This software is for sending, receiving, and managing documents for electronic signing.

But does HelloSign’s e-signature software offer enough value for the cost of their subscription plan?

We looked at the HelloSign free trial to find out what’s included and how to extend the subscription after the trial ends.

Let’s dive in!

Is HelloSign Free or Paid?

HelloSign does offer a free plan that allows you to send three signature requests per month.

HelloSign also offers three paid plans: Essentials, Dropbox + eSign, and Standard.

Each successive paid plan includes extra features while still including all the features from the lower-priced plans.

Finally, HelloSign offers a fourth plan it has titled the Premium plan.

The HelloSign premium plan uses customized pricing based on your individual needs.

Does HelloSign Have a Free Trial?

Yes, every plan from HelloSign has an option for a free trial, so you can give the service a test run before you spend any money.

How Long is the HelloSign Free Trial?

The HelloSign free trial runs for 30 days.

The 30-day free trial from HelloSign includes all the same features and benefits of the company’s paid plans.

You can cancel your plan without being charged if you don’t want to continue your subscription after the 30-day free trial.

Does HelloSign Require a Credit Card to Activate a Free Trial?

HelloSign requires a credit card to create an account and begin your free trial.

You must decide which of HelloSign’s plans you want to sign up for and choose how you wish HelloSign to bill you after the free trial ends.

Billing options include monthly or yearly billing. HelloSign accepts payments from Visa, Discover, Mastercard, American Express, and PayPal.

How Much is HelloSign After The Free Trial?

After the 30-day HelloSign free trial ends, the company will automatically bill you and enroll you in the paid plan you chose when you signed up.

HelloSign also offers three standardized paid plans:

• Essentials: $15/month
• Dropbox + eSign: $24.99/month
• Standard: $25/user/month
• Premium: Reach out to HelloSign Customer Service to get a price quote.

What Comes With the HelloSign Free Trial?

The free trial at HelloSign provides you with 30 days of access to all of the features available in the paid plans, including many tools that increase productivity.

Every plan comes with access to HelloSign’s mobile app, tamper-proof documents, and templates you can use to quickly compose your documents before sending them to others with HelloSign’s included template linking feature.

Features You Can Test With a Free Trial

Here are five of HelloSign’s most valuable features you can test with a free trial.

1. Document Templates

HelloSign recognizes that you may need to send similarly designed documents repeatedly.

To that end, the company allows you to save document templates from the documents you have previously created.

This excellent time-saving feature is one of HelloSign’s best productivity tools.

2. Signature Requests

With HelloSign, you can send signature requests on HelloSign documents via email and the HelloSign mobile app.

Even better, every paid plan from HelloSign includes unlimited signature requests, so you don’t have to worry about monitoring your number of requests each month.

3. Audit Trail

With HelloSign’s Audit Trail function, you can track every action in your documents.

The audit trail is non-editable, so you don’t have to worry about the trail getting confused as others interact with your documents.

HelloSgin also timestamps each action for added convenience.

4. Integrations

HelloSign’s many integrations allow you to implement e-signatures with existing tools in your workflow.

HelloSign integrations let you send signature requests via Google, Microsoft, Dropbox, and more.

5. Certifications and Security

Privacy and security are a high priority at HelloSign.

The company maintains many certifications, including ISO 27001 and SOC 2 Type 2.

Additionally, the company ensures all your documents are safe with plenty of security protocols, including encrypting all documents with AES 256-bit encryption.

HelloSign Free Trial Limitations

The HelloSign free trial is a very generous offer that provides access to everything you might use at HelloSign so that you can test it for yourself.

Limitations to be aware of with the free trial include the time limit of 30 days.

Also, the free trial requires you to create an account and provide your credit card information to register.

Is HelloSign Customer Support Included With Free Trials?

Yes, you can reach HelloSign customer support via the website.

The company also maintains a helpful learning center and library of tutorial documents so you can find answers to common questions.

How to Claim a HelloSign Free Trial

Signing up for a HelloSign free trial is a straightforward process that requires only a few minutes to complete.

1. Go to HelloSign.com. Click on the link marked “Free Trial” in the top right corner of the page.
2. On the next page, you must either enter your email address to create an account or sign up using an existing Google or Dropbox account.
3. On the next page, select a plan and billing cycle.
4. Click on the “Start Free Trial” link under the banner of the plan you want to test.
5. The next page requires you to enter your billing information and review your order summary.
6. Once you are ready, click the “Start Free Trial” link.

How Do I Get The Most From My HelloSign Free Trial?

Whatever plan you choose when signing up for your free trial will determine what features you can try out.

If you think you need features only available in the higher-level plans, sign up for that plan during the trial run.

How Can I Make My HelloSign Free Trial Longer?

Unfortunately, HelloSign limits its free trial to 30 days.

After this time, HelloSign will automatically bill you for the paid version of whichever plan you enrolled in.

If you don’t want to pay for HelloSign, the company does offer a free plan, albeit with limited features.

Does HelloSign Automatically Charge Users After the Free Trial Ends?

Yes, at the end of the 30-day free trial, HelloSign will use the credit card information you provide during your account creation and plan signup to charge you.

Can You Cancel HelloSign After The Free Trial?

Yes, if you’ve decided that HelloSign isn’t for you, you can cancel your plan before the trial is over to avoid any charges.

How to Cancel a HelloSign Free Trial

Here are the steps to cancel your account with HelloSign.

• Step 1: Sign into your HelloSign account.
• Step 2: A drop-down menu is under your initials in the upper right corner of the page.
• Step 3: Select “Settings” from the drop-down menu and then click on the “Billings” tab.
• Step 4: Click on the link marked “Cancel plan” to cancel your subscription.

If you would rather cancel by mail, HelloSign provides a form template in a handy PDF file format that you can fill out and mail to the company.

How to Remove Card Details From HelloSign

Here’s how to edit your card details at HelloSign:

• Step 1: Sign in to your account.
• Step 2: Hover over your email address in the upper-right corner and click the “My Settings” link from the drop-down.
• Step 3: Select the Billing tab and click “Update” next to billing information.

Is HelloSign Worth Paying For?

It is ultimately up to you whether you feel HelloSig is worth paying for.

This article provides basic information focusing on the company’s free trial.

Our HelloSign review goes into much more detail about all the features, plan differences, and support options that HelloSign can provide to you.

Overall, HelloSign provides a service that we deem very affordable, given the prices for the paid plans.

Features like the audit trail, integrations, and unlimited signature requests take a lot of the headaches out of getting signatures on electronic documents.

What To Expect From a HelloSign Subscription

HelloSign prides itself on offering secure, convenient e-document signing services for businesses of every size.

HelloSign helps make creating and managing your documents more straightforward.

Document templates save you a ton of time, and the many integrations reduce the number of steps in your workflow for a more efficient process overall.

What is a Free Alternative to HelloSign?

If you like the idea of HelloSign but don’t have the room in your budget to afford any of their paid plans, then we recommend you try a free alternative service.

A fantastic option that we have reviewed in the past and rated 5-stars is SignWell.

SignWell is a cloud-based e-signature software that has been operating since 2019.

This company allows you to create up to 3 documents per month for free.

The electronic signatures on SignWell documents are legally valid, just like with HelloSign and the SignWell provides a permanent record of your documents for added protection.

Once you send a document with SignWell, the signing process usually takes less than a minute, and once the signer sends the document back, you get an instant notification.

Other Ways to Save on HelloSign Pricing

Here are a few other ways to save on the cost of HelloSign.

HelloSign Promo Codes

HelloSign periodically releases promo codes such as 20% off your first month when creating an account.

HelloSign Discounts

Finding a discount on HelloSign can be a fantastic way to save on the cost of your new paid plan after you’ve already run through the company’s 30-day trial plan.

HelloSign Black Friday & Cyber Monday Specials

HelloSign offers great holiday deals on Black Friday and Cyber Monday that we encourage you to take advantage of to reduce the expense of your subscription plan.

Is There a HelloSign Student Plan?

HelloSign doesn’t offer a student plan, but you could check with your college or university to see if they have any deals arranged with the company.

Other Free Trials to Check Out

Here are a few alternative free e-signature trial plans you can try out.

1. DocuSign Free Trial: Overview

The DocuSign free trial lasts for 30 days and doesn’t require a credit card to sign up.

Users can sign up for one of DocuSign’s three e-signature software plans to test out features such as real-time auditing, team reports, and shared documents.

2. Ahrefs Free Trial: Overview

As part of Ahrefs Free Trial, this SEO company offers access to their Webmaster Tools so users can get a better idea of the service.

The tools include free access to Ahrefs’ Site Explorer and Site Audit functions so you can experience them without risking your hard-earned dollars.

3. Bluehost Free Trial: Overview

The Bluehost free trial is a 30-day trial that you can test out if you are looking for a new web hosting company.

Explore the company’s many web design, marketing, and security tools to decide if Bluehost would be the right place to build your new WordPress site or online store.

Frequently Asked Questions

Here are two of the most common questions we get about HelloSign.

Wrapping Up

A HelloSign free trial is a great way to test out the features that this e-signature company provides.

HelloSign seems like an excellent service for any size company that needs to send and sign documents electronically, thanks to its user-friendly features and robust security protocols.

Does HelloSign sound like it’s right for you?

Sign up for a HelloSign free trial today, and then come back here to let us know your thoughts.

Many businesses rely on forums and message boards to create more life around their brand, allowing users and customers to get involved in more ways than just buying the product or service.

These effects can also lead to more growth, which is an excellent way to continue community building.

But how do you find the right forum software with so many options? Well, that’s what we’re here to help you with.

We’ve handpicked the six best forum software services and reviewed them, so let’s dive in.

Best Forum Software – Shortlist

1. phpBB
2. Vanilla Forums
3. Invision Community
4. Simple Machines Forum
5. Wix Forum
6. MyBB

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Our Pick

Vanilla Forums

• Simple and intuitive user interface
• A vast library of supported integrations
• Optional paid knowledge base system

Visit WP Engine

Runner Up

Wix Forum

• Free add-on to Wix websites
• Social features
• Can be incorporated with other Wix features
• Custom domain with easy hosting

Visit Pressable

Budget Pick

MyBB

• Open-source and free
• Numerous modern-looking templates
• Theme editor adds more customization
• Multi-language support

Visit Kinsta

The 6 Best Forum Software in 2022

Forums have been in demand since the early internet days, so naturally, there’s always been a booming market for forum software.

The problem is that picking a forum software provider for your online community can be challenging, so we’ve narrowed down our favorite options to help you pick from the top shelf.

1. phpBB

PHP bulletin board, also known as phpBB, is among the oldest forum software platforms that are still popular today, having launched in 2000.

It’s also a free and open-source forum software, giving users all the customization they may need to add to the already rich forum template it provides.

phpBB is also a relatively conservative forum platform, often keeping the simple but familiar spirit of forums from the early 2000s over fancy modern designs.

As such, the default phpBB theme system can sometimes lack some advanced functionality.

However, the user base is still strong, providing plenty of free plugins and extensions that can boost the admin and user experience.

And with decades worth of forum plugins, you’re bound to find the features you need that don’t come with the default template.

Despite its conservative nature, phpBB has always kept up with important updates such as mobile responsiveness and security measures.

Moreover, it supports multiple languages and is infinitely scalable with the right host.

Speaking of hosting, one of the main drawbacks of phpBB is that it’s a self-hosted forum service, meaning that you’ll have to host it on your own server.

You might also need some coding know-how to set up a phpBB forum according to your needs.

But if you don’t know how to do it yourself, you can often find someone from the phpBB community to do it for far less than a full-time web developer.

Pros:

• Completely free
• Hundreds of forum plugins
• Built-in SEO tools
• Robust management system and moderation tools
• Extensive security measures
• Highly customizable
• Responsive on mobile devices
• Infinitely scalable

Cons:

• Self-hosted forum software
• Default template lacks some modern functionality
• Most themes look a bit old

Pricing Plans

Free with no paid plans or additional costs.

2. Vanilla Forums

When it comes to convenience and scalable business plans, Vanilla Forums is a name that often pops up in the discussion, thanks to its naturally intuitive dashboard and selection of free and premium versions.

Even the “Vanilla” in its name describes its design practices, which opt for a simple design to maximize community engagement over flashy visuals without compromising practicality.

Moreover, Vanilla Forums is renowned for its gamification features, including user and post badges, “best of” lists, ranks, social media-like reactions, and leaderboards. Naturally, these features are always warmly welcomed in any thriving community forum.

