As there’s an increasing number of hosting providers it’s getting more and more difficult to find the service that suits your needs best. There are such top-rated providers as Bluehost, GoDaddy and Hostinger that many people tend to initially go for, however, today I will provide you with a HostPapa review and tell you everything about this service.
Now, I’d hate to ruin the experience for you, however, the truth is that HostPapa is far from being one of the best web hosting providers, so instead of continuing with this review, you should check out the top-rated providers that offer better services at even lower pricing points.
Of course, if you still want to give it a try to HostPapa, you should continue with this HostPapa review and discover the whole truth about the company and the offered services.
This HostPapa review includes all the information about the company, its services, security measures, performance, prices, and so much more. Needless to say, you will get all the needed details that will help you to make your decision about this company.
Without further ado, let’s find out more about HostPapa.
Verdict at a Glance
HostPapa is one of the green web hosting providers that’s based in Canada. The company aims to provide high-quality services for affordable prices and, at the same time, reduce the environmental impact by using various green technologies. HostPapa is reliable as it provides good uptime and great speeds. What is more, you get multiple hosting options, helpful customer support and quite attractive prices. On the other hand, HostPapa doesn’t provide automated backups, Windows hosting option, and you don’t get to choose monthly billing for shared hosting plans. That said, you get all the essential features but nothing more, so you might want to consider better services, such as Bluehost, GoDaddy or Hostinger.
Pros
- 99,94% uptime
- Easy to use
- Helpful customer support
- Website builder available
Cons
- No automated backups
- No monthly billings for shared plans
Table of Contents
- 1. HostPapa Review: About the Company
- 2. HostPapa Review: PROS
- 2.1. Great Uptime - 99,94%
- 2.2. Good Website Speed
- 2.3. Green Web Hosting Provider
- 2.4. Multiple Hosting Options
- 2.5. Website Building & Do-It-For-Me Services
- 2.6. Helpful Customer Support
- 3. HostPapa Review: CONS
- 3.1. Standard Features
- 4. HostPapa Pricing
- 5. Conclusions
HostPapa Review: About the Company
HostPapa is a privately owned web hosting company that’s based in Canada. Currency, the company operates in multiple countries, including United States, United Kingdom, Australia, New Zealand, Mexico, Germany, Singapore, India, Hong Kong, and others.
HostPapa entered the market back in 2002 and started offering web hosting services in 2005, so it’s one of the older providers that you can find, yet is definitely not as popular as some industry giants such as Bluehost and GoDaddy.
Back in 2012, HostPapa partnered with Cloudflare and with SiteLock Website Security. What is more, HostPapa appeared on the PROFIT 500 ranking of Canada’s fastest-growing companies based on five-year revenue growth three times already, however, that happened at least 5 years back.
This is the main information for those of you who wanted to know more about the company’s background, however, now it’s time to move to the actual HostPapa review and see what this provider has to offer.
HostPapa Review: PROS
When choosing a reliable web hosting provider, there are multiple factors that must be taken into consideration. That includes offered services, reliability, security, usability, customer support, pricing, and even additional features.
Needless to say, there’s quite a lot to discuss in this HostPapa review, so let’s begin with the pros and see what are the greatest aspects that HostPapa can provide us with.
Great Uptime - 99,94%
While there are so many aspects to discuss in this HostPapa review, reliability is definitely the most important one, so that’s where we’re going to begin.
Now, when making sure that the web hosting provider is reliable, you will come across two different terms - uptime and downtime. Uptime refers to the time that your website is available to all visitors and possibly your future clients. Downtime is the opposite. This term refers to the time that your website is not accessible.
So imagine that a web hosting provider offers these amazing features and functionality but your customers are unable to access your website. What’s the good in that?
Now, to make sure that HostPapa won’t disappoint you, I performed a test on the uptime for the last month. What I found out is that HostPapa has an estimated uptime of 99,94%. While every hosting provider should seek 99,99% (100% is quite the impossible), this result is definitely one of the better ones and shows that HostPapa is a reliable hosting service.
Now, you’re probably wondering, what 99,94% actually means? Well, to answer this question, I used our uptime calculator. It revealed that 99,94% uptime means that your website will be down for:
- 51s daily;
- 6m 2s weekly;
- 26m 17s monthly;
- 5h 15m 34 s yearly.
