Hostwinds Review 2021

Introduction
According to recent statistics, the number of websites has increased to over 2billion, and all of
them are live on the internet. In this sort of competition, reliable hosting plays the most important
part in the success of your website. You can never afford to compromise on the quality of
hosting. Good quality hosting will help your website do well on the internet with the help of its
features. There are many hosting companies available on the internet today, but finding your
ideal hosting company is a real challenge.

To help you out, we will be reviewing one of the hosting companies named “Hostwinds”. It is
one of the few companies that is providing excellent quality features in the most budget-friendly
way.

Overview
Hostwinds is a relatively new company that was founded in the year 2010. It is headquartered in
Washington, United States, having virtual servers in most part of the world. Since it began
operating in 2010, the company has changed the face of the hosting industry. They have
introduced new standards and features at the most affordable rates. Hostwinds has a great
reputation for providing excellent customer service, and they have received multiple awards due
to their unparalleled customer service.

Hostwinds was included in the list of 500 fastest-growing private companies by Inc. Magazine.
Moreover, PC Magazine selected them as one of the best digital product providers in the year
2018. They have received multiple awards because of their efficient services.

By reading some of the top achievements of the company in a short period of time you can easily
conclude that Hostwinds is one of the fastest-growing hosting companies in the world. They will
surely be counted in the list of best-hosting providers in future years.

Let’s discuss some of the plans offered by Hostwinds…

1. Shared Webhosting Plans

2. Business Webhosting plans
3. Reseller
4. White Label Hosting
5. VPS-Managed Linux & Windows
6. VPS-Unmanaged Linux & Windows
7. Cloud hosting
8. Dedicated hosting

Shared Webhosting Plans

These plans are the most commonly used ones. You get shared hosting when you use these
packages. With a starting price of 5.24$, this category falls under three different packages. All
these packages contain a 24/7 customer support feature. Hostwinds always provide the latest
version of the control panel in all these three packages. The basic package allows its customers
to host a single website.

However, if you are looking to host multiple websites you should go with their ultimate package
which costs around 8.24$. One of the greatest features provided by Hostwinds is the overnight
backups. Isn’t it great getting overnight backups at such a cheap price? These packages are used
by many professionals in the field, and highly recommend them because of their uncountable
benefits.

All these packages offer unmetered bandwidth and unlimited disk space. You never need to
worry about the space your data is taking on the server, the number of people visiting your
website won’t harm you either. In fact, all you need to worry about is; building your audience
and customers.

Business Web hosting Plans

This is one of the greatest innovative ideas we found while reviewing this company. They have a
separate plan designed to meet the needs of businesses. Although small startups can go with
shared hosting plans, we still recommend these plans. Their basic plan only costs 8.99$ which
makes a difference of 3.65$ if you go with the basic plan of shared hosting. This is no cost
comparing to the features you get.

There are a lot of features you get when you dig deep into their official website. From free SSL
to a free unlimited SSD space, you can’t ask for more. They also provide a free website builder,
“Weebly”; the name needs no introduction! It is one of the best features for startups as well.
People who know nothing about web development can easily build pro websites using this
feature. Moreover, if you are looking to introduce your social media eCommerce store to the
world with a proper website, “Weebly” will really help you out.

Also, they offer unlimited FTTP accounts and optimized MySQL DBA. Their Lite speed web
server will enhance your website’s speed. These servers are more efficient, and reliable. Giving
better static performance to your visitors and also improving their security, they provide a lot.

Unmetered bandwidth and SSD space are also given under all these packages but there is no
point in discussing that, as all their packages contain this feature. So, if you are a small startup or
a settled business you should look to switch to this company after looking into the features
provided. A free and one-click migration tool will help you achieve this task in no time.

Reseller

Have you ever thought of opening your own web hosting company? Now is the correct time to
open one. With some of the best packages, Hostwinds has some of the best plans for resellers.
Starting at a price of only 5.24$ you get huge discounts on buying more accounts. It does not
matter if you are starting or completely switching from another reseller to Hostwinds, with their
free migration tools they will be the best choice.

The advanced one which is the second one is recommended by the company’s website that costs
6.74$ per month. The instant setup feature will help your company to grow well with this reseller
plan. They have unlimited SSD storage so you should not be worried about the storage capacity
of hosted websites.

