CleverDot was established in 2002 and has been providing shared hosting and domain registration services since their inception. They’ve remained a smaller company that’s comfortable operating at their current scale. Currently, they provide hosting to U.S. and Canadian customers only. They’ve labelled themselves “the clever choice” because of their affordable and simple packages and their clever use of software.
Despite being a smaller hosting provider with a limited set of services, CleverDot still provides all the fundamentals such as:
They also provide a few other features that add a lot of value and utility to their web hosting plans:
CleverDot has put a bit of effort into making their platform easy to use. Their pricing is simple, the signup process is almost effortless, and they provide a great range of software to help even the most novice users set up polished-looking websites.
However, your account will only be activated within an hour upon making payment: I found this a bit slow considering most shared hosting providers activate accounts almost instantly. Plus, their website looks very dated. This is probably where CleverDot falls short of their bigger and operationally-stronger competitors, and may also indicate that their platform may not be the most convenient.
CleverDot only offers three shared hosting plans. However, the terms are very generous with no setup fees, an exceptional 60-day money back guarantee, and a choice of monthly or discounted yearly billing. You can also get a discount if you choose to register a domain name with your yearly plan.
The plans come with:
Although not the absolute cheapest, CleverDot’s packages are still in the more affordable range. The software and features you get with your hosting service also makes it pretty good value for money.
CleverDot only offers technical support through email; their phone line is for billing or order queries only. They appear to have a live chat, but the few occasions when I tried to access it, they were offline. However, at the very least, my experience with their support team was that they’re quick to respond and generally very competent and helpful, even if it took multiple emails before I got the issues resolved. Unfortunately, the help documentation in their knowledge base is minimal and they don’t regularly maintain any social media channels.
If you only need a simple and cheap shared hosting service with beginner-friendly software, then CleverDot may be a good fit for you. Their unlimited plan makes it possible to have a stress-free solution. However, don’t expect the same support or features as larger providers.
