HostWinds

For top-tier hosting that balances performance and affordability, look no further than Hostwinds. With a comprehensive range of services supported by cutting-edge infrastructure and round-the-clock assistance, Hostwinds ensures seamless web hosting. Whether you’re navigating intricate server setups or seeking consistent uptime, Hostwinds delivers with a stellar guarantee and unwavering customer support.

Our resident hosting expert, Marcus Gregory, recently put Hostwinds through its paces and provided her insights on the experience, segmented by the various hosting options the platform offers.

If you’re considering Hostwinds, utilizing our referral link might score you a discount. It’s worth noting that while we may earn commissions through these links, Marcus’s review remains unbiased.

Here’s Marcus’s breakdown of Hostwinds:

• Overall: 4.8
• Cheap: 4.3
• Dedicated: 4.2
• VPS: 4.8
• WordPress: N/A
• Website Builder: N/A

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Hostwinds Overall Rating: 4.8 / 5.0

Best Overall Rating: 4.8 ★★★★★

Price: $5.24

Setup Time: 5 minutes

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Marcus Gregory (BMFHost.com):

Offering enterprise-grade hosting solutions at prices attractive to small and medium businesses, Hostwinds stands out for its extensive range of operating systems and server configurations, empowering customers to establish and expand their online presence.

Catering to diverse needs with hosting plans tailored for niches like vBulletin and Minecraft, Hostwinds draws a varied clientele, mirroring its array of server configurations.

CEO Peter Holden founded Hostwinds in 2010 at the age of 20, driven by personal frustrations with web hosting and a belief that providers could excel in powerful infrastructure, responsive support, and cost-effectiveness simultaneously. The company’s rapid growth is a testament to its ability to deliver on these fronts while ensuring customer satisfaction.

While we’ll delve deeper into Hostwinds’ shared, cloud, VPS, and dedicated server options later, it’s worth recognizing the platform’s exceptional reseller and white-label plans.

Traditional reselling operations allow you to set your prices and leverage Hostwinds’ robust product lineup. For less tech-savvy resellers or those keen on offering diverse hosting solutions, Hostwinds provides access to its full suite of services under your brand. Simplifying deployment and integrating WHMCS for billing management and payment processing, Hostwinds facilitates easy configuration, aligning with its commitment to providing powerful yet user-friendly solutions.

Key features include:

• 500% faster speeds via SSDs
• LiteSpeed web server performance
• FREE dedicated IP address
• 99.999% uptime guarantee
• Datacenters in Dallas and Seattle

Get started with Hostwinds now.

Money-Back Guarantee: 3 days

Disk Space: Unlimited SSD

Domain Name: New or Transfer

Setup Time: 5 minutes

Hostwinds’ Dedicated Hosting (4.2 / 5.0)

DEDICATED RATING 4.2 ★★★★★

Price: $122.00

Setup Time: 6 minutes

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At the pinnacle of hosting services, distinguishing the standout servers can be a daunting task. Providers often showcase their top-tier hardware and premium features to allure customers to invest in high-priced dedicated hosting solutions.

However, Hostwinds effortlessly surges ahead of the competition, boasting an exceptional array of configurations.

Customers are spoilt for choice with options like 15 different Windows or Linux operating systems and the capability to outfit servers with up to 3TB of hard-disk drive storage per bay (with a maximum of four drives).

Alternatively, servers can be equipped with up to 1TB of solid-state drives per hard drive bay. RAM options range from 8GB to an impressive 128GB, surpassing many luxury hosts in every aspect. Additionally, users can opt for up to 128 IP addresses.

While inbound bandwidth is both free and unlimited, outbound transfers can be tailored from 10TB to 200TB and beyond. Depending on the number of hard drives chosen, customers can configure five different RAID backup options at no extra cost.

Despite the potential to configure servers costing upwards of $1,000 per month, the performance justifies the investment.

Remarkably, Hostwinds’ servers consistently come in a few dollars cheaper per month than competitors, accompanied by an outstanding 99.999% uptime guarantee.

Our only minor apprehension revolves around entrusting such a critical task to a smaller, newer company without the extensive legacy of more established brands. While we lack concrete evidence to support our concerns, it’s worth noting the company’s relative youth in the industry.

However, for those willing to take a slight gamble for premium hardware and modest savings, the potential benefits are substantial, particularly for larger enterprises.

Key features include:

• Highly configurable servers with a choice between Windows or Linux
• Fully managed support and nightly backups
• SAS Type II and Tier 4 datacenters
• 99.999% uptime guarantee and DDoS protection
• 1-hour hardware replacement

Start your dedicated hosting journey with Hostwinds today.

Money-Back Guarantee: 3 days

Disk Space: 120 GB SSD – 12 TB HDD

Domain Name: New or Transfer

Setup Time: 6 minutes

Hostwinds’ VPS Hosting (4.8 / 5.0)

VPS RATING 4.8 ★★★★★

Price: $4.99

Setup Time: 6 minutes

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When it comes to virtual private server offerings, Hostwinds stands out with an impressive array of packages. Boasting 10 configurations for managed Linux server partitions alone, Hostwinds exceeds expectations.

But that’s not all – the company offers an additional 10 plans each for managed Windows VPS and unmanaged versions of both operating systems.

