HostPapa Review 2021

HostPapa is a Canadian web hosting company that offers many plans that are suitable for beginners and small businesses. They have a specific marketing focus on small and growing businesses and offer a full suite of website products from domain names, hosting, email to even web design.

Even though it was founded in 2006, it has seen rapid growth only in the past few years. Like most web hosting companies, it promises all the basics such as good performance, 24/7 support, and a 30-day money-back guarantee.

But, does it live up to the expectations?

To answer this, here is our HostPapa review of 2021 that includes pros, cons, features, and what their pricing looks like. By the end, you will be able to find out if HostPapa is right or wrong for you.

Pros

  • Free domain name, SSL, Cloudflare CDN
  • Good uptime
  • User-friendly for newbies
  • Decent value for money

Cons

  • Pricy renewals
  • Automatic backups are not free
  • Customer support issues
  • Money-back guarantee has a catch

Summary

Is HostPapa right for you? Yes, it is a good hosting provider if you are a small business or looking for something beginner-friendly. They do not compromise on must-have features such as speed and security. Plus, the hosting provider will not overwhelm you as they are quite user-friendly.

A Complete Review of HostPapa

1. Hosting Plans & Packages

Here we will have a quick overview of the hosting packages of HostPapa.

Shared Hosting or Web Hosting

This is the basic plan that allows hosting 2 websites which is generous. You can also get free domain registration if you sign up for one year in advance. The shared hosting has 3 pricing plans,

WordPress Hosting

WordPress comes preinstalled so things will be hassle-free. It has speed and performance enhancement features such as Cloudflare CDN and Jetpack free, built-in WordPress monitoring, security, and much more. WordPress hosting also comes with pricing plans,

VPS Hosting

VPS hosting is a good way to get a specific allocation of servers without the burden of getting an entire server. This will also give you scalable computing power and good control than shared web hosting. VPS hosting offered by HostPapa gives you the option to host unlimited domains & websites, manage multiple servers, provide root-level SSH access, and more. The enterprise-grade VPS hosting of HostPapa has 5 plans,

Reseller Hosting

It is nothing but a shared, VPS, or dedicated server plan that comes with 3rd party billing and management. Through this, you can manage all your clients under your brand in a single dashboard. You also have the option to install apps such as WordPress, Joomla!, and more. It is a great option if you are an agency that is keen on providing extra value and get some recurring revenue. The reseller hosting of HostPapa has 5 plans,

A. Additional Products

Apart from these, HostPapa offers 6 different types of hostings. They are as follows,

  • Linux hosting : Dedicated Linux hosting solutions with many essential features such as for any type of website needs that starts from $3.56/month
    CRM hosting : For CRM platforms such as Dolibarr, X2CRM, and vTiger.  that starts from $3.95/month
  • Forum hosting : For forum platforms such as AEF, FluxBB, bbPres, MiniBB, and MyBB that starts from $3.95/month
  • Email hosting : Communicate with easy with your clients or prospects and set up email campaigns with attractive hosting options that start from $3.95/month
  • E-commerce hosting : For e-commerce platforms such as Abante Cart, Cube Cart, Avactis Cart, Axis Commerce, and Zen Cart that starts from $3.95/month
  • Elementor hosting : Get the Elementor page builder pre-installed in WordPress with your hosting account that starts from $3.36/month

B. Free Website Migration

You can migrate from any host to HostPapa. The team will take care of everything from (websites, email, databases, scripts, etc with no extra cost and ensure your website stays up during the process. To avail of this service, you need to send a request within 30 days of purchasing the plan.

Even though the company mentions that they offer exceptional migration services, in our research, we have found that most of the users complain about the migration process being slow and many did not get proper assistance from the team.

C. Domain Names

To get a domain name, you can use the HostPapa’s tool. You can pick anything from classic names to unique names such as .guru or .club. If you sign up for HostPapa’s hosting, you can get a free domain name for the first year of service.

Plus, domains are offered independently too, which means you can avail of the service even if you don’t sign up for hosting. If you have a domain name, you can also transfer it to HostPapa with no extra charge. The reviews confirm that the migration is seamless with no downtime.

D. Website Backup

When you have invested a lot of time and effort into building online things like data wipes, server crashes, hack attacks, and other site malfunctions can be frustrating. To solve this issue, HostPapa offers automatic daily site backups. It comes with features such as 7 different restore points, 1GB+ of backup space, storage of data in separate locations, and more.

Keep in mind that you can avail of this service only if you avail of the highest-paid plan of the hosting package.

E. Website Builder

HostPapa has a drag & drop web page builder and hundreds of pre-designed templates. Through this feature, you can even build an e-commerce store to sell products online. With the help of this builder, you can publish a professional-looking website in minutes.

Some of the main features of the website builder are easy customization, mobile responsive design, SEO optimization, customization of HTML, JS, and CSS, and live preview mode for mobile + desktop.

F. Email Options

HostPapa has a drag & drop web page builder and hundreds of pre-designed templates. Through this feature, you can even build an e-commerce store to sell products online. With the help of this builder, you can publish a professional-looking website in minutes.

