With their extensive range of hosting packages and value-added services, KingHost can help with pretty much everything you need to set up and run an effective website. They’re one of Brazil’s top web hosting providers, having hosted over 300,000 websites and gained significant market share since their launch in 2006.
Features and Ease of Use
KingHost offers a huge range of hosting and value-added website services. Their most popular offerings, however, are their shared hosting packages, which also happen to be the first service they offered when they launched in 2006. The most basic shared hosting plan comes with these features:
- One hosted website
- 10GB SSD storage
- 256MB memory
- Unlimited email accounts with 50GB space
- Unlimited MySQL databases with 5GB space
- Unlimited bandwidth
- A Let’s Encrypt SSL Certificate
- Free access to KingHost’s own website builder
- Daily backups
Going for a higher-tier plan affords you more websites on your account, double the memory for every level up, more storage space, and a greater number of value-added features like Varnish Cache and AntiSpam Free email protection.
One of the unique perks of KingHost is that they reward you for being a good customer. Whenever you pay your shared hosting monthly bill on time, you accrue weekly data and email storage bonuses – which can easily add up to an extra 1.27 GB per year. This policy also applies to their reseller hosting plans, although the bonuses credited are given in percentage increases rather than a fixed amount.
KingHost scored an average uptime of 99.91%, which is not spectacular but definitely above average for a web host. Server performance was excellent when I pinged them from a Brazilian location, but this may drop off from other locations given that their data centers are located solely in Brazil.
KingHost employs their own control panel for users to manage their accounts. This was easy on the eyes, well-organized, and fairly comprehensive; I could do everything from checking my resource usage to setting up SSL certification and accessing databases.
Pricing and Support
KingHost’s listed rates are similar and reasonable compared to those of their competitors. Overall, I did find KingHost more generous than most of the competition in the features and resources they give their customers, especially considering their KingBonus reward scheme.
However, I should point out that KingHost’s initial pricing is discounted for new customers; the fees for subsequent renewals will increase significantly after the first year, and are likely to shock those who don’t bother to read the fine print. Honestly, I wasn’t a fan of how they did this, especially given that prices more than double after the first year. If you factor in this increase in price, KingHost’s plans are no longer that affordable compared to the competition.
KingHost provides 24/7 support through live chat, email, and a Brazilian telephone hotline. The live chat was responsive, although it took a few minutes to connect with an agent. Customers outside Brazil should be aware that the telephone hotline is not toll-free, so making calls from outside the country may result in international phone charges.
How much does KINGHOST cost?
KINGHOST offers plans from $4 to $8. The price depends on which type of hosting plan you choose. You can see the updated pricing table (updated weekly) below.
Which KINGHOST plan should I get?
My recommendation is to start with a cheaper plan. You can always upgrade later on. KINGHOST 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 KINGHOST here.
How good is KINGHOST’s customer support?
KINGHOST is not ranked as one of our top web hosts. But that can also be a result of KINGHOST 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.
