Hostwinds Review

Laura Bernheim

By: Laura Bernheim

Laura Bernheim

Laura has spent more than 12 years crafting engaging and award-winning articles that share the passion behind organizations' products, people, and innovations. As a long-time HostingAdvice contributing expert, she combines a reputation for producing quality content with rich technical expertise to show experienced developers how to capitalize on emerging technologies and find better ways to work with established platforms. A professional journalist, Laura has contributed to The New York Times, Sports Illustrated, the Sun Sentinel, and the world's top hosting providers.

See full bio »

Editor: Lillian Castro

Lillian Castro

Lillian brings more than 30 years of editing and journalism experience to our team. She has written and edited for major news organizations, including The Atlanta Journal-Constitution and the New York Times, and she previously served as an adjunct instructor at the University of Florida. Today, she edits HostingAdvice content for clarity, accuracy, and reader engagement.

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OVERALL RATING 4.8 / 5.0
★★★★★
Features4.8 / 5.0
Ease of Use4.8 / 5.0
Pricing4.7 / 5.0
Reliability & Support4.8 / 5.0
Discount for Our Users See Deals

A high-powered hosting option for both performance and affordability, Hostwinds offers a full slate of services backed by modern infrastructure and 24/7 support. Given the wide range of complicated server configurations available, the company's superb uptime guarantee and reliable customer service make web hosting with Hostwinds a breeze.

Category Ratings

We had one of our resident hosting experts, Laura Bernheim, sign up for a Hostwinds account and take it for a spin. Below are Laura’s ratings of the Hostwinds experience, broken down by the types of hosting Hostwinds offers.

If you decide to go with Hostwinds, you may get a discount by using our link to sign up. While we often make commissions on purchases made through our links, this had no bearing on Laura’s review.

Here’s what Laura found in reviewing Hostwinds:

Disclosure: When you sign up through links on our site, we often earn referral fees from partners. For more information, see our ad disclosure and review policy.

Hostwinds's Overall Rating (4.8 / 5.0)

Best Overall Rating

4.8
★★★★★

Price:

Setup Time:

Laura Bernheim

Laura Bernheim (HostingAdvice.com):

Promising enterprise-grade hosting solutions for prices that appeal to small and medium businesses, Hostwinds delivers the full range of operating systems and server configurations to help customers build and grow an online presence.

With hosting plans covering niches like vBulletin and Minecraft, Hostwinds attracts a customer base as mixed as the server configurations.

After frustrating web hosting experiences of his own, CEO Peter Holden set out to prove that providers didn't need to choose among powerful infrastructure, responsive support, and cost-effective prices. As a 20-year-old, he launched Hostwinds in 2010 to accomplish all three objectives.

Now, the fast-growing company offers the full range of services while guaranteeing complete satisfaction.

We'll put the magnifying glass to the company's shared, cloud, VPS, and dedicated server options later, but we wanted to give a quick shoutout to Hostwinds for its top-notch reseller and white-label plans.

The traditional reseller route operates as you'd expect, with the added perks of being able to set your own prices and capitalizing on Hostwinds's robust product line. For the less tech-savvy reseller or those wanting to offer multiple hosting options to clients, Hostwinds makes its full spectrum of services available under your branding.

The company streamlines deployment and sets up WHMCS for billing management and payment processing. We already appreciate the company's high-powered hardware, so we're naturally supportive of easy-to-configure plans that help customers spread the love.

  • 500% faster speeds via SSDs
  • LiteSpeed web server performance
  • FREE dedicated IP address
  • 99.999% uptime guarantee
  • Datacenters in Dallas and Seattle
  • Get started on Hostwinds now.
Money Back Guarantee
3 days
Disk Space
Unlimited SSD
Domain Name
New or Transfer
Setup Time
5 minutes
Hostwinds's Cheap Hosting (4.3 / 5.0)

Cheap Rating

4.3
★★★★

Price:

Setup Time:

A recurring theme in the Hostwinds product lineup, the company offers multiple configurations to ensure every customer's needs are perfectly met.

Between the SSDs and LiteSpeed web servers, Hostwinds ekes out 500% faster performance compared with typical shared hosting plans. Combined with the bevy of unlimited features (bandwidth, disk space, subdomains, email accounts, databases, and FTP accounts), we love how Hostwinds matches superior services with affordability.

