HostingNet is based in Chile and has been in business since 2008. They offer shared hosting, reseller hosting, and VPS hosting appropriate for many websites. Their shared hosting offers fantastic features including SSD storage, unlimited bandwidth, and free SSL certificates.
Features and Ease of Use
HostingNet offers an excellent variety of features for their shared hosting plans that include decent SSD storage and unlimited bandwidth. Here are a few of their basic features:
- PHP 5.4 – 7.2 support
- cPanel
- Unlimited email accounts
- Unlimited subdomains
- Unlimited databases on most plans
- Website builder
- Softaculous auto-installer
They also offer a nice variety of value-added features including free SSL certificates:
- Free SSL certificate for every domain
- Firewall and antivirus protection
- CloudLinux OS
- Python support
HostingNet even offers a Micro Enterprise Hosting package, which doesn’t come with any add-on domains but features unlimited databases, emails, and monthly transfer. Clearly, this is the lightweight version of their packages streamlined for small businesses with only a single website; the rest of their packages offer at least one add-on domain. Apparently they didn’t think these small businesses required SSD storage though: the 5GB storage included in the Micro Enterprise plan isn’t SSD, but the rest of their shared hosting plans include this by default.
One noteworthy aspect is that they offer firewall and antivirus protection. Sadly, many providers don’t provide this standard.
I was slightly disappointed to see that they don’t offer full website backups. They presently only offer weekly backups of emails and databases on all plans.
If you’re a beginner, put this host on your shortlist as they do offer both a website builder and the Softaculous auto-installer. Their website builder offers nearly 200 different templates. Those with experience building websites can use cPanel and FTP to build a website.
Pricing and Support
HostingNet offers seven plans for shared website hosting. Plans have the same features listed above with only the following differences:
| Micro Enterprise | Economic | Web | Professional | SME | Company | Corporate | |
| Storage | 5GB | 1GB SSD | 2GB SSD | 3.5GB SSD | 6GB SSD | 12GB SSD | 30GB SSD |
| Databases | Unlimited | 5 | 10 | Unlimited | Unlimited | Unlimited | Unlimited |
| Emails | Unlimited | Unlimited | Unlimited | Unlimited | Unlimited | Unlimited | Unlimited |
| Add-on Domains | 0 | 1 | 2 | 3 | 4 | 5 | 6 |
On the surface, you’d think that the Micro Enterprise plan would be the way to go for a single domain, but there’s a catch. It only allows you to host up to three web pages. It’s really weird when you consider the fact that they give you 5GB of storage under this plan. If it were up to me, I’d go for the Professional plan or a higher one because they offer unlimited databases.
Pricing is slightly better than the average provider and gets cheaper if you pay for two or three years’ worth of service in advance. You also get free SSL certificates, which saves you money over many providers. Sadly, none of these plans give you a free domain, so you may save money on SSL certificates but you’ll pay up to register a domain.
Technical support is average with phone support, online ticket support, and live chat support. It doesn’t appear that live chat is 24/7 as I was unable to reach them via this channel. They do offer a FAQ section, but this is somewhat limited in scope.
How much does HostingNet cost?
HostingNet offers plans from $27 to $80. The price depends on which type of hosting plan you choose. You can see the updated pricing table (updated weekly) below.
Which HostingNet plan should I get?
My recommendation is to start with a cheaper plan. You can always upgrade later on. HostingNet 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 HostingNet here.
How good is HostingNet’s customer support?
HostingNet is not ranked as one of our top web hosts. But that can also be a result of HostingNet 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.
