As a hosting expert and website owner, I’ve come across Hostwinds in the past. The general verdict is that Hostwinds was built for medium/large-scale businesses. To confirm this, I decided to test this hosting provider and come up with a thorough, unbiased review.
In this article, I’ll share my thoughts on the host’s performance, hosting packages, pricing plans, features, user-friendliness, and support. Whether you are a small business just starting or an established organization looking for a new hosting platform, this review will help you decide if Hostwinds is the right fit for you.
Hostwinds Review
Hostwinds is a web-hosting firm founded by Peter Holden in 2010. Peter was a former web developer who had consistent problems with hosting providers and decided to start his own!
The firm prides itself on delivering top-level service to customers at a fair price. All its hardware is directly owned and they always make sure to use the latest version of relevant hosting software.
Hostwinds offers shared, business, reseller, white label reseller, VPS, cloud, WordPress, and dedicated hosting to its customers. Whether you are a small business just starting or a large company with an established audience, you can always find the perfect hosting package on Hostwinds.
Hostwinds has 592 reviews on Trustpilot where customers rated the company 4.2 out of 5. The company is not BBB accredited.
Pros and Cons
Pros
- Extensive hosting plans
- Latest cPanel
- Numerous security add-ons
- Superfast server speed
- Simple, interactive UI
- Quick response live chat support
Cons
- 3-day money-back refund period
- Boosted package plans are a lot pricier
Hostwinds has multiple web hosting plans with superfast servers and excellent support. Want to host your website on secure servers with a global footprint? Check out Hostwinds today!
Rating Breakdown
At HostAdvice, our experts have developed an S.I hosting rating guide that measures and gives scores on how hosting providers perform so you can choose the right one for your business.
| Parameter | Score | Why we gave this score |
| PRICES | 7.0 | Hostwinds gives you a plethora of hosting options at affordable prices. However, I gave them 7 because their refund period only lasts for 3 days. Boosted plans are also significantly pricier. |
| FEATURES | 9.5 | Hostwinds offers the latest cPanel, free SSL certificates, nightly backups, and enterprise firewall for higher plans. However, I scored them 9.5 because they don’t offer SiteLock security. |
| PERFORMANCE | 8.5 | Hostwinds has an average time to first byte of 51ms and an overall performance of 98%. However, I gave them 8.5 because their loading time (2.4s) is slower than the recommended 2s |
| USER-FRIENDLINESS | 9.5 | Hostwinds’s account management dashboard has a pleasing UI and it’s easy to navigate. You also have 1-click WordPress installs and the latest cPanel. However, I gave it 9.5 because you cannot install WordPress manually. |
| SUPPORT | 8.0 | Hostwinds has excellent live chat support and a vast knowledge base. However, I am giving them 8.0 because they don’t have email and phone support. |
Hostwinds Prices & Plans – 2023
Hostwinds offers shared, VPS, reseller, WordPress, dedicated, and cloud hosting. They have different categories of VPS plans and they also offer white-label reseller hosting, web application hosting, and business hosting.
Hostwinds hosting plans come with a 72-hour refund policy. The countdown starts when your initial payment is confirmed. You can pay through Mastercard, Visa, PayPal, and crypto.
Shared Hosting
| Plan Name | Space | Bandwidth | Panel | Number of sites | Price |
| Basic | Unlimited | Unlimited | cPanel | 1 | $5.24 |
| Advanced | Unlimited | Unlimited | cPanel | 4 | $6.74 |
| Ultimate | Unlimited | Unlimited | cPanel | Unlimited | $8.24 |
Hostwinds doesn’t recommend any shared hosting plan specifically. The only major difference between the plans is the number of domains allocated. They all come with the latest cPanel, Weebly site builder, unlimited FTP accounts, free dedicated IP, solid state drives, and SSL certificates.
