UltaHost Review
UltaHost is an affordable provider of fast web hosting. From new blogs that just need basic hosting to business sites dealing with a surge in visitors, UltaHost has a solution for everyone.
This in-depth review includes everything you need to know about UltaHost, including what it has going in its favor and any shortcomings of the service, plus information about their pricing, reputation, and service offerings. Read on to find out if UltaHost is right for you and your web hosting needs.
UltaHost Pros and Cons
Pros
- Affordable plans
- Flexible billing structure
- 30-day money-back guarantee
- 24/7 customer support
- Free migrations
Cons
- Unclear uptime guarantee policy
- Smaller and relatively new company
- Lots of upsells during checkout
About UltaHost
UltaHost specializes in web hosting. Like other hosting providers on the market, they also provide additional web tools and services, like domain registration and SSL certificates. But the vast majority of UltaHost’s offerings focus on hosting.
They offer some advanced and use-case-specific hosting solutions, like virtual dedicated hosting, CRM hosting, social network hosting, Minecraft servers, and more. Webmasters looking for root access and customization options at the server level can also use UltaHost to configure unique options.
UltaHost Health and Stability
Founded in 2018, UltaHost is a relatively new hosting company. While they’ve performed well and delivered on their promises since the initial launch, they haven’t quite proven that they’re able to stand the test of time. The company currently has fewer than 50 employees, which is definitely on the smaller side in this category.
In comparison, there are other hosting providers on the market that have been around for over 20 years and host millions of websites worldwide. Some of UltaHost’s competitors are publicly-traded companies with thousands of employees.
With that said, it’s unfair to fault UltaHost just for being new. They’ve shown no signs of trouble and seem to be growing at a reasonable rate. Plus, their reputation for excellent customer service is likely to attract more customers and retain the ones they already have. But you can’t assume with full confidence that they’ll still be around a decade or two from now. They still have to prove their resilience and sustainability over time.
UltaHost Pricing
UltaHost’s web hosting plans start as low as $2.90 per month. For every hosting type they offer and plan tier, UltaHost stands out for being an exceptional value.
It’s common practice in the web hosting industry for providers to offer rock-bottom introductory rates for new customers, only to skyrocket the price when the contract renews. While UltaHost does offer promotional pricing for new customers, the renewal rates are much more reasonable—typically only a few dollars more per month, compared to some of their competitors who ratchet the rate up to north of $10 per month.
UltaHost Pricing Structure
UltaHost’s pricing structure is based on hosting type, server resources, and contract length. For each type of hosting offered, UltaHost typically has at least four different plan tiers to choose from—with each one providing more resources and the ability to accommodate more site traffic.
All plans are priced per month, but the actual cost you pay depends on your billing cycle, and the price per month decreases as your contract length increases. UltaHost offers six different billing cycles for you to choose from, including monthly, quarterly, semi-annually, annually, biennially, and triennially.
For example, UltaHost’s shared plans start at $3.29 for month-to-month billing at the entry-level tier. But you can pay $100.44 today to lock in a three-year contract, which drops the cost per month to $2.79.
We’ll get into the nitty-gritty details of each type of hosting’s pricing in just a bit.
UltaHost Trials and Guarantees
UltaHost offers a 30-day money-back guarantee on most of its hosting services. This doesn’t apply to domain registrations, certain add-ons, dedicated servers, or virtual dedicated server (VDS) plans above $96.50.
UltaHost advertises a 99.99% uptime guarantee. However, it’s unclear whether or not sites will be compensated if UltaHost fails to deliver on that promise. There is no mention of this anywhere in UltaHost’s terms and conditions or refund policy. Other, more-established web hosting companies tend to have a clear policy for downtime recompense.
UltaHost Overview
Continue reading to learn more about UltaHost’s core services, with in-depth assessments of each web hosting solution. This will help you determine which, if any, is the best for you and your website’s needs.
Shared Hosting
UltaHost’s shared hosting is one of its most popular offerings. This is largely due to the attractive pricing for quality performance.
There are four different plan tiers to choose from—each providing additional storage and the ability to accommodate more traffic.
The Shared Starter plan is a viable option for hosting a single website with up to 10,000 monthly visitors. This is the logical choice for any new website that doesn’t anticipate a high volume of traffic from the get-go.
The other three shared tiers can support up to 15,000, 25,000, and 49,000 monthly visitors, respectively. There’s still plenty of room for your site to grow on UltaHost without having to upgrade out of inexpensive shared hosting.
All plans come with unlimited bandwidth, free daily backups, and free SSL certificates. If you sign up for an annual billing cycle or longer, you’ll also get a free domain name for one year.