For hosting customers looking to take a small step up without committing to the management requirements and time investment of a virtual private server, Hostwinds offers business hosting plans with an even more souped-up approach to performance.

Virus and malware scans are upped to once per week, instead of monthly for regular shared hosting.

We appreciate that Hostwinds began including a free domain registration with its shared hosting plans, and recognize that the company's 60-day money-back guarantee is twice as long as most others in the space.

Add in the Weebly site builder and instant setup, and the full spectrum of site owners will be well served with Hostwinds.

  • Unlimited SSD storage, databases, and email
  • FREE site migration with cPanel and Softaculous
  • Instant upgrades without downtime
  • FREE around-the-clock monitoring
  • Automatic nightly backups available
  • Get started on Hostwinds now.
Money Back Guarantee
3 days
Disk Space
Unlimited SSD
Domain Name
New or Transfer
Setup Time
6 minutes
Hostwinds's Dedicated Hosting (4.2 / 5.0)

Dedicated Rating

4.2
★★★★

Price:

Setup Time:

At the highest end of the hosting spectrum, it can sometimes be challenging to discern which servers reign supreme. Providers naturally put their finest hardware and most luxurious features at the forefront when it comes to attracting customers for high-price dedicated hosting.

Hostwinds, however, somehow manages to eke out ahead of the rest on the strength of the company's incredible range of configurations.

For starters, customers can choose from among 15 Windows or Linux operating systems and equip servers with up to 3TB of hard-disk drive storage per bay (the maximum number of drives is four).

Alternatively, servers can be equipped with up to 1TB of solid-state drives per hard drive bay. RAM scales from 8GB to 128GB, outpacing even the most luxury hosts at seemingly every turn. From there, users can select to use up to 128 IP addresses.

Although inbound bandwidth is free and unlimited, outbound transfers can scale between 10TB to 200TB and more. Depending how many hard drives you opt to deploy, you can configure five different RAID backup options for free.

All told, customers can easily configure servers that cost upward of $1,000 per month — but the performance will undoubtedly be worthwhile.

Hostwinds servers somehow always seem to ring up a few dollars per month cheaper than competitors and come with a superb 99.999% uptime guarantee.

Our only tentative reservation is trusting a smaller, newer company with such a business-critical task at such a large scale. We have absolutely zero evidence to support our fears, just feel the need to mention the company doesn't have the tried-and-true legacy of some other well-known brands.

If the premium hardware and slight savings are worth the tiny gamble, however, we expect large companies will enjoy the payoff.

  • Highly configurable servers with a choice between Windows or Linux
  • Fully managed support and nightly backups
  • SAS Type II and Tier 4 datacenters
  • 99.999% uptime guarantee and DDoS protection
  • 1-hour hardware replacement
  • Get started on Hostwinds now.
Money Back Guarantee
3 days
Disk Space
120 GB SSD - 12 TB HDD
Domain Name
New or Transfer
Setup Time
6 minutes
Hostwinds's VPS Hosting (4.8 / 5.0)

VPS Rating

4.8
★★★★★

Price:

Setup Time:

Does any hosting provider have more virtual private server packages than Hostwinds? The company offers 10 configurations — and that's just for managed Linux server partitions.

Hostwinds provides 10 additional plans each for managed Windows VPS and unmanaged varieties of both operating systems.

Virtual servers range from 1 CPU core, 1GB of RAM, and 30GB of storage all the way to 16 cores, 96GB of RAM, and 750GB of storage. Customers can pay roughly $5 per month — or more than $250.

Around-the-clock monitoring of the company's network and devices ensure reliability, but Hostwinds promises a five-minute response to incidents and hardware replacements within an hour. For those wanting even more flexibility and scalability, Hostwinds offers cloud hosting billed by the hour or month.

Create an instance, select your operating system and infrastructure, and enjoy the company's fully managed support. Customers can deploy block or object storage volumes and rely on the company's strict firewall to protect it all.

Add in the company's stellar 99.999% uptime guarantee, high-powered solid-state drives, and the guaranteed 1Gbps port, and customers will be hard-pressed to find a more flexible, performant, and affordable VPS or cloud service.