VPS Hosting
Linux Managed
| Plan Name | Space | Bandwidth | Panel | Number of sites | Price |
| 1 | 30 GB | 1 TB transfer | cPanel | Unlimited | $8.24 |
| 2 | 50 GB | 2 TB transfer | cPanel | Unlimited | $16.49 |
| 3 | 75 GB | 2 TB transfer | cPanel | Unlimited | $29.99 |
| 4 | 100 GB | 2 TB transfer | cPanel | Unlimited | $38.24 |
| 5 | 150 GB | 3 TB transfer | cPanel | Unlimited | $59.99 |
| 6 | 200 GB | 4 TB transfer | cPanel | Unlimited | $74.99 |
| 7 | 300 GB | 5 TB transfer | cPanel | Unlimited | $110.24 |
| 8 | 400 GB | 6 TB transfer | cPanel | Unlimited | $168.74 |
| 9 | 500 GB | 8 TB transfer | cPanel | Unlimited | $274.49 |
| 10 | 750 GB | 9 TB transfer | cPanel | Unlimited | $395.24 |
Hostwinds has a wide range of options in its Managed Linux plans. You can select the plan with the right storage and bandwidth for your business. All plans come with enterprise firewalls, custom ISO’s, snapshots, nightly backups, server monitoring, and much more.
Windows Managed
| Plan Name | Space | Bandwidth | Panel | Number of sites | Price |
| 1 | 30 GB | 1 TB transfer | cPanel | Unlimited | $12.74 |
| 2 | 50 GB | 2 TB transfer | cPanel | Unlimited | $20.99 |
| 3 | 75 GB | 2 TB transfer | cPanel | Unlimited | $34.49 |
| 4 | 100 GB | 2 TB transfer | cPanel | Unlimited | $42.74 |
| 5 | 150 GB | 3 TB transfer | cPanel | Unlimited | $68.99 |
| 6 | 200 GB | 4 TB transfer | cPanel | Unlimited | $83.99 |
| 7 | 300 GB | 5 TB transfer | cPanel | Unlimited | $123.74 |
| 8 | 400 GB | 6 TB transfer | cPanel | Unlimited | $186.74 |
| 9 | 500 GB | 8 TB transfer | cPanel | Unlimited | $301.49 |
| 10 | 750 GB | 9 TB transfer | cPanel | Unlimited | $431.24 |
Like the Linux-managed VPS plan, Hostwinds does not recommend any specific plan in its Windows-managed category. All these plans come with enterprise hardware, solid state drives, custom ISO’s, friendliness guarantee, and much more.
Linux Unmanaged
| Plan Name | Space | Bandwidth | Panel | Number of sites | Price |
| 1 | 30 GB | 1 TB transfer | cPanel | Unlimited | $4.99 |
| 2 | 50 GB | 2 TB transfer | cPanel | Unlimited | $9.99 |
| 3 | 75 GB | 2 TB transfer | cPanel | Unlimited | $18.99 |
| 4 | 100 GB | 2 TB transfer | cPanel | Unlimited | $28.99 |
| 5 | 150 GB | 3 TB transfer | cPanel | Unlimited | $38.99 |
| 6 | 200 GB | 4 TB transfer | cPanel | Unlimited | $49.99 |
| 7 | 300 GB | 5 TB transfer | cPanel | Unlimited | $76.99 |
| 8 | 400 GB | 6 TB transfer | cPanel | Unlimited | $124.99 |
| 9 | 500 GB | 8 TB transfer | cPanel | Unlimited | $214.99 |
| 10 | 750 GB | 9 TB transfer | cPanel | Unlimited | $328.99 |
The Unmanaged Linux VPS plans on Hostwinds are the budget-friendly version of its managed plans. Here, you will utilize the cloud portal and additional tools to self-manage your website. You get all the regular features such as nightly backups, monitoring servers, custom ISOs, and so on.