White Label Hosting

White label hosting is a phenomenon by which a person can open his hosting company by
reselling servers, bandwidth, disk storage, and other offers of other companies by his name.

But Hostwinds white label hosting plan has made starting your own hosting company extremely
easy. They provide services of managing your own clients by themselves under this hosting
package.

This is how the service works

1. Customer orders any package on your website

2. Hostwinds receives the order
3. The customer receives an email with the confirmation of their order

With a starting price of 10$ per month, this hosting package provides a great opportunity to earn
a lot. If you are just planning to start with minimum investment, this offer has a lot of potentials
to look into.

VPS-Managed Linux & Windows

Up till now, you might have realized that Hostwinds is an expert in categorizing its packages.
They have also separated VPS hosting into Linux managed and windows managed.

 Managed Linux

This is basically a Virtual private server that is running on Linux. This type of VPS hosting can
only be managed in a complete Linux environment. Normally, VPS-managed Linux hosting
comes up with ease to use, reliability, and extremely good security.

As far as Hostwinds is concerned, they have four different packages under this category. These
packages start at a price of 8.34$ and go all the way up to 38.24$. In this plan, Hostwinds is not
providing unlimited storage capacity. Also, they are providing a 1Gbps port.

 Managed Windows
A virtual private server running on a windows environment is called VPS-Managed Windows.
As most people want to run their websites on a Windows environment, Hostwinds have provided
them a separate plan.

They have a relatively larger price if we compare them to a Linux hosting server. The price starts
at 12.74$, but providing hosting on a windows environment is one of the cheapest plans to have.
No unlimited SSD storage is offered in these plans either. Other than the basic plan, all three
plans offer a data transfer of 2 TB.

Also, with free website migration, instant installations, and 99.99% uptime guarantee, attract
many potential customers.

VPS-Unmanaged Linux & Hosting

If you are looking for packages other than shared hosting, these are some of the greatest ones.
They allow you to host a website on your desired virtual private server.

 Unmanaged Linux

If you are a Linux expert and can work with some of the operating systems like Debian, Fedora,
and others, you should look to take these hosting packages. They have 10 plans under this
category, and all of them are quite affordable. With a guaranteed 99.99% uptime, the speed of
your website will be increased as well as you will be operating it all by yourself.

Moreover, they also provide some of the applications under this category. You should be able to
run WordPress, Joomla, Minecraft, and many more by yourself to have maximum advantage.

 Unmanaged Windows

On the other hand, if you are a windows expert, you can select any of the plans offered by
unmanaged windows hosting. They are extremely budget-friendly as well and give you benefits
if you are completely familiar with some of the windows operating systems.

They offer 10 different packages under this category. Also, with a 99.99% uptime guarantee, free
website transfer features, and a free 1 Gbps port all these plans are a pleasure to use.

Cloud hosting
Cloud hosting is a type of web hosting that allows applications to run using cloud resources.
They are not like traditional hosting in which all the load is deployed under the same server,
instead, it is managed by a network of virtual and cloud resources.

Hostwinds basic package starts with a price of 4.99$ per month. However, if you want to take the
maximum out of these packages the highest plan is about 328.99$. The basic package gives 1GB
RAM, 1CPU core, and 1 TB monthly data transfer.
Other resources that are provided with some of the shared hosting plans are also provided under
these plans. We highly recommend checking their cloud hosting service as they have plans that
best suit any type of business.

Dedicated Web Hosting

If you are looking for a server that should be connected to your business only, you must look into
these plans. Dedicated hosting plans are excellent if you have a significant amount of traffic.
Excellent security is also the key when you go with these hosting plans.

They have different servers which have a starting price of 90$ per month. But the starting price is
not the issue with them. They offer complete customization of the server. You can select the
numbers by yourself and you will get the price according to your customizations. This feature is
hardly seen with any other web hosting company.

Features
The efficiency of a hosting company is decided by the number of features it provides. Features
are the key when you are looking to finalize a web host. Hostwinds have been providing some of
the best features since the company started operating. Its features are the reason behind its
success in no time. From free domain to excellent security; Hostwinds have attracted many
potential customers by coming with a great idea every time.

The mastermind behind creating these features might have great experience in the hosting
industry. While reviewing many hosting companies we found some of the unique features that
were not at all provided by some of the best in the field.

