Shared Web Hosting – starts at $7.85 AUD per month
Rack Servers has four shared hosting plans to choose from, all with middle-of-the-road prices as far as web hosting plans go. These aren’t the lowest prices available, but you do get a number of good extras like daily backups bundled in for free. All accounts are set up instantly, and if you’ve got existing websites, Rack Servers migrates those free of charge.
You’ll have to contend with resource limits, but the good news is that Rack Servers gives you slightly more generous resource allocations than many of its competitors.
Windows-Based Options
Additionally, you can choose between Linux or Windows for your operating system. While a number of VPS and dedicated hosting providers offer this to their customers, this is a rare option for shared web hosting. If you’re in need of Windows hosting but would like to stick to lower-priced plans, Rack Servers is one of your best options. Windows costs an additional $5.50 per month, but that’s better than not having them at all.
Standard Software Included
You’ll get cPanel or Plesk depending on your chosen operating system, plus RVSiteBuilder and the Installatron script installation platform. This means you’ve got all the tools you need to set up a great website quickly and easily. Plesk and cPanel are the industry-leading control panel options, and RVSiteBuilder takes the complications out of site building. Installatron, meanwhile, lets you install over 60 popular web applications – from WordPress and Joomla to Magento and osCommerce – with a few simple clicks.
For custom scripts, Rack Servers supports PHP, ASP.NET 2.0/4.0 (for Windows systems), and Ruby on Rails.
Optimized for Performance
All shared hosting plans use high-quality, load-balanced servers with redundant storage configurations, so you don’t have to worry about being crippled by spikes in traffic. Rack Servers supports Apache 2.x or IIS 8 for your web servers, plus MySQL or MSSQL for databases.
You get an unlimited number of databases and email accounts, but this isn’t much considering you’ll still be limited by your plan’s resource limitations. Here’s an overview:
Feature | Economy | Business | Advanced | Power |
---|---|---|---|---|
Monthly Price | $7.85 | $12.85 | $17.85 | $27.85 |
Storage | 2 GB | 5 GB | 10 GB | 30 GB |
Bandwidth | 50 GB | 100 GB | 200 GB | Unlimited |
Add-on Domains | 10 | Unlimited | Unlimited | Unlimited |
Parked Domains | 10 | Unlimited | Unlimited | Unlimited |
Mailing Lists | 2 | Unlimited | Unlimited | Unlimited |
Free Domain Name | No | No | Yes | Yes |
Free RapidSSL Certificate | No | No | No | Yes |
Free Dedicated IP | No | No | No | Yes |
Rack Servers also offers some add-ons that you can purchase separately:
- An extra dedicated IP address for $2.95 per month
- SSL certificates from RapidSSL, VeriSign, Comodo, GeoTrust, or Thawte, from $40 per month
- Storage costing $5 per month for each additional 1 GB
- Bandwidth costing $3.30 per month for each additional 1 GB
You can also buy energy credits to offset your hosting plan’s emissions for as low as 25 cents per month.
VPS Hosting: from $53.70 AUD per month
If you’re looking for brawnier hosting packages, try Rack Servers’ VPS offers instead. You’ll still have caps on your storage and bandwidth, but these are still a considerable improvement over the shared hosting plans.
Here’s a quick look at each VPS plan:
Feature | Lite | Mid | Large | Extra |
---|---|---|---|---|
Monthly Price | $53.70 | $76 | $109.50 | $165.30 |
Storage | 50 GB | 75 GB | 100 GB | 150 GB |
Bandwidth | 100 GB | 200 GB | 300 GB | 500 GB |
CPU Cores | 2 | 2 | 3 | 4 |
RAM | 2 GB | 3 GB | 4 GB | 6 GB |
All packages are provisioned within 4 hours of your registration, and if you’ve got an existing cPanel or Plesk account, Rack Servers will transfer it for free. Rack Servers’ VPS are built on top-of-the-line servers equipped with dual Intel Xeon processors and RAID 10 SAS drives, ensuring reliable performance regardless of your chosen plan.
You can get the latest versions of the Debian, CentOS, or Ubuntu Linux operating systems installed for free. You’ll also get Rack Servers’ Webmin control panel, 2 IPv4 addresses, and /64 range IPv6 addresses. Beyond that, though, these virtual servers are completely self-managed, and you’ll have to pay extra fees if you want more features and management services.
Numerous Extra Fees
Each additional feature or service adds to your monthly bill. These can add up quickly, especially since Rack Servers charges you even for standard inclusions like control panel and site builder software. Here are the available choices:
Operating System:
- Windows Server 2008 R2 Standard / Windows Server 2012 Standard: $33
- Windows Server 2008 R2 Enterprise: $44
Control Panels
- cPanel/WHM: $22
- Plesk license for 100 domains: $39.95
- Plesk license for unlimited domains: $69.95
Other Software
- Installatron: $4.95
- RVSiteBuilder: $8.95
- Plesk SiteBuilder
- 100 Domains: $19.95
- 300 Domains: $57.90
- 500 Domains: $94.90
You can also get varying levels of server management services from Rack Servers, with fees ranging from $29.95 to $99 per month.
Other than those options, you can also purchase other add-ons for a one-time fee:
- Dedicated IP address for $2.95 a month
- Additional 1 GB of RAM for $22 per month
- Additional 50 GB of bandwidth for $9.95 per month
- CloudLinux technology: $12 per month
- Carbon offset: as low as $1 per month
Network Performance, Billing and Guarantees
Rack Servers operates out of a data center based in Brisbane, so you can expect excellent speed and low latency for your Australia-based customers. Add to that the company’s use of high-speed fiber Internet via the Optus, Uecomm, AAPT, and PIPE networks, and your websites will be loading pages faster than blinking.
Rack Servers gives you relatively flexible payment terms. You can choose to pay monthly, quarterly, semi-annually (6 months), yearly, and biennially. There are sizable discounts for the longer payment terms.
You also get a 30-day money-back guarantee, so you can expect a full refund if you decide to cancel your registration within a month of signing up. However, the company doesn’t offer any refunds if you cancel your hosting plan before the end of your term but after the month-long money-back period.
Rack Servers institutes a 99.9% uptime guarantee for all its hosting plans. You can expect up to 50% account credit depending on the severity of any unscheduled downtime.
Customer Support
Rack Servers provides 24/7 customer support through live chat, their support ticket system, and phone. Emergency tickets are also an option if you have an urgent request; staff are on hand to respond to these at all hours.
What's the Verdict on Rack Servers?
Rack Servers Review 2020 – Conclusion
Overall, Rack Servers offers pretty standard hosting packages. However, if you’re looking for Windows hosting in particular, this is one of your best options. You’ll get useful features like the Plesk control panel, plus a solid 99.9% uptime guarantee and a 30-day refund policy. Each plan carries resource limitations, but considering the rarity of Windows-based shared hosting, Rack Servers remains a notable option.
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