Since we have so many sites (9 as of 2017), we need Virtual Private Server (VPS) hosting. We’ve had reseller accounts which make every site a separate account and we’ve had standard VPS. I tend to prefer just standard VPS because you can admin all the sites from one control panel. I’ve written about our experiences with these hosts, but I decided to condense our experiences into one post for Google and for my reference. (Chronological, scroll down for CURRENT.)
HERE is the current list of EIG hosts to AVOID. Trust me. AVOID.
We’ve had VPS type hosting for a decade+ and we’ve had several hosts. First, let me give you my opinion on the hosts we’ve had; their pricing, their uptime and their support. Those are the three main factors that everyone looks at when trying to find a decent host. Nowadays, things like SSL certificates and ddos attack prevention also factors in. I’m just going to review the last three hosts we’ve had: InMotion Hosting, Wiredtree Hosting and Zweeko Hosting. We are now on Siteground. I am not linking to these hosts, because I don’t want to hear any whining from them about my negative reviews.
InMotion Hosting (inmotionhosting.com)
We were with this host about 4-5 years ago. They were fairly new at the time and things started off great, as they always do when a host is new and hustling for clients. We had a reseller VPS account that was around $50/mo. The first coupla years was good, when I called I got the owners on the phone and they helped me with lots of technical stuff. As they grew, they had a handful of support people who were trained and did a good job. But somewhere around the 3-4yr mark, they started buying other companies and expanding, but they didn’t expand the tech support team. Then they started hiring support staff that wasn’t trained. The support degenerated into the usual bullshit excuses when our sites were down: it’s WordPress, it’s not enough RAM, it’s Bigfoot, etc. What was happening was our sites were getting ddos attacks and it was killing the server. Things kept escalating until our sites were hacked and the support people had NO IDEA what to do. They actually blamed us for the attacks and tried to tell us that there was nothing they could do to fix the SERVER HACKS. Uh, isn’t that the definition of a host’s JOB? I don’t recommend IMH if you need good support. We started looking for a new host and ended up with the next one.
WiredTree Hosting (wiredtree.com)
We were with WiredTree for about three years. They were very solicitous and moved all our sites from InMotion for free – even tho they usually charge for that many sites. We had about 15 sites at the time. We had a reseller account with these guys and it was about $60/mo. The biggest issue with WiredTree support is that they really loved to use geekspeak when answering tickets, which is annoying when a) you are not a server geek and b) you just want a straight answer in ENGLISH. Their service was actually pretty good, it was the support that was annoying. They also had a habit of fixing things, but never telling me what the problem was in the first place. I want to know what is going on, but I don’t need to know how to build a watch when I ask for the time. They did not have the ability to tell me what an issue was in non-geek terms. They also charged out the ass for an SSL Certificate, which I was interested in putting on our sites, but did not due to their exorbitant fees.
Towards the end of our tenure there, our sites were again suffering with ddos attacks that would bring down the server. They did nothing about these attacks. They didn’t even offer or use Cloudflare, which is pretty standard these days. They blamed us for the attacks, with the usual excuses: it was WordPress, it was not enough RAM, it was Bigfoot, etc. They talked me into an upgrade to SSD ($65/mo) and they SWORE that would do the trick, but alas, it was just their lack of giving a shit that was the issue. Much arguing ensued and they didn’t even refund the last month that I paid for and didn’t use. I felt swindled by WiredTree and I don’t recommend them. I was bitching about WT on Twitter, looking for a new host and that’s when the owner of Zweeko offered to move all my sites for free to his center in London. He was a sweet talker and convinced me that he’d take care of us. Beware a strong sales pitch…
UPDATE 1.31.17: WiredTree has been acquired by LiquidWeb. Don’t waste your time with it.
Zweeko Hosting (zweeko.com)
So Feb 2015, we moved to the brand new company Zweeko in London. They moved all the sites and put me on a standard VPS (not reseller, which is what I prefer) and all was good. They are $70/mo. They have us on SSD servers, nicely tricked out, and they use Cloudflare for all sites at the enterprise level. They also offer SSL Certificates for $18/yr, which is a very good price (NOT as of 2017. Now good hosts offer free SSL.). Unfortunately, despite the nice hardware, it wasn’t long before the outages began. As early as two months after we moved to Zweeko, we had server issues. At this early time, the owner was always on Twitter and he’d get things up again right away. But that, of course didn’t last. He got some tech people to run the place and he was off to travel around the world hustling big businesses to host. When he left the asylum to the inmates, support became nonexistent.
The outages started to become regular, about once a month the sites would be down for a couple of hours. Apparently they have no monitoring software at Zweeko, since they never knew when our server was down. Rather than fix the issues which were ALL on their side, all they could figure out to do was restart the server. Nothing was getting fixed, they would just restart.
One time, they insisted it was my WordPress configuration (WP is the whipping boy for hosts across the land!) and they went into my WP and fiddled with the plugins to make my site work. This is NO BUENO. They also could not tell me what they did, I had to go in and ferret out their stupid plugins, which I removed immediately with no discernible detriment, proving that they had no business in my WP install in the first place.
