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

$3.29/mo

Renews at $4.99/mo

  • Unlimited SSD Storage
  • Unmetered Bandwidth
  • Free SSL Certificate
  • 1-Click WordPress Install
  • Live Chat Support

WordPress Hosting

$5.24/mo

Renews at $8.24/mo

  • Unlimited SSD Storage
  • Unmetered Bandwidth
  • Free SSL Certificate
  • 1-Click WordPress Install
  • Live Chat Support

VPS Hosting

$5.17/mo
  • Unlimited SSD Storage
  • Unmetered Bandwidth
  • Free SSL Certificate
  • Full SSH Access
  • Node.js Support
  • Live Chat Support

Cloud Hosting

$5.17/mo
  • Unlimited SSD Storage
  • Unmetered Bandwidth
  • Free SSL Certificate
  • Full SSH Access
  • Node.js Support
  • Live Chat Support

Dedicated Server

$70.00/mo
  • Unlimited SSD Storage
  • Unmetered Bandwidth
  • Free SSL Certificate
  • Full SSH Access
  • Node.js Support
  • Live Chat Support

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
4.0
Performance
4.0
Support Quality
4.0
Security
3.5
Features
4.0
Ease of Use
4.0
Transparency
4.5

Overall 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

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.