting. They offer budget hosting plans with a 99.98% uptime, and have other options, should you grow quickly.
Our Verdict
Hostwinds is a budget-friendly option for hosting blogs or business websites. While their shared hosting suffers a little in the area of security, they make up for it with their prices and features, usability, and their exceptional security in higher levels.
Have comments or questions about this Hostwinds review? We would love to hear from you! Leave your input below.