Hostwinds review: Pros and cons in 2024 (2024)

Hostwinds is a web hosting company offering shared server hosting, VPS (virtual private servers), cloud server hosting and dedicated servers. It’s a self-owned organization, not part of another brand as some of its rivals are. Although shared plans are unmetered, you can scale to business packages to access less crowded servers.

For this Hostwinds review, we compared subscription pricing and features. We also assessed customer support, security and add-ons. Find out if Hostwinds is a good fit for your business.

Hostwinds overview

Since 2010, Hostwinds has owned and managed the products and hardware for its hosting services. It provides a 99.9999% uptime guarantee with a fully redundant infrastructure backed by two independent power sources and backup generators.

Startups can establish sites quickly with website builder tools and one-click application installations. The Softaculous app installer supports over 400 apps, including e-commerce solutions like PrestaShop, Magento and OpenCart. As traffic increases, Hostwinds offers better performance on LiteSpeed web servers for only a few dollars more per month.

Hostwinds pros and cons

Pros

Hostwinds provides a drag-and-drop website builder and customizable themes. You can use the Weebly tool to create an online store (some features may require additional fees) or the Softaculous app installer to add WordPress or another e-commerce application.

Subscriptions include most tools startups require, like unmetered storage and bandwidth, unlimited email accounts and free SSL certificates. Plans scale from one domain to unlimited.

In addition, companies can upgrade to business hosting packages to take advantage of increased processing times and higher outbound email limits. For the fastest speeds, Hostwinds offers VPS and dedicated hosting plans.

Cons

Hostwinds’ 72-hour refund time frame falls far behind competitors, which typically offer 30 days or more. With no free trial and limited time to review the services, companies should be absolutely sure before committing.

The web hosting services don’t include a free domain name. You can use an existing one or buy a new domain from Hostwinds, which adds to your overall website costs.

Another drawback is the lack of automatic backups. Many competitors save site copies regularly, but Hostwinds charges an additional fee upon checkout if you want nightly backups.

Hostwinds pricing and value

^{*Hostwinds might offer a lower monthly fee for the first billing cycle.}

Hostwinds isn’t among the cheapest web hosting services nor the most expensive. But it’s an affordable hosting solution, especially if you lock in new customer rates for three years. You can get unlimited websites for $8.99 monthly for 36 months, making Hostwinds comparable to the most affordable web host, Namecheap.

Aside from the number of supported domains, Hostwinds’ subscriptions offer similar features and specifications. All plans provide unlimited email accounts, unmetered storage and bandwidth, free SSLs and unlimited subdomains. Notably, Hostwinds includes a dedicated IP address with all accounts, something not all rivals offer.

Unlike some competitors, shared web hosting plans come with a cPanel, Softaculous app installer and Weebly website builder. You don’t need a website builder subscription to access drag-and-drop tools. These tools provide flexibility in how you create and manage your sites.

None of its shared hosting subscriptions back up your sites automatically. Instead, you can add this feature and the optional site monitoring tool during checkout. For comparison, SiteGround includes daily backups with all plans, and Hostinger offers weekly or daily backups, depending on the tier.

However, shared hosting plans can only access one CPU (central processing unit). GoDaddy and Mochahost have subscriptions with two vCPUs or more.

Still, you can upgrade to business hosting services to increase physical memory usage, simultaneous connections and system process limits. While the business packages provide solid state drives (SSDs) and a LiteSpeed web server, they don’t offer additional CPUs.

Type of hosting

Hostwinds offers shared hosting, managed or unmanaged Windows, Linux VPS hosting and dedicated hosting. These options enable startups to access more resources through Hostwinds as their online sites grow.

Shared and business hosting packages work well for startups wanting flexible design options when building a website. They provide tools for installing WordPress, Joomla or a free Weebly site. You can also add e-commerce capabilities. However, you share resources with other users and may experience performance issues as site traffic increases.

Managed and unmanaged VPS servers cost more than shared hosting but offer dedicated resources on a shared server. You can customize the solution to support site traffic and scale up as needed.

Dedicated servers give you full computing power based on your customizations. These plans are designed for maximum performance and control. Hostwinds lets you choose the server’s drives, RAM (random access memory), operating system and outbound bandwidth.