And if your online community relies on multiple platforms, you’ll be glad to know that Vanilla Forums offers a vast array of integrations with marketing software, communication platforms, other support forums, product management systems, and more.

You can also set up a robust ticketing system on your forum, allowing you to use it as a help desk for your service.

Combine these features with Vanilla’s dedicated support team, sleek and modern-looking themes, and scalability, and it’s no wonder so many mid-to-large businesses choose it as their premium forum software.

But even small and innovative businesses can benefit from Vanilla’s free version, which is still among the best free forum software.

Pros:

• Simple and intuitive user interface
• Great management system
• A vast library of supported integrations
• Various plugins available
• Optional paid knowledge base system
• Full-time support and customer success manager
• Powerful text editor

Cons:

• The premium version is a bit pricey
• Not as many free plugins are available

Pricing Plans

There’s a free and open-source version available.

And while there are no fixed prices for the premium version, they range from hundreds to thousands of dollars per month, depending on the business.

You can contact its sales department for more info.

3. Invision Community

Invision Community is a powerful forum software solution with a heavily business-oriented design made to accommodate mid-to-large companies, thanks to its fulfilling admin tools that make forum setup, user moderation, and board segmentation near effortless.

Speaking of segmentation, not only does Invision Community allow you to create numerous boards with varying permissions, but even users can create smaller private sub-forums, known as clubs, to accommodate smaller groups within the online community.

Many businesses also use Invision Community’s forum software to create help desk forums for their customers using the support ticketing system that allows you to easily handle many messages and requests.

The achievements, badges, and rewards system is another neat addition to complete the excellent user experience.

And admins can set specific achievements and give reward points if users meet the predefined criteria.

Invision Community doesn’t neglect smaller businesses, too.

Although it’s not free forum software, its most affordable plans cater to startups and smaller companies. So you can start there and scale up as your business grows.

Lastly, Invision Community offers plenty of customization through the admin panel.

But if you’re looking to tweak the source code to adjust it to your specific needs, you won’t be able to since the software is entirely closed-source.

Pros:

• Thorough board segmentation
• Easy to set up and maintain
• Comprehensive admin and moderation tools
• Clubs available for community members
• Achievements, reward points, and badges are available
• Scalable subscription plans
• Integrations with Shopify, Slack, Meta, and more

Cons:

• No free version
• No open-source software

Pricing Plans

The free trial is available for 14 days. Afterward, there are five pricing plans, and their monthly costs are as follows:

• Creator: $89
• Creator Pro: $149
• Team: $229
• Business: $549
• Enterprise: Custom

4. Simple Machines Forum

Overview

If you’re looking for something similar to phpBB, then Simple Machines Forum (SMF) is your answer

Both have been direct competitors since SMF’s founding in 2001.

And we have to say, the 20+ years of competition made them refine their platforms to the best standard, even today.

And just like phpBB, SMF follows the traditional forum practices of the early 2000s; that is, it’s free, open-source, and self-hosted.

So you can easily download the free forum software from its website, customize the source code to your needs, then the self-hosting is up to you.

The flexible admin dashboard lets you do anything you want in a forum.

It’s one of the most thorough dashboards we’ve seen, as it lets you control permissions down to minor details.

SMF also provides an advanced level of security, SEO features, support for 45+ languages, and a paid subscription model you can implement for your members.

And with hundreds of free extensions, you’ll find all the features you need that don’t already exist in the default template.

As for appearance, SMF is about keeping the spirit of old forums alive.

Its themes deviate from the flashy modern style and stick to the plain and simple aesthetic that puts all the focus on the content.

Note that you need at least a basic technical background to unlock SMF’s full potential, as some of the features can only be tweaked with code.

Pros:

• Free forum software
• Very powerful admin dashboard
• Open source and customizable to the tiniest details
• Numerous extensions and plugins
• SEO tools and multi-language support

Cons:

• Older themes that don’t cater to everyone
• Self-hosted forum software
• Requires a bit of technical know-how

Pricing Plans

Completely free.

5. Wix Forum

Overview

Wix is a robust CMS-like website builder with forum software that allows you to build your forum using an intuitive drag-and-drop system without needing to write a single line of code.

But even if you don’t have the time to create your custom theme, you can pick one of Wix’s many website templates, none of which fall short on appearance, functionality, or modesty.

Unlike other forum software on this list, Wix Forum is available on its app market as a free add-on that you can install on an existing website rather than a standalone platform.

So it’s a good option if you don’t want to build a forum from scratch.

The catch here is that you need a regular website from Wix.

Because Wix Forum is an add-on, you can combine it with features from other Wix services to build a versatile website.

One of our favorite features is the e-commerce store you can incorporate into your forum, enabling your users and customers to buy your products easily.

Another selling point of Wix is its social media-like features, which are revolutionary for a forum.

For example, users can create much more extensive personal profiles than on traditional forums, and other users can follow them and see their profile posts.

As for hosting, Wix hosts your forum along with your website as part of its standard subscription plan, so you don’t need to handle it.

Pros:

• Free add-on to Wix websites
• Drag-and-drop option lets you customize the website easily
• Mobile responsiveness
• Social features
• Can be incorporated with other Wix features
• Custom domain with easy hosting

Cons:

• Must be built on a Wix website
• Less customizable than open-source software

Pricing Plans

The forum add-on is free. But the regular Wix website monthly prices are:

• Connect Domain: $4.50
• Combo: $8.50
• Unlimited: $12.50
• VIP: $24.50

There are also three separate business plans for e-commerce websites at these monthly prices:

• Basic: $17
• Unlimited: $25
• VIP: $35

6. MyBB

Overview

We finish off our list with another top contender that’s been among the best free forum software since its founding in 2002.

But unlike its 20-year-long competitors on this list, MyBB has always kept up with contemporary design standards, which shows in its colorful and robust themes.

MyBB’s theme editor allows you to customize pre-existing themes to your liking, giving you even more control over how your forum looks.

Even end users can customize how things look from their view, with several viewing options and system-only themes to pick from.

You also get detailed analytics and statistics on the forum users, posts, groups, comments, and more, allowing you to track your community’s growth.

And although there aren’t as many extensions and additional plugins in MyBB’s library, its design options keep it within the contention for the best forum software.

Pros:

• Open-source and free
• Numerous modern-looking templates
• Theme editor adds more customization
• Multi-language support
• Supports email blasts

Cons:

• Not as many plugins are available
• Self-hosted

Pricing Plans

Completely free.

What to Look For in Forum Software

When considering forum software, we recommend you look for these key features:

Text Editor

Decades ago, discussion forums relied entirely on plain text posts and comments, and there was practically no formatting or stylization involved.

That changed with time, as forum software became more sophisticated and allowed users some level of stylization using “primitive” technologies like bulletin board codes.

The problem with these technologies is that they’re often too complicated for the average user.

Remembering the exact codes, opening and closing tags, and using arrow brackets looks like gibberish to most casual users.

Not to mention how they make plain text hard to read, so they were often exclusively used by experienced members.

Therefore, the best solution is to have a user-friendly text editor at the submission box to enable users to stylize their text in an easy and digestible manner.

Private Messaging

Although group discussions are at the heart of any community forum, you might still want to give your forum members a way to communicate with one another, typically through private messages.

Many online communities don’t need private messaging because they don’t have a heavy focus on user-to-user relationships, especially if the forum is secondary to another service.

For example, a basic forum for a quiz site where users discuss the latest quizzes or suggest new ones won’t need the feature.

But for most online communities, private messaging is among the most basic features.

And some online forum software even lets registered users create private group messages with other users.

So consider your target audience and service, and you’ll conclude whether or not you need private messaging.

Profile Customization Options

Many people think of forums as less sophisticated social media platforms since they both allow users to create personal profile pages, customize them, then participate in discussions or even spark some talk on their profiles.

But while you don’t need Facebook levels of extensive user profile customization, it’s still good to include all the basic features like profile pictures, bios, and personal info like name, location, and age.

Other forum software even lets you add custom profile fields to fully cater the forum website to your niche.

For example, a bodybuilding forum might give users fitness-related fields such as weight and workout split.

Another iconic forum feature is user signatures, which are fields where users can add text or images that’ll appear under their comments.

Overall, giving your community members full control over their profiles can increase user engagement, and it’s generally fun for them.

Mobile Optimization

Many forum platforms failed to adapt to the rising popularity of mobile devices over the last decade and didn’t optimize the experience for mobile users.

And to this day, some traditional forums don’t work well on smartphones because they retain their horizontal alignments and button sizes on a narrow vertical screen.

However, it shouldn’t be hard to find good forum software with a responsive design for mobile devices nowadays.

You’ll need to ensure that the user interface changes from horizontal to vertical and that the buttons, text, and other basic forum features scale up on phone screens.

Some forum software services even offer a mobile app, which is better than web browser support.

User Achievements

Another way to increase engagement is by encouraging your users to post high-quality content through an achievement system, where they rise through user ranks by achieving a high number of posts and upvotes.

A common tactic is to set user groups for each level of experience a user has and signal them with stars on the user’s profile.

The higher and more experienced the group, the more stars its users will have.

These groups should be open to all users, but they may only enter them by achieving a post or upvote milestone.

You can also implement achievements with a badge or point system that displays on the user profile and under their name when they post.

Comment Chains

There are two ways to display comment chains: flat and threaded.

Flat comment chains are similar to the old style of Facebook or Instagram, when you could only post comments under the existing ones and not as a reply to a previous comment.

Meanwhile, threaded comments are like the ones on Reddit, where you can reply to any comment, creating a much more complex “comment tree” on each thread.

In practice, it sounds like threaded comments should be an automatic go-to because they give users more flexibility and the ability to reply to another comment directly.

However, many forum software managers like the famous phpBB stick to flat comments because they’re simple, straightforward, and don’t clutter the page.

There’s no objectively better choice here, it depends on your target audience, and you should consider what works best for your community forum.

Forum Segmentation

Forum segmentation is when you split your boards into smaller private forums that are only accessible by a subset of your user base.

They’re a necessary feature for many forums, especially if they have a tier system in their own online communities.

For starters, forum admins and moderators often need private boards where they can discuss sitewide rules, moderation tools, and other issues.

Premium users should also have a VIP board or lounge where you might provide exclusive content or let them spark a discussion, for example.

Overall, forum segmentation could always benefit a thriving online community, and some forum software do it better than others.

Closed vs. Open Source Software

Another important yet highly technical consideration is whether you want closed- or open-source forum software.

Open-source forum software is often free, and the providers give you the source code to customize it to your needs.

Of course, this requires a high degree of technical knowledge in web development and UI/UX design.

But if you can nail it down, you can create the best forum software for your needs.

In contrast, closed-source software is on the pricier side, but the forums come with plenty of advanced features and offer some customization.

Also, closed-source forums often have a full-time support team, an installation service, and maintenance as part of the cost.

Analytics

Analytics is always crucial for growth, so you’ll likely need a basic set of analytic tools to measure your community growth.

For example, you should be able to see monthly user activity, post activity, board and page views, and newly registered members.

It’s also helpful if the data is neatly presented instead of just giving you raw numbers.

Extra points if the forum software lets you integrate with analytics platforms like Google Analytics.

Frequently Asked Questions

Wrapping Up

A forum can benefit any brand or business by building an online community around it, which will increase user engagement and lead to more growth.

But the best forum software depends on your brand and what you’re looking for.

Some solutions like phpBB and Simple Machines Forum provide traditional and familiar forums with simple designs and a focus on content.

In contrast, more modern forum software like Vanilla Forums and Wix are more liberal with their designs, features, and integrations.

The InterServer free trial gives users access to web hosting services to enjoy the VPS services virtually free of charge for 30 days.

Learn more about the InterServer free trial, features you can test, and answers to FAQs below.

Is InterServer Free or Paid?

InterServer is a paid web hosting, domain registration, and VPS service provider.

The free trial costs $0.01 to activate, so users cannot apply for the free trial multiple times.

Web hosting with InterServer starts at $2.50 per month, and domain registration is $7.99.

Linux and Storage VPS services start at $6 per month, while Windows VPS services start at $10 monthly.

Storage prices range from $3 to $42 per month based on your storage needs.

Does InterServer Have a Free Trial?

Yes. InterServer has a free trial that allows users to test the storage and VPS services before paying for a monthly subscription.

The InterServer free trial costs new sign-ups $0.01, which covers the first 30 days of using the platform.

How Long is the InterServer Free Trial?