Have a look into their features, and know about the reason behind the attraction of customers.

1. Free SSL Certificate

2. Free domain name
3. Unmetered bandwidth & unlimited disk space
4. Instant Setups
5. 99% Uptime guarantee
6. Advanced Security Features
7. Cloud hosting Upgrade plans
8. Website builder
9. Unlimited FTTP Accounts
10. My SQL Databases

However, all the features mentioned above are mostly provided by other companies as well.
Some of the other features that differentiate Hostwinds from others are mentioned below.

Weebly Web Builder

You might have heard about many companies providing website builders. Among all of them,
Hostwinds has the best. Weebly is one of the leading website building tools in the market that
specializes in building an eCommerce store with ease. Their advanced tools and analytics will
help you run a successful online business while hosting the website inside Hostwinds.

Softaculous Auto Installs

Softaculous runs on control panel, and is one of the best auto installers. It focuses on using the
apps rather than wasting time on their installations. By having this feature, you don’t need to
worry about the auto installations.

Unlimited Email Accounts

This is another great feature provided by Hostwinds. You can get unlimited business emails
when you use their service. This feature attracts individuals who are really into email marketing.
Hostwinds is one of the few hosting companies that provide these services. As most people are
aware of the features provided by business emails, you should always try and stick to business
emails for dealing with business queries and all the related stuff.

Free Website Transfers

Another benefit of using Hostwinds is free migration tools. If you are looking to switch from
another hosting company Hostwinds will help you get a better experience. Migration can be
quite a frustrating task to do, but with having a one-click migration tool you can migrate without
any hustle.

Solid State Drives

SSDs are one of the greatest advancements in data storage technology. Solid-state drives provide
the fastest data reading speeds. This feature provides its user speed, power, and durability. There
are many web hosting companies that are still stuck to HDDs but that is not the case for
Hostwinds. They never wanted to compromise in their data reading speed due to which they
converted to SSD as soon as the results were prominent.

Free Dedicated IP

One of the greatest things about Hostwinds is providing dedicated IPs in most of their packages.
A dedicated IP address is a unique Ip that any other website is not using. Using a dedicated Ip
address allows you to visit your website using your own Ip address. Each time you type your Ip
address you will be redirected to your own website because your website is the only one that is
hosted on that particular Ip.  

Instant Setup

Many hosting companies still run complete setups for the installation process. However, that is
not the case for Hostwinds because they are known to provide instant installations. It does not
matter if you are looking to install WordPress or any other CMS system, with their instant setup
feature you can easily have these systems installed in no time.

Pros & Cons

Hostwinds has achieved a huge amount of success because of its excellent features, and support.
They have maintained their reputation closer to the best since they started operating in 2010.
Still, while reviewing their company we came through some of the things that should be taken
care of. So, let’s discuss some of the pros & cons of Hostwinds.

Pros of Hostwinds
Award Taking Customer Service

As we have discussed above as well; Hostwinds have a customer service that got multiple
awards. They are always available to help and support their customers. We held talks with them
and discussed some of the issues that we were facing. They were extremely fast to respond and
made sure that they completely resolve our problem. In fact, they provided extra support and
guidance.

60-days Money Back Guarantee

You may have heard about 15 days or 30 days refund policy, or even 40 days refund policy
which is provided by HostGator. But 60 days refund policy is unmatchable. Hostwinds provide
its customers with a 60 days refund policy on every package customer tends to buy. This is
something insane, you can still claim a refund by using their services for 60-days. You might be
wondering about the things you could do in 6-days… yes! This is how great their refund policy
is.

99.97% Uptime Guarantee

Good uptime of a website is extremely necessary for better performance and good user
experience. No one who is willing to launch a site is ready to compromise on the uptime of the
website. Hostwinds offers an uptime of 99.97%, this is even better than some of the big fishes of
the industry.

Easy to use Interface

When it comes to a long business relationship, a good user experience is a must to have. Hosting
companies make things as simple as possible for attracting new customers. They are always
ready to bear huge expenses but they never compromise on the user interface. Many of them
completely change their website structure, and dashboard just to satisfy their users. Despite
trying a lot, very few of the companies actually succeed to create an easy interface. Hostwinds is
one of them! They have changed their user interface many times. Finally, after their last update,
they were able to provide an easy user interface.
Unlimited Bandwidth & Disk Space

Another great benefit of using Hostwinds is the presence of unlimited bandwidth and disk space.
If you have access to unlimited bandwidth there is no need to worry about the traffic that your
website gets. By providing unlimited bandwidth they are allowing you to have infinite traffic.