Some of the main features of the website builder are easy customization, mobile responsive design, SEO optimization, customization of HTML, JS, and CSS, and live preview mode for mobile + desktop.

G. Content Delivery Network

All of HostPapa’s hosting plans come with free Cloudflare CDN services that will allow you to quickly deliver your website’s content to a global audience. It also helps to balance the server load, boost site speed and performance, and adds an extra layer of protection from security threats. Plus, you can also observe traffic through the analytics feature to keep an eye on potential threats.

H. Robust Security

HostPapa offers many generous security features. The entry-level plans have features such as Panda Cloud anti-spam, monitoring, server firewall, and intrusion detection.

The Pro plans have additional security features including a dedicated IP address, domain privacy protection, Wildcard SSL certificate, and automated backups. The Protection Power will give a trust seal and regularly scan your website for potential malware and security threats.

Let’s Encrypt SSL certificate is free in all the plans. But, the premium Wildcard SSL certificate is not free. By investing in HostPapa’s SSL certificates, you can enjoy benefits such as 256-bit data encryption and quick installation. Plus, the certificates are 99% compatible with most of the browsers. Lastly, you can display a clickable seal that will have your website’s SSL information which will add more credibility to your site.

I. Green Hosting

HostPapa prides itself as one of the first companies to go green. They endorse the development and usage of wind and solar energy by procuring green energy certificates.

They use 100% renewable Green Tag energy from sources across Canada and the USA. By doing this, reduce their own carbon footprint and try to get more people on board. When you purchase their plan, you can add a banner on your website to let your website users know that you are a part of green web hosting.

2. Speed

HostPapa uses the latest technology to make sure your website loads faster. It comes with,

  • Enhanced SSD (Solid State Drives) drives : A place where your site’s files and database are stored. This is much faster than the HDD (Hard Disk Drives)
  • Fast servers : Delivers content up to 50 times faster
  • Built-in caching : Uses a technology called Cachewall to optimize, protect, and increase the response time 
  • Content Delivery Network (CDN) : Comes with CDN powered by CloudFlare that helps to cache content and deliver it quickly to website visitors 
  • PHP 5.6, 7.0, 7.2, and 7.3 (choose your version) : Allows you to take advantage of the latest technology for your website

Apart from these main attractive features, the reliability and performance of HostPapa is quite good. The average uptime comes around 99.97%. It should be noted that expecting a 100% uptime is unrealistic.

Even hosting companies face downtime issues. In the past years, companies such as YouTube and Amazon have also faced outages. So, your main focus should be on consistency. HostPapa provides a 99.97% uptime means their servers will be down on an average of 3 hours/year, This can be good or bad depending on the way you take it.

3. Ease of Use

People at HostPapa understand the importance of user-friendliness designed their UI in such a way. You will be able to manage billing, domains, support, and addon services under one roof. If you need to add any extra services, you can simply go to the ‘My Services’ section and add anything you want.

We are also happy that HostPapa uses cPanel as it is user-friendly and ideal for beginners. You can control server settings such as files, configuring DNS records, working on folders, creating and managing domains and sub-domains, managing email, etc. from a single place.

HostPapa also offers a 1-click setup for WordPress, Joomla, and Drupal through Softaculous. 1-click setup is also available to build an online store using Prestashop, Open Cart, and OS Commerce Cart.

4. Data Centers

Data centers play a crucial role in making your website load fast for your website audience. All the data of your website is stored in the servers of these data centers. If these data centers are closer to your target customers, your website will load fast. The data centers of HostPapa are located in Canada (Toronto), the USA (California, Los Angeles), and Europe (Amsterdam). All these data centers cover audiences residing in those regions.

Their data centers have security features such as the raised floor, fire suppression systems, climate and temperature controls, backup generators, and more. Additionally, HostPapa uses a Cisco-powered network to secure data and all of their other equipment is powered by Intel Server products.

5. Help and Support

HostPapa offers 24/7 support (the PapaSquad) and sets itself apart from the competition. They offer an extensive knowledge base, video tutorials, 24/7 live chat, and support tickets through the dashboard. Additionally, you can join their weekly webinar, or schedule a 30-minute one-on-one training session which is completely free.

You can also view the status of web hosting and email services, DNS hosting, Linux servers, and even the billing and support systems. You can check if your tickets have been addressed and if any planned maintenance is coming up.

HostPapa also translates the content of its website into English, French, Spanish, and German to address international audiences. You can also chat with HostPapa’s customer support in multiple languages.

6. Pricing

When you take a look at the pricing of their hosting services, at a glance, it looks like a cost-effective hosting provider especially with its especially because it’s a green energy certification. But it bumps up the price significantly.

When you look at the web hosting price of any company, they will offer a low signup price to encourage more businesses/individuals to buy it. Then, after a year of providing satisfactory services, the hosting company will increase the price in hopes that most will renew. After all, no one will change the hosting provider every year.

Even with HostPapa, this is not an exception. The renewal price of HostPapa will cause a sticker shock for many. So, to bypass the hefty renewal price, you will be forced to buy a long-term contract plan to get a low introductory price.