From virtual servers with 1 CPU core, 1GB of RAM, and 30GB of storage to robust setups featuring 16 cores, 96GB of RAM, and 750GB of storage, Hostwinds caters to diverse needs. Prices range from around $5 per month to over $250, ensuring options for every budget.

Hostwinds prioritizes reliability with around-the-clock monitoring of its network and devices, promising rapid response times and hardware replacements within an hour in case of incidents. For those seeking enhanced flexibility and scalability, Hostwinds offers cloud hosting with billing options by the hour or month.

Setting up is a breeze – simply create an instance, choose your operating system and infrastructure, and benefit from Hostwinds’ comprehensive managed support. Customers can also utilize block or object storage volumes, safeguarded by the company’s robust firewall.

With a stellar 99.999% uptime guarantee, high-performance solid-state drives, and a guaranteed 1Gbps port, Hostwinds delivers unrivaled flexibility, performance, and affordability in VPS and cloud services.

Key features include:

• Managed or unmanaged options available for Windows or Linux
• Cloud hosting with flexible billing cycles
• Instant upgrades without downtime
• Free around-the-clock monitoring
• Automatic nightly backups

Start your VPS journey with Hostwinds today.

• Money Back Guarantee: 3 days
• Disk Space: 30 GB SSD – 750 GB SSD
• Domain Name: New or Transfer
• Setup Time: 6 minutes

Features

Reliable Security Safeguards Your Server and Data

Hostwinds’ Windshield service kick-starts advanced configuration processes by conducting a thorough security assessment, pinpointing areas for enhancement. Complemented by a firewall and server hardening system, this ensures a fortified defense against vulnerabilities. Customers benefit from complimentary installation of private SSL certificates, enhancing their brand’s credibility with 256-bit encryption options spanning one to three years. The Hostwinds virtual private network shields against third-party tracking and identity theft, offering a secure connection accessible across multiple devices via a user-friendly application.

Optimizations Enhance Server Performance Windspeed, Hostwinds’ add-on service, boosts environment functionality and efficiency, conducting tests for CSS, Javascript, image optimization, and MySQL performance enhancements. Hostwinds predominantly employs the lightning-fast LiteSpeed web server, while also offering Apache and NGINX for increased stability and flexibility. By avoiding server overcrowding, customers enjoy ample resources to manage traffic spikes and process requests efficiently. Leveraging a range of solid-state drives, Hostwinds’ infrastructure delivers exceptional performance, boasting 500% faster page loads compared to many competitors.

Diverse Niche Services Offered

Hostwinds stands out by offering specialized hosting services tailored directly to Minecraft players, featuring top-tier SSD drives and processors for an elevated gaming experience. As the sole CPV Lab-approved hosting provider, Hostwinds optimizes hosting plans for the tracking, testing, and optimization platform tailored for affiliate marketers, merchants, advertisers, and agencies. With modern hardware, Hostwinds excels in WordPress and vBulletin hosting. These platforms can be effortlessly installed with a single click, providing site owners with unparalleled reliability and unlimited computing resources.

Revamped and Responsive Customer Support

Driven by CEO Peter Holden’s dissatisfaction with previous support encounters, Hostwinds ensures customer satisfaction with a 60-day money-back guarantee and round-the-clock personal support. Backed by robust security and redundancy measures, Hostwinds promises an impressive 99.999% uptime guarantee, a benchmark typically associated with premium services. Hostwinds simplifies website transfers, a typically cumbersome process, by offering seamless and free migrations with zero downtime, ensuring secure, swift, and efficient file and database transfers.

Ease of Use

Navigating Hostwinds’ account and website management tools is a breeze, boasting a sleek and modern interface that guides users effortlessly to essential functions. Notably, the quick shortcuts and intuitive email account creation tools take center stage on the account dashboard, enhancing user convenience. With access to cPanel, users can seamlessly navigate installation scripts, metrics, email settings, and security features. Most impressively, Hostwinds simplifies the process of seeking assistance; customers can easily raise a ticket or explore the knowledgebase directly from the account dashboard, while live chat support remains just a click away with a minimized window always at hand.

Pricing (4.7 / 5.0)

• Basic Plan: $5.24/month
• Advanced Plan: $6.74/month
• Ultimate Plan: $8.24/month

While Hostwinds may blend in among the crowded shared hosting market, its true prowess lies in offering affordability within the VPS sphere. Despite competitive shared hosting prices, Hostwinds truly shines when it comes to unmanaged virtual servers. Though customers are responsible for server maintenance and updates, Hostwinds provides well-equipped server partitions at remarkably competitive rates. As you move up to managed support and higher tiers, the deals may vary, but Hostwinds consistently finds the sweet spot between price and performance.

Reliability & Support (4.8 / 5.0) Hostwinds dedicates as much effort to perfecting its customer support as it does to optimizing its hosting hardware. With system engineers available round the clock, the company boasts swift response times: five minutes for email tickets and just 30 seconds for live chat and phone calls. Customers can enhance their security with monitoring and backup plans, all backed by Hostwinds’ impressive 99.999% uptime guarantee.

Hostwinds Includes:

• 24/7/365 Support via Email Tickets, Live Chat, and Phone with Guaranteed Response Times
• 99.999% Uptime Guarantee and Comprehensive Knowledgebase

Does Not Include:

• Video Tutorials or User Forums