I didn’t realize I was going to write a whole hosting review today, but here we are. I was just going to type up and publish something simple so that I could know when my nameservers have updated.
If you’re just a casual visitor of the web, you might not have had the displeasure of shopping around for web hosts. It’s challenging.
There are conflicting reviews from all over the place and then there’s the fact that you have to really understand your needs. And unless your needs are for an enterprise-level dedicated server, hopefully you don’t need too much. I find that I need just a little more than the basic needs.
Switching from A2 Hosting
Previously I was using A2 Hosting and they have been pretty good, but just about everyone agrees that they cost too much compared to others. The way most of these hosting providers work is they offer you a pretty great deal if you pay in full for your first 2-4 years. Maybe as low as $2.49/month. But after that time period, the cost goes WAY up to their “normal” pricing. In the case of A2, my next three years was going to be $507, which ends up to be about $14 a month.
I assume the thought is that if people are happy with their hosting after the designated introductory pricing, they won’t bother to switch. Switching can be a hassle, but I’ve switched almost every time.
Hostinger Vs. Dream Host
Hostinger and Dream Host were the two providers it came down to for me. Some of the things I wanted:
- Automatic migration of WordPress sites
- WordPress Installer
- 5+ Websites/Domains
Some of the very basic starter packages will only have one domain and one site. Upgrading is often as little as one more dollar per month.
This time around I also carefully evaluated the “normal” price after the introductory price expires. For my Hostinger plan it will be $8.99/month in 2028. Today I paid $152 for the next 4 years, which works out to $3.17/month.
With both Dream Host and Hostinger, I had the option to go simply monthly right now for around $9/month. I also had options for 1, 2, and 3-year contracts. The 4-year bundle was the best value, but what really made the choice possible today was a 30-day guarantee. PC Magazine had promotional coupons that gave me a few free months and (I think) and extended 97-day guarantee. Knowing I can opt out in the next month if I hate it puts me a little at ease.
WordPress Migration
I’ve never used an automatic WordPress Migration before because I have trust issues. Manual migrations are a chore also. Three years ago when I switched from the now defunct Host Rocket (where my website was hacked a little bit), I just started over. I was able to save a handful of blog posts and manaully restore them, but I lost A LOT of stuff.
However, the WordPress Migration by Hostinger seems to have worked without a hitch. It looks like they create a new installation of WP with a migration plugin installed. I was told website migration could take up to 48-hours, but the transfer of my WP site was done in less than 60 minutes.
No cPanel. No Softaculous.
If you’ve bought hosting before, there’s a good chance that you’re familiar with Softaculous and cPanel. Softaculous is a tool that will automatically install any number of platforms to your site. Message boards, CMS, eCommerce, etc. Most of them aren’t great. WordPress is pretty ubiquitous and that’s the only reason I haven’t gotten away from it. If my hosting weren’t expiring Friday (or if I had realized this much sooner) I might have rebuilt my UX portfolio in Framer. But time is an issue. And the more I try to get away from WordPress, the more I realize how many millions of people are still using it and something need someone familiar to work on their site.
Since I have no plans to install Joomla or Drupal or any message boards (I kind of miss message boards), to absence of Softaculous is nothing to worry about. So far Hostinger’s dashboard seems straightforward enough and it might be an improvement over cPanel (which I’ve felt can be confusing at times).
All The Rest
Life is busy. Work is getting on my nerves. I’ve applied to some other things. I’m studying for the Series 65 License. My front steps need to be replaced. It’s snowing today (April 3). I’ll have more to say in a formal post soon and if I have additional thoughts on Hostinger, I’ll share them here or in an updated post.
Leave a Reply