The InterServer free trial lasts 30 days or one month from your sign-up date.

Users have 30 days to utilize the flexible hosting platforms and learn the features to determine if it’s the right fit for their needs.

Does InterServer Require a Credit Card to Activate a Free Trial?

Yes, InterServer requires users to enter their credit card information when signing up for the free trial.

InterServer asks for credit card information to avoid users creating multiple accounts and abusing the free trial program.

Your credit card will get charged $0.01 upon signing up for the free trial with InterServer.

How Much is InterServer After Free Trial?

After the 30-day free trial, InterServer costs depend on your usage needs.

Prices for the cloud virtual private servers or storage-optimized virtual private servers range from $3 to $96 per month, with several pricing options in between.

Windows VPS hosting costs $10 to $160 per month, depending on your storage, CPU core, and memory needs.

What Comes With the InterServer Free Trial?

The InterServer free trial includes one month of use of a 1GB RAM virtual private server for one cent.

With the free trial, users can enjoy more than 450 cloud apps, cloud hosting services, fast loading speeds, and more.

Features You Can Test With a Free Trial

The InterServer free trial has several features new users can test.

For example, notable features include web hosting, adding cloud apps, customer support, security features, and lightning-fast loading times.

Below we’ll discuss these features in more detail.

1. Web Hosting

InterServer offers an affordable web hosting service that supports WordPress and various other web design platforms.

Before signing up for month-to-month web hosting, you can test InterServer web hosting with the 30-day free trial.

2. Cloud Apps

There are over 450 cloud apps compatible with InterServer.

Users who’ve signed up for the free trial should explore the various apps and get acquainted with features that boost efficiency and add customizable features to websites.

3. Customer Support

InterServer has a 24/7 customer support team ready and willing to assist all users with the InterServer platform and its features.

If you have any questions, users can email, call, or live chat with a representative.

Alternatively, InterServer has lots of resources and blog content with FAQs and support content.

4. Top-Notch Security Features

InterServer uses virtualization platforms like KVV, Virtuozzo, Hyper-v, and Openvz for the best security practices.

Whether you pay for a subscription or use the free trial, all InterServer users will enjoy its security features.

5. Lightning Fast Loading Times

InterServer boasts lightning-fast loading times to ensure a better user experience for visitors to your website.

Users with a free trial can test the loading times to ensure it’s up to speed.

InterServer Free Trial Limitations

The InterServer free trial has several limitations that users should keep in mind.

The free trial includes 1GB of RAM, so users who need more RAM will need to pay an additional fee.

Users can always use the free trial and upgrade to more RAM after the 30-day period has expired.

Windows VPS services are not included with the InterServer free trial.

Is InterServer Customer Support Included With Free Trials?

Yes. Customer support is included for all InterServer users.

Friendly customer service representatives are ready to chat 24/7 via live chat, Facebook chat,

How to Claim an InterServer Free Trial

1. To claim an InterServer free trial, visit their official website and log in with a valid email address.
2. InterServer will reach out with a verification email. Follow the prompts from the email.
3. Select your payment method. Users have a choice of using a credit card or a Paypal account. Some are required to verify their payment method before moving on to the next step.
4. Go to the VPS tab on the top menu and select Order.
5. Fill in the necessary fields with order details.
6. Enter the coupon code TRYINTERSERVER to change the price to $0.01 and click Next Step.
7. Begin the free trial.

How Do I Get The Most From My InterServer Free Trial?

To get the most for your InterServer free trial, use the platform consistently and take advantage of all the features and apps available for free trial users.

How Can I Make My InterServer Free Trial Longer?

The InterServer free trial lasts for 30 days and cannot get extended.

Users must enter their email address, website information, and payment details to verify their identity when signing up for the trial.

Users cannot sign up for the free trial if any of the data is already on file.

Does InterServer Automatically Charge Users After the Free Trial Ends?

Yes. Without adjusting the settings, InterServer will automatically charge users once the free trial expires.

Users will get charged the adjusted monthly fee for all services they ordered when they purchased the package at the penny discount.

That being said, it’s easy to adjust the payment settings so that auto-charge is disabled before charging the monthly fee.

Simply go to the top menu bar and select Billing.

Then, click Update Personal Information and change your bank details.

Can You Cancel InterServer After Free Trial?

Yes. You can cancel an InterServer subscription during or after the free trial as long as you adjust the payment settings.

By disabling auto-charge, your credit card won’t accrue charges for unneeded services.

Once the billing details are updated, simply stop using the account to end the subscription.

Or contact a customer service representative to terminate the services immediately.

How to Cancel an InterServer Free Trial

Users can easily cancel an InterServer free trial by disabling auto-pay.

After logging into your InterServer account, visit the top menu and select Billing > Update Personal Information.

In this tab, you can update your credit card details, disable auto-charge, and update any other necessary information.

Once your account is inactive over the next billing period, your website will lose its hosting services.

Alternatively, you can email, call, or live chat with a customer service representative to cancel your account immediately and express your feedback.

How to Remove Card Details From InterServer

To remove your credit card details from InterServer, contact customer support via chat, call, or email.

Request all credit card details be removed from InterServer’s databases and follow any prompts customer service may require from you.

Is InterServer Worth Paying For?

Yes. InterServer is worth paying for if you want fast loading speeds, flexible web hosting services, security features, website design templates, cloud storage, and more.

InterServer is an a la carte service that allows users to only buy the services they’ll need based on their website’s traffic and size.

This valuable web hosting platform is a one-stop shop for everything you need to buy a domain, host it, and keep it running smoothly.

InterServer has tons of resources for new and advanced users and a 24/7 customer service team ready to help with any questions to maximize your time on the platform.

For more in-depth details about why InterServer is worth paying for, check out our InterServer review.

What To Expect From an InterServer Subscription

When you sign up with InterServer, you gain access to features like:

• Unlimited ULTRA SSD Storage
• Global Content Caching
• Full Website Control
• Free Website Migration
• 30-Day Money Back Guarantee
• SitePad Website Builder
• Managed Support
• High-Performance Storage
• Remote Backup Service
• Self-Healing Hardware

Since InterServer offers users the choice to subscribe to the services they need, every user will have a slightly different experience with InterServer.

However, users can always expect top-notch customer service, fast loading speeds, and secure platforms every step of the way.

What is a Free Alternative to InterServer?

Wix is one of the best free alternatives to InterServer.

Wix offers cloud web hosting services, easy-to-create website design templates, and an array of valuable features to make websites run smoothly.

If you’re looking for a free alternative to Interserver, Wix offers use of their platform for free.

However, the free plan has many limitations.

For example, free Wix pages host advertisements, and there are limitations to customizability and analytics features.

Wix has several paid plans that allow users to select which pricing options and services best suit their budget and website needs.

Other Ways to Save on InterServer Pricing

After you enjoy the $0.01 discount on InterServer, check out these other ways to save on InterServer pricing.

InterServer Promo Codes

The only way to enjoy the InterServer free trial is to enter the coupon code TRYINTERSERVER when purchasing your VPS.

InterServer Discounts

InterServer has a wide array of discounts available for bundled services when purchasing services for the first time.

For example, users will receive a discounted rate for domain registration when signing up for a hosting plan.

InterServer Black Friday & Cyber Monday Specials

InterServer often has holiday sales, including Black Friday and Cyber Monday specials.

These discounts and promos change year-to-year, so keep an eye out for specials around holidays.

Is There an InterServer Student Plan?

Yes. InterServer has a student plan for college students looking for website hosting services.

When students sign up to InterServer with their college email address, InterServer credits the student’s account for one year of free web hosting services.

Other Free Trials to Check Out

Discover other free trials similar to InterServer worth checking out. Determine which service provider is the best for your needs with options like WP Engine, Flywheel, and HostGator.

• WP Engine Free Trial: The WP Engine Free Trial gives new sign-ups a 60-day trial period and four months of WordPress web hosting services for free.
• Flywheel Free Trial: Flywheel is a managed WordPress hosting platform. Users who sign up for the Flywheel free trial receive 14 days to explore the site and take advantage of its features. New subscribers are also eligible for two months of web hosting services for free.
• HostGator Free Trial: HostGator offers similar services as InterServer, with different types of web hosting, design pages, VPS, app hosting, and more. The HostGator Free Trial allows users access to HostGator services for 45 days.

Frequently Asked Questions

Find answers to FAQs about InterServer below.

Wrapping Up

Now that you have all the details about the InterServer free trial, sign up for the 30-day program and begin building an epic web presence.

From domain registration to VPS to secure cloud-based storage options, InterServer gives users nearly endless options to maximize the speed and success of their websites.

To achieve this, you will need an accessible and high-functioning website.

Continue reading as we compare the best web hosting options available on the market.

Hostinger made it to the number one spot on our list, followed by other quality choices for any potential website owner.

An Overview of Web Hosting

Web hosting is a critical aspect of any successful website.

Think of it as the home of all the data necessary for your web page.

There are so many choices on the market, and there are four types of web hosting: VPS, shared, cloud, and dedicated.

Here’s a more in-depth breakdown of web hosting and what it contains.

What is a Web Host?

A hosting service provider or web host is any business that supplies the technologies and services necessary to create and maintain a website and to make the website visible to others on the internet.

When you sign up for any web hosting company, you’re essentially renting a form of space on a physical server where you can store all data and crucial files that you need for your website to function correctly.

Why is Web Hosting Important?

Offering a quality service to the public depends on your ability to acquire a good website host.

The qualities that make for a good website host include excellent security, reliable tech support, and stellar performance.

A good web host enables you to create a unique design for your site, more effective data management, and more dependable uptime.

Do I Need a Web Host?

You can use hosting for many reasons, including blogs, stores, systems, and more.

Additionally, it serves as a secure medium where you can store your online content.

The code, videos, text, and images are all aspects of a website that must be stored somewhere.

If individuals didn’t have access to a stable digital repository, it’d be impossible to access online content consistently; therefore, you need a web host.

The Best Web Hosting at a Glance

After conducting thorough research on the best web hosting services available, here’s our selection of the best free and paid web host platforms.

Features To Look for in Web Hosting

You must know the attributes you should look for when choosing a prospective web host.

Hosting WordPress is not cheap, so pricing is a factor that you consider according to your budget.

However, here are the other crucial factors that make for a reputable web hosting service that sometimes gets overlooked:

1. Speed

Thanks to improvements in technology, internet users today expect websites to load in at most five seconds.

Apart from affecting user experience, website speed also influences search engine optimization (SEO)

Quality web hosting companies help users to deliver quick page speeds by providing servers with solid-state drives, offering a content delivery network service, and limiting sites on a shared server

2. Customer Service

You have to ensure that your host’s customer service is serviceable; reading user reviews will typically give you a good idea of whether a web host has good customer service.

You want a host that can address questions and problems efficiently and effectively.

Factors such as live chat, email, phone support, and other avenues of clear communication with a prompt response are essential.

3. Security

According to research, 43 percent of small businesses have faced cyberattacks.

Your web host serves as an extra layer of defense against potential cyber-attacks.

Keep an eye out for the following coverages, mainly if your site collects personal or financial data:

• Firewall management
• Automated malware scans
• SSL certificates

Additionally, check the hosting plan’s default security features; you may be surprised to learn that various plans provide advanced security features in the form of add-ons.

4. Uptime

It’s a useless endeavor to get someone to host your website if their servers are persistently down.

You want your website to be accessible at all times.

Uptime is an accurate measurement of your website’s availability to visitors in the form of a percentage.

Obviously, you will want your ratio to be as close to 100 percent uptime.

Good web hosts will offer backup servers to provide high uptimes.

5. Pre-Installed Applications

There are several web hosting features offered by web hosts that come in the form of apps.

Common apps include:

• One-Click Installer: This tool helps you install content management systems like WordPress.
• File Transfer Protocol: Allow you to manage files on a server securely.
• ECommerce Features: With flexible web hosting services, you can make a blog with eCommerce functionality like payment gateways and shopping carts.
• cPanel: This app allows you to control server processes. For example, the Blue host provides a nice control panel, offering access to every app you need.

Best Web Hosting: Our Top 3 Options [Ranked & Reviewed]

After scouring the internet for countless hours, here are the three best web hosting options that any business or website owner can benefit from:

Hostinger: Our Pick

Hostinger has impacted the industry by being one of the most affordable options among the top web hosting services.

Hostinger stands out because of the flexibility of its plans and pricing scalability, making it an ideal option for anyone looking to create a new custom website without committing too much capital to the cause.