So HostPapa’s uptime results showed that you won’t lose potential customers due to inaccessible websites. When using HostPapa services, your website should be down for no longer than 51 seconds per day and a little bit more than 5 hours per year. Needless to say, the thing that you shouldn’t be worried about when it comes to HostPapa is reliability.
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Good Website Speed
As already mentioned, website speed is also a crucial factor that you must consider when looking for a reliable web hosting provider. It’s almost or as important as the uptime that we have already discussed.
There are multiple studies that reveal how site speed affects your visitors. While many of them found that people tend to wait no longer than 3 seconds and expect websites to upload within 2 seconds, one study showed that even a 1-second delay could cause 7% of your website’s visitors to leave.
Now, imagine that you’ve completed your research and found a company that provides a variety of attractive features, great customization, and super affordable plans. However, once you start using this hosting provider, you notice that the analytics of your site are not as good as expected, and you find that this problem is associated with poor site speed. Once that happens, you instantly realize that you forgot to analyze the site speed.
To make sure that this scenario is only imaginable, I performed HostPapa speed testing. The site speed turned out to be 565ms. While website speed could be even faster, it’s definitely enough for everyone who takes their website performance seriously.
Thus, if you decide to choose HostPapa, there’s completely no reason to be worried about your website speed. Multiple HostPapa customer reviews can assure you that as well.
Green Web Hosting Provider
The next thing that I would like to talk about in this HostPapa review is the company’s approach. HostPapa is one of the green hosting providers that believe in corporate responsibility and sustainable business practices.
If you haven’t heard about green hosting before, let me explain everything. Green hosting is also known as eco-friendly hosting and its main purpose is to reduce the environmental impact by using various green technologies. There aren’t that many green hosting providers, one of such options that you can also take a look at is GreenGeeks.
HostPapa claims that it’s one of the first and leading companies that made a commitment to go green. The provider is purchasing green energy certificates to offset all the power we use in their offices and data centers. They believe that this is the way to encourage the development of wind and solar energy resources. By doing that, they put back as much energy as they use and manage to reduce their carbon footprint.
Now, you’re probably wondering how the company manages to give back as much as they use, so let me elaborate on that. First, HostPapa purchases certificates from a certified green energy supplier. Then that company calculates HostPapa’s energy consumption and uses green energy suppliers to give back 100% of that energy.
Considering already-discussed factors, it’s safe to say that HostPapa is a good option for those of you who are looking for a green hosting provider to reduce the environmental impact.
Multiple Hosting Options
When it comes to web hosting, there are many different services available. However, since you’re here for a HostPapa review, let’s see what this provider has to offer. Currently, HostPapa offers such hosting options:
- Shared hosting
- WordPress hosting
- VPS hosting
- Reseller hosting
- PapaCare+
Finding the right option may not be that easy unless you know more about each of these hosting types. Let me help you with that.
First, shared web hosting. It’s the most basic option that’s mostly recommended for small websites that don’t get much traffic. Of course, it’s also the most affordable hosting type. The main reason for that is because you will be sharing resources with other websites on the same server. That said, if the traffic of one of those websites increases, you might experience sudden changes in your website performance.
If you decide to go for HostPapa shared hosting, you get to choose from 3 different plans. Even the most basic plan provides you with two websites, free domain name registration, free SSL certificate, unlimited bandwidth, 100GB SSD web space, 100 email addresses, all the essential features and the ability to create a website using HostPapa website builder. Of course, the better plan you choose, the more perks you get, so it completely depends on your needs.
When it comes to HostPapa WordPress hosting, there’s no need for explanation. It’s recommended for every WordPress user as it provides seamless integration and other great features that will ensure an even better performance.
HostPapa WordPress hosting also comes in 3 different plans. They provide you with the same features as shared hosting, however, you also get all the essential and advanced WordPress features as well as pre-installed Jetpack. Now, if you already have a domain name and a WordPress website, you can transfer them over to HostPapa completely free.
