Is Rebel.com A Solid Small-Medium Business Host in 2020?

Candian web host and domain registrar Rebel.com is the real deal in the ever-growing market of hosting options.

The offer a wide range of plans and pride themselves on offering great customer service.

Their website is neat, the copy is clean, and images are of high quality. The pages and information are well presented, and they highlight their team and company values throughout the site.

At first impression they have too many hosting plans but not enough variety. No hosting plans stand out as particularly high level or suitable for enterprise-level businesses .

History of Rebel.com Hosting

The history of Rebel.com is hard to nail down. Their website states they were founded in 2006, so they aren’t new to the field.

Their Wiki page says they were previously known as Domains at Cost, but that company is still active, and I couldn’t find any other references to the previous name.

Today, Rebel.com is owned by the company Momentous, which owns Rebel.com, Rebel.ca, Internic.ca, and, interestingly enough, frozen yogurt brand Turkberry.

Security

Rebel.com claims to offer solid security, but do they actually? Here is what you need to know about Rebel.com’s security.

Datacenters and Hardware Security

In fall of 2018 the company stated that they had migrated all of their servers into Amazon datacenters. They cited a wider range of customization options and disastery recovery capabilities.

Rebel.com now uses 12 Amazon data centers.

Locations include:

• Canada
• US
• Ireland
• UK
• Germany
• Singapore
• Australia

Server Features

Notable server features include:

• Dual independent power supplies
• Emergency power generators
• Use of SSD (solid state drives)

Backups

Rebel.com offers automatic back ups for all hosting plans which take place every night.

SSL Certificates

Choose from four different SSL certificates, starting at $18 a year.

Plans range from AlphaSSL, which is aimed at small businesses, to ExtendedSSL for high security sites.

99.9% Uptime Guarantee

Rebel.com offers a 99.9% uptime guarantee, which is at the high end of the industry standard. They do not appear to offer any refunds for extended downtime, which is unusual.

Hosting Types & Plans

This host offers a huge range of packages. Let’s look at each one and see how they fare in value and feature variety.

Full-Control Hosting (cPanel Hosting)

If you need maximum control and have the coding skills, this plan might be right for you. Rebel.com’s full-control hosting plan offers:

1. Hosting for 5 websites and 5 subdomains
2. Unlimited disk space & bandwidth
3. Free hosting migration
4. Option to choose your server location
5. Plesk Onyx control panel
6. Up to 100 emails
7. Automatic daily backups
8. Brute force attack protection
9. 1-click WordPress installation

The full-control cPanel hosting plan starts at $2.00/month for the first year and $11.00/month thereafter.

Business Hosting

This plan a good option for e-commerce sites, high traffic publications, and other resource-heavy websites. It is essentially shared hosting, only named differently.

If you need a plan that will grow with you, this is a good contender.

With this plan you get:

• Unlimited websites, email addresses, databases, subdomains, and email addresses
• 60 GB disk space
• Free host migration
• Free 24/7 support
• Additional security features
• Plesk control panel with encrypted access
• Applications installer for 200+ applications
• One-click WordPress Installation

The business plans have a renewal price of $25.00/month.

Clustered Hosting

This is the best option for a single, simple website.

There are three different packages based on the number of email accounts, amount of disk space, and data transfer limits.

All plans come with:

• cPanel
• Database access
• 1 click install of multiple CMS, including WordPress
• Free hosting migration
• Free assisted setup
• Free customer support

Clustered hosting plans range from $1.50/month to $9.00/month.

Managed WordPress Hosting

For WordPress users who want to be hands off when it comes to hosting, this Rebel.com plan is a solid option.

Features include:

• Hosting for one website
• 20 GB SSD storage
• Let’s Encrypt SSL certificate
• 100 email addresses
• Unlimited traffic
• Automatic backups
• Malware removal
• Free hosting migration
• 100s of free WP themes
• Plesk control panel

Managed WordPress plans are decent value at $4.80/month for the first year and $16.00/month after renewals.

VPS Hosting

If you need a bit more security but not quite a dedicated server, consider VPS hosting.

Rebel offers four VPS plans based on the number of websites (from 10 to unlimited) and the amount of storage.

All VPS plans include:

• Ability to white-label services
• Dedicated VPS manager
• SSD server
• Plesk Onyx control panel
• Canadian servers
• Full root access
• Centos 7 pre-installed

As expected, VPS plans are pricier with the cheapest plan at $30.50/month and the top tier plan at $200.00/month.

Do note these are renewal prices and first-year plans have a discount applied to them.

Website Builder Hosting with Weebly

Rebel.com partners with site builder Weebly to offer four different site builder packages, from free to up to $90 a year for the first year.

Note that price is an introductory price, which renews at $359.88 per year.

It is not exactly cheap.