Key Features of Hostinger

• Various hosting types: This platform provides multiple hosting types, including cloud hosting, shared options, VPS, WordPress hosting, and many other unique options.
• Affordability: You can sign up for unbelievably affordable prices for reliable and high-performing service.
• Easy to use: The service is easy because of the simple and accessible user panel.
• Customer support: You have access to a 24/7 multilingual Customer Success Team. Live chat service is fast—answers in two minutes or less.
• One-click installation: The feature allows you to start a blog, website, or eCommerce store in minutes.

Why is Hostinger a Great Solution?

Hostinger is an ideal solution for businesses of any size and niche.

This platform boasts a simple design, which is very helpful when creating a new website.

Hostinger as a platform enables developers to learn to experiment and code with FTP, cPanel, MySQL, and PHP with no added cost to you.

They also offer a website builder, domain name, and SSL certificate.

Pros of Hostinger

• Selective servers: You can choose a server in the target nation; this is helpful when you want your site to load quickly for visitors in the selected region of the world.
• Uptime: Hostinger has an impressive uptime of 99.99 percent across servers in four separate continents.
• Weekly backups: You’ll receive backups weekly free of charge from Hostinger.

Cons of Hostinger

• Limited cheap plans: The less expensive plans offered by Hostinger come with significant limitations.
• No phone support: Support is only available through live chat.
• Automatic installs: When you install WordPress, Hostinger installs plugins automatically without input on whether you need these plugins or not.

Hostinger vs. Other Top Recommendations: How They Compare

Hostinger is decidedly the best when compared to the competition.

When you compare Hostinger to DreamHost, the main difference is that Hostinger has better speed, uptime, and overall performance.

Hostinger is also an excellent platform for anyone with high engagement, such as on art sites and blogs.

Hostinger even delivers a slightly better level of performance than HostGator at more affordable prices.

Hostinger Pricing

• Hostinger Single: $1.99/month (99.9 percent uptime, 100GB of bandwidth, 30GB of SSD storage, free security, and more)
• Hostinger Premium: $2.99/month (includes all features from the single plan and up to 100 email accounts, unlimited bandwidth, free domain registration, and more)
• Hostinger Business: $4.99/month (includes all features from the premium plan plus daily backups, 200 GB SSD storage, and more)
• Cloud Hosting: $9.99/month (you have the option to improve your cloud hosting by upgrading to the $18.99/month Professional plan or signing up for the Global plan for $69.99/month)
• VPS Hosting: $3.95/month (this is optimal for businesses that need access to many features)
• Minecraft Hosting: $8.95/month and is best for gamers)

*2-year plan

Can You Try Hostinger for Free?

With Hostinger, you can test their services for 30 days, and if you’re unsatisfied by the end of the trial, you can close the account at no cost.

A Hostinger free trial gives you access to third-party integrations and their control panel and guarantees a WordPress and streamlined user experience.

Conclusion: Should You Choose Hostinger?

Hostingers is ideal for individuals who want a speedy and budget-friendly hosting solution.

Hostingers are a suitable choice for small and large businesses.

This is an excellent choice because of its fantastic shared hosting abilities, and since it has a 30-day money-back guarantee, there’s no risk to checking it out.

DreamHost: Runner-Up

DreamHost plays host to more than 1.5 million websites, and it is a hosting provider that WordPress endorses, a distinction only shared by three other hosting providers.

DreamHost dedicated and affordable shared web hosting services to enhance your WordPress website.

The several pricing tiers give users the flexibility to sign up for what is necessary or what they can afford.

Key Features of DreamHost

• Tools at every level: There are valuable benefits and features at every tier.
• Friendly customer service representatives: They have a pleasant, knowledgeable, and attentive team available to help you through issues that may arise.
• 97-day money-back guarantee: This incredible guarantee is great for newcomers who are unaware of what they’re getting into, as there is no authentic commitment.
• Backup: You have access to a manual backup with one click with the shared hosting plans on DreamHost
• Uptime: DreamHost guarantees that their site will have 100 percent uptime and will compensate you if your site does ever go down.

Why is DreamHost a Great Solution?

DreamHost is a versatile provider that can accommodate small, medium-sized, and large companies.

With DreamHost, you can access the domain name, a free SSL certificate, and privacy.

Additionally, you can get 1-click WordPress installations, unlimited MySQL database, daily automatic backups, and other fantastic perks.

Pros of DreamHost

• Data transfers: You get unlimited data transfers each month.
• Website builder: With this platform, you have a drag-and-drop feature that makes it easier to customize your website with whatever content you choose.
• Unlimited email accounts: With nearly every DreamHost plan, you get unlimited email accounts for your domain.

Cons of DreamHost

• Limited customer service: You won’t have access to 24/7 live chat support.
• Pricing tiers: Their different packages and pricing structure make choosing a plan somewhat tricky.
• Lack of integration: To automate specific tasks, you must integrate the site with external services.

DreamHost vs. Other Top Recommendations: How They Compare

DreamHost is perhaps the most affordable web hosting service out of the best web hosting services on the market.

However, it does not have the speed and performance of Hostinger.

Although DreamHost plans are slightly more expensive than HostGator, they offer better uptime.

Additionally, HostGator only provides managed WordPress hosting plans, whereas DreamHost offers standard and managed WordPress hosting.

DreamHost Pricing

Remember that many of these prices are introductory, meant for new account registrations only, and will get more expensive after three months.

• Shared Starter: $4.95/month (one website, free SSL certificate, unlimited bandwidth and traffic, and shared hosting for new sites and WordPress)
• DreamPress: $12/month (one website, pre-installed WordPress and SSL certificate, 30GB of storage, 24/7 WordPress support, unlimited bandwidth, and more)
• VPS Basic: $15/month (you get all of the features above, one-click install WordPress, you can add domains easily, and you get unlimited websites)

*Note that there are three primary pricing tiers.

However, you have other options within these options, which range from basic to business, to professional, to the enterprise level.

Can You Try DreamHost for Free?

A great DreamHost is that they have a 97-day refund period.

In other words, there’s no risk; you can choose any plan, and at the end of three months, if you’re unsatisfied, you can receive a full refund.

Also, DreamHost offers a 30-day DreamObjects free trial of DreamHost too.

Conclusion: Should You Choose DreamHost?

DreamHost is simplistic and provides a streamlined web hosting experience that newcomers can master in no time, and when it comes to shared hosting—DreamHost gives the most value of any web host on the market.

Even if you choose DreamHost’s most affordable hosting plans, you don’t have to worry about bandwidth or backups.

HostGator: Budget Pick

HostGator is one of the most popular and biggest host service providers, with extensive features and affordable plans.

It is equipped with all the necessary components to give your website top-notch performance and an attractive appearance.

The HostGator platform offers dedicated web hosting, reseller, cloud hosting, shared hosting, and VPS.

Also, you have access to a reliable site builder.

Key Features of HostGator

• Simple UI: Boasts a user-friendly interface and a cPanel that industry-standard makes navigation simple.
• Effortless WordPress installation: Easy to install WordPress on this platform.
• SSL certificate: You get a free domain at HostGator and a ready-made SSL certificate.
• Unlimited email accounts: All hosting plans at HostGator come with unlimited email accounts.
• Uptime: guaranteed uptime for up to 99.9 percent.

Why is HostGator a Great Solution?

HostGator is budget-friendly and provides VPS hosting, WordPress hosting, dedicated servers, and traditional shared web hosting.

This platform offers a website builder tool that integrates with their site.

In other words, with HostGator, you have everything you need to build a website in one place.

Pros of HostGator

• Unlimited options: Every plan has endless storage options and capacity.
• Customer support: There’s 24/7 customer support through email, phone, and live chat, and they have good response times.
• SEO tools: Provides free SEO tools designed to help you optimize your website for search engines.

Cons of HostGator

• Expensive renewal rates: Their renewal rates are higher than similar providers.
• Upselling: HostGator features many unnecessary upsell options.
• Sending emails: This can be time-consuming and cumbersome if you choose to send emails en masse.

HostGator vs. Other Top Recommendations: How They Compare

HostGator is a little more expensive than Hostinger, but it’s less than a one-dollar difference.

Aside from this, they both have excellent security features, though Hostinger has the overall better performance.

Additionally, compared to the other top options, HostGator has limited data services, with only two in the United States and a few other unspecified locations.

HostGator Pricing

The pricing from HostGator depends on whether you’re subscribing to web hosting or other hosting services that they feature.

Web Hosting

• Hatching plan: $2.75/month
• Baby plan: $3.50/month
• Business plan: $5.25/month

*Every plan is priced according to a 36-month commitment.

WordPress Hosting

• Starter plan: $5.95/month
• Standard plan: $7.95/month
• Business plan:$9.95/month

With HostGator, you can choose among three hosting options, which you select according to the amount of traffic you expect on your website in conjunction with the number of sites you plan to host.

VPS Hosting

• Snappy 2000: $19.95/month
• Snappy 4000: $29.95/month
• Snappy 8000: $39.95/month

Can You Try HostGator for Free?

You can now try HostGator for free via their money-back guarantee.

HostGator lets you host your website for as low as $3/month and cancel it within 45 days.

Although it’s an unconventional free trial, you get your money back in the end if you don’t like the service.

Conclusion: Should You Choose HostGator?

HostGator gives stable performances at affordable prices; it’s an excellent choice for beginners.

This is a great web host for businesses that don’t get much monthly traffic.

However, thanks to the VPS options, you can scale if you need.

The Best Free Web Hosting Options

For small businesses that haven’t yet gained capital or for a company working with a tight budget at the moment, it’s helpful to know about free web hosting options.

You want to ensure that these choices still offer the necessary benefits for optimal site functionality.

According to our research, here are the best free web hosting options on the market.

InfinityFree

InfinityFree is a reliable free web hosting service that offers customers unlimited bandwidth and storage.

This is an ideal solution if you’re starting as a business owner.

Whereas most companies charge even a small fee for their storage space, you can upload all of your videos, text, and images at no additional cost.

Other crucial features included with your subscription to InfinityFree include a Softaculous installer.

Why Is This a Great Option?

InfinityFree is worth trying because the cPanel has all the tools and capabilities you’ll need.

You get backups, options for DNS, error pages, Cron jobs, PHP, and more.

There’s also a MySQL database and one-click installation for over four hundred valuable apps.

They also have reliable security features and website service.

Drawbacks to InfinityFree

The primary reason InfinityFree didn’t make our top lists is that although it’s free, the uptime, loading time, and website speed are average.

The limited customer support is also an issue because you won’t have access to phone service, live chat, ticketing, or email assistance.

Lastly, there’s no inclusion of email accounts like you get with other web hosting options such as Hostinger, and InfinityFree isn’t suitable for larger sites due to the limited server power.

ByetHost

ByetHost is a popular free web hosting option for small businesses.

They have paid plans available, but you can also get your website up and running with their free package.

When you sign up for ByetHost, you’ll get FTP MySQL, PHP, Vista panel, disk space, and more.

Why Is This a Great Option?

ByetHost is one of the best web hosting providers that won’t cost a penny because you have all the essentials at your disposal.

There are no bandwidth limits, up to five email accounts per website, more than 450 third-party apps, auto-installs for WordPress and Softaculous, prompt email response from customer service, and so on.

Drawbacks to ByetHost

Unfortunately, the problems with having a ByetHost account are that the developers do not maintain the website through consistent updates, and some HTTP login links are not secure.

Also, they feature self-signed SSL certificates instead of certificates issued by a publicly trusted certificate authority.

That means the provider guarantees the safety of their site, but a recognized certification entity does not.

Notable Mentions: Notable Mentions: Other Web Hosting To Check Out

While the following options are not the best web hosting selections based on our criteria, they are still reliable providers that may pique your interest because of the features and tools at your disposal.

WP Engine

If you have a WordPress site, WP Engine offers plenty of storage space for an optimized WordPress store, blog, or website.

Additionally, they provide daily backups, free SSL certificates, activity logs, and operational security and protection through a firewall.

WP Engine also offers automatic updates whenever you download the available plugins.

Why is WP Engine a Great Option?

Though this service is only for WordPress users, the managed host will improve the performance of your entire infrastructure.

You can rest assured that your website will operate at consistently reliable high speeds.

It’ll have a near-perfect uptime, many maintenance tasks are automated, and they have advanced security features to protect against cyberattacks.

Drawbacks to WP Engine

WP Engine isn’t higher on the list because it’s pretty expensive.

