Item: HostWinds
Rating: 8
Author: Jonathan Kerns

Hostwinds Review 2020

A quick look at a couple of blog hosting providers and you will notice that their prices usually come with a footnote saying that the discounted rates are applicable only for the first term of your subscription. This means come renewal time, you will be facing a higher monthly bill for the same level of service. Hostwinds breaks away from this practice by offering their regular rates front and center. Not only that - their rates are highly comparable to the discounted prices of competitors, making Hostwinds a cheap solution for hosting your blog. That said, they aren't perfect, as you will see in the complete review below.

Range of Hosting Types

HostWinds offer a variety of hosting options: shared (including business and reseller), VPS, and dedicated servers all line up under their roof. Beginners and those with a more modest budget will find their shared hosting packages a perfect fit. Those needing more powerful hosting packages will find a lot of plans to choose from among Hostwinds’ VPS and dedicated hosting programs.

Shared Hosting: Basics, Business, Resellers

Their shared hosting plans work a little differently than most, wherein the only real difference between each are the number of domains. As such, all of the plans contain the same features, so you get to enjoy unlimited storage and bandwidth across the board. The Basic Plan allows for only 1 domain, at $6.50 a month, the Advanced ups this to 4 domains for $7.50 a month, and Ultimate boasts of unlimited domain hosting at $8.50 a month.

All plans include Softaculous for one-click installation of a whole boatload of apps into your account. With over 400 apps to choose from, from blog tools and galleries to social networking software and visitor polls, you’ll never run out of choices.

Longer Contract Terms

If you plan on signing up for a longer duration, you will be able to enjoy discounted monthly prices, which can go as low as $4.50, $5.50, and $6.50 for each plan. Do bear in mind though, HostWinds does not offer any money-back guarantee, so it is best to subscribe to a shorter duration first to test everything out before committing to them for the long term.
Meanwhile, all prices published by Hostwinds are their regular prices, unlike other hosting providers that give an introductory price and keep their original rates tucked away in easy-to-miss footnotes. In other words, you can expect the same amount in your monthly bill even when you renew your contract.

VPS Hosting: From $7.50 Per Month

Hostwinds offers a number of VPS hosting solutions, all of which give you the option of using Windows or Linux for your operating system. All packages come with a 100% network uptime SLA, plus your choice among multiple server locations, nightly backups, instant scalability, and enterprise-grade hardware. All of Hostwinds’ packages are also fully managed, so you won’t have to worry about dealing with all the day-to-day tasks of maintaining your server.

Hostwinds’ budget options can go as low as $7.50 per month and up to $88.50 per month. There are also enterprise-grade solutions equipped with SSD storage available at prices ranging from $13.50 per month up to $129.50 per month.

Dedicated Hosting: As Low As $100 Per Month

Hostwinds also has a raft of dedicated servers for you to choose from, with processors from Intel (i7 and Xeon) and AMD (Opteron); RAM ranging from 8 to 128 GB; and HDD, SATA, or SSD storage options.

Packages are configurable, and base costs range from $100 per month all the way up to $1250 per month.

Customer Service

HostWinds has a content-filled knowledgebase section where you can find articles on web hosting, networking, pre-sales concerns, general discussions, and others. You can use their search toolbar to easily get related results to your query. To get in touch with their customer support, you can initiate a live chat session, call their hotline, send an email, or submit a ticket request. Their office is open 24/7 to assist you with all of your concerns and inquiries. You can also connect with them via Facebook, Twitter, and Google+.

Hostwinds Review 2020 – Conclusion

HostWinds is one of the cheaper alternatives when it comes to blog hosting, and not just for your first period of subscription, but for as long as you are under their service. You also get to enjoy unlimited features, such as storage and bandwidth, whichever plan you choose. Hostwinds also offers a range of more powerful hosting packages, so you can easily switch to VPS or dedicated hosting if you outgrow Hostwinds’ shared hosting plans. The lack of location choices is a drawback, though, especially if you’re marketing to global audiences.

Hostwinds Review 2020

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