Hostplay is a European-based web host that compares favorably with its contemporaries in both quality and performance. They’re not particularly beginner-friendly, but their above-average cheap and cheerful services make up for that.
Hostplay is fine, but fine is not good enough. While Hostplay is a decent web host, you can get better quality hosting at a cheaper price with Hostinger, for example.
European company Hostplay was launched in 2004 to provide quality, reliable, and affordable web hosting and web development services to personal and business customers. Their servers located in the Netherlands, Bulgaria, Sweden, and Russia cater for thousands of customers around the world.
Features and Ease of Use
Hostplay offers semi-dedicated, Virtual Private Server (VPS), and dedicated hosting servers. Their web hosting plans come with above-average features suited to intermediate and expert website developers.
Businesses or individuals hoping to grow an online presence will enjoy these value-added benefits:
99.9% uptime
Minimum of 30GB SSD storage
From 600 GB to 1500 GB premium bandwidth
Free Comodo SSL with an option to purchase RapidSSL
Paid extra dedicated IP across all plans
Hosting packages start with 30 GB SSD storage and a bandwidth of 600 GB on semi-dedicated servers. The dedicated server plan comes with 8 GB DDR3 RAM and 15 TB of bandwidth. Several front-page extensions and performance technologies such as the Ioncube loader are employed for improved speed and performance.
Beginners may find Hostplay challenging since there is no free website builder or CMS on the semi-dedicated plan. Although Softaculous and DirectAdmin are provided on the VPS and dedicated server plans, you have to pay a fee to use a website builder.
Hostplay offers automatic weekly backups for semi-dedicated servers. Backups on the VPS and dedicated servers work differently, and you would have to configure backups from cPanel. While this great initiative allows customers to set the backups as they prefer, it requires a basic knowledge of web hosting.
One thing I particularly like about Hostplay is the free Comodo SSL provided on every plan. It is attached to one domain or subdomain. There’s also the option of purchasing RapidSSL if you prefer.
Another Hostplay plus is easy migration from another web host provider since they handle the entire migration process for you.
Hostplay only sells web hosting and business products such as SSL certificates. It is not a domain provider, which might be disconcerting to customers who don’t know how to hook up to a domain provided by another provider.
Pricing and Support
Hostplay is one of the cheapest web hosts on the market, and they compete favorably in terms of quality of service. Regardless of the hosting plan you choose, you can purchase additional resources such as extra disk space, dedicated IP, RAM, and bandwidth without having to upgrade your server.
While the seven-day money-back guarantee is less than the 30 days offered by many other web hosts, Hostplay does at least give you a week to work out if it’s the one for you.
Concerning customer support, I have nothing bad to report. I received a fast and appropriate response when I contacted them by web chat, and I’ve found the knowledge base to be comprehensive. Email and phone support are also available.
Hostplay is an amazing offshore hosting provider. Within an hour or so our hosting was active and ready to be used! No service could ever guarantee 100% uptime, but on the two occasions I've experienced very short periods of downtime, I've immediately been able to get through to support via the freephone number and they've known exactly what was happening and why.
HostPlay offer really nice features – good offshore host
I really appreciate all the work they did for me and wanna thank Hostplay professional team. 100% satisfied using their hosting services. Up time is great and i must also say that the speed connectivity is pretty fast. In summary, HostPlay offshore host is highly recommended by myself and several colleagues. I strongly believe that this decent offshore web host will be suitable for any kind of business and highly recommend them.
0 livechat support, they send you by ticket no matter what you are asking.
Want a price for a server, they send you to open a ticket and after that you have to wait. In 24 hours they couldn't tell me the price only " Hi,I am flagging this ticket to our admin to assist you further. Please await for the reply.Best Regards,
Unix System Engineer"
not recommend.
Hostplay is an above-average web host for intermediate and expert users. You will enjoy value-added features including improved performance, speed, and the ability to increase your server features without upgrading your plan. It’s all good unless you’re an absolute beginner.
Still not sure if this is the right web host for you? Check out our top recommended web hosts to learn more.
Pros
Seven days money-back guarantee
Pricing flexibility and upgrade
Ioncube loader and a variety of front-page extensions
Free Comodo SSL on all plans
Cons
Semi-dedicated plans are not beginner-friendly
No paid or free domain name provided
Onajite Omare
Onajite is a content writer and Website developer that is focused on helping businesses attract, engage, and convert customers on the internet. When she's not writing content, crafting designs, or codes, she enjoys a good book.
