What Is Hostwinds?
Hostwinds is a web hosting company founded in 2010 and located in Seattle, Washington. The company offers various web hosting services, such as shared hosting, VPS hosting, dedicated server hosting and cloud hosting. Its mission is to provide businesses and individuals worldwide with reliable and affordable web hosting solutions. Hostwinds is known for its excellent customer support, fast and dedicated servers and easy-to-use control panel.
How Hostwinds Works
Hostwinds offers web hosting services to customers who need to host their website or web application online. The company operates data centers and maintains servers across the globe.
Featured Partners
1
Bluehost
$2.95 per month
Unmetered bandwidth, SSD storage starts at 10GB
Free domain name & SSL for a year
2
HostGator
$2.75 per month (for first 36 months)
30 days
Free SSL certificate, free website transfer
3
Web.com
$2.75 per month
Yes
Customizable templates, Easy drag-and-drop technology, SSL certificate
Here’s a brief overview of Hostwinds’ hosting options:
- Shared hosting: Hostwinds Shared Hosting is a web hosting that allows multiple websites to share the same server resources, such as CPU, RAM and disk space. It is best for individuals or small businesses that do not require significant server resources. Some of the features of this hosting service are a free SSL certificate, a cPanel control panel, a one-click app installer (Softaculous), unlimited email accounts and unlimited subdomains.
- Business hosting: This hosting service gives businesses the resources to host a website that can handle high traffic volumes and intensive workloads. All packages use Solid-State Drives (SSD), increased CPU processing time, higher node limits and higher outbound email limits.
- Reseller hosting: Reseller hosting allows individuals or businesses to purchase a hosting package from Hostwinds and resell it to clients without referencing the Hostwinds brand. In addition, you can access a control panel to manage your hosting accounts and create custom hosting plans for your business. These plans are ideal for website designers and entrepreneurs looking to offer web hosting services to their clients.
- White label reseller: These plans allow users to offer hosting plans under their brand name, with the option to white label Hostwinds hosting services. In this model, you can offer your clients web hosting services under your company name and branding while Hostwinds provides the technical infrastructure and support.
- VPS hosting: VPS hosting provides a virtual private server (VPS) to host your website or application. Hostwinds offers a total of four Windows and Linux-based hosting plans.
- Dedicated hosting: Dedicated hosting gives users fully customizable servers that can be configured to meet their specific needs. You can choose from various server configurations, including the operating system, RAM, storage, bandwidth and IP addresses.
- Cloud hosting: Its cloud hosting services give you access to a flexible hosting solution that can be scaled up or down as your business needs change.
Is Hostwinds Right for Me?
Hostwinds is a good fit for small businesses that want unlimited storage and bandwidth, especially if you anticipate significant traffic coming to your website. However, those interested in more budget-friendly options may want to look elsewhere, as many competitors offer similar features at lower prices.
Hostwinds is best for:
- Customers and businesses seeking multiple hosting options: Hostwinds offers a range of web hosting options such as shared hosting, VPS hosting, dedicated hosting and reseller hosting, enabling users to find a plan that best suits their needs.
- Web developers, designers and entrepreneurs: Web professionals and entrepreneurs can resell its hosting packages—while Hostwinds handles the technical infrastructure. It also offers full root access, multiple operating system options, customizable server configurations and a service level agreement (SLA) of 99.9999%.
- Small and medium-sized businesses: Hostwinds’ business hosting packages feature solid-state drives, up-to-date cPanel, easy installation via Softaculous and a Weebly website builder.
Hostwinds is not recommended for:
- Customers seeking lower prices: Hostwinds plans are slightly more expensive than its competitors, which is a downside for aspiring users on a budget.
- Businesses that need backups: Hostwinds offers cloud hosting backups as an add-on. It also does not allow a single add-on purchase for multiple hosting plans.
- E-commerce businesses: The company lacks hosting plans specifically designed for e-commerce businesses, which will likely find better options elsewhere.
What Sets Hostwinds Apart
Hostwinds boasts that it owns 100% of its servers, systems and structures so that the company can resolve issues quickly and cost-effectively. As a result, the company claims it passes on the savings to its customers.
All plans come with unlimited storage and bandwidth and unlimited email accounts. They also offer free website migration through support experts who can help you develop a unique migration plan.
Hostwinds Features
Hostwinds offers a robust set of features that can meet users’ needs seeking a reliable and flexible hosting solution. The solution allows users to migrate an existing website easily, receive free SSL certificates and get unlimited storage and bandwidth.
Storage and Bandwidth Limits
Hostwinds offers unlimited bandwidth and disk space, even on its Basic plan. It allows unlimited data transfer between websites and visitors without limits or extra fees. In contrast, unmetered bandwidth restricts the amount of bandwidth for use. Although it does not limit the amount of data that can be transferred to your visitors, the server speed may be limited.
Extras and Inclusions
Hostwinds plans include free SSL certificates and a free dedicated IP. Its promotional offer is only available during the first billing cycle. Afterward, the price renews at a slightly higher rate.
Ease of Use
Hostwinds provides a user-friendly control panel for managing your hosting account, which includes features such as one-click application installs, a robust website builder, file managers, quick shortcuts and email account creation tools.
User Dashboard/cPanel
Hostwinds cPanel has features for website management. The dashboard includes a file manager, email accounts for hosted domains and FTP accounts. You also have the option to back up the entire cPanel or use Apache SpamAssassin to eliminate spam.
