In spite of its name and its colour scheme of green, white, and orange, HostPapa is not at all like GoDaddy, either in terms of its visual appeal or its operational capabilities. The web host provides powerful shared and virtual private server (VPS) packages.
In this comprehensive review of HostPapa Hosting, we are going to use our evaluation methodology to determine whether or not the company lives up to the claims and promises it has made.
The following is a list of some of the topics that will be the focus of our investigation:
Reliability: Will your website be available at all times, with no downtime, and in a reliable manner?
Features: Do they offer all of the functions and tools that you will require to complete your task?
Speed: I was wondering how quickly pages loaded and how well HostPapa dealt with unexpectedly high volumes of visitors.
Customer Support: Is it simple to get assistance whenever you require it?
Pricing: How much would it cost, and are there any discounts or deals offered by HostPapa that could save you money?
This is going to be a comprehensive look at HostPapa, including an examination of all of the hosting options that are available through HostPapa.
If you do not wish to read the detailed review of the HostPapa hosting service, the summary scorecard and our conclusion are provided below for your convenience.
HostPapa Hosting Review Summary
Performance Grade A
Average Load Time 784ms
Average response time 626ms
Support Phone/Live chat/knowledge base
About HostPapa
HostPapa is a web hosting company that was established in 2009 and is based in Canada. The servers, data centres, and office space of HostPapa are all powered by renewable energy, making it one of the most cost-effective eco-friendly web hosting providers available today. They provide shared hosting plans, as well as VPS and reseller services in addition to those options.
HostPapa Pros and Cons
Finally! An environmentally responsible web host that won’t break the bank! The affordable plans offered by HostPapa make it a no-brainer to go with them as your web host if you value your mental health more than the environmental impact of your basic website. The most basic plan offered by HostPapa only costs $6 per month. HostPapa is completely carbon neutral and offers extremely competitive pricing.
In spite of the fact that HostPapa is a well-known web hosting provider, the service might not be suitable for each and every one of their clients. Before settling on a specific plan of action, you need to give serious consideration to both of these aspects.
Pros
- Uptime guarantee: The majority of reviews for HostPapa point to the company’s uptime guarantee of 99.9% being more or less accurate in practise. HostPapa offers an uptime guarantee of 99.9%. On the other hand, it does not appear that they have a real procedure in place to compensate their users when the percentage of uptime drops below the rate that was guaranteed. If your service’s uptime rate is lower than the guarantee, you may need to contact customer service in order to request a refund.
- Customer support: Customer service is provided in a total of 18 languages, including English, French, Spanish, and many more besides by HostPapa. Additionally, a full Spanish translation of their website is available upon request. It’s possible that this won’t be an issue for you because everyone on your team is fluent in English, but any company that does business on a global scale could find this feature to be extremely beneficial.
- Unlimited bandwidth and domains: Unlimited bandwidth is included in each and every shared hosting plan that is offered by HostPapa. This is a wonderful added bonus that will give you peace of mind in the event that your website ever becomes extremely popular. Although the cheapest plan only allows for two domains (which is still better than many low-cost hosts), upgraded plans allow for an unlimited number of domains. In addition, if you sign up for their services for a full year, they will provide you with a domain name at no additional cost. This is a wonderful benefit that will make the process of launching your website much easier.
- Uses renewable energy for power: In recent times, an increasing number of hosting companies have begun to discuss their efforts to promote a more environmentally friendly service. These efforts can take the form of providing employees with the option to work from home or selling specialised plans for green hosting. HostPapa, on the other hand, is the only hosting company that we are aware of that actually incorporates environmental responsibility into its overall business strategy. Everything that they use, including the laptops that their employees use and the servers that host your website, is powered by entirely renewable energy sources. In addition, each and every one of their clients is offered the opportunity to prominently display their green-power badges on their respective websites. These efforts, without a doubt, deserve praise, and it should come as no surprise that they are a perfect fit for any website with an environmental focus.
