1 MarbleHost Reviews:

Marblehost Introduction

Marblehost markets itself as a reliable provider of hosting, with genuinely unlimited resources and support response guarantees. It launched in May 2005, offering a very small number of shared hosting plans, and now offers the full spectrum of services, including hosting and domains, and uses data centers in the UK, Australia, Finland, USA and Bulgaria. The company is headquartered in London, UK.

Services and Specializations

Marblehost has a fairly standard hosting catalog that encompasses shared web hosting, VPS hosting, semi-dedicated and dedicated servers.

Its shared hosting includes SSD storage for speed, plus unlimited disk space and bandwidth across the board. All plans are hosted using a cloud platform, which should improve stability and uptime, and users can choose which data center their site will be hosted in.

Marblehost also offers to migrate customers from their old hosts for free. It’s keen to point out that its plans are user-friendly, with free scripts, themes and file management tools to get novices online quickly. There are ample features for developers too.

VPS hosting can be purchased on two platforms; Open VPS or Virtuozzo. Within these categories, you can choose different flavors of Linux depending on your own preferences. CentOS, Debian or Ubuntu are all offered, but CentOS is the only one that can be used with a control panel. Marblehost stresses that its plans are not limited, and RAM allocations are guaranteed.

Semi-dedicated servers are provided with 30% or 50% CPU in any of its 5 data centers, plus unlimited disk space and bandwidth. Again, Marblehost will migrate you for free, if you’re currently with another provider. If you’re a non-technical user, note that its semi-dedicated plans include a website builder and full management as standard.

At the top of the range, dedicated servers from Marblehost have the same OS options as a VPS, the same Hepsia CP backups to Dropbox, plus the choice of the same three control panels. Management is not included, but can be purchased for an additional fee. The same applies to troubleshooting services if you need technical help with a custom application.

cPanel is included with VPS plans, but is not included in the advertised price. Users can opt for DirectAdmin instead, which is free.

If you don’t need advanced VPS features, Marblehost recommends the Hepsia control panel. This is also free, although its layout will be unfamiliar to cPanel users.

Data Centers

Despite being based in London, Marblehost spreads its data center usage around the globe. It uses facilities in the UK, Australia, Finland, USA and Bulgaria. It offers the choice of data center to all customers, from the cheapest shared hosting plan, right through to dedicated servers.

The company doesn’t make a big deal about its facilities, although an older page on its website suggests that it uses BlueSquare in Berkshire, and HostCentric in California. These details aren’t reflected on its current website, but we found the details through search fairly quickly. If you prefer a particular data center, it would be best to contact pre-sales and ask for more information.

Support and Customer Service

Marblehost promises to support its customers 24/7, with a 1-hour support time guarantee. Support is provided via Live Chat, and tickets can be opened this way, too.

It has US, Australian and UK phone lines, which are available for support around the clock. Users can also raise tickets from their control panel.

Backups

In its Terms, Marblehost says that it will back up accounts for free to a maximum of 5GB. It will only back up databases with 256 tables or fewer.

VPS plans are backed up weekly, and customers can access these backups for 7 days (only) after backup storage. Customers can also back up their VPS to Dropbox using Hepsia CP free of charge, although your Dropbox will need to have the necessary capacity to contain all of your files.

Dedicated server backups are considered an upgrade from the default plan, and are available up to a maximum of 50GB in size. The same Dropbox backup is also available.

Uptime Guarantee

Across all plans, Marblehost offers a 99.5% uptime guarantee covering network and network stability, but this is measured annually – not monthly. This guarantee also does not cover server hardware, user error, failure of software not explicitly supported by the company. There are no details of compensation that would be given to customers if the guarantee is breached.

Some of this information was taken from an older version of the Marblehost website, which we found using search. It isn’t included in its current website. If you have specific queries, ask about Service Level Guarantees before you sign up.

Billing and Payment Policies

Marblehost operates a 30-day money-back guarantee, so users can claim their hosting fees back if they change their mind about joining. Outside this period, refunds are not offered. To cancel, email Marblehost’s sales department, or open a sales ticket. The policy does not cover domain names, domain name transfers and any upgrades purchased through the control panel.

The host accepts credit card and PayPal payment on a 12-month billing cycle. There is no option to pay monthly.

Conclusion

Marblehost is keen to stress quality of service, and has a robust selection of hosting plans. Its website lets it down slightly, since we had to jump outside the site structure and use its old site to get access to its terms. 

The uptime guarantee is not particularly generous, and the lack of clarity in the compensation would be cause for further investigation. We liked the fact that Marblehost offered many of the same benefits to its shared hosting customers as it does to its dedicated server customers.