Now, moving to VPS hosting, it’s truly a recommended option as it’s so much better than shared hosting. The thing is that even though you will still be sharing one server with other websites, there will be much less of them and you will get a part of resources dedicated specifically to you. That said, other websites won’t affect your performance.
There are 5 plans when it comes to HostPapa VPS hosting. They provide you with control, security, and the needed support. What is more, you get very fast servers, instant provisioning, blacklist-free IPs, and other additional features.
Another hosting service offered by HostPapa is reseller hosting. Such a hosting type is suitable for businesses who want to include web hosting as one of their services. Needless to say, that could be a great way to expand your business.
Once again, you can choose from 5 different plans and take your business to the next level. Now, reseller hosting plans provide your customers with the ability to manage their own accounts. What is more, you can manage your clients with this easy-to-use dashboard. Also, you can install a variety of different apps such as Joomla, WordPress, and others.
Talking about the basic reseller web hosting plan, you get 4 core CPUs, 2GB RAM, 50GB SSD storage, 500GB bandwidth, 2cPanel accounts, and free SSL certificates. The better plan you choose, the better features you get.
The final option that must be included in the HostPapa review is PapaCare+. It’s a special web hosting plan offered by HostPapa. It’s a shared hosting plan, however, you get additional benefits, especially when it comes to professional support. If you choose this service, you become a priority to HostPapa.
That said, you get to focus on your business instead of technical stuff that HostPapa will take care of for you. Also, you get proactive monitoring that means reducing potential downtime and disruption, and you will stay safe and protected.
That was the last web hosting option provided by HostPapa, so now that you know all this information, it should be so much easier to decide which of the services is the most suitable for your needs.
On the same note, there’s one more service offered that I wanted to include in this HostPapa review.
Website Building & Do-It-For-Me Services
Even though many of you came to this HostPapa review wondering if it allows you to transfer an already existing domain name and website, it’s evident that some of you are still planning on creating your personal or business site. If that’s the case then HostPapa can definitely help.
Now, there are many different ways to create a website. When it comes to content management systems, WordPress is definitely the leading one. However, it can be a bit difficult to figure out at first, especially if you are not a tech-savvy individual.
In case you don’t have a website yet and want to do that on your own, HostPapa website builder might be a really great option. Website builders are considered to be the easiest way to create a website on your own, even if you have no previous experience.
HostPapa website builder allows you to customize every element of your chosen template. You can change colors, fonts, add images, and so much more until your website looks exactly the way you wanted. The templates you get to choose from are professionally looking, so you’ll be able to create an attractive website without much effort.
Also, each of the templates is mobile-friendly and responsive, meaning that they will look as good on your mobile as they do on your desktop. And, as I already mentioned, there’s no need to worry about usability as HostPapa website builder features a clear and intuitive interface that will allow you to make changes instantly.
Finally, HostPapa website builder includes all the needed SEO tools that will help you to rank better on Google. That said, you get all the necessary features and tools to promote your business and start expanding.
That was all the information that I wanted to include in this HostPapa review when talking about the website builder, however, there’s also a Do-It-For-Me web design service that I wanted to discuss.
This service is recommended for people who don’t want to worry about creating their own website and choose professionals to do that for them instead. HostPapa professionals will create a business website for a much more affordable price than hiring a designer. They will take care of such aspects as image selection, copywriting, layout, and so much more. The best part is that there’s a 100% no-risk guarantee.
While I’ve included this feature into the Hostpapa review, I still believe that anyone can use a reliable website builder and create their own website with minimal effort, so you should think twice if it’s worth paying for such a service.
Helpful Customer Support
One of the most important factors that come into play when choosing a web hosting provider is definitely customer support. If you experience certain issues with your website performance or simply have a matter to discuss, it’s always important to have a dedicated team that’s there to help.
When it comes to HostPapa customer support, you basically have 3 different options: support tickets, live chat, and phone.
If you choose support tickets, you will need to contact HostPapa customer service via email. It typically takes about 10 minutes to get a response. This option is great because you will get answers from the professionals in their field.
Live chat works similarly to everywhere else. You can find a chat box at the bottom right corner of the page. Simply type in the message and get a response instantly. For the sake of clarity, I tested the live chat myself and I can say that the HostPapa team reacts instantly, answers clearly and provides helpful advice.