- Scalable VPS and reseller plans: HostPapa provides three scalable Virtual Private Server (VPS) plans, two of which are based on Linux and one on Windows, for customers who want to expand their businesses by upgrading their websites. In addition to that, they provide five distinct levels of options for reseller accounts. Each plan grants access to an unlimited number of domains, MySQL databases, and IP addresses, and offers variable pricing based on the amount of disc space required by the customer.
- Webmail includes robust spam protection: The most fundamental plan offered by HostPapa comes with 100 email addresses, while the more advanced plans offer unlimited email addresses. This is more or less standard among web hosts, but HostPapa does a great job with their email security features, which come included even with their basic plan. Even though this is the case, it’s important to note that this is more or less standard among web hosts. In this regard, there are some well-known competitors who fall woefully short.
- Moneyback guarantee: The majority of HostPapa’s plans come with a 30-day money back guarantee, which means that if you aren’t happy with your purchase, you simply need to cancel your purchase during this period and you will receive a full refund of all monies paid, minus any setup fees or domain name registration and transfer-related costs. This guarantee applies to the majority of HostPapa’s plans. You have the ability to cancel your subscription at any time by submitting the necessary support request through the HostPapa dashboard.
Cons
- No managed WordPress plans: Integration with WordPress, Joomla, and many other popular content management systems is available through HostPapa. However, there are no managed WordPress plans available through them. If you intend to scale your operation, you should keep this consideration in mind.
- Cancellation fee: There is a money-back guarantee for HostPapa customers that lasts for thirty days. According to their Terms of Service, there is an additional cost associated with this that is not immediately obvious. It would appear that they are making a profit from the free domain name registration offer; if you cancel your subscription, you will be charged $24.95 for the domain name registration in addition to a one-time setup fee of $19.95. That translates to a loss of more than $40 right off the bat if you pay for two years in advance, which would cost a total of $118.
- Customer support is not actually 24/7: HostPapa makes it seem as though they offer support around the clock, but this is not entirely accurate. On weekdays, support is available around the clock; however, on weekends, customer service representatives are only accessible between the hours of 6 am and 7 pm Eastern Standard Time. In addition, there have been occasions when we have been required to wait more than ten minutes for a response from their live chat support. Given the length of time it took for you to respond, we might as well have just written an email.
- Email limitations on basic plans: When compared to the actual email server capacity, which is typically quite low, 100 email addresses might be sufficient for a small business, but that seems like a pointless number to mention. Customers have reported that they have reached the limit of their mailboxes after sending as few as 300 emails per day. Given such a low limit, it is unlikely that you will be able to implement your plans for a robust mailing list. You might be able to get away with having 100 email addresses for your company, but each of your employees would be required to cap their daily email volume at no more than three messages. You would be required to pay for an upgraded plan in order to circumvent these limitations. Site5 provides exceptionally powerful email capabilities, making it an excellent choice for the management of mailing lists at roughly the same cost per month as its competitors.
HostPapa Speed Test Results
As part of our comprehensive review of the HostPapa Hosting service, we built a test website. This provided us with a basis for comparison, allowing us to determine the actual speed at which the service operates.
Following the preparation phase, we moved on to the testing phase, which involved using the Pingdom website speed testing tool. The following is a description of the investigation’s findings:
As can be seen, the loading time for our HostPapa test site was a single second. This means that our website is significantly quicker than 90% of other websites that were tested.
HostPapa Hosting Plans
The following varieties of website hosting are made available by HostPapa:
- Shared hosting
- WordPress hosting
- Online stores
- Reseller hosting
- VPS hosting
Shared Hosting:
Shared hosting is an attractive choice for individuals who are just beginning their journey with the creation of a website or who are looking for a more cost-effective alternative.
You have the option to select from three distinct shared hosting plans that are provided by HostPapa.
The number of websites you need hosted as well as the size of those websites will determine which solution is the most suitable for you.
- Starter: In the Starter plan, you get support for two websites in addition to a free domain name, one hundred gigabytes of solid-state drive storage, and unmetered bandwidth.