  • Managed or unmanaged, in Windows or Linux
  • Cloud hosting with hourly or monthly billing
  • Instant upgrades without downtime
  • FREE around-the-clock monitoring
  • Automatic nightly backups available
  • Get started on Hostwinds now.
Money Back Guarantee
3 days
Disk Space
30 GB SSD - 750 GB SSD
Domain Name
New or Transfer
Setup Time
6 minutes
Hostwinds's WordPress Hosting (not yet rated)

"We haven't evaluated Hostwinds for this type of hosting service — yet. Either the company didn't offer this option at the time this review was written or this section of the review hasn't made it to the top of our editorial queue just yet. Either way, check back later, as we're always working to keep our reviews up to date and as comprehensive as possible!"

Laura Bernheim

Laura Bernheim, Tech Expert

Want Laura to review your hosting service? Request a review.

Hostwinds's Website Builder Hosting (not yet rated)

"We haven't evaluated Hostwinds for this type of hosting service — yet. Either the company didn't offer this option at the time this review was written or this section of the review hasn't made it to the top of our editorial queue just yet. Either way, check back later, as we're always working to keep our reviews up to date and as comprehensive as possible!"

Laura Bernheim

Laura Bernheim, Tech Expert

Want Laura to review your hosting service? Request a review.

Features

(4.8 / 5.0)

Reliable Security Protects Your Server and Data

  • Advanced configuration processes through the company's Windshield service start with a systematic security evaluation to identify areas for improvement. A firewall and server hardening system further reduce your vulnerability.
  • Hostwinds offers FREE installation of private SSL certificates. Customers looking to enhance their brand's credibility and trustworthiness can choose to secure their site with 256-bit encryption for one to three years at a time.
  • The Hostwinds virtual private network eliminates the risks associated with third-party tracking and identity theft. The secure connection is available across multiple devices through an easy-to-use application.

Optimizations Increase Server Performance

  • With Windspeed, the company's add-on service for boosting your environment's functionality and efficiency, users can test for CSS, Javascript, and image optimization, along with ways to improve MySQL performance.
  • Hostwinds predominantly uses the ultra-fast LiteSpeed web server, but Apache and NGINX can be used for increased stability and flexibility. Because the company doesn't overcrowd its servers, customers have more resources to handle traffic spikes and process requests.
  • A variety of solid-state drives power the majority of the Hostwinds infrastructure. The enterprise-grade storage devices are fine-tuned to produce 500% faster page loads than many competitors.

Offering a Wide Variety of Niche Services

  • Hostwinds might be the only company we've seen that offers a hosting service directly marketed to Minecraft players. The VPS plans use top-notch SSD drives and processors for a high-end gaming experience.
  • The only CPV Lab-approved hosting provider, Hostwinds optimizes hosting plans for the tracking, testing, and optimization platform geared toward affiliate marketers, merchants, advertisers, and agencies.
  • The company's impressive and modern hardware also excels with WordPress and vBulletin hosting. Both platforms can be automatically installed with a single click, and site owners can enjoy the same reliability and unlimited computing resources.

Revamped and Responsive Customer Support

  • CEO Peter Holden launched Hostwinds after several aggravating support experiences with other providers. As such, Hostwinds customers can enjoy a 60-day money-back guarantee and 24/7 personal support.
  • With stunning levels of security and redundancy built into the Hostwinds network, the company is able to promise a staggering 99.999% uptime guarantee. Such a rate is typically reserved for premium services from luxury hosts.
  • Hostwinds makes website transfers, undoubtedly one of the most annoying parts of moving to a new hosting provider, extraordinarily easy — and FREE. The company guarantees zero downtime as it moves your files and databases in a secure, fast, and efficient process.

Ease of Use

(4.8 / 5.0)
Sleek Account Management Portal
Hostwinds Review
Familiar, Simple cPanel Interface
Hostwinds Review
Full-Service Knowledgebase
Hostwinds Review

Users will enjoy interacting with the Hostwinds account and website management tools, which look modern and provide clear paths to the most useful tools. We particularly like the quick shortcuts and email account creation tools the company places front and center of the account dashboard. Everything operates as you'd expect, including the cPanel access to installation scripts, metrics, email settings, and security tools. Above all, we appreciate how easy Hostwinds makes it to request help; customers can easily open a ticket or search the knowledgebase from the account dashboard, and a support agent is always available through a minimized live chat window in the corner.