Also, by providing unlimited disk space they allow you to store unlimited data on your host.
Both these features play an important role in increasing the speed and performance of the
website.

Daily Backups

The daily backup feature is an important thing to have these days. You are never aware of the
threats your data might be under. Hostwinds provide an important benefit to its users by
providing daily backups. You will need to run a setup wizard to keep the backup where ever you
want.

Cons of Hostwinds
Limited Server Locations

While reviewing Hostwinds we came to know about their limited data centers. We found that
they have a number of 3 data centers in the whole world, and they are managing the whole
hosting company by using these. This might harm the users in many ways.

Having limited server locations really compromises the speed. You might be running a website
from any part of the world, and you will want the data center to be near you and every part of the
world from where your visitors may be coming. Unfortunately, this is not the case with
Hostwinds, as we know they have recently started their company, and it is still growing. They
might provide server locations in the future but this is not the case right now.

Confused Pricing

This is a kind of weird demerit but that is what it is. We realized many different patterns in
pricing. They have failed greatly to increase or decrease the price with the features they are
providing. This is not something really bad, but you need professionalism when you want to
compete with some of the bests in the world.

Uptime & Performance

For testing speed, and performance of Hostwinds we conducted tests on multiple webs, and
applications including GT Metrix, Bitcatcha, and Google Page Insights. All of these tests ran for
multiple months to know about the actual results. We found some good, some bad, and some
inconsistent results. Also, we analyzed the performance of the website by operating it from
different locations to know the exact numbers about speed.
Speed

We used GT Metrix to test complete page loading speeds. The results were relatively
inconsistent. The fastest loading speed of a page was found to be 0.8 seconds, while the slowest
one was of 2.8 seconds. That makes an average speed of about 1.82 seconds. It is still below the
ideal loading time of 2 seconds as recommended by Google itself.

Depending on the locations, the fastest average international loading time was found to be 0.698
seconds and the slowest to be 4.28 seconds on average. The fastest times were recorded in the
US while the slowest in South Asia. The fastest speeds were found to be amazing but the slowest
ones were found to be a bit bad. This also proves that the shared hosting plans provided by
Hostwinds are relatively filled with customers and they do not have enough resources or data
centers to manage them. If you are lucky sometimes you do get resources and your page loads
extremely fast. Unfortunately, you would need some more consistency.

Uptime
Hostwinds claim to provide an Uptime of 99.99%. Having this much uptime is nearly impossible
to achieve but if a company is providing it, this is something exceptional! As we know, most of
the individuals decide the web hosting depending on the uptime it is providing, Hostwinds has
kept this in mind. They have worked a lot to increase their uptime.

So, we tested some of the websites hosted on Hostwinds for a period of three months. It was
found to be up to the mark for the most part of the time period. However, it also went down for
an extremely short period of time, making an average of 99.97%.

Having this great uptime is one of the best features to have. Your website will be hardly down, it
will be up all the time. We recommend giving it a try, as having this excellent uptime will
increase your visibility on the internet, and enhance your visitor’s experience.

Conclusion
After having an in-depth look at all the features, and hosting plans provided by the company we
highly recommend Hostwinds. They are among very few companies that have grown immensely
in a short period of time and are still working a lot on their growth. Their excellent customer
support has increased the worth of the company.

Searching for the best web host is a real struggle. You could find all of them claiming a lot about
their services, but only a few of them prove what they claim for. Hostwinds is one of them.
While reviewing them, we highly noticed they were up to the mark with most of their promises.
Hostwinds give a lot more than they claim to give.

Their Website Builder is one of the features that make Hostwinds unique from many other
companies. Weebly has already a name in the market. It is used by many beginners who are new
to web building. There are many online stores in the world that have been built using Weebly.
Providing such a great website builder within the hosting itself is a great pro of Hostwinds.

Also, with 60-days money-back guarantee you can cancel anytime and claim your refund if you
are not satisfied. They have attracted many potential customers with their excellent features, and
packages. You could be the next one too! If you plan to launch your website, you must check
them out at the earliest.