This aspect works against smaller businesses and those working with a low budget.

Also, it’s challenging to do the initial setup.

Therefore, it’s not as beginner-friendly as you’d hope, and you’ll need to possibly hire someone if you have no tech experience at all.

Lastly, you cannot use their service if you don’t have a WordPress site.

WP Engine Pricing

• Managed WordPress plan: starts at $24/month (one site, unlimited data transfer, 10GB of storage, 50GB bandwidth, up to 25K visits/month, and more)
• ECommerce plan: starts at $29/month (same features from the managed WordPress plan, one site, automated plugin updates, premium themes, and more)
• Enterprise plan: starts at $600/month (all the features from the e-commerce plan, plus launch support, white-glove migration, a technical success manager, site assessments, and more)

*There are also customized plans available if you contact customer service.

Can You Try WP Engine for Free?

WP Engine doesn’t offer free plans, but they allow you to test their services before you commit.

There’s a 60-day money-back guarantee in place so that you can try the WP Engine hosting service.

If unsatisfied, you can request a refund before the end of the 60 days.

Kinsta

Kinsta is a WordPress-only host, similar to WP Engine.

Their packages are similar, but they vary in some instances.

Kinsta operates in the Google Cloud Platform, and they manage everything for you, from setup to daily backups to data transfers and more.

Also, they take the managing part seriously, as they check your uptime every two minutes.

They have a fully fluent WordPress team, automatic updates, and analytics tools.

Why is Kinsta a Great Option?

Kinsta is completely beginner-friendly.

You don’t have any technical experience, and this managed host takes care of you from the start.

You can access a dashboard to manage more than one site.

They have more than 24 data centers worldwide, multi-site support, PHP 8.0 support, automatic database optimization, SEO management, malware removal, and many other tools.

Drawbacks to Kinsta

For websites that aren’t built on WordPress or have no traffic, Kinsta isn’t an ideal solution.

The price point is steep, yet they have a lot of limits associated with even their pricier plans.

Also, there’s no email hosting, phone support, unlimited storage, specific useful plugins are banned, and no CDN.

Some may feel that the features excluded don’t make the price worth it to sign up for Kinsta.

Kinsta Pricing

There are multiple plans available through Kinsta for various purposes.

However, we’ll focus on the primary three that people choose from.

You can branch out and add more sites and features from these base plans for a higher monthly price.

• Starter plan: $35/month
• Pro plan: $70/month
• Business 1 plan: $115/month

These plans include security features, a certain amount of monthly visitors permitted, free CDN and SSL, and more.

They offer two months free when you pay for your package annually instead of monthly.

Can You Try Kinsta for Free?

There is no Kinsta free trial period.

However, they allow a complete refund should you decide to cancel your plan within 30 days.

You can also register for the demo account to test the features beforehand.

Pressable

Pressable is the third hosting service centered around WordPress.

It makes your site run smoothly, and it keeps your data safe.

This is an excellent solution for entrepreneurs who need to get things running efficiently and without much effort.

The support team at Pressable does a fantastic job guiding you through the setup if you have questions, and the tools are easy to learn.

Why is Pressable a Great Option?

Pressable is chock full of valuable features like offline staging, multiple security tools, a free content delivery network, and much more.

Whether your blog, store, or website has numerous products or just a few high-traffic flows, you’ll have everything you need to get started.

You get unlimited monthly data transfers, a free SSL certificate, personalized onboarding, malware scanning, and even automatic daily backups.

Drawbacks to Pressable

With Pressable, the site doesn’t sell domains; there’s no email support, you’re not allowed to select your favorite cloud platform, and more.

Also, they don’t allow you to choose your cloud platform, and soon enough, they’ll be removing phone support as well.

The price, however, remains the same.

Pressable Pricing

• Entry plan: $19/month (one WordPress site, 24/7 customer support, 5GB storage, 5K visitors)
• Personal plan: $25/month (one site WordPress site, 20GB storage, 30K site visitors)
• Starter plan: $45/month (three WordPress sites, 30GB storage, 50K site visitors)
• Pro plan: $90/month (ten WordPress sites, 50GB storage,150K site visitors)
• Premium plan: $155/month (20 WordPress sites, 80GB storage, 400K site visitors)
• Business plan: $350/month (50 WordPress sites, 200GB storage, one million site visitors)

There are additional Business plans, but eventually, there’s a custom quote necessary once you reach a certain number of sites and features.

Each plan after the Entry level comes with Jetpack security and numerous features.

Can You Try Pressable for Free?

Every plan comes with a 30-day money-back guarantee.

While you can’t try their services for free, you’re entitled to a full refund.

You can also experience the hosting dashboard for free through MyPressable Playground.

SiteGround

SiteGround is an exceptional hosting provider that makes a name for itself in terms of uptime, security, performance, and customer support.

Recommended by WordPress, SiteGround utilizes Google Cloud and has an optimized infrastructure.

It’s the perfect choice for beginners, as it’s easy to navigate, and for those with a small business.

Why is SiteGround a Great Option?

Aside from the user-friendly dashboard, SiteGround is one of only a few platforms with hosting specific to a location.

They have six global data centers in popular places like Asia, Europe, Australia, and the United States.

You can also take advantage of the free CDN, SSL certificate, automatic upgrades, and daily backups.

Drawbacks to SiteGround

SiteGround has many outstanding features but falls short regarding limited storage, higher monthly prices,

Linux-based servers only, and the domain name aren’t free. It’s a solid option but lacks some of the essentials.

SiteGround Pricing

WordPress Hosting:

• Web Hosting (Startup): $3.99/month, renews for $14.99/month
• GrowBig: $6.69/month, renews for $24.99/month
• GoGeek: $10.69/month, renews for $39.99/month

Cloud Hosting:

• Jump Start: $100.00/month
• Business: $200.00/month
• Business Plus: $300.00/month
• Super Power: $400.00/ month

These plans feature memory, space, data transfer, security, and more.

Can You Try SiteGround for Free?

There’s no SiteGround free trial.

However, they issue a 30-day money-back guarantee policy when you sign up for a shared account.

InMotion Hosting

InMotion Hosting is an established hosting service within the industry.

After two decades of reliable service, you can trust that you’re receiving high-quality web hosting.

They offer VPS hosting, reseller hosting, dedicated hosting, shared hosting, and WordPress hosting.

InMotion Hosting offers guidance and resources to help when you need assistance getting set up and maintaining your site.

Why is InMotion Hosting a Great Option?

InMotion is a suitable option for those that want to select servers near their target audience.

Choose a data center based on your needs on the West or East coast.

You can protect site visitors by offering free SSL certificates, making your eCommerce platform more reputable and trusted.

Additionally, you get free website transfer, a smart wall threat defense system, staging tools, and other valuable tools.

Drawbacks to InMotion Hosting

A phone verification process with InMotion Hosting makes it challenging to use for customers outside the United States.

Also, InMotion doesn’t offer monthly subscription plans; you must commit for at least one year.

You have to commit for at least three years for the cheapest rates.

Otherwise, you’ll experience higher renewal fees.

Note that their less expensive plans have significant limitations.

InMotion Hosting Pricing

Shared hosting for a 3-year commitment:

• Core: $2.49/month, renews for $7.49/month
• Launch: $4.99/month, renews for $11.99/month
• Power: $4.99/month, renews for $15.99/month
• Pro: $12.99/month, renews for $22.99/month

WordPress Hosting for a 2-year commitment

• WP Core: $3.99/month
• WP Launch:$7.99/month
• WP Power: $7.99/month
• WP Pro: $15.99/month

Every plan comes with storage, security features, a limit on visitors, unmetered bandwidth, and more.

Can You Try InMotion Hosting for Free?

InMotion Hosting offers customers a 90-day trial period during which you can test their services.

If you’re not pleased with the product, request a dill refund, no questions asked.

A2 Hosting

A2 Hosting is known for having terrific phone support 24/7, excellent uptime, flexible pricing plans, and being dependable over the years.

If you want to establish your presence online, choose a trusted host that will guide you from start to finish and handle many maintenance and operation tasks.

Why is A2 Hosting a Great Option?

A2 Hosting lets you decide which package fits your needs: managed WordPress hosting, VPS hosting, shared hosting, reseller hosting, and dedicated hosting.

You’ll immediately improve your site visibility and user experience while accessing industry-standard hosting features.

That includes developer-friendly tools, content management systems, free website migrations, malware scanning, 24/7 monitoring, and more.

Drawbacks to A2 Hosting

Despite the affordable prices, A2 Hosting has major drawbacks concerning the price spikes for their renewal rates.

Once you have completed your setup plan, the renewal price can be three times higher.

It’s also difficult to cancel your plan before you get charged.

You must submit your cancellation request in writing, which is a hassle, 15 days before your renewal date.

Failure to do so means you automatically get charged again and are ineligible for a refund.

A2 Hosting Pricing

There are multiple plans depending on your hosting type, but here are the most common tiers.

• Startup: $2.99/month
• Drive: $5.99/month
• Turbo boost: $6.99/month
• Turbo max: $12.99/month

All plans come with a certain amount of storage, data transfer, security features, and more.

Can You Try A2 Hosting for Free?

Most companies only allow up to a 60-day money-back guarantee, while A2 Hosting allows an anytime money-back guarantee.

It requires a written cancellation request, but you can always get your money back for the month you paid for if you cancel the plan before the renewal date.

Even More Options To Check Out

Here are more practical resources to check out for your website:

Bluehost

Bluehost is a top-rated hosting company for WordPress and other sites as well.

They have excellent rates; the service is beginner-friendly. Bluehost offers SEO tools, analytics resources, and prompt customer support.

On the flip side, it can make your site load slower and isn’t ideal for more significant sites with high traffic.

Lastly, all servers are in the United States only.

HostPapa

HostPapa offers attractive plans at reasonable prices.

You get a free domain registration or transfer and essential customer support, and you can host two sites with their starter plan.

Unfortunately, the performance is slow; no automated backups, no Windows hosting options, and the add-ons at checkout can make HostPapa deceptively expensive.

DigitalOcean

DigitalOcean is known for fantastic uptime, at 99.97 percent, fast load times, daily backups, customized pricing, and good security features.

They also have developer-friendly products available to you.

DigitalOcean is valuable but only geared toward advanced users.

You have to build it from the ground up, and many basic features are unavailable.

The complicated cPanel and lack of support make this host less than ideal.

Namecheap

Namecheap is amongst the cheapest hosting services out there.

For less than two dollars per month for one year, you can host up to three websites simultaneously.

That also comes with a new domain name.

Additionally, there are automatic backups, sufficient disk space, and a free SSL certificate.

However, there are no substantial discounts for paying more upfront for your plan, the uptime is questionable, and Namecheap needs more server locations.

Interserver

InterServer is an excellent choice for personal sites like blogs.

They can integrate with nearly 500 apps; it takes just a few clicks to install #!€ they support multiple hosting plans like cloud, dedicated, shared, VPS, and more.

The website migration and SSD storage are free, and it comes with unlimited email accounts.

They also struggle with limited servers, slower load speeds, spotty customer support, and their user interface looks outdated.

Hostwinds

Perfect for anyone with an eCommerce store that needs to be highly responsive, quick and easy to launch, and load up fast, Hostwinds is a solid hosting choice.

Paired with the unlimited bandwidth for high amounts of traffic, you can’t go wrong choosing Hostwinds.

Unfortunately, the drawbacks are that it’s hard to get a refund should you cancel your plan, the domain name isn’t free, the data server selections are few, and you can’t manage WordPress through this platform.

Other Products Relevant to Web Hosting

Save yourself time and money by using our comprehensive research and tips to find the best web hosting services for your needs.

• Managed WordPress Hosting: For those with a WordPress site, it’s helpful to try our hosting finder for the best web hosting services. These hosts manage things from start to finish, making it easy for beginners and advanced users.
• Cheap WordPress Hosting: If you’re working with a limited budget and just need the bare minimum or even a good cheap web hosting service that still gives plenty of features, check out our list.
• Podcast Hosting: Do you have a podcast that you want to share with the world?Consider using our featured hosting services to get started today.

Frequently Asked Questions

Here are the responses to the most commonly asked questions regarding the best web hosting platforms:

Wrapping Up

A solid web host must maintain its functionality for your site to be visible to the world.

We’ve selected the best web hosting services with paid and free plans.

Hostinger is our top pick because it’s affordable, reliable, has excellent customer service, a reliable uptime, fast loading speed, and is easy to load.

