Synthesis Hosting Review: Small Starter Package, But Customized WordPress
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Our overview of Synthesis…
Expert Opinion
Hear from our web hosting expert, WhoIsHostingThis Team.
Best Reviews
See what 3 Synthesis customers have to say.
Hosting Plans
Compare the best Synthesis hosting plans and their prices.
FAQs
Most asked Questions about Synthesis – answered!
About Synthesis
Important: Synthesis is now part of WP Engine
Though Synthesis itself started in 2010 in the US, it was 4 years before that the idea behind this hosting company first took shape.
While a man named Brian Clark was growing his company, Copyblogger, from a one-man blog site through to a network of content and product sites, drawing more than 2.5 million page views each month by 2011; Derick Shaefer was heading up a company called Orangecast, that had developed their own custom server stack solution to support their extensive sports blogging site.
When the two men met in 2010, it became obvious that by combining Copyblogger’s skill in online publishing and content marketing, with the scalability potential of Orangecast, an expertly supported WordPress hosting provision could be created.
Thus Synthesis was born.
Hosting Specifically Tailored for WordPress
The key focus at Synthesis is getting the most out of WordPress.
The entire company supports the powers of the WordPress system and looks at ways to tailor their offering, in order to exploit the potential within the package and maximize its benefits for its users.
Using a minimal hosting stack, based on Nginx, PHP-FPM and APC architecture, Synthesis offer WordPress specific hosting that maximizes the speed of front end pages and only scales with spikes in traffic.
This makes it possible for each server to handle double the amount of traffic of most of its competitors, whilst using one eighth of the resources for it.
In 2013 Synthesis made the move to add their own Scribe content marketing software to every account, making their hosting capability faster, more efficient and easier to use.
And with an eye on the future, Synthesis has also built in contingency for future protocols from the very beginning. This means they already support emerging protocols such as Google’s SPDY and are prepared for further developments as they materialize.
Synthesis Reviews by Our Community
Overall Rating from 3 Reviews by Synthesis Customers
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Most Helpful Reviews
ali formica flandersfish.com
Jun 21, 2018
Jennifer Swafford itsuxtobefat.com
Jul 09, 2014
Synthesis managed WordPress hosting is simply amazing. After six months of testing, I’ve moved all my WordPress sites to Synthesis. The support is responsive, day or night, and the up-time is rock solid.
Steve Dune fitlytoc.com
Nov 12, 2019
Synthesis Rock. Synthesis is providing great hosting services. All their hosting plans and convenient and powerful.
If team Synthesis could make their support better then it will become an awesome hosting provider company. Adding online chat support will do much better as well it will help your business grow when you answer your customers on time.
Synthesis Hosting Plans
Synthesis offers four tailored packages, ranging from the basic Starter package and Professional option, through to the Advanced and Enterprise solutions, as well as custom hosting plans for those who want something more precise.
Each standard package provides Managed Performance VPS, iWatch Support and Uptime Management as part of their offering. However it is only the Advanced and Enterprise packages that provide dedicated VPS and only within the Enterprise hosting that access to CloudFlare Railgun becomes possible.
The most popular package is the Professional which offers the ability to host more than two domain names within 2 GB of memory that offers 40GB of storage and 650 GB of monthly bandwidth. This equates to daily traffic of up to 20,000 views.
What remains more unique about Synthesis Hosting Plans, is the quality of the marketing tools that are accessible as part of their core offering. These are all directly accessible from the WordPress control panel and; along with the security, customer service and specialism offered; are the key reasons for considering Synthesis hosting.
Site optimization, on-page optimization, keyword research, social media research and influencer outreach tools are available free of charge for all hosting packages, offering significant added value to every user.
Support and Customer Service
The focus at Synthesis is to provide fully ‘managed’ WordPress hosting. And in Synthesis terms, this means taking full responsibility for the management, optimization and support of Linux, Apache, PHP, NGINX and MySQL as standard.
Furthermore, the 24/7 helpdesk ensures there is always an expert to answer your queries, whether you need advice regarding WordPress customizations or help with the intricacies of CBM Plugins.
The support service also provides a wealth of tutorials and bug fixes for WordPress features as well as information and advice on anything related to WordPress or any Copyblogger product.
Personal Backup Facility
Synthesis hosting has always offered free personal backups to each of their customers. But the release of the S3 backup system has taken disaster recovery to a whole new level.
Not only does the company continue to carry out their own Linux-level back up process, which is stored almost 1,500 miles from the closest server, the S3 back up now enables each user to configure their back up settings and have their back up sent directly to a designated S3 account.
This file can then be selectively used to rehabilitate any section of a site and, rather than rewriting the entire site, it provides an effective disaster recovery system which is quick, efficient and easy to use.
Four Tiered Security
Synthesis provides a four tiered security offering:
- Audited Lock Down Configurations – to provide added security without limiting publishing capability
- DOS/DDOS Protection
- Synthesis Security Software – Offering tailor made protection against hackers without disrupting performance.
- Smart Pattern Analysis – Providing intelligent identification and eradication of potential issues without the risk of false positives.
Total Monitoring Solution
Synthesis claims that if your site goes down, their Site Sensor monitoring system will ensure you know about it immediately.
Their 24/7 website monitoring system includes all the standard uptime checks but also provides added extras such as keyword checks and WordPress specific factors including the freshness of your RSS feed and XML sitemap.
And when something is wrong, Site Sensor will notify you by App, text message, automated phone call or email immediately, so that the appropriate action can be taken straight away.
Synthesis Refund Policy
The terms and conditions of payment within Synthesis are as clear as the solution they offer. A standard 30 day refund policy is in place, should you change your mind after purchase. But following those 30 days there are no further provisions in place.
No pro-rate refunds are given for the remaining time on cancelled accounts and, once cancelled, the site will be deactivated and files deleted.
Payment is made on either a monthly, quarterly or annual basis on the anniversary of joining.
Conclusion
If you want high quality hosting that is specifically tailored to exploit the benefits of WordPress then Synthesis has the expertise and motivation to make your site a success.
The starter package may seem small, but when it comes to added extras and customer support, Synthesis is way up there with the best.
For security, speed and a highly effective WordPress Site, Managed Hosting by Synthesis has a great deal to offer.
Most Popular Synthesis Hosting Plans
| Standard | Professional | Advanced | |
|---|---|---|---|
| Disk Space | 20GB | 80GB | |
| Bandwidth | 350GB | 1.5TB | |
| Price | $47 / mo (Billed as $47 Per Month) ⓘPrices in are approximate, based on current exchange rates. The host will likely charge you in USD, or at a different exchange rate. Usual price: – Get % off! | $97 / mo (Billed as $47 Per Month) ⓘPrices in are approximate, based on current exchange rates. The host will likely charge you in USD, or at a different exchange rate. Usual price: – Get % off! | $147 / mo (Billed as $47 Per Month) ⓘPrices in are approximate, based on current exchange rates. The host will likely charge you in USD, or at a different exchange rate. Usual price: – Get % off! |
| Visit Synthesis Now | Visit Synthesis Now | Visit Synthesis Now |
| Plan | Disk Space | Bandwidth | Price |
|---|---|---|---|
| Enterprise Shared | 160GB | 3TB | $300 / mo Visit Host Now |
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They do not offer phone support, email support is slowest I’ve experienced. Not only that, they do not follow through on claims and our website was compromised as a result (they pulled it due to a billing glitch that they promised to fix weeks prior. This is after their error with our SSL & CSR caused our site to be down for days). Further, their price point is exorbitant given the lack of support and the exact same product as others available.