Shared Hosting
Hostwinds
99.9999% uptime guarantee with transparent pricing and adult content hosting allowed
Founded 2010United StatesIndependent
Overall Rating
4.0
Trustpilot: 2.9/5 (716 reviews)
Starting Price
$3.29/month
Renews at $4.99/mo
3-day money-back guarantee
Free SSL
Free Domain
Free Migration
24/7 Support
Pricing Plans
Compare Hostwinds's hosting plans
Most Popular
Shared Hosting
WordPress Hosting
VPS Hosting
Cloud Hosting
All plans include a 3-day money-back guarantee
Pros & Cons
What We Like
- Developers wanting highly customizable VPS options
- Users who value transparent upfront pricing
- Adult content websites (rare among hosts)
- Businesses needing 24/7 US-based phone support
- Users wanting both managed and unmanaged options
- PC Magazine readers who trust their Editors' Choice
What Could Be Better
- Need longer money-back guarantee
- Require many global server locations
- Want included CDN
- Need free domain
- Prefer all-inclusive pricing
- Concerned about mixed Trustpilot reviews
Rating Breakdown
Value for Money
4.0Performance
4.0Support Quality
4.0Security
3.5Features
4.0Ease of Use
4.0Transparency
4.5Overall Rating
Weighted average of all categories
4.0/5
Technical Specifications
Complete feature breakdown across all 166 data points
Storage & Resources
- Storage
- Unlimited SSD
- Storage Type
- SSD
- Bandwidth
- Unmetered
- Websites
- 1
- Databases
- Unlimited
- PHP Versions
- 7.4, 8.0, 8.1, 8.2, 8.3
Performance
- Uptime Guarantee
- 99.9999%
- Uptime SLA Credit
- CDN Included
- HTTP/2
Server Locations
- Location Count
- 3 locations
- Choose Location
- Locations
- Seattle, WA (US), Dallas, TX (US), Amsterdam (Netherlands)
Security
- Free SSL
- Wildcard SSL
- Dedicated IP
- DDoS Protection
- DDoS Level
- Enterprise-level DDoS protection included
- 2FA
Backups & Malware
- Malware Scanning
- Malware Removal
- Firewall
- Backup Frequency
- Nightly (automated)
- On-Demand Backup
- Restore Fee
- Free
Developer Tools
- SSH Access
- Git Deployment
- Staging
- Cron Jobs
- Redis
- WP-CLI
Language Support
- Node.js
- Python
- Ruby
WordPress
- WP Optimized
- Auto Install
- Auto Updates
- WP Staging
- WooCommerce
- LiteSpeed Cache
- Object Caching
- Multisite
Support
- Live Chat
- Chat Hours
- 24/7/365
- Phone Support
- Phone Hours
- 24/7/365
- Ticket Support
- Priority Support
- KB Quality
- 4/5
- Channels
- Live Chat, Phone, Ticket, Knowledge Base
- Languages
- English
- Email Included
- Account Limit
- Unlimited
- Webmail
- Spam Filter
- Forwarding
Pricing Details
- Monthly Price
- $3.29/mo
- Renewal Price
- $4.99/mo
- Renewal Markup
- 52%
- 1st Year Cost
- $39.48
- 2nd Year Cost
- $59.88
- Setup Fee
- None
- Money Back
- 3 days
- Monthly Billing
- Min Contract
- 1 months
Free Inclusions
- Free SSL
- Free Domain
- Free Migration
- Free CDN
Migration
- Free Migration
- Sites Limit
- Unlimited sites
- Turnaround
- 3 days
- Quality
- 4/5
Control Panel
- cPanel
- Panel Name
- cPanel
- Softaculous
- Site Builder
- Builder Name
- Weebly
Compliance
- GDPR
- PCI
- HIPAA
- Certifications
- SOC 2
CMS Platforms
- Drupal
- Joomla
- Magento
- Laravel
- Django
- Next.js
- Rails
- Static Sites
Content Policies
- Adult Content
- Gambling
- Crypto Sites
- Bandwidth Overage
- Unlimited within fair use; excessive use may require upgrade
- Storage Overage
- Unlimited within fair use; must upgrade for excessive use
Business Features
- API Access
- Reseller Hosting
- White Label
Best For (Score)
- Beginners
- 3/5
- Bloggers
- 3/5
- Developers
- 5/5
- eCommerce
- 4/5
- Agencies
- 4/5
- Enterprise
- 3/5
Company Info
- Founded
- 2010
- Headquarters
- United States
- Parent Company
- Independent
- Trustpilot
- 2.9/5 (716 reviews)
Our Ratings
- Overall
- 4/5
- Value
- 4/5
- Performance
- 4/5
- Support
- 4/5
- Security
- 3.5/5
- Features
- 4/5
- Ease of Use
- 4/5
- Transparency
- 4.5/5
Managed WordPress
- Available
Regional Info
- Best Countries
- United States, Netherlands, United Kingdom, Canada
