Hostoople Reviews

Hostoople Introduction

Billing itself as a “logic-based hosting company” and pledging to set a new standard in hosting, Hostople provides shared, reseller, and Virtual Private Server (VPS) hosting options. The company also offers Web design services, and has a strong focus on customer service.

Features

Hostoople has three levels of hosting: Shared, Reseller, and Virtual Private Server (VPS).

Shared Hosting Features

Shared hosting plans are split into three levels (Economy, Advanced, and Epic) and escalate in features along with price.

• Free domain registration or transfer
• Unlimited* domains and sub-domains
• Up to Unlimited*drive space
• Up to Unlimited* data transfer/bandwidth
• Unlimited* MySQL databases
• Support for Unlimited* email addresses and webmail (POP3 and IMAP).
• 2, 10, or unlimited* add-on domains (based on plan selected)
• Free 24/7/365 customer support
• Daily server backups
• Application and scripting installation via Softaculous
• Free premium website builder
• cPanel hosting control panel
• Full support for:
  • eCommerce (osCommerce, Zen Cart, Magneto, etc.)
  • Content management software (WordPress, Drupal, Joomla, etc.)
  • Perl
  • PHP 5
  • Python
  • .htaccess override
  • CGI
  • Custom Cron Jobs
  • Photo galleries, multimedia, and wikis

Like all Hostoople’s plans, the shared plans come with a fairly standard pro-rated 30-day money-back guarantee.

Reseller Hosting Features

If you’re ready to become a hosting reseller, Hostoople’s got three reseller plans available to help you get started. This tier is also “shared” hosting, and includes most of the same features as Hostoople’s shared plans (with a few changes):

• All the features included with shared hosting
• Unlimited* bandwidth and domains
• 200 GB, 500 GB, or Unlimited* drive space
• Overselling approved
• Three dedicated IP addresses
• Jailed Secure Shell (SSH) access
• cPanel control panels for your customers

As with its shared hosting plans, Hostoople’s reseller plans are covered by a 30-day money-back guarantee.

VPS Features

If your reseller hosting ambitions have outgrown the capabilities of shared hosting, then you may want to look at Hostoople’s VPS plans. All three available plans offer the same basic features as their other plans, but with the addition of a dedicated virtual server and more robust reseller tools.

• All the features included with shared hosting
• CentOS (Linux)-driven virtual server
• Up to 2 GB of dedicated RAM (3 GB burstable)
• 750 GB, 1,500 GB, or 2,500 GB of monthly bandwidth
• 40 GB, 80 GB, or 160 GB of drive space
• Unlimited* domains, sub-domains, email accounts and MySQL databases
• 2, 5, or 10 dedicated IP addresses
• Weekly, off-site backups
• Full root access
• WHM for customer account management; cPanel control panels for your customers
• Fully managed hosting available

Like the plans on its other tiers, Hostoople’s VPS plans are covered by a 30-day money-back guarantee.

*As a rule, “unlimited” in the context of shared hosting generally denotes “limitless until you negatively impact server performance, at which point you may be billed or transferred to a more costly service tier.” However, in the case of Hostoople, because there is no higher level tier, sites that negatively impact server performance may be throttled or even, on rare occasions, shut down completely to avoid damaging the server.

Benefits Breakdown

The Good

Hostoople has a nicely varied set of hosting options, with a special emphasis on customer support and plans for hosting resellers. This competitively priced host is on par with similar providers. The availability of Web design and brand management services in addition to hosting make it an attractive option for those who want to get started with a site or reselling business, but lack the time or skills to create and configure a professional website on their own.

The 30-day money-back guarantee and 24/7/365 standard support options are standard-issue, but still a pleasant addition to this modestly-sized hosting provider’s offerings.

The Not-So-Good

This provider’s emphasis on shared hosting and reseller plans make it ideal for those markets. However, the lack of a dedicated hosting option and somewhat limited resources (even on the VPS tier) makes it likely those shopping for more powerful options will want to look elsewhere.

All plans are Linux-based, so those who need a Windows environment for their servers should investigate other providers.

The suite of Web design and development services is a definite plus for those without practical site design skills, but a comprehensive site design may prove too pricey for those just starting out if their budget is below the company’s hourly rate for these services.

Hostoople is a fantastic reseller resource and shared hosting provider, but if you need the power of a dedicated server or lots of customization options, you may want to explore other options.