Are we as South Africans overpaying for web hosting? I think this is a highly frustrating topic for a developing nation with some of highest web hosting and data costs around.
To day i’m going to dive into the top 3 companies and look into their hosting packages. Then compare this to an international company.
Today most companies need a website, even if they don’t, a one pager will do. Today’s world is moving online and more and more people are looking to sell good online, and for this there are are many options. I’m not going to dive into those right now, we just want to focus on what you actually get when selecting a hosting provider. Everyone has their reasons for selecting a certain host and hopefully the details below will help you make a choice.
Key factors include , service, support, uptime, response and technical knowledge, features, Specific CMS hosting and add ons. In no order below ive listed some hosting providers you may want to check out.
1 Grid Web hosting
- Small – R49/pm – Host 1 websites
- Medium – R89/pm – Host 100 websites
- Large – R219/pm – Host unlimited websites
- Certs (Https) Starting at R219 per year
Was Web Africa, then the hosting section split to GridHost and then a rebrand to 1 Grid. At the time of the spilt there were many issues, delays in service and for me personally under performing hosting hardware.
I had good service from their help desk but even with the large hosting package the sites constantly crashed. I proved this was in fact, the hosting by moving the site to two separate hosting providers.
Secondly – Hosting unlimited websites is not a true statement. The shared hosting will eventually run out of resources and crash.
DomainRacer
- Basic – $0.99/m Hosts 1 website – 1GB NVME SSD storage
- Personal – $1.49/m Hosts 1 website – Unlimited NVMe SSD Storage
- Silver – $2.89/m Hosts 3 websites – Unlimited NVMe SSD Storage
- Advanced – $3.99/m Hosts Unlimited Websites – Unlimited NVMe SSD Storage
- Free Lets Encrypt SSL Certificate
As you are looking for the Best web hosting in South Africa you can get the all-in-one solution from DomainRacer. Here you will get the best vps hosting India cheapest price fully managed server provider offers unlimited bandwidth & SSDs space. In the high competition of this world and the high pricing, DomainRacer gives you services at affordable pricing.
DomainRacer web hosting offers the best services such as unlimited bandwidth, free weekly JetBackup, free domain name (.com/.in), HTTP3/QUIC protocol, great support via every source, etc. They have an experienced support staff with their own search engine system.
Features:
- 21x Faster LiteSpeed Cache Technology
- Free NVMe SSD Storage
- 99.99% Uptime Server Guarantee
- 24/7 Support Over Multiple Channels
- Free SEODefault Tool
- Multiple Server Locations
DomainRacer has tier IV data center servers in India, UK, USA, Germany, France, Singapore, and Canada. They have the best security tools which give you high-security solutions and prevent unwanted attacks.
DomainRacer offers expert support round the clock via ticket, email, chat, WhatsApp, and call support. They offer security tools like cPGuard, ModSecurity, PYXSoft, DDoS Protection, Email Spam Protection, Magic Spam Protection, and Firewall.
Hetzner web hosting
- Basic – R99/pm Hosts 10 websites – 5Gb SSD storage
- Standard – R149/pm Hosts 25 websites – 10Gb SSD storage
- Advanced – R279/pm Hosts 50 websites – 15Gb SSD storage
- Master – R439/pm Hosts 75 websites -20Gb SSD storage
- Free Lets Encrypt Cert.
Considering 2 serious security breaches. The integration to the already free lets encrypt cert is a positive and their SSD drives.
Domains Web hosting
- Budget – R62/pm Hosts 1 website – 2Gb SSD storage
- Value – R115/pm Hosts 5 websites – 5Gb SSD storage
- Pro – R175/pm Hosts 10 websites – 15Gb SSD storage
- Expert – R225/pm Hosts 20 websites – 20Gb SSD storage
- Certs (Https) Starting at R199 per year
I moved my largest sites to Domains.co.za and I have not regretted it. Their service was good. I completed a full backup, requested for the restore via a ticket and all was setup. I switched over the name servers and all up and running.
The performance from Domains.co.za value package outweighs the other 2 providers by far. One of my sites kept crashing on 1Grid, but has been very stable on Domains. The only downside is the Https cert. Domains charge for this, but there is a free cert anyone can get and install from LetsEncrypt.
Siteground web hosting
- StartUp $3.95/pm (first year) reg $11.95 Hosts 1 website – 10Gb SSD storage
- GrowBig $5.95/pm (first year) reg $19.95 Hosts Unlimited websites – 20Gb SSD storage
- GoGeek $11.95/pm (first year) reg $34.95 Hosts Unlimited websites – 30Gb SSD storage
- Free Lets Encrypt Cert.
Although after the first year, the prices increase. They know you will stay onboard as their hosting speed and service is superior to all. If you have a .com or .co.uk domain. Site ground would be your right choice.
Conclusion
Nothing is more frustrating when your asking for help on a issue and you know more than the person trying to help.
So if you want the best service and web hosting use Domains.co.za for a target audience in South Africa with a .co.za domain. If your target audience is abroad with a .com or .co.uk domain. Use Siteground. You wont be disappointed.
The reason for this post is that I recently took over some sites, I had them running on a windows platform , the one site was crashing once a week, not a big site 400 visitors per day. I was advised Linux would be more stable. I moved and all i got was errors and errors, the shared host could not cope. I was advised i now needed to upgrade to one of the largest shared hosting packages at +_ R600 per month. This really just left me asking myself, what am I paying for. What are the details that no hosting company tells you up front with their price plans displayed on their hosting pages.
I hope this has helped you make the right choice for your hosting provider.