DreamHost is the runner-up, which also has most of the same features as Hostinger, with less accessible customer service, but a nifty website builder to help your site function.

Download any options on our list to start expanding your website today.

The thought of moving all your content, media, users, themes, and articles can be a difficult task. While the thought of hiring a developer or buying an expensive migration tool may sound like an easy way out, I will be providing you a step by step guide to migrate your site from Drupal to WordPress inexpensively and easily with proper planning and attention to detail.

Why Migrate from Drupal to WordPress?

Drupal is a great content management system with plenty of robust features, but there are many reasons that you might want to move to WordPress.

Easier to Use

You don’t need to have any coding knowledge to build and manage WordPress web sites. It is an easy to use platform that has great features like drag and drop editors, media management and content editing which can be done with just a few clicks. So you can even cut down on the cost of hiring a developer to manage the site.

Better Plugin Support

WordPress offers more than 55,000 plugins on its plugin directory in comparison to around 8,000 on Drupal. This opens up a new level of customization and functional scope for your website, especially if you are migrating to WordPress.

Better Community Support

WordPress has a vast online community that provides numerous tutorials and documentation. This support goes a long way when you have any problems setting up your website. They also keep the plugin directory growing and up to date.

Will endure into the future

WordPress powers a large part of the websites on the internet. Many of them are integrated with many plugins on the WordPress directory as well and as such, WordPress will be an essential part of the internet well into the future.

Things to do before doing the migration

01Establish a plan

Before starting, plan how exactly you’re going to do the migration. Decide whether you’re moving all your content along with the theme or redesigning it completely and whether you’re preserving the site architecture, hosting and domain name. Planning will make you much more organized and ensure a seamless migration.

Ensure you make a list of all the page links, internal links, and external links so that you can ensure they are all functional post-migration.

02Selecting a Host

Since you have a Drupal installation, it is assumed that you already have a hosting provider. But make sure it is well compatible with WordPress installations. Selecting a managed WordPress hosting service is much better since it offers more security, higher speeds and some hosts support daily backups.

03Setting up a temporary domain

Set up your new domain, or a sub-domain to install WordPress to migrate your content from Drupal. The URL can be redirected once the migration is done. You’ll need to make sure that your existing hosting supports WordPress if not, you’ll need a new hosting service.

If you are looking for a great hosting deal, look no further, our Hosting Finder Tool can be a great place to start as it allows you to choose a deal that suits you.

04Create a WordPress instance

Before you start the migration you should install and set up a blank instance of WordPress in your temporary domain. This process might differ from one host to another but this tutorial will guide you through the installation.

05SEO preservation

In case the URLs in your current site are not SEO friendly now is the time to fix it. You can use crawlers like Xenu Link Sleuth or Screaming Frog SEO Spider to grab the links on your site. Make a list of URLs and shorten them and make them descriptive accurately explaining the content of that page.

06Back-Up your site

We cannot stress this point enough. It is extremely important that you backup your Drupal site (as well as your WordPress site in case you’re migrating to an existing one) before you start the migration. This removes the risk of losing your data in case you run into any issues along the way.

How to Migrate your website from Drupal to WordPress?

There are several different options available like manual migration, using a migration script and installing a plugin or automated migration software to perform site-wide migration from Drupal to WordPress. In this tutorial, we will be using the FG Drupal to WordPress plugin to perform the migration.

I will be using the free version of this plugin and it has the necessary options to carry out a regular migration. However, if you’re planning to migrate a large scale site with multiple users, authors, and custom posts, the premium version might be a better alternative.

Step 1 – Installing the Plugin

1. First login to your WordPress site, once you’re in your dashboard go to ‘Plugins’ then click ‘Add New’:

2. Search for the plugin by typing  ‘FG Drupal to WordPress’ on the search bar.

3. Once it appears, click on ‘Install Now’.

4. After the plugin installs the button text will change to ‘Activate’. Click on it.

5. You now have the option to immediately begin import or you can come back later through Tools > Import.

Step 2- Obtain the Drupal database parameters

Before you start the migration, identify your Drupal username, password, hostname, database name, and table prefix. These parameters can be easily found in your Drupal installation core files using an FTP client like FileZilla. Follow the simple steps below to figure out the parameters.

1. Download an FTP  client like Filezilla
2. Navigate to your Drupal site’s default directory.
3. Locate settings.php file
4. Open it using a text editor and find and copy the necessary parameters.
5. Save the details in a separate file for later use.

To go back to your plugin you can click Tools > Import. If you have correctly installed the plugin, you will see it in the list of plugins. 

Click ‘Run Importer’.

Step 3  – Importing WordPress content

The first thing you will notice on the page is the button saying “Empty WordPress Content”.  

Clicking on this will delete all categories, tags, posts, pages, and media. It is usually recommended that you have a blank installation of WordPress for the migration. In case you have any data or content already in your WordPress database, make sure to back it up before you proceed. 

Alternatively, you have to select either of the options to remove only the previously imported data or remove all content.

Step 4 – Setting up a database connection

 1. First, enter your live Drupal site’s URL to import media from that site to WordPress.

2. When you scroll down further, you will see the Drupal database parameter section. Go ahead and enter all the details that you extracted in step 2.

3. Once you’re done, hit the “Test the database connection button” to test your connection.

4. If the connection is successful, you should see the following message in green.

Note that if you don’t enter the underscore in Drupal Table Prefix, the connection will fail.

Step  5 – Customize the migration

Next, you will need to set the configuration options for importing summary and media during the migration.

Import Summary

Through this option, you will specify how you would import your post summaries. By default. it selects ‘to the content’ option. This will import them using the Read more link.

Media

Next, you will see an array of options to select in the media section. First, you have the tickbox to check if you want to skip the process of importing media which will speed up the migration. There are a few extra settings including whether you want to import feature images or import from external media. Set your preferences based on your installation.

The ‘timeout for each media setting’ will set a download speed for images to completely download during the migration. If you think you’ll run into issues during the import you can increase this value.

If your images are large in size it is recommended that you use an image optimization tool like Imagify Image Optimizer to reduce their sizes.

Step 6 – Start the import

After everything is configured, click the Start/Resume the Import button resume the migration. The duration for this process will depend on the amount of content on your Drupal database. Once everything is completed the log box will display the complete log of the process.

Step 7 – Modify your links(optional)

Even though this is optional, it is a good idea to perform this step once your migration is complete. By clicking the Modify Internal Links button you can change your permalinks and 301 directing URLs according to your new site. You can thank me later.

Hurray! Now you’re done with the migration. But hang on, there are a few more things to do.

In case you have custom taxonomies and custom post types you will not be able to import them through the regular migration using the above plugin. You can easily get these options through their premium version but if you’re not willing to pay that extra money, here’s what you can do.

• The Post Type Switcher plugin in WordPress will help to easily create your custom type content that you already have in your Drupal site.
• The Taxonomy Switcher Plugin will assist in converting your Drupal custom taxonomies to WordPress categories
• Then you can have the Toolset Type plugin to maintain and support the custom type posts.

Things to do after the migration

Test, Test, Test

Now that you’ve migrated your content to WordPress, you will need to check if everything works fine. Test whether all content along with custom fields and metadata are exported correctly and the classifications in taxonomies are complete. If you updated your permalinks, go through every page and check if there are any broken links and edit them accordingly.

This is the time to verify that all your links are in order as per the list you made during the pre-migration.

Pretty things up

Migrating from Drupal does not bring the previous site templates. So now it’s the time to make your site looks and feels better using WordPress. First, you can select a suitable theme for your site among the many themes that are available in the WordPress Theme Directory. Then you can recreate your navigation menus from Appearance > Menus in WordPress.

You can also add different forms, necessary widgets, create galleries and install the must-have plugins. The fun part of WordPress is that everything can be done so easily and you can explore your creativity with just a few clicks.

Securing your site

Ensure that you secure your site with a good hosting service, an SSL certificate and the relevant security plugins. If you are newly installing an SSL certificate, then ensure you use a plugin to make sure that all your HTTP links are in order.

Consider SEO

It is vital that you improve your SEO in the new site since there’s a slight risk of losing traffic after the site migration. WordPress by default comes with SEO specific features that assist in having suitable metadata for each page. Moreover, it provides facilities to minimize your page loading time for better accessibility thus improving the search engine ranking.

Go live

Once you have done the migration and done the necessary verifications, you’re ready to go live. Make sure you have compared your websites and everything is in order.

Conclusion

The success of the migration depends on many things like the complexity of your Drupal website and the suitability of the plugins that you select for the migration. However, all of these uncertainties can be overcome with proper pre-migration planning and post-migration verifications.

The process discussed in this article is a general path taken based on research and our experience of and migrating a medium-sized site with some custom options. So there may be aspects that you will need to give special consideration to.

First, you want to know that your site is safe for visitors. That’s to say you want to prevent anyone from getting in the back door and stealing visitors data or setting up anything strange on your site. Second, you want to know that your site is safe from hackers. You want to generate security for your site which will maintain your data and control of the site.

Checking to See That Your Site is Safe

Act Like a User

In order to check if your site is safe for users, it’s best to act like a user. A great tool from Google, Google Safe Browsing, can be used to check your site. If Google thinks that anything strange is going on from a user perspective, this is a great way to get notified and fix the kinks that occur. There are other sites and softwares that you can use to visit your site from a user perspective.

Of course, this only protects you from things that have already happened to your site. You don’t want to wake up every morning and punch your URLs into Google Safe Browsing to check that everything is still running well! And that’s where the backend comes in.

Pay Attention

It’s really hard to know if everything is safe if you aren’t clicking through your site like a user on a regular basis. You don’t need to be checking every link every day, but you should be running through the site on the user end maybe once a week. This can help prevent broken links from being up for a long time. If security is compromised and someone makes some nasty changes to the site, you’ll be able to catch it before too long. You can’t always count on users to point things out to you!

Additionally, running through your site like a user once or twice a week will allow you to make updates to other key areas. It will allow you to keep a tight control over the quality and editing of the site.

Backend Security

Protecting your website in the long haul means more than just checking whether or not you’re currently safe. You’ll need active security features that can prevent anything bad from happening to your site. Remember that a compromised site might mean more than just lost data. If you’re storing personal data on your site, that’s one level of security threat. But also bad links and redirects can be posted by the wrong people which can compromise the integrity of your site.

Why Would I Get Hacked?

We’re going to look at some security measures that you can take and that hosts should be able to offer you. But first we need to look at why people would hack your site in the first place. There’s a common sentiment among website owners that the people most vulnerable to attack are the giant websites that are housing valuable information. While these sites certainly have a certain level of concern over their data, there are other concerns that smaller sites face:

1. SEO malpracticeThere are ways to trick the search bots into stealing domain authority. By inserting some extra links and changing redirects, hackers can gain some domain authority and links for their own sites.
2. Exploitation of people that come to your siteThey might get the information, email addresses, or stats of people that show up to your site. Certain links might redirect people differently.
3. Taking server resourcesThere are actually ways that hackers can steal resources from your server and use them for their own.

Security Resources That You Should Get From Your Host

There are a lot of different hosting plans for you to compare out there. One thing that you should be considering is the security resources that you’re being offered.

1. SSL CertificationAn SSL certification verifies the integrity of your website. While not every host will provide it for you, it’s a nice resource that many hosts do in fact offer.
2. FirewallsFirewalls offer protection against malware.
3. Protection against DDos (distributed denial of service) attacksDDoS attacks are basically when a hacker is able to overwhelm your site with a bunch of requests in different places all at once. Many hosts will provide basic protection software against this.

Things You Can do to Keep Your Site Secure

Not all of the responsibility for security lands on the shoulders of your host. You should be keeping your website safe with a variety of practices:

1. Limit accessDon’t toss around passwords and authentications to everyone.
2. Update the siteThis includes updating all of your software, themes, plugins etc. Updating software prevents a vulnerability from being exposed multiple times. It’s sort of like a fool me once, fool me twice scenario.
3. Use good passwords and authenticationChange passwords every so often. Use length, complex passwords. Possibly look into a password management solution.
4. Use an anti-malware solutionThese include malware detectors and firewalls to prevent things from staying on your site for long. Malware is just a generic name for software that acts against the intentions of users, and it could knock down your website or even transfer to the computers of people that visit your site.
5. Keep your code cleanThere are ways that hackers can actually exploit vulnerabilities in your HTML or SQL to add code of their own. This code can then run against future users of your site. By keeping your code simple, you can reduce the likelihood that this happens.