- Currencies
- USD
- Support Languages
- English
- Data Sovereignty
- GDPR
External Ratings
- Trustpilot
- 2.9/5
- Reviews Count
- 716
- G2 Rating
- 4.8/5
- BBB Rating
- A+
Advanced Technical
- DB Type
- MySQL/MariaDB
- Elasticsearch
- PHP Switching
Access & Limits
- Subdomains
- Unlimited
- FTP Accounts
- Unlimited
- SSH Tier
- All plans
- Instant Activation
Additional Pricing
- Exclusions
- 3-day money-back guarantee only; Short refund window; Domain fees non-refundable
- Payment Methods
- Credit Card, Debit Card, PayPal, Bitcoin, Cryptocurrency
- Auto Renewal
- Domain Privacy
- SSL Provider
- Let's Encrypt (auto-renewed)
- Dedicated IP Cost
- $3/mo
Support Details
- Phone Countries
- United States
- Priority Cost
- $Included with managed services
- Community Forum
- Outsourced
Affiliate Program
- Affiliate Available
- Commission Type
- Per sale (tiered)
- Commission Amount
- $65 (1-6 sales), $85 (7-12), $100 (13-19), $135 (19+); $25 for unmanaged only; 60-day cookie; $100 minimum payout
Additional Policies
- File Hosting
- Proxy/VPN
- Suspension Policy
- Violation of ToS; non-payment; resource abuse; illegal content
- Downloadable Backups
Additional Platforms
- PrestaShop
- Ghost
- Shopify Migration
- Wix Migration
- Squarespace Migration
- Webflow Export
Editorial Notes
- Best For
- Developers wanting highly customizable VPS options; Users who value transparent upfront pricing; Adult content websites (rare among hosts); Businesses needing 24/7 US-based phone support; Users wanting both managed and unmanaged options; PC Magazine readers who trust their Editors' Choice
- Avoid If
- Need longer money-back guarantee; Require many global server locations; Want included CDN; Need free domain; Prefer all-inclusive pricing; Concerned about mixed Trustpilot reviews; Want staging environments
- Known Issues
- Only 3-day money-back guarantee (extremely short); Low Trustpilot rating (2.9) despite good G2 rating; No free domain included; No staging environment; Limited to 3 data center locations; No CDN included; Renewal prices higher than promo; Some users report billing issues
- USP
- 99.9999% uptime guarantee with transparent pricing and adult content hosting allowed
- Ideal Customer
- Developer wanting customizable VPS with transparent pricing and strong uptime guarantee
Competition
- Competitors
- InMotion Hosting, A2 Hosting, Liquid Web
- Best Alternative To
- InMotion Hosting
We strive for accuracy, but pricing and features change frequently. Some data may be outdated. Report an error and we'll update it promptly.
Frequently Asked Questions
Common questions about Hostwinds
Hostwinds is excellent for developers wanting customizable VPS options and has a 99.9999% uptime guarantee. PC Magazine Editors' Choice for 10 years. However, mixed reviews on Trustpilot (2.9) vs excellent G2 rating (4.8).
Hostwinds is an independently owned, privately held company founded by Peter Holden in 2010. Originally founded in Tulsa, Oklahoma, now headquartered in Seattle, Washington.
Hostwinds shared hosting starts at $3.29/month (renews at $4.99). Unmanaged VPS starts at $5.17/month. Dedicated servers from $70/month. Monthly billing available.
Moderately. Hostwinds offers cPanel, one-click installers, and 24/7 phone support, but the highly customizable nature of their services may overwhelm beginners.
Yes, unlimited email accounts are included with shared hosting plans, with webmail access and spam filtering.
Yes, Hostwinds offers optimized WordPress hosting with automatic installation and updates, though no staging environment is available.
Hostwinds guarantees an industry-leading 99.9999% uptime backed by SLA credits for any downtime.
Hostwinds offers only a 3-day money-back guarantee, which is much shorter than the industry standard of 30 days. Monthly billing is available, allowing flexible cancellation.
Similar Hosting Providers
Other options to consider if Hostwinds isn't the right fit