The final option is to contact HostPapa by phone. This is recommended if you’re experiencing serious issues that must be solved immediately. That said, do not hesitate and call when needed.
When it comes to customer HostPapa reviews, it seems that the majority of users are very satisfied with their customer service. It provides the needed answers and ensures that you’re guided through different processes when using their platform.
Customer service was the last aspect that I wanted to include in this HostPapa review, now it’s time to take a look at some of the less good things associated with this hosting provider.
HostPapa Review: CONS
While HostPapa has definitely a lot to offer, it definitely has some flaws. After all, it’s almost impossible to find a perfect service.
Standard Features
If you were to look for HostPapa reviews, you will hear many of them saying that HostPapa offers all the necessary features. However, it’s all there is, only the essential functionality and nothing more.
HostPapa provides free SSL, email addresses (the number depends on the plan you choose), free website transfer, website installer and updates, a free installer for a bit more than 400 apps, customer service that’s available 24/7, and a cPanel for navigation. When it comes to more extensive features, many of them are available with more expensive plans only, so make sure to pay attention to that.
While it sounds like you want nothing more, however, keep in mind that HostPapa doesn’t provide automated backups, Windows hosting option, and you don’t get to choose monthly billing for shared hosting plans. Needless to say, that is something that you need to keep in mind when deciding if this provider is right for you.
HostPapa Pricing
It’s time to take a look at HostPapa pricing.
Since pricing always depends on the plan you choose, let’s take a look at all of them. First, shared web hosting prices:
As you can see, HostPapa offers quite a customer-friendly pricing, however, there are definitely even more affordable services in the market that offer better features, so you should keep that in mind.
Now let’s take a look at the prices for HostPapa WordPress hosting plans:
As expected, HostPapa WordPress hosting plans cost as much as shared hosting. Well, no one could argue that it’s an affordable option.
While shared and WordPress hosting are among the most popular services that people tend to choose, I would also like to take a look at some other options that HostPapa offers and provide you with VPS hosting prices:
- Mercury - from $19,99 per month
- Venus - from $59,99 per month
- Earth - from $109,99 per month
- Mars - from $169,99 per month
- Jupiter - from $249,99 per month
The pricing point of HostPapa VPS hosting is on par with the industry standard. Of course, the more advanced plan you choose, the more expensive it gets.
Finally, I would like to take a look at the exceptional plan offered by HostPapa. It is called PapaCare+ and currently costs $49,95 per month. As already mentioned previously in this HostPapa review, it’s a shared web hosting plan that provides exceptional support when it comes to web security, performance, email setup, script and app.
That’s about it when it comes to the prices and HostPapa review, so let’s jump straight to the conclusions.
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Conclusions
All things considered, it’s fair to say that HostPapa offers a good value for money. You get to choose from a variety of hosting options, including shared, VPS, WordPress, and reseller hosting. Each of them provides all the necessary features to successfully manage your website.
HostPapa is one of the green hosting providers, meaning that its main goal is to reduce the environmental impact by using various green technologies. There aren’t that many green hosting services, however, if you want to check out another one, you should take a look at GreenGeeks.
HostPapa also provides you with an easy-to-use website builder that comes with attractive templates, great customization, and other perks. What is more, you can also choose Do-It-For-Me services, meaning that HostPapa will create your website, including visual aspects and copywriting, for you. That said, HostPapa can also be a good option for those who do not have a website yet.
In general, HostPapa provides you with all the necessary features, including free SSL, email addresses, free website transfer, website installer and updates, a free installer for a bit more than 400 apps, customer service that’s available 24/7, and a cPanel control panel.
However, it doesn't provide automated backups, Windows hosting option, and you don’t get to choose monthly billing for shared hosting plans. So there are quite a few things that you need to keep in mind when it comes to HostPapa hosting.
What is more, HostPapa offers quite a good uptime which is 99,94%. Also, websites that use this hosting provider shouldn’t experience any issues with speed. Since these aspects are considered to be the most important ones when choosing a web hosting provider, you should definitely keep them in mind.
I hope that you found all the needed information in this HostPapa review and managed to decide if this hosting provider is right for you!