Conclusion

Having malware detection software and running regular front end checks are the two best ways that you can prevent your site from being compromised. Clicking through your site from a user’s perspective can show you obvious flaws that may have come up, while firewalls and security software on the backend prevent anything strange from happening where you aren’t looking.

Bandwidth describes the maximum data transfer rate of a network or internet connection. It refers to how much data can be sent over a specific connection in a given amount of time. The higher the bandwidth, the more data can be transferred simultaneously.

How does bandwidth affect my website?

Bandwidth will determine how quickly users are able to view your website pages. If your bandwidth is low and you have a lot of users, most of them will have difficulty in loading your pages.

You will need to keep this in mind when planning your website and your hosting provider. If page-load times exceed four seconds, visitors may not come back to your website. The higher your bandwidth, the more people will be able to visit your site at the same time.

How to calculate the bandwidth needed for your site.

Bandwidth and storage are two important aspects to consider when building a website and selecting a hosting provider. While storage space can be managed easily either by increasing it on your plan and/or deleting or offloading content, but bandwidth is more complicated and you may not always be able to anticipate bandwidth needs in time to adjust it. 

Why do you need a lot of bandwidth?

As your website grows with time, your visitors will also grow. Your storage and bandwidth needs will also increase accordingly.

If you’re website frequently introduces new pages, like blog posts and product pages, it’s a good idea to get a hosting package with a considerable amount of bandwidth. With sufficient bandwidth, your visitors will be able to view these new pages without much hassle.

Bandwidth requirements depend on your website type. Even a low-bandwidth connection can be sufficient for a website with more text and less content. Text is very economical, it occupies very little bandwidth. However, the addition of images, embedded audio, and embedded video can slow down the overall page load time of a website for users on slower connections.

Having a high bandwidth connection is essential for websites that deliver streaming media, those that load a lot of high-resolution content on one page or those that deliver large data downloads. 

Bandwidth is typically measured in millions of bits per second (megabits per second, or Mbps) or billions of bits per second (gigabits per second, or Gbps).

Here are the steps to calculate how much bandwidth you need:

1. Estimate the average page size of your website in kilobytes (KB).
2. Multiply that average page size (in KB) by the monthly average number of visitors.
3. Multiply the result from step 2 by the average number of page views per visitor.

If you don’t host large media files or do a lot of streaming, you should be able to manage with 10 GB per month.

This is just the beginning of knowing your bandwidth requirements. You will also need to include an allocation for extra traffic in case unexpected traffic spikes, like those caused by social news sites, and festive seasons for e-commerce sites can cause bandwidth usage to spike during those specific seasonal periods.

Suppose your plan provides bandwidth to support a thousand visitors, but one month, you get five thousand. Due to the lack of bandwidth, most of the five thousand visitors wouldn’t be able to access your website. This is a good reason to have more bandwidth than you usually require so that additional visitors are catered to in case of a spike.

 However, when choosing a web host, choose one that allows you to upgrade your disk space and bandwidth if you should need it later on.

Are unlimited bandwidth hosting plans a good idea?

Having unlimited bandwidth is definitely a good idea as you never know when you will have a spike in your website visits. However many hosting providers who have these unlimited plans have special conditions and limitations.

Almost all unlimited hosting providers use Terms of Service (TOS) agreements to legally restrict what their hosting service can be used for. It is important to ensure that these terms don’t affect your content.

It may be wise to find a hosting provider that allows you limited bandwidth, but with sufficient allocations so that you receive excellent quality of service. At Hosting Review, our Hosting Finder Tool gives you a convenient way of finding a good web host with bandwidth allocations that will suit your needs.

Can I reduce the bandwidth my website use?

While it is a wise choice to estimate your bandwidth needs and find a suitable web hosting plan, it is also important to continuously optimize your website to manage its bandwidth needs.

The size of your content files and the number of visits will have the biggest impact on your bandwidth needs. You would definitely want to increase the number of visits to your website, however, you will need to optimize your content file sizes to ensure optimum page load times.

These are some of the things that you can do to optimize your bandwidth usage: 

1. Off-load your content or switch to an external image provider

We can outsource the hosting of our images to a Content Delivery Network or an external website. There are a number of free image sharing sites on the internet.

Ex: Imageshack,  Flickr, Photobucket, Amazon S3

2. Turn on HTTP compression

HTTP compression on your webserver can account for roughly two-thirds of a reduction in text bandwidth. This makes transmitting JavaScript, HTML, and CSS files to your user’s browsers faster. HTTP compression offers even more for SSL enabled websites as it reduces the amount of data to be encrypted and decrypted and speeds up the page loading process.

3. Outsource your RSS feeds

Many websites offer RSS feeds. Instead of visiting a website every day to see what has changed, RSS readers automatically pull down the latest RSS feed at regular intervals.  Google FeedBurner provides custom RSS feeds and management tools for bloggers, podcasters, and other web-based content publishers.

While this can be useful for reducing your bandwidth usage, it can also affect your regular visitors, so keep that in mind.

4. Optimize the size of your JavaScript and CSS.

Minimize your JavaScript and CSS files to optimize them for transmitting and loading. Another option is to refer to JavaScripts externally instead of embedding them in every page.

5. In general, build simpler pages. Remove any unnecessary text, images or other files to keep your pages as small as possible. Use PNG and GIF images to save bandwidth. Remove unwanted tags, white space, and comments. Limit your Meta tags to those absolutely necessary.

Conclusion

Your bandwidth needs will depend on many things like the size of your pages, how many visits your website receives, and how much bandwidth your hosting service offers you.

However, it is something that needs to be planned right from the point of designing your website. You will also need to host your asset files in a manner that ensures optimum bandwidth usage.

Choose your hosting service wisely to ensure that your website has sufficient bandwidth. Visit Hosting Review to find more articles like this and use our Hosting Finder Tool to find a suitable hosting plan. Our tool allows you to filter and compare hosting services by their features.

To make things easier from a technology management perspective, you probably want an eCommerce platform, hosting and email account access in one. If you’re looking at Shopify as your eCommerce platform, you’re wondering whether Shopify email hosting is available.

The Hosting Review team is here to answer your question and give you a detailed overview of eCommerce email hosting management for Shopify.

The Short Answer on Shopify Email Hosting 

Email hosting refers to a hosting service provider also giving clients access to dedicated email accounts. In this sense, it’s easy to say that no, Shopify does not offer email hosting. Shopify doesn’t provide hosting – just the platform to run the eCommerce platform on. As such, Shopify also doesn’t have an email hosting service with its subscription plans.

To have a professional email account, you’ll need to explore other service providers and integrate the solutions that they deliver with your Shopify website.

Dedicated Shopify Email Hosting Providers

To have a corporate email to go with your Shopify eCommerce website, you can explore dedicated email hosting providers. Dedicated Shopify email hosting providers are companies that offer email hosting (sometimes they also offer website hosting) services. One of the most prominent solutions in that field is Shopped, which is put together and run by Shopify developers.

The price of this service starts at 10 dollars per month, which isn’t unattainable even for a startup. Major hosting service providers out there also have Shopify email hosting plans and in some cases, the prices are much lower. You can easily find hosting management solutions for anywhere between two and three dollars per month.

What matters in such instances is checking the quality of the service and the technical characteristics/functionalities you will be getting for your money.

Features to Look for in Email Hosting Solutions for Shopify

Available storage space is a good research starting point. Even if your business starts slow, sooner or later you’ll start receiving numerous emails from customers, suppliers, potential business partners and employees. If you plan to use email for marketing purposes, you’ll witness even more intense traffic.

The amount of space available under the hosting plan is crucial. Some companies offer only 100MB of storage space per account. Usually, these are the most affordable Shopify email hosting offers out there and they’re suitable for startups/small businesses.

Security is another big essential. Will there be any form of encryption? How will the service provider make sure that your communication is protected? Some other features to look for when picking a hosting solution for your Shopify store email include:

• Spam and virus protection
• Webmail, POP3 and IMAP integration
• Migration support
• Media and file storage capabilities
• Email forwarding
• Size limitations for email attachments
• Support (what communication channels are available, is there 24/7 support)
• Add-on features and tools like address book, calendar, notes, bookmarks, etc.

Obviously, some eCommerce business owners will find a few of these features to be irrelevant or not that important. It’s up to you to determine what your email hosting priorities are. Sit down and think about what matters the most before you choose the email hosting solution to integrate with your Shopify store.

Is Shopify Email Hosting Easy to Set Up?

Setting up Shopify email accounts is usually very easy. There will be a setup wizard or a detailed guide that will help you go through the steps so that you could confirm the business email(s) that will go with your Shopify website.

Shopify itself has an official email setup forwarding guide. The Shopify YouTube channel also provides important educational resources that are much more visual.

Once you complete all of the setup and configuration steps, you will have to wait. The waiting period ranges from 24 to 48 hours. This is the amount of time that will have to pass for DNS changes to propagate and for your email to become active.

Are Free Email Accounts a Good Choice for Shopify Websites?

The final option we’ll take a look at is a free email account and whether that’s a good choice for a Shopify business. Free email accounts like those provided by Gmail and Yahoo have several disadvantages.

The first one is the inability to do branding, due to the fact that the email isn’t going to feature your domain name. Instead of being [email protected], the email will be [email protected].

Additional shortcomings stemming from free email services include:

• Limited security
• No dedicated support team to address your concerns immediately
• Limited storage space, especially for larger companies or businesses experiencing rapid growth
• Limited backup and disaster recovery options

Shopify’s email hosting is not that expensive. Thus, there’s really no reason to opt for free emails. Not only will these look unprofessional, but they could also jeopardize some of the important information contained in your business emails.

As a platform, Shopify does not offer email hosting. Luckily, many domain and hosting companies also have email-related services. Professional emails are still a communication staple, which is why you’ll have to take some time and identify a good email hosting service provider for Shopify. There’s a vast range of companies that offer professional and dedicated email hosting services. Check out at least a couple of options to acquaint yourself with the market. Even more importantly, don’t base your final decision on price alone. Being tempted to choose the most inexpensive service could contribute to additional unnecessary expenses down the line.

For a variety of reasons, you may want to figure out who is currently hosting your website. In this post, we’re going to look at the differences between domain hosting and web hosting, and give you some tools to figure them both out. Remember that some companies will outsource their domain registration or hosting, so you may have to read the fine print.

Finding Out Your Website Host

You can use https://www.iplocation.net/who-is-hosting-website to figure out who is hosting a given website. They give you valuable information about the website, including linking you automatically to a WHOIS lookup to see the domain host as well.

For example, if you type in Apple.com, you would return the following information:

• Datacenter: Apple Inc.
• Server IP: 17.172.224.47
• Location: United States of America
• City: Cupertino
• Nameservers: c.ns.apple.com, d.ns.apple.com, a.ns.apple.com, b.ns.apple.com
• Reverse DNS of the IP: carbontest.com

Most of that information is fairly straightforward. Note, however, that the “nameserver” references the kind of network service that will transform the domain name (“Apple”) into the IP address that the server actually reads. The internet identifies websites based on IPs and domain names, and needs to translate back and forth to render them intelligible to humans and machines.

Finding Out the Host of Your Domain

If you don’t remember where you got your domain, you can search your email archives. There will probably be billing or invoice information that may help you track down the website.

There’s also a super helpful free resource, WHOIS lookup, which can tell you about the domain registration of any website that you put in. This can be super helpful for figuring out the domain host and owner of sites that aren’t even yours!

Other times, a domain name is bought and resold. This is sort of like investing in digital real estate, because you may think that the domain name will be worth something to someone eventually. If you think that a domain is bought and resold, WHOIS lookup can still be helpful, but you’ll have to scroll down to the resale section to get more information.

What is a Website Host?

A website host is the server that your website lives on, or more specifically, the company that manages the server that your website lives on. Most websites on the internet are not hosted on dedicated private servers, and therefore are managed by a number of different hosting solutions. There are a lot of companies that manage servers and hosting spaces, using a variety of techniques to split servers for smaller websites.

Cloud hosting uses a number of physical servers to create a unique virtual environment which then runs individual virtual private servers.

Virtual private server hosting uses a single server to split into a number of different virtual machines which all act as their own dedicated virtual private servers.

Shared servers use a single server and split that server into different administrative tasks to run a variety of different websites.

There are a variety of strengths and weaknesses to each model of hosting. The host is the place where all of the different files and HTML coding is stored for your website. But a host is not the same as a domain, which is the IP address and text identifier of your website.

