Michael Jones
Every hosting service provider offers unique features that set them apart from others in the market. Some focus on providing exceptional technical support, while others may offer attractive low prices. A few are sought after for their reliable performance. The majority of hosting service providers claim to excel in all of these aspects in pursuit of effective marketing strategies and establishing their market value.
In this GreenGeeks web hosting review, we will explore the reliability of this hosting provider in UK for your website. But first, let’s take a look at the company’s background.
About GreekGeeks UK Web Hosting Company
GreenGeeks distinguishes itself from other web hosting companies by being eco-friendly. This California-based web hosting service provider primarily relies on wind power to run its machines.
At present, GreenGeeks hosts over 300,000 websites, catering to more than 35,000 satisfied customers worldwide.
Founded by Trey Gardner, the company has been in business for over a decade. Their headquarters is located in Agoura Hills, CA. In order to provide a reliable and high-performance hosting solution, GreenGeeks operates data centres in Chicago, Phoenix, Toronto, and Amsterdam.
Beyond their environmentally responsible approach, GreenGeeks aims to provide speed, reliability, and responsive tech support. We will examine what GreenGeeks has to offer and how well they deliver on these aspects.
Uptime & Performance
Based on user experience from the past eight months, GreenGeeks has impressively maintained a 99.99% uptime, although recent months have seen a slight dip. Overall, GreenGeeks still boasts a 99.95% uptime, which is on par with industry averages. Their four data centres work efficiently to ensure excellent site speed.
It is important to note that GreenGeeks only offers Shared Hosting packages, which include Reseller hosting. Lightweight websites hosted on GreenGeeks’ Shared Hosting platform generally perform at a satisfactory speed. On average, sites hosted by GreenGeeks are 52% faster than those hosted elsewhere.
Technical Support
Customer support is a crucial aspect of hosting services, and we are pleased to report that GreenGeeks provides prompt and responsive tech support. They have done an excellent job resolving most issues and answering queries.
The only minor concern is their non-native English communication, as it appears that GreenGeeks may outsource tech support from non-native English speaking professionals. However, this is not a major issue, as most GreenGeeks customers seem happy with their responsive customer support.
Features
All GreenGeeks hosting plans include free domain registration, free website migration (if you already have a site hosted elsewhere), nightly web data backups, cPanel access, a free site builder, and free Cloudflare CDN.
Whether you choose a starter or premium shared web hosting plan UK, you will also receive unlimited disk space, bandwidth, email accounts, MySQL databases, and the ability to host an unlimited number of domains.
For site protection, basic Wildcard SSL is available with lower-tier plans (£2.45/mo* and £9.90/mo*), while premium Wildcard SSL is included with the premium package.
By hosting a website with GreenGeeks, your usage will be offset by 300% in the form of renewable energy credits. Consequently, you will be indirectly contributing to a better future for our planet.
Money Back Policy
Each GreenGeeks hosting plan comes with a 30-day money-back guarantee. However, there is a caveat to this. As mentioned earlier, GreenGeeks offers a free domain name registration with each of their plans.
If you use the free domain name registration facility during a hosting plan purchase, this may be problematic if you request a refund.
GreenGeeks deducts £23.00 as a domain name registration fee when you request a refund within 30 days. In this case, domain name registration is not entirely free, and the refund policy is not a “no-questions-asked” guarantee.
Add-Ons from GreenGeeks
Depending on your budget and requirements, you can choose one of three shared hosting services: Ecosite Starter, Ecosite Pro, or Ecosite Premium. If you purchase the premium package, you might not need any additional add-ons.
However, if you choose lower-tier packages, you may wish to add some extras to your plan:
- PCI Compliance: If you are running an e-commerce site or any other site where you accept credit card payments, PCI Compliance is essential for security.
- Premium Wildcard SSL: The Premium Wildcard SSL add-on provides HTTPS encryption by GlobalSign, a digital seal, auto-installation, and a guarantee of site safety and security.
- WHOIS Domain Privacy: You can keep your personal data hidden and prevent spam calls, emails, etc.
GreenGeeks Pros and Cons
From our experience and user feedback, GreenGeeks has received mixed reviews. Let’s summarise the pros and cons of GreenGeeks web hosting service for a quick overview:
Pros:
- Impressive uptime with above-average figures and admirable performance, boasting 52% faster site loading speeds.
- Despite imperfect English grammar, their tech support is fast and responsive.
- Affordable shared hosting plans starting as low as £2.45 per month, including all essential features.
- Unlike many other providers, no upsells are imposed when purchasing a hosting plan.
- 1-click installation of popular CMS like WordPress, Joomla, and other free apps.
- Excellent dashboard experience with cPanel access.
Cons:
- Pricing manipulation – the low starter price is only available when choosing a three-year plan.
- As explained earlier, their money-back guarantee comes with conditions. You will not receive a full refund if you opted for free domain name registration initially.
Conclusion – Should You Choose GreenGeeks?
GreenGeeks’ eco-friendly business approach is certainly an attractive selling point.
From a web hosting perspective, they do a good job providing sufficient uptime, reliable site performance, and responsive tech support.
If you are focused on the low price aspect and intend to request a money-back guarantee, remember that the guarantee and free domain name do not go hand in hand.
If you plan to commit to a hosting service for a reasonable amount of time, GreenGeeks may not be the best option, but it is certainly not a bad one.