Windows Unmanaged
| Plan Name | Space | Bandwidth | Panel | Number of sites | Price |
| 1 | 30 GB | 1 TB transfer | cPanel | Unlimited | $10.99 |
| 2 | 50 GB | 2 TB transfer | cPanel | Unlimited | $15.99 |
| 3 | 75 GB | 2 TB transfer | cPanel | Unlimited | $24.99 |
| 4 | 100 GB | 2 TB transfer | cPanel | Unlimited | $34.99 |
| 5 | 150 GB | 3 TB transfer | cPanel | Unlimited | $50.99 |
| 6 | 200 GB | 4 TB transfer | cPanel | Unlimited | $61.99 |
| 7 | 300 GB | 5 TB transfer | cPanel | Unlimited | $94.99 |
| 8 | 400 GB | 6 TB transfer | cPanel | Unlimited | $148.99 |
| 9 | 500 GB | 8 TB transfer | cPanel | Unlimited | $250.99 |
| 10 | 750 GB | 9 TB transfer | cPanel | Unlimited | $376.99 |
You can find a cheaper version of the windows managed VPS hosting in the unmanaged category. The plans are instantly scalable, and you also get nightly backups. All the unique features of the VPS plans on Hostwinds also apply here.
Dedicated Hosting
| Plan Name | Space | Bandwidth | Panel | Number of sites | Price |
| 2 x L5420 Dedicated Server | 1 TB | 10 TB transfer | cPanel | Unlimited | $131.00 |
| 2 x L5640 Dedicated Server | 1 TB | 10 TB transfer | cPanel | Unlimited | $171.00 |
| E3- 1270 v2 Dedicated Server | 1 TB | 10 TB transfer | cPanel | Unlimited | $122.00 |
| E3- 1240 v2 Dedicated Server | 1 TB | 10 TB transfer | cPanel | Unlimited | $119.50 |
| E3- 1271 v3 Dedicated Server | 1 TB | 10 TB transfer | cPanel | Unlimited | $137.00 |
| E5- 1620 v2 Dedicated Server | 1 TB | 10 TB transfer | cPanel | Unlimited | $208.00 |
Hostwinds offers dedicated hosting web hosting plans. They are highly customizable and you can have more storage, RAM, and bandwidth for an extra fee.
Reseller Hosting
| Plan Name | Space | Bandwidth | Panel | Number of sites | Price |
| Basic | Unlimited | Unlimited | cPanel | 1 | $5.24 |
| Advanced | Unlimited | Unlimited | cPanel | 4 | $6.74 |
| Ultimate | Unlimited | Unlimited | cPanel | Unlimited | $8.24 |
The features on the reseller hosting plan are quite similar to the shared hosting plan features. You get unlimited databases, email accounts, FTP accounts, and subdomains. Your customers also get to enjoy the latest cPanel and 24/7 support.
WordPress Hosting
| Plan Name | Space | Bandwidth | Panel | Number of sites | Price |
| Basic | Unlimited | Unlimited | cPanel | 1 | $5.24 |
| Advanced | Unlimited | Unlimited | cPanel | 4 | $6.74 |
| Ultimate | Unlimited | Unlimited | cPanel | Unlimited | $8.24 |
The WordPress hosting plans come with Softaculous auto install, Weebly website builder, unlimited domains, and the latest cPanel.
Cloud Server Hosting
| Plan Name | Space | Bandwidth | Panel | Number of sites | Price |
| 1 | 30 GB | 1 TB transfer | cPanel | Unlimited | $0.006931/hr |
| 2 | 50 GB | 2 TB transfer | cPanel | Unlimited | $0.013875/hr |
| 3 | 75 GB | 2 TB transfer | cPanel | Unlimited | $0.026375/hr |
| 4 | 100 GB | 2 TB transfer | cPanel | Unlimited | $0.040264/hr |
| 5 | 150 GB | 3 TB transfer | cPanel | Unlimited | $0.054153/hr |
| 6 | 200 GB | 4 TB transfer | cPanel | Unlimited | $0.069431/hr |
| 7 | 300 GB | 5 TB transfer | cPanel | Unlimited | $0.106931/hr |
| 8 | 400 GB | 6 TB transfer | cPanel | Unlimited | $0.173597/hr |
| 9 | 500 GB | 8 TB transfer | cPanel | Unlimited | $0.298597/hr |
| 10 | 750 GB | 9 TB transfer | cPanel | Unlimited | $0.456931/hr |
Hostwinds does not recommend any specific plan under its cloud server category. The only difference is you get more CPUs, RAM, storage, and bandwidth for higher plans.