Pricing

(4.7 / 5.0)

Basic Plan

Advanced Plan

Ultimate Plan

Although Hostwinds has a hard time standing out in a crowded shared hosting market, the company really sets the mark for affordability in the VPS realm. We have no qualms about the company's shared hosting prices, given the superb infrastructure, features, and uptime, but we realize most bargain hunters are strictly looking for lowest prices. Our jaws hit the floor, however, when playing with unmanaged virtual servers from Hostwinds. Granted, you'll have to take care of server maintenance and updates, but you'll be hard-pressed to find similarly equipped server partitions at more attractive rates. The deals decrease as you add managed support and scale to higher tiers, but Hostwinds excels at finding optimum price-versus-performance points across the spectrum.

Reliability & Support

(4.8 / 5.0)

Hostwinds spends as much time perfecting and streamlining customer support as the company does optimizing its hosting hardware. The company's system engineers are available to customers every moment of every day, and Hostwinds guarantees a quick response: five minutes for email tickets and 30 seconds for live chat and phone calls. Monitoring and backup plans are available to further protect your information, and the company's 99.999% uptime guarantee is practically impossible to beat.

Hostwinds Includes:

24/7/365 Support Through Email Tickets, Live Chat, and Phone With Guaranteed Response Times; 99.999% Uptime Guarantee and Robust Knowledgebase

Does Not Include

Video Tutorials or User Forums

Other Hosts vs. Hostwinds

Wondering how Hostwinds stacks up againt other web hosting services? See our host-vs-host reviews below and compare them side by side.

Hostwinds vs. HostGator

When spending your hard-earned cash, we know it’s crucial to ensure you get the most bang for your buck — That’s why we’ve done the work to compare two high-value, low-cost providers.

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Hostwinds vs HostGator

Overall Rating

★★★★★ 4.8/5.0
Hostwinds vs HostGator

Overall Rating

★★★★★ 4.5/5.0

Hostwinds vs. GoDaddy

GoDaddy and Hostwinds offer well-rounded shared, VPS, and dedicated hosting options.

See full comparison »
GoDaddy vs Hostwinds

Overall Rating

★★★★★ 4.8/5.0
GoDaddy vs Hostwinds

Overall Rating

★★★★★ 4.7/5.0

Hostwinds vs. DreamHost

This was one of the most challenging comparisons we’ve seen.

See full comparison »
Hostwinds vs DreamHost

Overall Rating

★★★★★ 4.8/5.0
Hostwinds vs DreamHost

Overall Rating

★★★★★ 4.8/5.0

Hostwinds vs. Bluehost

You don’t see your average commuter car racing in the Daytona 500.

See full comparison »
Hostwinds vs. Bluehost

Overall Rating

★★★★★ 4.8/5.0
Hostwinds vs. Bluehost

Overall Rating

★★★★★ 4.9/5.0

Hostwinds vs. SiteGround

Prepare to be amazed — we’re talking about the best of the best in this host comparison.

See full comparison »
Hostwinds vs. SiteGround

Overall Rating

★★★★★ 4.8/5.0
Hostwinds vs. SiteGround

Overall Rating

★★★★★ 5.0/5.0

Hostwinds is the winner
3 out of 5 times.

The Rundown

Laura Bernheim

Laura Bernheim

Hosting Expert:

To recap, here's a rundown of what Hostwinds has to offer

A young and hungry hosting company, Hostwinds exudes confidence and friendliness when it comes to providing reliable, secure, and speedy support and servers. The company offers above-average uptime and enterprise-grade hardware to power an incredibly vast array of services useful to customers at all stages of their web hosting journey. Boasting multiple options at every turn, Hostwinds is sure to offer exactly the product you need at a reasonable rate.

Hostwinds review

Overall Rating

4.8 / 5.0
★★★★★

About The Author

Laura has spent more than 12 years crafting engaging and award-winning articles that share the passion behind organizations' products, people, and innovations. As a long-time HostingAdvice contributing expert, she combines a reputation for producing quality content with rich technical expertise to show experienced developers how to capitalize on emerging technologies and find better ways to work with established platforms. A professional journalist, Laura has contributed to The New York Times, Sports Illustrated, the Sun Sentinel, and the world's top hosting providers.
Laura Bernheim
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