HostPapa Review

Affordable Hosting with Dependable Uptime and Great Speed

HostPapa hosts more than 500,000 sites that have seen a spectacular rise thanks to the vendor’s exceptional customer service and beginner-friendly features. That said, they have their drawbacks as you’ll see in the detailed review below.

HostPapa Uptime: 99.9% Guarantee

HostPapa guarantees 99.9% uptime and it does deliver. Many HostPapa reviews of the past two years reveal an average uptime of 99.95%. That said, unlike some of the top web host providers, HostPapa doesn’t have a credit system to compensate/discount your payment in case your site goes down. 

Solid Speed & Performance

HostPapa web hosting comes with robust infrastructure and the latest technology to ensure fast load speeds. The company’s equipment is powered by Intel Server, while the networks are Cisco-powered. The servers deliver content up to 50 times faster. HostPapa uses built-in caching — Cachewall — that further optimizes the response time for your website. The web host additionally comes with Cloudflare-powered CDN, SSD drives, and PHP7. 

Free Domain Names & Transfer

Our HostPapa review shows that the vendor primarily caters to small businesses; therefore, they offer services like inexpensive domain names. You can choose from classic domain extensions or pick a more unique one for free for the first year of service if you sign up for HostPapa hosting. The company offers domains independently which means you can purchase one even if you don’t sign up for one of their hosting services. 

On the other hand, if you already have your domain name, you can transfer it to HostPapa free of charge. The platform’s migration experts guarantee no downtime and seamless process, which many HostPapa reviews confirm. 

Free Website Migration

HostPapa provides website migration from any host free of charge. The team of professionals will take care of everything (websites, email, databases, scripts, etc.) ensuring your website stays online and available throughout the process. The only restriction is that you need to apply for migration within the first 30 days of signing up for HostPapa. 

However, during our research, we found out that the majority of the HostPapa complaints are related to migration. Users report that the process took too long and they didn’t get proper assistance. 

Good Website Builder

Building a website is easier than ever with the customizable HostPapa website builder. Users rave about this feature in virtually every HostPapa review. All plans include the Starter Edition of the website builder for free. You don’t need any web design and development skills to do so; the convenient drag-and-drop features enable you to publish a professional-looking site in minutes. You can choose and set up a pre-designed template, customize elements like fonts, images, and color schemes, and even build an online shop. 

Robust Security

HostPapa hosting reviews praise the generous security features. The entry-level plans come with Panda Cloud anti-spam, monitoring, server firewall, and intrusion detection. 

The Business Pro features additional security measures including a dedicated IP address, domain privacy protection, a free Premium Wildcard SSL certificate, and automated backups. The Protection Power automatically scans the websites for potential malware and hack threats and gives you a trust seal. 

The data centers are highly secured and monitored too. They are equipped with climate/temperature control, fault protection, UPS, redundant power generation, and backup generators. 

HostPapa Support: Great Knowledge Base but Poor Customer Service

HostPapa has an extensive knowledge base with a variety of helpful articles organized by topic. This is a great place if you have some basic questions. There’s also 24/7 support via email, live chat, and phone in four languages (English, German, French, and Spanish). 

HostPapa reviews regarding customer support are mixed. Some users report positive experiences stating that the team is knowledgeable, patient, and ready to help. On the flip side, users complain that, contrary to the company’s claims, it’s hard to get assistance, the waiting times are long, and their account managers are rude. For many, poor customer service was the main reason why they moved on from this vendor. 

It would seem that if you want five-star customer service, you might want to look elsewhere. Comparing HostPapa vs A2 Hosting, for example, shows that A2 Hosting is the winner in terms of customer support, thanks to their stellar Guru Crew.

Free Training

On the upside, HostPapa customers are eligible for a free 30-minute consultation with the PapaSquad. The team can help you with setup, provide general advice, or develop a custom strategy. HostPapa reviews indicate that this service is particularly useful to newbies who are just entering the web hosting world and want to make the most out of it. 

Green Hosting

HostPapa is one of the first hosting companies that went green. The vendor uses wind and solar energy, has green energy certificates and uses 100% renewable Green Tag energy from a variety of sources across Canada and the US. After a HostPapa vs GreenGeeks comparison, we can say that both companies shine in terms of green hosting, with the latter capitalizing on its 300% energy offset scheme. 

30-Day Money-Back Guarantee

HostPapa offers the basic 30-day window in which you can cancel the service and get a total refund. The research for our HostPapa review, however, revealed a catch — the setup fees are non-refundable meaning you’ll still be charged $29.95 if you decide to cancel.  

Renewal Rates & Value for Money

As the majority of web hosting providers, HostPapa plans come in at affordable introductory prices for the first billing period. Additionally, you can often find a HostPapa coupon on their site which will grant you even better deals. The pricing, however, spikes upon renewal. 

For example, the Business plan starts at $3.95 if you commit to three years but after that, the price jumps to $7.99. Still, after a HostPapa vs SiteGround comparison, we can conclude that this increase in renewal prices isn’t so drastic. The good news is, you’ll get a great value for money during the initial period and benefit from many freebies like unmetered bandwidth, unlimited disk space, and free domain name.  