- Business: Enables the hosting of an unlimited number of websites, as well as providing a free domain name, unlimited SSD storage, and bandwidth.
- Business Pro: identical to the business plan, but with improved functionality and safety measures
As can be seen, HostPapa’s plans are designed with the needs of smaller businesses in mind; however, the services that the company provides are also solid choices for personal websites and blogs.
Those customers who want better service and a more robust hosting plan, but aren’t quite ready to shell out the extra cash for a VPS plan or dedicated server will find the Business Pro plan to be particularly useful.
Customers who purchase shared hosting can anticipate an uptime of 99.9%, assistance with migration, and a one-on-one call lasting for thirty minutes that is designed to assist you in getting up and running.
WordPress Hosting:
Users of WordPress may be interested in the specialised hosting plans for WordPress that are offered by HostPapa. These choices are quite comparable to the shared plans in the following ways:
- WP Starter: offers support for two websites, a free domain name, 100 GB of solid-state drive (SSD) storage, 100 email accounts, and the pre-installation of the JetPack optimization suite, in addition to unmetered bandwidth.
- WP Business: includes a free domain name, unlimited SSD storage, bandwidth, and email accounts, as well as pre-installation of the JetPack optimization suite and support for an unlimited number of websites, and it also supports an unlimited number of websites.
- WP Business Pro: identical to the business plan, but also includes improved functionality and security, as well as installation of the premium version of the JetPack optimization suite
The primary distinction between the shared and WordPress plans is that the latter comes pre-installed with WordPress and also includes email functionality in addition to other advanced and premium WordPress features.
The fact that there will be no increase in price for these add-ons is something that deserves special mention.
Online Stores
An all-in-one e-commerce platform is included in the online store hosting option provided by HostPapa. You will receive everything that you require, including hosting, and will have access to a drag-and-drop store builder that will allow you to create the front-end of your new store.
With the option of opening an online store, you will also receive guided setup and management tips, in addition to a thirty-minute consultation to assist you in getting started. The pricing for the online store plans, of which there are four, is significantly higher than the pricing for comparable web hosting plans for general use.
However, you will not be required to pay transaction fees on any of the sales you make despite receiving everything you require to sell an unlimited number of products.
Reseller Hosting
HostPapa provides a total of five distinct reseller hosting plans, each of which can be selected by individuals who are interested in launching their own web hosting company.
You get everything you need to manage an unlimited number of websites, including a single cPanel/WHM control panel, installer for hundreds of applications like WordPress and Joomla, and around-the-clock support in case you ever require assistance. Prices start at just $19.95 per month, and you get everything you need to manage those websites.
VPS Hosting
For customers who have outgrown their shared hosting plans, HostPapa provides a VPS hosting option that is loaded with a variety of features.
These are the managed options, and they come with cPanel control panels, root-level access, and support that is available 24/7.
You have the option of selecting from one of HostPapa’s five different Virtual Private Server (VPS) plans; however, each of these plans is scalable and modifiable, so you can adjust it so that it works better with your website.
Customer Support of HostPapa
You can reach the customer service team of HostPapa 24/7, via e-mail, the phone, or live chat if you ever find yourself in need of assistance.
In addition, the staff at HostPapa is able to communicate with customers in multiple different languages, including English, French, German, and Spanish.
HostPapa provides a comprehensive support and information centre that is packed with searchable knowledgebase articles, in case you prefer to handle everything on your own. You can even save a copy of the information on your computer for later use.
Bottom Line
Because of its location in Canada, HostPapa stands out from the crowd of web hosting companies that are based in the United States.
Many people who are concerned about the environmental impact of their day-to-day internet use will be attracted to the company’s commitment to using renewable energy sources.
In spite of the fact that HostPapa markets itself as a solution geared towards small businesses, the company’s offering can assist individuals in launching personal websites and blogs.
Are you prepared to get started with dependable web hosting that won’t be harmful to the environment? Please visit HostPapa right away.