What should you actually look at when choosing a provider?
Rather than praising ourselves, this page sets out the criteria that will help you decide. Read them, then ask other providers the same questions.
Six questions to ask before you look at a price list
What will the renewal cost?
A first-year discount is common; the real cost shows up in year two. Ask whether the renewal price is visible today and whether you are told before an increase.
Are the resources really dedicated?
"Unlimited" is meaningful for disk but not for CPU and RAM. Ask how much processor and memory is allocated to you, and whether it is shared or dedicated.
Where are the backups kept?
A backup sitting on the same server is useless in a disaster. Ask about frequency, retention, and whether you can restore it yourself.
Who answers support?
As important as response time is whether the person answering has access to the server. The difference between a call centre and a technical team shows in how many rounds it takes to solve a problem.
Is it easy to leave?
Can you download your data in full? What are the refund terms? A provider making it easy to leave is a sign it has another reason for you to stay.
Will my software run?
If your software requires a particular PHP version or an extension such as ionCube, confirm that it is ready before you buy.
We asked ourselves the same questions
The left column is common industry practice; the right column is what we do.
| Feature | Commonly seen | With us |
|---|---|---|
| Storefront price | Excludes tax, noted in small print | Includes tax; the large figure is what you pay |
| Renewal | Quietly charged at a higher rate | Emailed at least 30 days in advance |
| What separates plans | Disk space | Number of sites and allocated CPU/RAM |
| Disk and traffic | Called unlimited, capped by a fair-use policy | Unlimited; exceptions written up front |
| Backups | Charged extra, or kept on the same server | Daily, in a separate location, one-click restore |
| ionCube and PHP version | Enabled on request | Ready on all plans, selectable per site |
| Migration | Charged by number of sites | Free, with no downtime |
| Commitment and cancellation | Annual commitment, call centre to cancel | No lock-in; turn renewal off from the panel |
| Support | Call centre first, technical team later | Someone with direct access to the server |
Why does cheap end up expensive?
Most of the difference in hosting prices comes not from hardware but from how many customers are placed on a server. Put twice as many customers on the same physical machine and you can halve the price; the customer notices this not on invoice day but on the day of a sale, when the site slows down.
The second item is backups. Taking a backup is cheap; keeping it in a separate location and testing the restore is expensive. The gap between "we have backups" and "you can restore in one click" appears on a bad day.
The third is support. The time of someone with technical knowledge is expensive, which is why support on low-priced plans is usually handed to a layer reading from a script. It works if the problem is simple; if it is not, you end up answering the same question three times.
None of this is a claim that we are the cheapest. Our claim is that you should be able to see what the price buys. If you cannot work out why one plan is cheaper, it is worth asking where the difference comes from.
Questions people ask while deciding
Are you the cheapest?
No, and we do not aim to be. Placing fewer customers on a server, keeping backups in a separate location and having a technical team answer support all cost money. Our claim is that you can see what the price buys.
Do you have a trial? Do I get my money back if I do not like it?
We have no free trial and we do not refund a period that has started, because the service is provisioned and made available to you immediately after payment. We say so up front and plainly, so that nothing surprises you after the invoice. If you want to keep the risk small, take the shortest billing period and try it; move to a longer term if you are happy, and turn renewal off if you are not.
Where are your servers?
We offer hosting in a region close to your audience; network latency relates directly to how far a visitor is from the server. We tell you in writing, before you buy, which regions we have servers in and where your data will be kept.
What do you do when there is an outage?
We announce it on the status page and by email. We write down the cause and what we are doing about it; we do not fob you off with a line about "a temporary technical issue".
Is moving from another provider difficult?
We do the migration and we do not charge for it. Your old site stays online throughout; we change the DNS only after you have confirmed that everything works on the new server.
Ask everyone else the same questions
Use the criteria on this page when you decide. If you have a question for us, write — we do not apply sales pressure.