Security
Hostwinds uses Secure Socket Layer (SSL) protocol and Internet Encryption Software when processing sensitive data such as credit card information. It also offers free AutoSSL certificates on shared and business hosting accounts. Plus, RapidSSL and WildCard SSL certificates are at an additional cost.
Nightly Backups
Hostwinds backs up your website every evening to keep important information and files secure. You can restore your website to a reasonably recent version if anything goes wrong, such as malware attacks. You’ll also be able to keep your backups indefinitely and access them whenever you wish. This feature is rare for basic shared hosting plans, which may only include backups biweekly, weekly or none at all.
Weebly Website Builder
The shared and business hosting plans include Weebly, a drag-and-drop website builder. It’s ideal for small business owners who are starting and want to create simple websites themselves. You can customize the layout using various themes and ensure its mobile-friendliness. Alternatively, you can use other website builders, such as WordPress.
Hostwinds Pricing and Plans
Basic
Unlike most web hosting plans, all Hostwinds plans come with unlimited storage and bandwidth, as well as a variety of other features from business email and a free SSL certificate to built-in security and 24/7 support. What differentiates the Basic plan from its other plans is that it includes hosting for just one website and pricing starts at $5.24 per month
Advanced
In addition to everything from the Basic plan, the Advanced plan includes hosting for upr to four websites and pricing starts at $6.74 per month.
Ultimate
In addition to everything from the Basic plan, the Ultimate plan includes unlimited website hosting and costs as little as $8.24 per month–making it a great value for businesses that manage a number of websites.
Featured Partners
1
Bluehost
$2.95 per month
Unmetered bandwidth, SSD storage starts at 10GB
Free domain name & SSL for a year
2
HostGator
$2.75 per month (for first 36 months)
30 days
Free SSL certificate, free website transfer
3
Web.com
$2.75 per month
Yes
Customizable templates, Easy drag-and-drop technology, SSL certificate
Hostwinds Customer Service and Support
Hostwinds offers 24/7 live chat and a ticketing system for all paid plans. It also has an in-depth knowledge base that users can access from the account dashboard. Unfortunately, it lacks a phone support option.
Hostwinds Alternatives and How They Compare
Hostwinds compares moderately well with its industry competitors. It boasts unlimited disk space, unlimited bandwidth and free SSL certificates on all plans.
Hostwinds vs. Namecheap
Namecheap offers various hosting plans, including shared hosting, WordPress hosting, reseller hosting, VPS hosting, dedicated hosting and email hosting.
Each plan offers unmetered bandwidth, a free SSL certificate for a year and a storage limit of 20GB SSD. By contrast, Hostwinds offers unlimited disk space, unlimited hosting and a free SSL certificate for life.
Both offer customer service options such as live chat and a knowledge base. In terms of uptime guarantee, Namecheap’s 100% uptime guarantee narrowly beats Hostwinds’ 99.9999% uptime.
Hostwinds vs. A2 Hosting
Hostwinds and A2 Hosting are known as web hosting services on the market that offer similar services. Both feature an uptime guarantee, unlimited bandwidth, free SSL certificates, robust cPanel and a business email.
At first glance, A2 Hosting stands out because of its lower prices but doesn’t offer a lot of storage for its basic tier. Hostwinds offers unlimited disk space, making it the clear winner.
View more details on A2 Hosting’s Website.
Hostwinds vs. Bluehost
A critical difference between Hostwinds and Bluehost is their focus. Hostwinds has various hosting plans, including reseller, VPS, dedicated and cloud hosting. However, Bluehost is well known for its specialization in WordPress hosting.
Unfortunately, Bluehost does not reveal its uptime guarantee. The storage limit for its most basic plan is 10GB SSD—while Hostwinds offers unlimited disk space. If you’re seeking an affordable hosting solution for WordPress, Bluehost is the better choice. However, if you’re looking for more hosting options with an easy-to-use interface, Hostwinds may be the better choice.
View more details on Bluehost’s Website.
Our Expert Opinion
Hostwinds is ideal for entrepreneurs, designers, web developers and small- to medium-sized businesses looking for a reliable hosting service. It offers unlimited bandwidth, unlimited disk space, free SSL certificates and free website migration. It also has a Weebly website builder that allows users to create websites and execute nightly backups to secure confidential information.
Frequently Asked Questions (FAQs)
Where is Hostwinds based?
Hostwinds LLC is a Seattle-based web hosting company known as one of the leading providers of web hosting and web-related services. It offers shared server hosting, VPS hosting, cloud hosting and dedicated server hosting.
What is shared hosting?
Shared hosting is where users share a server with other websites. You will have your own account and sometimes a dedicated IP address where you host your website. Depending on the web hosting service, the company will also back up all the data on the server, including those of other users. This type of plan is affordable and works for most types of websites.
What is the best shared web hosting service?
The best shared web hosting service for your team will depend on what you’re looking for in a service. Hosting platforms vary in feature set, pricing and bundled extras. With that in mind, HostGator was our top pick for shared web hosting platforms.
What is a dedicated web server?
Unlike a shared hosting plan, a dedicated web server is a type of service where your website will be hosted on its server. The main benefit is that it offers better security and faster speeds for websites that experience a lot of traffic. However, it will cost more.