Weebly Features With Rebel.com

The features vary based on the plan you choose, but can include:

• Access to Weebly’s easy to use drag and drop builder.
• Ability to create an online store (Pro and Business plans)
• Ability to add video and audio files (Pro and Business plans)
• SSL certificate (Business plan only)
• SEO features (all plans)
• Mobile ready themes (all plans)

Plan pricing is only slightly more expensive than hosting from Weebly, with the added benefit of Rebel.com customer support, which is top notch.

E-Commerce Hosting

Several packages offer e-commerce capabilities, so this seems more like a landing page to highlight that ability than at true separate offering.

Still, there are three packages to choose from, based on the features you require.

All packages offer:

• Flexible selling options
• Automated location-based tax calculations
• Simple secure shopping cart functionality
• Over 60 templates (powered by Weebly)
• App integration
• SSL certificate

Rebel.com Top Features and Add-ons

With so many different hosting plans (many of them duplicates), it can be hard to figure out which features matter most.

Here are a few areas where Rebel.com really shines.

Domain Registrar and Transfers

Rebel.com offers a wide range of top-level domains such as:

• .com
• .ca
• .co
• .business
• .company
• .org
• .net
• .agency
• .media
• .deals
• .love
• .rocks
• .art
• .blog
• .design

They also offer .ca for Canadian companies looking for a local domain.

If you need to transfer your site, Rebel.com’s team will take care of it for you. They pride themselves on fast response times and 24/7 support, so they won’t leave you hanging.

Control Panel

Control panel options vary based on the plan, but most of higher plans offer Plesk, which offers a clean interface and is user-friendly.

Lower end plans, including the clustered hosting, offer cPanel, which is well known and well-loved control panel option.

If you have a preference, you can easily choose a hosting plan that offers your preferred control panel.

Email Hosting

Most of their hosting plans come with a generous email allowance, but you can also choose to host just your email for .99 per month.

They offer to help you forward your email and help get you set up.

Site Migration

If you need to move your site or your domain, Rebel.com has you covered-for free.

They have a dedicated team on-site and hosting migration specialists ready to dig in.

The team will do all the work and even test it to make sure everything is good.

Billing and Payments

Rebel.com accepts payments in Canadian, USD, or Australian currencies. Customers can choose to pay with:

• Debit card
• Credit card
• PayPal

All this is very standard, there are no surprise fees or charges.

What really stands out is how transparent the pricing is, including the fact that you get a substantial discount for the first year of hosting. Some hosts try to hide the renewal costs, so this is refreshing.

Customer Support

Rebel.com touts its customer support as being top notch and they really talk the talk and walk the walk.

Certain offerings (such as site migration and VPS hosting) even have dedicated teams of support personnel.

Support includes:

• 24/7 support by email and phone
• Live chat M-F from 9-5
• Short wait times
• An in-depth knowledgebase split up by topic
• An easy to use FAQ section
• The Rebel Community

Community support resources allow you to ask questions and network with other Rebel customers.

Does Rebel.com Offer a Money-Back Guarantee?

A few of the higher end hosting plans offer a 30-day money back guarantee, but the lower end business hosting plans do not. Domain costs are not refundable.

Pros and Cons

Is Rebel.com the best choice for you? It really depends upon your needs.

Here are a few strengths and shortfalls to consider.

Pros

• Fantastic customer support
• Free site or domain transfer
• Transparent pricing
• A wide range of hosting plans
• Company culture dedicated to people and relationships

Cons

• The number of hosting plans can be overwhelming, particularly since most seem to be very similar
• No true enterprise offering, though they offer some higher powered plans.
• No dedicated hosting option.
• Ecommerce options are powered by Weebly, which may not be enough for much larger sites.

Alternatives

Not sure if Rebel.com is right for you?

Consider the following alternatives – some similar and others differing in service type. The below comparison takes into account the most basic shared plans and what they offer:

BlueHost

One of just three hosts recommended by WordPress. Bluehost offers more e-commerce capabilities, fantastic support, and higher uptime than Rebel.com.

HostGator

If you are looking for a more affordable option for a smaller site, HostGator is a solid contender.

HostGator has been around since the 90s as an established company so reliability is to be expected.

InMotion Hosting

If you need a bit more than what Rebel.com has to offer, consider InMotion. They offer:

• Dedicated hosting
• VPS
• Reseller hosting
• Managed hosting

Conclusion

If you are looking to host a small to medium-large business, Rebel makes the cut. If you are looking for an enterprise e-commerce host, they fall a little short.

In a sea of hosts, Rebel.com’s dedication to people, their culture, and their customers really stands out, even if they are a little cheap on the freebies.

They brag about their service, and a handful of customer reviews show they deliver. The newcomer has created a solid first impression as a sturdy looking web host.