HOSTAFRICA is run by a team of highly skilled developers and managers from South Africa and Germany. In fact, Marcel Chorengel, one of the company’s founding members, helped to launch one of Germany’s largest providers of virtual servers and even pioneered the first fully automated web hosting software, Confixx. The company is based in Cape Town, South Africa, and has servers both locally as well as in Dusseldorf, Germany, Chicago and Los Angeles in the US, and in the UK. Services and support are offered in English.
Features and Ease of Use
HOSTAFRICA offers reliable, high-performance products. You’ll find that its web hosting packages are all-inclusive, with everything you need to get started. This includes:
- cPanel
- One-click app installer
- SSL certificates
- MySQL databases
- FTP accounts
- Free .co.za domain registration
- Daily backups
- 99.9% uptime guarantee
If you’d like to set up a more advanced website, HOSTAFRICA’s higher-tier plans get you unlimited web traffic, up to 20 domains and 1000 subdomains, 200GB disk space, unlimited MySQL databases, and free setup.
Those with no coding or technical background can take advantage of the beginner-friendly website builder. This is a separate subscription.
Additionally, you’ll find the one-click app installer very handy. This will enable you to deploy countless apps and scripts on your websites with ease. You’ll be able to add WordPress, Joomla, Drupal, Magento, and many more — without having to figure out server permissions, databases, and all the other technical bits.
HOSTAFRICA’s servers are based locally, so if you’re catering to a local clientele, this should get you the best performance. Alternatively, if you have international traffic coming to your website, the company also has a data center in Germany. Servers run on RAIDZ2 SSD storage as well as the latest Intel processors, so you’re assured of fast loading speeds and excellent availability for your website.
For more advanced needs, HOSTAFRICA has a range of VPS hosting plans, with options for Linux, Windows and Cloud Based servers.
Pricing and Support
Taking into consideration the features and services you get at HOSTAFRICA, it’s definitely worth the price you’ll be paying. The rates are very competitve, and you get excellent value for money here.
There are also regular promotional offers, where you can save up to 80% on VPS Hosting, Cloud Servers, Web Hosting, WordPress Hosting, and Reseller Hosting. There’s also a 30-day money-back guarantee.
You’ll find that HOSTAFRICA’s website is very easy to navigate and gives you detailed information on what every service includes. There’s also excellent pre-sales guidance, enabling you to choose the best plan for your needs. The company has monthly and annual billing terms with payments done through debit orders or credit card. Unfortunately, you’re not able to view prices in any currency other than Rand.
HOSTAFRICA offers 24/7 customer support via email, and tickets. The team is also available on live chat, but this is not 24/7. I found that when I contacted them via email, they were very prompt in getting back to me. It took them about nine minutes to respond with a well-crafted answer. Support is available 9-5 via phone, too. When I tested out the live chat, I was impressed by how quickly I got a response – and my question was answered in less than a minute!
How much does HOSTAFRICA cost?HOSTAFRICA offers a variety of plans. The price depends on which type of hosting plan you choose. As well as offering very competitive prising, HOSTAFRICA runs regular promotions, where you can save up to 80% on your web hosting plan.
Which HOSTAFRICA plan should I get?My recommendation is to start with a cheaper plan. You can always upgrade later on. HOSTAFRICA can help you with the migration to a more expensive plan. Of course, your needs may vary, and you can consult with a hosting expert from HOSTAFRICA here.
How good is HOSTAFRICA’s customer support?HOSTAFRICA is not ranked as one of our top web hosts. But that can also be a result of HOSTAFRICA 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. My experience with the support team was very positive! You can also check out our comparison of the most popular web hosting services here.
