Hostinger Web Hosting Review 2021!!
Hostinger Web Hosting Review
If youβre on a budget, Hostinger needs to be taken into consideration. You can use this guide to decide if Hostinger has suitable hosting plans for your website.
Below are some of the most notable features of Hostinger web hosting.
The Benefits of Using Hostinger Web Hosting
Decent Uptime
Cheap web hosting services might seem appealing on the surface. But itβs not worth going this route if your uptime rates are going to be insufficient.
Hostinger doesnβt have the best uptimes rates in the industry, but they arenβt the lowest either.
Usually, we like to see web hosting services deliver an average of 99.9% uptime over the course of a year. Hostinger has some months in the 99.8% range, and even as low as 99.04%, which definitely brought their average down. But some months of 100% uptime saved their average.
You need to weigh the cost against your needs. If you have a small personal website with minimal traffic, 10-14 hours of downtime in a year isnβt going to kill you. However, if you have a business website, youβll want slightly better rates.
Overall, Hostingerβs uptime rates are good enough for most small websites.
Fast Loading Times
Hostinger delivers fast speeds for how cheap it is.
On their website, Hostinger states that their server response time is 43 milliseconds, which is very good. Take that with a grain of salt though. I wasnβt able to verify this number in any tests. Honestly, you probably would need to have a top-tier plan using very little resources to achieve those speeds.
Either way, you can expect to have loading times somewhere in the 300-400 ms range on average. Again, this still pretty good for the price.
The industry average for page loading speed is closer to 900 ms, so Hostinger pretty much cuts that number in half.
Money-back Guarantee
If youβre unhappy with your Hostinger web hosting services, you can get your money refunded within 30 days of signing up.
If youβre on the fence, this should be a great deal for you. Youβre essentially getting 30 days of free hosting.
30 days is basically the industry standard for web hosting promises. Most providers will offer you this period, at a minimum, to change your mind and get your money back.
Hostingerβs money-back guarantee is good, but it doesnβt go above and beyond compared to some other web hosts out there. Weβll talk more about this in greater detail shortly.
Live Support
Customer support is one of the most important aspects of a good web host.
Think about it. If your website has an issue and crashes, that impacts your bottom line. You need to be able to get someone on the phone or email and help you fix that problem as soon as possible.
Though if youβre using Hostinger to host a small personal blog, getting in touch with a customer service representative in an instant may not be at the top of your priority list. But itβs still important.
Regardless of your situation, itβs nice to know that Hostingerβs live chat is easy and fast.
To test it out, I sent them a message asking for help and got a response in less than one minute. I was happy with the language and terminology used by the customer service rep as well. Their instructions were simple and easy to follow.
Furthermore, Hostinger has knowledge base articles on their website that offer guidance for self-help. Iβd recommend using those as a resource if you end up choosing Hostinger.
One downside is thereβs no 24/7 phone support. Sometimes itβs easier to talk a problem through with someone rather than type it out. That could be a deal-breaker for some of you. Personally, I think live chat is just fine.
Free Domain and Website Builder
All Hostinger plans come with a free domain and website builder. So for those of you who are building a new website from scratch, you can take advantage of Hostingerβs easy to use drag and drop builder.
They have lots of great templates for you to use as a starting point as well.
Honestly, Hostingerβs website builder isnβt the best on the market. But itβs good enough for a simple website.
I wouldnβt let this feature make or break your decision. But itβs a nice added benefit for those of you who are just looking for a cheap web hosting offering an all in one solution. Hostinger has the ability to be your one-stop shop for hosting, domains, and site builders.
Simple Interface
The Hostinger administrative dashboard is super easy to useβeven if you donβt have much experience with web hosting or managing a website.
Everything is clearly labeled so you can easily find what you need.
Youβll have access to any installed apps, like WordPress, from here as well.
Hostinger makes it easy for you to change your usage, upgrade your plan, change your domain, and manage your email settings. You can even access your usage statistics to see if the plan youβre currently signed up for meets the needs of your website.
While Hostingerβs interface is easy, itβs not perfect. But Iβll go into greater detail on this shortly.
βUnlimitedβ
Hostinger has some great unlimited options available for specific plans.
For example, both the Premium and Business shared hosting plans come with unlimited bandwidth, unlimited MySQL databases, and unlimited email accounts.
Thatβs why Iβd recommend choosing a higher-tiered plan over the entry-level pricing. I think the unlimited and freebies are worth the few extra bucks per month.
Price
Hostinger is cheap. So if you want a low-cost web host, this is a logical place for you to start. But keep in mind that like most web hosts, Hostinger has some tricks and ploys when it comes to their pricing.
Hereβs a look at my checkout page when I selected the Single Shared Hosting plan, starting at just $0.99 per month.
So this should cost just $12 per year, right? Yes and no.
In order to lock in this low monthly rate, you need to sign up for a 48-month contract. Monthly rates go up for anything less.
When I added some basic features like daily backups, Cloudflare protection, and priority support, the rate went up even higher. Other features like an SEO toolkit start at $10 per month. Other web hosting providers may have higher entry-level pricing, but they include these features even in their most basic packages.
Keep in mind that your rates will go up when itβs time to renew your contract. Again, this is a pretty standard practice in the web hosting world.
Other Considerations
Anything cheap usually comes with some trade-offs. Hostinger is no exception to this rule. There are a few drawbacks that you should keep in mind when youβre reviewing their plans.
Must be Logged in to Access Support
Earlier I explained that Hostinger offers fast and reliable support. But priority support doesnβt come with all plans. If you choose the Single Shared Hosting plan without any add-ons, then you may have to wait a bit longer to speak to someone.
Furthermore, you can only access the live chat feature if youβre logged into your account.
This can be a problem if youβre locked out of your account or forget your password. It also presents a challenge for prospective Hostinger customers.
For example, if youβre not currently using Hostinger, you canβt live chat with a representative if you have questions about migrating your site to their platform. Instead, youβd have to just submit a general inquiry ticket through their website and someone will contact you via email.
This is not ideal. But again, itβs a tradeoff for the price.
Traditional cPanel is Not Available
Hostingerβs interface and administrative dashboard is simple and easy to use. We talked about this earlier.
However, they do not offer traditional cPanel.
For the most part, cPanel is the industry standard in web hosting. So if youβre used to using cPanel, then you may be a bit frustrated using Hostingerβs version.
But for those of you who are new to web hosting, you wonβt notice the difference. Hostingerβs control panel will be just fine.
Exceptions to Payment Terms
As I said before, Hostinger has a 30-day money-back guarantee. But there are some exceptions to these terms that are worth mentioning. You wonβt necessarily get a βno questions askedβ full refund for all of their services.
The following products are not available for refunds under this policy:
- Redemption feeds
- Domain name renewals
- Privacy protection
- SEO toolkit
- G Suite
Domain name registrations and transfers can be refunded if they are canceled in the first 96 hours of the purchase, not 30 days.
You can read Hostingerβs full refund policy here.
Additional Domains Arenβt Free
Premium, Business, Cloud, and VPS plans come with a free domain name. But if youβre planning to use Hostinger to host more than one website, youβll need to pay for additional registrations.
With that said, the prices are pretty affordable. You can get a .xyz or .tech domain for just $0.99 per year. But .com domains start at $8.99 per year.
For those of you who are registering a new domain, Iβd recommend getting it somewhere else. You can check out my list of the best domain registrars for alternative options.
