GlowHost is an American web hosting company that was founded in 2002. They excel in customer support and offer a range of high-quality, fully transparent web hosting packages for businesses of all sizes.
Features and Ease of Use
GlowHost’s shared hosting plans vary primarily in the number of connected domains allowed and the provision of FFmpeg support, a dedicated IP address, and their OptimumCache software, which enables faster loading times and server responsiveness.
Beyond that, GlowHost divides their shared hosting plans in terms of a few “unlimited” features, the type of file storage, and the version of the SohoLaunch website builder offered. All shared hosting packages have the industry-standard cPanel installation and run on CloudLinux OS.
Their Unlimited Single Domain and Unlimited Multi-Domain plans have unlimited disk space and bandwidth, but are restricted to SATA storage drives and the Basic version of the SohoLaunch website builder. These plans cater to more experienced website creators who want more leeway with their storage space and file transfer.
Their Personal Hosting plan, on the other hand, comes with 10 GB storage and 100 GB monthly bandwidth, but are hosted on super fast SSDs and provides users with access to the Pro version of the SohoLaunch website builder. The
Their Professional Hosting package is similar, but storage is increased to 20 GB and monthly bandwidth to 250 GB. These plans cater more to professionals and businesses that require greater performance and accessibility.
Alternatively, customers requiring enterprise-grade hosting solutions may opt for one of their semi-dedicated, virtual dedicated, or managed dedicated server packages. If you’ve never heard of the first two terms before, the semi-dedicated servers operate much like shared hosting plans, except that each server is limited to 30 sites or fewer and therefore can achieve the maximum performance allowed by a shared hosting environment. Virtual dedicated plans are like VPS hosting plans, but deliver much greater performance, speed, and stability.
GlowHost also offers managed reseller hosting packages, as well as a few uncommon services such as toll-free numbers, trustmarks and badges, hack prevention, and hack repair services.
Pricing and Support
GlowHost’s plans aren’t the cheapest, but offer excellent value in each package. Smaller businesses would be well-advised to opt for either one of their Unlimited packages or their Professional Hosting packages. The latter is recommended for businesses that cannot afford to hire a professional web designer and programmer, and need to quickly launch and maintain a website.
GlowHost does not have a free plan available, but they do offer a number of freebies with their hosting packages as well as a stunning 91-day money back guarantee. These freebies include:
- Domain registration
- Private SSL certificate
- McAfee Secure with Site Seal
- SohoLaunch website builder
- SEO tools
- 1500+ professional design templates
- $75 of Google AdWords credit
Support is available via live chat, support tickets, email, or their pre-sales forum. Their telephone hotline is open 24/7, as is their support ticket system. Alternatively, if you’d prefer to type, their live chat is highly responsive – upon initiating the chat, I was connected with an agent within 20 seconds, and the questions I had with were all answered within 10 minutes. Overall, I was very impressed with their support.
How much does GlowHost cost?GlowHost offers plans from $5 to $18. The price depends on which type of hosting plan you choose. You can see the updated pricing table (updated weekly) below.
Which GlowHost plan should I get?My recommendation is to start with a cheaper plan. You can always upgrade later on. GlowHost can help you with the migration to a more expensive plan. The increase in visitors many times takes longer than expected and you shouldn’t pay a lot of money until the need arises. Of course, your needs may vary, and you can consult with a hosting expert from GlowHost here.
How good is GlowHost’s customer support?GlowHost is not ranked as one of our top web hosts. But that can also be a result of GlowHost being a small, under the radar, hosting provider. There are advantages to a small hosting company – as a customer, you are more important to them. You can also check out our comparison of the most popular web hosting services here.