What is the Difference Between a Host and Domain Name?

The website host is the server where your website lives. The server is a computer that is hooked up to the internet and has all of the different files and HTML calls that your website needs to run. When people try to access your website, it sends a command to the server which then retrieves the relevant data that the website needs to run.

A domain name is simply the web address that people use to find and access your website. Domain names that are still available are generally pretty cheap to get and register, but may cost more to maintain over time.

Generally speaking you want to register your domain name with someone other than your host so that you avoid anything happening to your domain in case you want to move your hosting. Some domain name plus hosting sites will offer different services for each, however, so that you retain your domain name even if you shift your hosting.

Conclusions: Where it Gets Tricky

Plenty of companies will tell you that they do domain hosting and then you’ll find out that they outsource it. For example, Squarespace says that they host domains. They do, but they run it through their trusted partner Tucow. Now, that’s not to say that Squarespace isn’t trustworthy or that their domain hosting is second class.

Lots of companies do domain registration and/or web hosting by working with another company that works with that. The B2B sector for web and domain hosting is huge. You can use the tools in this post to try to track down the actual owner of your domain name, the registrar for the domain, and the host of the website.

There are a number of different motivations that someone might have for running offshore hosting.

In this post, let’s take a look at 5 different reasons that someone might use an offshore VPS solution.

1. For Cheaper or Different Payment Structures

Why do people decide to outsource manufacturing to different countries? Usually for one of two reasons: either because they can make it better, or because they can make it cheaper. In the case of VPS hosting, it might be either one, but it will usually be the cheaper part. Not everything about offshore hosting is shady! Sometimes you can get a great deal by going with a hosting company that is based out of a different country. At the least, being ready to explore your options can help you find a better price.

Additionally, if you are trying to use a cryptocurrency payment structure for a variety of reasons, an offshore host might be the best and cheapest place to do this. You’ll have to be careful with this, because there are certainly sites that claim to be offshore VPS solutions that will take cryptocurrency but are not legit. Do your research first, compare some hosting companies, and stick with trusted brands on this one. There are definitely ways to pay crypto for a website, but that doesn’t mean that everyone offering to take your crypto is going to give you a website.

2. To Avoid Legal Concerns

This one is tricky. On the one hand, by locating a website outside of the country that you live in, you might be able to get around certain kinds of laws. Some of these might be somewhat legitimate. For example, Japan doesn’t allow gambling. Running an online casino and basing your hosting service in Japan would be super illegal. But if you run the online casino from servers that are in a different country where gambling is legal, you might be okay. Then again, even running an online casino out of your house in Japan can be super illegal, no matter where the servers are located. It can be complicated, but there can be situations where the location of the servers and therefore the jurisdiction of the website can help a lot.

On the other hand, sometimes people are trying to simply do illegal things and therefore want an offshore server to house their website. If you’re dealing in explicit content or transactions blocked by a certain government, locating your website in an offshore VPS solution can help you get around this.

3. Additional Privacy and Anonymity

If you’re trying to create an anonymous website, offshore solutions may be one of the best ways to do this. There are a lot of different ways that websites can be traced back to you as the owner, so you’ll need a structured solution to prevent being traced. You’ll need to mask your IP address by using a VPN, you’ll need an anonymous email account, and you’ll probably need some cryptocurrency in order to pay for the site without your payment information being traceable.

Offshore VPS solutions often will allow you to use cryptocurrency, and may require far less personal data to set up the site. Because the businesses might be subject to less regulation, they may not ask a lot of questions to customers who pay their monthly fees. Keep in mind that they will have whatever information you have to put into the system. If an offshore VPS solution talks a lot about your privacy but then collects a bunch of personal data, it may not be a real thing.

For anyone trying to maintain a high level of privacy and anonymity, an offshore solution can make a lot of sense.

4. Freedom Of Publishing and Content

The most popular and controversial example here would be WikiLeaks, which was founded out of servers and hosting in Sweden. As it turns out, Sweden has some pretty intense freedom of the press laws which allowed WikiLeaks to publish content without revealing sources and to remain up and running even amidst controversy.

For people that are publishing controversial content, of any kind, offshore VPS solutions might put some of that content outside the jurisdiction of certain locations. If you live in a country that has a lot of restrictions on the press and content, locating your website in a different place can get around those concerns. But just like the legal example, there is still the possibility that laws are in place that target people that try to use offshore solutions to shelter content.

5. Taxes

It does in fact get a bit complicated here, but running a website offshore can have some ramifications in the taxes that you get involved with. When you are trying to establish a legal business presence in a different country for tax purposes, or even to establish a personal presence in a different country for tax purposes, running an offshore VPS solution can make a lot of sense.

There could be issues here under a couple of different reasons though. If you are living and operating your business out of the United States but then just stick your website in Sweden, you may not get a lot of traction for the tax argument. The real way that an offshore solution might be helpful for tax purposes is when you’re already trying to make the case that your business or residence is based out of a different country. If you’re putting together the case that you’re living or conducting business out of a different country, paying for hosting in that country can be a helpful addition.

Which Version of PHP Should I Use?

Extensive testing, which you can find that people have done on different PHP versions, always shows that the latest version of PHP is the fastest. There is no reason to be running an older version of PHP, and people generally are only running an old version of PHP because they have forgotten to upgrade.

When Does PHP 8 Release?

At time of writing, according to sources, PHP 8.0 is slated to be released in Q4 of 2020 or Q1 of 2021, which means we are approaching this new PHP version. Also at this time, it’s estimated that over a quarter of websites using WordPress are still running PHP 5.6, which had support for it ended at the end of 2018. Running an unsupported version of PHP is technically fine, as 5.6 is still good, but it can really cost you in the speed of your site.

What is the Latest PHP?

Also at time of writing, PHP 7.4 has been released and is the most recent version of PHP that is available. PHP 8.0 isn’t slated for release until late 2020 or early 2021. But additionally, the 7.4 version of PHP will be supported until near the end of 2022. Again, you can still run older versions of PHP, or could still run 7x versions of PHP after 8 releases, but it can slow you down.

How Much Faster is PHP 7.4?

Consistently, if you want to handle the most amount of requests per second and therefore speed up the performance of your entire website. Studies have shown that running WordPress 5.0 with PHP 7.0 can get you less than 225 requests per second, but PHP 7.3 or 7.4 can push you over that 225 line. That speeds everything up.

Should I Update PHP?

There are a couple of different kinds of upgrades that you can perform on the PHP version that you are using. You should know that the PHP development team releases three different kinds of PHP versions that you can use. There are the main number versions, like 5, 7, and eventually 8. These are the big builds of PHP which can produce massive speed boosts when you switch over.

Then there are the second number in the sequence, which would be the 6 in 5.6 or the 4 in 7.4. This second number represents a major upgrade to PHP and allows you to speed up a little bit.

Finally, there is a third number, like the 1 in 7.4.1 or the 13 in 7.3.13. These numbers generally fix two different things. First, these third number fixes target any security issues that have popped up during the release of the PHP version. And second, these numbers usually fix some minor bugs. The bug fixes can slightly improve the speed of the PHP version, but generally not in any extensive way.

PHP.net, the site for the developers of PHP, carries announcements about these PHP versions. All users of PHP are encouraged by the site to upgrade their PHP versions when new versions pop up. This can slightly increase the speed of your site but it also claims to carry security updates with each of the versions. They put that on every release announcement on every single update, so there is no way of telling which updates include significant security fixes and which contain nothing major.

In general, you should continue to update PHP when you can.

Are There Drawbacks to Updating PHP?

Yes, there are potentially reasons why you should continue running an older version of PHP instead of updating to a newer version. You have to worry about compatibility with both the servers and host that you have, but also you have to see if your code is compatible with the latest PHP. Sometimes in newer PHP versions, certain functions and features have been changed that won’t let you use certain functions and features that your site used to rely on. It may be a bit of trial and error to see if everything works, but it is obviously better than crashing your whole site. Additionally there may be plugins which will not be supported with the latest PHP if the plugins are not updated that often.

Final Advice: Which PHP Should I Use?

Always make updates to the third number of PHP, as these are patches and fixes for any bugs or security issues that have popped up along the way of the PHP. When it comes to first or second number upgrades, proceed with slightly more caution. However, you should definitely be prioritizing PHP upgrades to make sure that your site remains competitive and fast. If there are plugins or hosts that don’t accommodate later versions of PHP, these might not be the right options for your website.

How Can People Find Out Who is Running a Site?

There are a number of different ways that people can connect a website to the person behind it, including:

• Email addresses
• Looking in the domain registration record, WHOIS
• Payment methods
• The records of your hosting company
• IP addresses
• Third party plugins

In addition to this hard data, remember that there are additional ways that you can get found out. If you start talking about your website offline, you may compromise the site. And if you leave too many clues that cross over from your online presence to your anonymous site. For example, if you post something about onion rings on your anonymous site the same day that you post a picture of onion rings to social media, that could be a clue. It might only take a couple of clues for someone to figure it out.

Web Hosts Aren’t Trying to Out You

Web hosts consider you as their customer and they aren’t interested in publishing the names and addresses of people who have signed up to use their site. That’d be like if a tech company put a customer list on their website of names and addresses of people who bought a phone from them this year. Nobody would be happy about that, and nobody is asking for it.

So in this sense, most web hosting companies are “anonymous.” Don’t do anything illegal and continue paying them for their service, and they aren’t selling your data or publishing a list of people that are buying websites from them. —

There are a couple of exceptions to this rule. First of all, there isn’t anything that would prevent them (in most cases) from sharing lists of their clients with other people. For instance, an additional third party service. Second of all, there are also situations where the hosting service becomes entangled in some sort of government investigation. There are such things as digital search warrants. Hosting sites will obviously comply with authorities that come knocking on their digital doors.

So if you’re mostly worried about whether or not someone is finding out about your sparkling water review blog, you probably don’t have much to worry about from the hosting side. You should, however, think about DNS listings….

DNS Listings

Domain names have to be registered, and there is usually information about the domain name posted on the registry. Using a WHOIS lookup can trace you back to the owner of the domain name. Many domain registrars will let you setup a private listing if you’re going to need additional privacy. That will let you register a domain but won’t toss your information up with it. Using a private hosting and private DNS solution should allow you to get anonymous web hosting.

Also keep in mind that domains can be registered to companies in addition to individual people. If you register a domain to a company, you have additional options for remaining anonymous with your domain hosting.

Being Completely, 100% Anonymous

…is really difficult, because most hosting services require you to attach a payment method to the account, and payment methods are required to verify customer information. At this point, you’ll be using offshore hosting and cryptocurrency to try to maintain anonymity, which of course will make everyone (especially government agencies) wonder just why you’re going to such lengths to remain distant from your website. If it’s for any shady reason, you might as well raise a flag that says “illegal web activity” rather than run cryptocurrency, a VPN, and foreign hosting all at the same time.

Still, if you’re really sold on the idea, there are some steps that you can take:

Anonymous Web Hosting: No Domain

One of the best ways to run anonymous web hosting is to avoid paying for hosting or registering your own domain. Many free hosting services will simply tack your site onto their own domain, and this can be a great way to run your site without association. You’ll be able to blog and build a site–that doesn’t violate the terms of service–without being traceable. For an added layer of protection, you can use a VPN and an anonymous email address. The VPN covers your IP address, unless the VPN provider gets tapped.

Anonymous Web Hosting: With a Domain

Of course, your options in free hosting that lacks a domain are often limited. You’re running free hosting on a different platform and will be really limited by what you can do. In order to build anything impressive, you’ll definitely need a different kind of hosting service and a domain. If you aren’t doing anything illegal, it is unlikely that your VPN will be compromised. Set up a VPN connection and use an anonymous email address. Now, because you’ll probably have to pay for decent hosting and because host companies will need to collect payment information, you’ll also need to register some sort of business. This business might be registered to your name, but there are ways of registering that might avoid this. If you have a business you can register the payment information to the business, and now you’ve got a fairly untraceable web hosting solution.

Conclusion: Am I Anonymous?

Honestly, for most people, simply paying for WHOIS protection and paying a legitimate web hosting solution will provide enough anonymity. Once you’re jumping through the hoops of a VPN connection, an anonymous email address, and a shell company–you’re probably trying to do something illegal. And once you’re doing that, there are ways for agencies to subpoena data. Stay legally anonymous by paying for protection and keeping your data off your site, but be careful with other kinds of hosting solutions that go to extremes to protect your identity.