HostPapa Pricing 

HostPapa offers a variety of hosting options from shared and VPS to WordPress and reseller. Below, you can find a detailed review of each of the HostPapa hosting plans along with a price breakdown.

HostPapa Shared Hosting Review

The introductory plan allows you to host two websites which we think is pretty generous. Free domain registration is included in all plans if you sign up for one year in advance. The research for our HostPapa review further shows that the bandwidth is unmetered.

There are three shared hosting plans to choose from:

• Starter — $2.95/month ($7.99 regular price) — 100GB SSD and Starter Website Builder (2 pages).
• Business — $2.73/month ($12.99 upon renewal) — unlimited number of sites and SSD storage, Started Website Builder (2 pages), advanced features like unlimited MySQL databases, 2x CPU, and MySQL resources, unlimited email accounts, and add-on domains.
• Business Pro — $7.95/month ($19.99 regular price) — ups the Business plan with performance enhancements like 4x CPU and MySQL resources, rocket fast servers, and Business Website Builder (1,000 pages), as well as security enhancements like a Premium Wildcard SSL, automatic site backups, and domain privacy. 

HostPapa Managed Shared Hosting Review

HostPapa reviews confirm that the managed hosting service allows users to focus on the important stuff while an experienced team takes care of everything tech-related. The perks that come with this hosting option include priority support, reducing potential downtime, web security support, and more. The PapaSquad will help you with managing email accounts, domains, spam filters, and more. 

The price of the managed hosting is $39.95/month, in addition to the cost of the user’s regular account.  

HostPapa VPS Review

HostPapa VPS plans provide excellent speed, performance, and guaranteed resources needed for growing businesses. With the easy-to-use HostPapa cPanel and root-level access through the VPS manager, you can host unlimited websites and domains and stay in control of your virtual machines. Plus, the plans are suited for scaling — you can easily add resources (CPU, memory, I/O, and entry processes) whenever you need them. 

There are five VPS plans to choose from:

• Mercury — $19.99/month — 4 core CPU, 2GB memory, 60GB SSD storage, 1TB transfer.
• Venus — $59.99/month — 4 core CPU, 4GB memory, 125GB SSD storage, 2TB transfer.
• Earth — $109.99/month — 8 core CPU, 8GB memory, 250GB SSD storage, 2TB transfer.
• Mars — $169.99/month — 8 core CPU, 16GB memory, 500GB SSD storage, 4TB transfer.
• Jupiter — $249.99/month — 12 core CPU, 32GB memory, 1TB SSD storage, 8TB transfer.

HostPapa WordPress Hosting Review

With HostPapa, you can optimize your site for WordPress from the start — it comes pre-installed so everything is hassle-free. You’ll get enhanced speed and performance, access to live WP expert support round the clock, built-in WordPress monitoring and security, and much more. 

For the purpose of this HostPapa review, we made a head-to-head comparison of HostPapa with all WordPress-recommended hosts. Though HostPapa provides solid performance and is great for beginners, Bluehost reviews by users confirm this host as a better choice for more advanced WP sites. 

Pricing-wise, there are three plans to choose from:

• WP Starter — $2.95/month ($8.99 regular price) — 2 websites, 100GB of SSD storage, unmetered bandwidth, 100 email accounts, and Jetpack Free.
• WP Business Plan — $2.95/month ($13.99 upon renewal) — unlimited websites, storage, and email accounts, and unmetered bandwidth, plus advanced features.
• WP Business Pro Plan — $7.95/month ($21.99 regular price) — ups WP Business with premium features. 

HostPapa Reseller Review

If you want to get into the web hosting business, HostPapa offers some great reseller plans. You can use the intuitive dashboard to manage your clients and also give them the option to manage their own accounts. Clients will enjoy advanced CDN and superior security with WAF, malware detection/removal, automated website backup, and more. Plans from Gold and above also include a billing and automation suite (WHMCS and Clientexec).

There are five reseller plans to choose from:

• Bronze — $29.99/month — 4 core CPU, 2GB RAM, 50GB SSD storage, 500GB bandwidth, and 20 cPanel accounts.
• Silver — $39.99/month — 4 core CPU, 4GB RAM, 100GB SSD storage, 1TB bandwidth, and 40 cPanel accounts.
• Gold — $64.99 — 8 core CPU, 8GB RAM, 150GB SSD storage, 1.5TB bandwidth, and 60 cPanel accounts.
• Platinum — $89.99/month — 8 core CPU, 16GB RAM, 200GB SSD storage, 2TB bandwidth, and 100 cPanel accounts.
• Titanium — $119.99/month — 8 core CPU, 32GB RAM, 250GB SSD storage, 2.5TB bandwidth, 150 cPanel accounts.

Is HostPapa Any Good?

The short answer is — yes. It provides excellent uptime, above-average speed, and robust security. Indeed, this HostPapa review has revealed some areas which could be improved like the customer service and migration process but, overall, it's a well-rounded hosting solution.