Hostwinds Features
- Shared; VPS; Dedicated; Cloud; Reseller; WordPress hosting
- Softaculous Auto installer
- Free SSL certificate
- Latest cPanel
- Unlimited databases
- Solid State Drives
Hostwinds offers a few unique features on its VPS, and cloud server hosting plans. They include snapshots, firewall, volumes, and load balancers.
Snapshots help you take a complete real-time backup of your Linux VPS and also deploy a fleet of pre-configured Linux servers just a few clicks away. The enterprise firewall gives you an additional layer of security while the volumes give you extra storage space. Load balancers help to assign your traffic to multiple servers to help increase efficiency and uptime.
Performance
When hunting for a web hosting provider, there are three important performance metrics you must consider. They are server speed, uptime, and loading time.
- Server speed reflects how quickly a user on your website receives data from the host’s server.
- Uptime shows how consistently your host’s servers stay online.
- Loading time measures how quickly your web pages load when customers use your website.
Higher server speed and quicker loading time will allow for a seamless customer experience which will lead to less bounce rate from your website.
Hostwinds promised a 99.99% uptime guarantee to all their customers. To measure the accuracy of this claim, I tested the host’s speed and load times using GTMetrix. The test was carried out on modernclassics.com – a website hosted on Hostwinds.
These were the results:
Modernclassics.com had a superfast response time (time to first byte) of 51ms and a fully loaded time of 2.4s.
The website had an excellent overall performance of 98%. This is far above average.
Level Of Support
Live chat
Hostwinds recommends live chat support channels for both existing and prospective customers. I checked for the support section on the homepage and tried to access the support channel from there.
After clicking on the ‘Live Chat With Us’ button, the chatbox opened immediately and the agent was on hand to answer my questions.
The agent was super helpful and I was impressed. Hostwinds has its live chat customer support channel on lock.
Support ticket
The support ticket channel is only available to paid customers. After you log in, you will be able to file your complaint and get ASAP unique solutions for your problem.
Tutorials
If you learn faster on your own, you will find the Hostwinds Tutorial support section very helpful. There are a whole lot of resources for you right here.
Mailing address
You can also send direct mail to the Hostwinds office. Here’s their mailing address:
User-Friendliness – Ease of use
Registration
Hostwinds designed a simple UI that makes registering and signing up hassle-free. You can click the ‘Get Started’ button on the homepage to proceed.
You will be directed to the shared web hosting plan package. There, you can pick a plan to start the registration process.
Input your client information and pick a domain name.
Select your preferred payment method after confirming your preferred plans and add-ons.
After you are done with payment, you will be able to access the account management dashboard.
The UI of Hostwinds is quite pleasing and it makes it easy to navigate. From here, you can easily log in to your webmail and cPanel.
Hostwinds Control Panel
Hostwinds prides itself on staying up to date with the latest cPanel. This makes it easier for you to manage your files, site builder, databases, emails, and so on.
Installing WordPress on Hostwinds
You can install WordPress on Hostwinds using the Softaculous App Installer. The first thing you do is log into your cPanel and locate the installer.
After you open the installer, click on the top script and then on WordPress.
Click on ‘Install Now’ and make your required configurations.
After you make the necessary adjustments and click ‘Install’, you will be directed here.
Follow the link to access your WordPress dashboard.
Add an email account with Hostwinds
It is easy to add an email account on your Hostwinds cPanel. Go to the Emails section and click on ‘Email accounts
Go to ‘Add Email Account’, fill out the necessary details, and click on ‘Create Account’.
You should have your email immediately.
Conclusion: Do We Recommend Hostwinds?
Hostwinds was built to solve the problems of bigger web hosts and provide only the best hosting service to its customers. I’d say they lived up to that standard and I will recommend them. For starters, they have superfast server speed and their customer support is excellent.
They also utilize the latest cPanel and a simple aesthetic UI to make website management easier. Hostwinds offers a broad range of hosting plans and you can easily find one that suits your business regardless of your current audience.
Hostwinds is perfect for medium-sized organizations and growing businesses with long-term vision. Scalability is easy on this platform, and you can adapt to traffic easily. They have data centers in the US and Amsterdam which means you can target a global audience.