Performance and uptime

Hostwinds provides a network uptime guarantee of 99.9999%. It operates out of three Tier 3+ data centers in Dallas, Texas, Seattle, Washington and Amsterdam. The facilities are audited SAS Type II, and you can view the latency results for each center on Hostwinds’ website.

We appreciate Hostwinds’ transparency about its server network. It details the failover systems, multiple redundancy layers and generator-backed power.

You can choose a server location during checkout. The shared hosting plans run on SSDs. Hostwinds sets memory and iNode limits to ensure one user or another doesn’t monopolize resources on shared servers.

Bandwidth and storage

All of Hostwinds’ subscriptions include unmetered bandwidth and storage. You also receive unlimited MySQL databases, email accounts, subdomains and FTP (file transfer protocol) accounts.

While many competitors offer unlimited bandwidth, some restrict storage on entry-tier packages. However, Hostwinds keeps all specifications the same between tiers, except for the number of supported domains.

However, the physical memory limits (RAM) and CPU may not be enough to support high-traffic websites, even with business hosting subscriptions.

Backups are an add-on service. If enabled, Hostwinds takes a full backup daily and will, upon request, offer a complete site restoration. Alternatively, you can manually backup files using built-in FTP and PHPMyAdmin tools.

Security features

Hostwinds ensures clients have the latest operating system and cPanel versions for security purposes. The FTP and cPanel usernames are unique and randomly generated, which reduces the chances of brute-force login attempts.

In addition, engineers monitor servers and networks around the clock. All shared and business hosting accounts come with free SSLs. The AutoSSL certificates are powered by Sectigo, cover 1,000 domains per certificate and are enabled automatically.

Hostwinds does not provide account-level anti-virus software or firewalls. Individual users must install services to protect their sites.

Customer support

Hostwinds live chat is available 24/7. The agents can assist with general technical, billing and sales matters. For advanced issues, the live representatives will create a support ticket for the correct department on your behalf. Conversely, you can call or email the sales department or submit a ticket to the billing center.

Also, you can request technical support for many services, including the following:

• Domain name server (DNS) configurations.
• Virus scans.
• Updating your operating system.
• Resetting passwords.
• Setting up firewalls.

Hostwinds vs. top competitors

^{*Available with certain plans or longer-term plans. Free domains typically apply to the initial subscription term.}

Web hosting providers have various uptime guarantees, refund policies and plan limitations. See how alternatives to Hostwinds compare.

Hostwinds vs. Namecheap

Namecheap is a low-priced web hosting provider. It provides higher index node limits across all plans than Hostwinds and supports parked domains, a feature Hostwinds lacks. Although Namecheap’s SSL is only free for the first year, it’s a good choice for startups needing a complimentary domain for one term.

Hostwinds has a more robust base plan with fewer restrictions on FTP accounts, MySQL databases, site storage and email addresses. It also offers a free dedicated IP address, whereas Namecheap charges around $4 monthly. If your new business doesn’t have a domain or much of a budget, Namecheap is the more affordable option.

Hostwinds vs. Mochahost

Automated weekly backups and a 30-day money-back guarantee set Mochahost apart from Hostwinds. The web host also has nine server locations, making it a great option for companies wanting to choose nearby servers in Europe, Canada or India. Unlike Hostwinds, Mochahost provides a complimentary domain registration with annual plans and offers two and three vCPU cores.

However, Hostwinds is more transparent about its server infrastructure and guarantees a 99.9999% network uptime. You can view detailed plan specifications and limitations, whereas Mochahost is less forthcoming. Overall, Mochahost could offer better performance for sites with higher traffic volumes, albeit without an uptime guarantee.

Hostwinds vs. DreamHost

DreamHost shared hosting plans are suitable for websites with low visitor volumes. Its 97-day refund policy, automated daily backups and 100% uptime guarantee give DreamHost an edge over Hostwinds. Additionally, subscriptions include free domain registration.

Although Hostwinds is slightly cheaper for unlimited websites, you can’t select your server location or install Magento. Hostwinds may be preferable for a Weebly store or more e-commerce choices.

Frequently asked questions (FAQs)