Now that you’re taking your business, nonprofit, or blog online, you have a tough decision to make: who to use for web hosting. We’ve reviewed HostPapa for those exact hosting needs, and we can recommend them for their features, their price, and their great customer service and reviews.
There are some important features to look for in any web hosting service. We grouped each feature by importance, and reviewed HostPapa’s performance in that category. We’ll also include the Pros and Cons, and some FAQs for web hosting services and HostPapa.
Features
HostPapa has some great industry standard features, and some bonuses that we didn’t see in some other hosting services we looked at. When you’re searching for a web host service, remember that many features may come standard, but it may not be very good. HostPapa rated very well in the the categories that follow.
Domain and Website
The Domain is your website name. If your name is Jones, and you make cabinets, a website name of Jonescabinets.com would be great. But sometimes there are already a bunch of people named Jones making cabinets, and they already have websites.
HostPapa is great for web hosting, because they can help you from the very beginning—help with choosing your website name, getting it registered, and getting it online, all within minutes. Not only does this service start at only $3.95, but you can do it with ease in under five minutes. HostPapa gets high marks for the price point, and for the features, which are fast and painless.
Security
Security should rank very high on any company owner’s list of priorities. Especially if you’ll have an online presence and you’re taking payments over the internet. HostPapa has a clear commitment to advanced security protocols.
The first thing we looked for, and found with HostPapa, was SSL certificates. SSL stands for Secure Sockets Layer, and it’s a verification that a server and a browser have an encrypted connection. The server is the large computer that’s actually holding the data for your website, and the browser is the computer your customer is using. An encrypted connection between them means that no one can hack your or your customer’s information during a transaction.
HostPapa offers this SSL certificate for free with every web hosting package, but they don’t stop there. Their servers have firewalls, intrusion detection, and other enhanced features.
For the most security, you can opt for their Power Protection plan. This includes Malware scanning and removal, and a vulnerability scan every four hours, and a seal right on your homepage, telling your customers that you have the most secure website.
Storage and Infrastructure
When you have a brick-and-mortar store, you need to be open for business every minute that your sign says you are. If you’re on the internet, your “OPEN” sign is on 24/7, and you need a web hosting service that keeps you ready for business every minute of every day.
HostPapa gets the highest marks for their data storage and server infrastructure. They have unlimited storage for your website, on solid state drives (more reliable than traditional hard drives) and the bandwidth you use is never monitored, which means no matter how much traffic you get, you’ll never have to pay more.
They also have a 99.9% Uptime Guarantee. Uptime is how much time your website is available online. No company, no matter how big, can guarantee 100.00% Uptime; even the biggest companies have scheduled maintenance. But with HostPapa, you’ll be as close to 100% as possible, or your money back. That’s important, because whenever a customer comes to your site, you want to be up for them.
HostPapa also offers something called CDN, which means you can have your website in the cloud. That means your site will be hosted on several servers at once, all around the world. So no matter where your customer is, and no matter what happens to one, two, or even several servers in the network, your website will load quickly and reliably.
Business Features
Now that your website is up, it’s safe and secure, and you know the infrastructure is top-notch, you need to actually build your website. And this is where HostPapa really shines.
If you already know what you want out of your website, and know how to do it, HostPapa is fully WordPress compatible. You can even transfer your entire website in WordPress from another hosting service, if you have the backup files.
But if you’re not sure what you want, HostPapa can build the entire site for you. You can schedule a free, 20 minute consultation with their professional website building staff, tell them what you want, then sit back and watch them work.
If you want to teach yourself, HostPapa has tutorials, free thirty minute training sessions with a live expert, and even advanced editing options. You can work from their templates or start from scratch, all for free.
When you're ready to conduct your retail sales, the HostPapa Enterprise plan takes care of all your needs. You can market and sell on social media, like Facebook, and even access inventory and shipping tracking. And you can take payments from every major processor, including credit cards, PayPal, and Stripe.
Of course, you want an email address that matches your website. With HostPapa, you’ll have emails with your domain name that you can access from anywhere. And your domain email will stay with you forever, because you own the domain name. You’ll never have to change your business cards again.
Customer Service
Even with great features and products, every company still needs exceptional Customer Service. HostPapa hits this aspect out of the park. HostingReview has them with an average 9.4 out of 10, with all five of the following categories over 9/10: Reliability, Pricing, User Friendly, Support, and Features.
You can access their Customer Service by Live Chat, phone, or email. If you don’t think you need a live person, you can also check out their free online database of articles or even watch the video tutorials.
PROS AND CONS
Pros
Cons
Conclusion
We recommend HostPapa for a straightforward web hosting and domain service provider. With HostPapa, setting up your website is fast and easy. You’ll have access to hundreds of apps and forms to add to your website, and a fully functional and professional online store and payment system.
Everything you do with HostPapa will be secure and safe, and you can always upgrade your protection and security. With the Business Plan, many features you need will come standard, like email and multiple domain names. And definitely not least, HostPapa has a 100% money back guarantee. That means you can try them risk free.
Their WordPress Business package starts at $5.95/month, and their automatic website backup and the Protection Power each come for $19.95/year.
Frequent Asked Questions
Yes, unless you have your own servers. Some companies offer “free” websites, but that only includes the domain name registration. Then they charge you hidden fees to actually get your website up and running. HostPapa puts the domain and the hosting together, so you know what you’re paying for.
It will. And you can achieve the pro look with no technical experience. You can either build it yourself or have an expert from HostPapa do it for you.
HostPapa is one of the most secure hosts we’ve reviewed. They have industry standard features, like SSL certificates, plus extensive premium features that you can add to your website.
Uptime is the average time your website is up and running. Not only does HostPapa guarantee 99.9% uptime, they back it up with software features and physical properties. One that impressed us, the servers have dedicated power supplies, meaning not even power outages will take your website offline.
Absolutely. Not only does HostPapa offer the tools and apps you need to connect your website content to social media, but with the Enterprise package you can link your online store to places like Facebook.