The latest incident was a couple of months ago. Our sites were down for NINE HOURS on a Sunday and they did NOTHING about it. Absolutely NOTHING. I put in a ticket and the B team support people apparently didn’t know what to do, so they just left our server down for the A team to fix on Monday. THEY JUST LEFT IT DOWN. I was apoplectic with rage and demanded to know why our sites were left down despite a ticket. Of course, they had nothing to say. Apparently the support people at Zweeko are not trained well enough to THINK and actually solve problems. All they know to do is what is written on their support software screen and if it’s not there they are like “WHATEVER!”. I was given a little reimbursement for the downtime, but NEVER got reimbursement for any of the myriad other times THEIR server failed.
For these reasons, I do NOT recommend Zweeko. They are pricey and they do not have strong support.
UPDATE 11.25.16: The owner of Zweeko is bugging me to take down this post. I will not. It is an accurate depiction of my experience at Zweeko. Since the outage in July, they have straightened up and given me the credit I demanded. We’ve had no big issues since July. There have been a couple of hiccups, but overall, the service has been OK. It’s still pricey, but it’s solid for now. I don’t recommend them if you have lots of sites or are not very well versed in web server issues, however. Their support team is still weak and they will do things without explanation.
THE END 1.30.17: The owner of Zweeko began to troll my personal FB page and started bugging me (see above). Twice in the last 2-3 months, we’ve not been able to get into CPanel due to Licensing issue errors. This tells me that they are either not paying their fees or they are overusing the licenses. The server has also been slow, which is the usual log problems that they’ve never, in over a year, fixed. So I called out the owner for trolling my FB (where I was looking for a new host and discussing the SHIT service I’d gotten at Zweeko) and he then pitched a fit like a small child and threatened to delete my sites – he gave me 72 hours to move. And then he sent another yammering email calling me a horrible person because I called him an asshole… Well, if the shoe fits! Fortunately for us, I’d already begun prep to move to our new host: Siteground.
Siteground (siteground.com) 1.30.17
I’ve got two clients on Siteground already, so I’ve been monitoring what’s up. No issues whatsoever. They have CHAT support like a grownup company and their support people are trained. I’ve never had a bad experience with these guys. They are in Bulgaria, but don’t let that put you off. Their English is perfect and they TAKE THEIR TIME with you. I was on chat for 45 minutes with one of their guys discussing the move and deciding which service to use. EXEMPLARY support.
I’ll update this as we get into Siteground, but I can tell you so far: everything is peachy. We are on the $80/mo VPS system. We did have to pay to have our sites moved, but whatever. They all work and everything is great. So far, so good.
Other Hosts To Avoid
One of my clients was using Bluehost for their WP site. They’ve been there about a year. The database blew up and WP was unusable, so I contacted support. After much back and forth, they finally admitted that the server was having issues and it would be fixed. But of course, they would not tell me WHEN. So this went on for a few days and they continued to lie, blame WP and put me off, meanwhile the site was up, but WP was hammered. Bluehost is a flaming piece of shit. DO NOT USE THEM. At this point, I started doing research for a new host, both for my client and for myself.
I asked the hive mind of Twitter to give me host recommendations and I got a couple of lame ones. Then this company Webhosting Ninja (www.webhosting.ninja and @ninja_hosting) said I should check them out, so I did. I did not like their plans, so I said “thanks, but no”. Then they started attacking me, assuming that *I* used Bluehost (my CLIENT does) and told me I was an idiot for not switching to them. Ninja Hosting is clearly run by a bunch of misogynistic nerd hey-bras and I DO NOT RECOMMEND THEM.
Sources for Host Reviews
But I found @HostReviewHell (www.reviewhell.com) during this, so it was worth it. This site has tons of useful info! I especially like the list of EIG hosts to AVOID (Bluehost is one).
I found Siteground (https://www.siteground.com/) on this site and I decided to try them out with my client’s WP site. So far, so good. Siteground is out of Eastern Europe (you can choose your server location, I chose Chicago), but they seem to have their shit together. They offer chat, email and phone support (I love chat support!) and it’s always manned from what I can tell. They moved my client’s site with no issues and we were up and running the next day. (Proving that it WAS Bluehost’s fucked up server that hammered WP, NOT US.) We’ve been with Siteground for a few weeks and I’ve no complaints. They offer Cloudflare with all packages and they use CPanel (a MUST).
UPDATE 11.26.16
I have put two clients on Siteground and had complete success. The first install was better than the second, but overall, I’m pleased. They have very fast CHAT support (thank the gods) and despite this being an Eastern European company, all the employees seem to be fluent in English. Siteground will be my goto if Zweeko drops the ball again like they did a few months ago. Done and done! LOL
UPDATE April 2024:
We left Siteground fairly quickly, a couple of years, I think. They suffered the usual declining support quality that hosts suffer after a few years. We moved to Kualo and have been there ever since. They are SOLID. The support is really good, which is important when shit goes sideways and you’ve got a bunch of sites. They are not the cheapest, but I’ve had hardly any issues with their hardware. The support team is always ON IT. I’m kind of shocked to still be on Kualo after all these years. My only picky complaint is that you cannot update CC info, you have to delete, then wait for an invoice. It’s idiotic. But other than that, they are a very solid host.