You’ll benefit from 24/7 proactive server monitoring included, which is definitely not something you’ll see from most other shared hosting providers on the market. And, UltaHost offers free migration services, so if you’re unhappy with your current hosting provider, you can move to UltaHost for free, without the hassle of dealing with the technical aspects on your own.
Just be prepared to navigate through some pesky upsells while you’re checking out and finalizing your plan. It can be a bit much.
Shared hosting plans start at $3.29 per month or $37 for a full year. Your purchase is backed by a 30-day money-back guarantee. Save up to 30% when you sign up today.
Managed WordPress Hosting
If you’re currently using WordPress on your website or planning to use WordPress, going with a managed hosting plan from UltaHost is a no-brainer. These are still shared plans, but they’re actually cheaper than UltaHost’s traditional shared plans—which is almost never the case when you compare shared hosting to managed WordPress hosting.
You’ll benefit from UltaHost’s WP Manager tool that comes standard with your plan. From there, you can access customizable themes that are built specifically for WordPress and much more.
Since WordPress comes pre-installed with your hosting plan, setting up your site is a breeze. If you have any questions, you can rely on UltaHost’s dedicated WordPress experts, 24/7/365.
UltaHost is optimized for WordPress, so you and your site visitors will experience a higher level of performance. Plus, as a fully managed plan, all of the technical aspects are handled for you on the backend. This includes automated backups and automated security updates for your servers and WordPress plugins. You’re ensured that your site performance remains in tip-top shape.
Once your hosting is set up, I definitely recommend adding Google Analytics to your WordPress site. This is a quick and easy way to track your best pages and see how your site is performing.
Managed WordPress hosting from UltaHost starts at $2.90 per month. But the Business WordPress plan is the best value here. Starting at $7.50 per month, it can handle up to 100,000 monthly visits, and it’s cheaper than the Shared Business plan—which starts at $10 per month and only supports up to 10,000 monthly visitors.
VPS Hosting
UltaHost’s virtual private server (VPS) plans are perfect for sites and webmasters seeking more control over their hosting configuration. It’s also a solid choice for websites getting at least 50,000 visitors per month.
In terms of performance, this is a step above UltaHost’s shared plans. You’ll benefit from faster page loading speeds and higher uptime rates, which is ideal for business and ecommerce sites that can’t afford to lose users due to a poor on-page experience.
UltaHost’s VPS packages are scalable and highly secure. UltaHost offers dedicated firewalls, regular security packages, 24/7 monitoring, and BitNinja Security built-in.
You can start with 1 GB of RAM and then scale as needed from your control panel. This is a great perk for sites with unpredictable traffic and seasonal surges.
If you have in-house IT professionals or you’re working with a developer, they’ll love the added flexibility and control that comes with your VPS server. This includes full root access and the option to select your operating system and server locations.
The only downside of UltaHost’s VPS servers is that the setup is a bit confusing and overwhelming for non-technical users. If you don’t have a developer on your team, you may be unsure how to customize your settings appropriately. Of course, the pay-off from this level of performance can be worth spending a little bit of time educating yourself about VPS hosting.
UltaHost’s VPS plans start at $5.50 per month. You can also get an advanced VPS plan that’s built for high-traffic WordPress sites, which starts at $27.50 per month and accommodates a whopping 300,000 monthly visitors.
Virtual Dedicated Hosting
A virtual dedicated server, also known as VDS hosting, is a somewhat unique service offering from UltaHost. This isn’t something that you’ll find from many other hosting providers on the market today.
VDS hosting is a step above virtual private servers. While it’s technically a virtual plan, you’re getting the same features as a dedicated server—without the hefty price tag.
The main reason to consider a VDS plan from UltaHost is if you need to install custom software on your server.
For example, you may want to host creative assets on UltaHost that you’ll be selling through Envato’s marketplace. Or, maybe you need a safe, reliable, and affordable way to host a customized CRM for your business. Access to your own virtual dedicated server allows you to host cloud-based software portals and a whole lot more.
If you’re on the fence about whether or not VDS hosting is right for you, then it’s probably not. This is a highly technical option built for the demanding web-based projects and services. For those of you just looking for a high-performing host for your traditional website, a VPS plan will typically be the better option.
UltaHost’s VDS plans start at $37.50 per month, which is less than one-third of the price of its entry-level dedicated server plan. So, it’s a great bargain if you want the level of performance and features typically only offered by dedicated servers without paying dedicated server hosting rates.
Dedicated Server Hosting
Only a small fraction of people reading this will need dedicated servers from UltaHost. For simply hosting a single website, you can eliminate this option right away.
Dedicated servers are the top-of-the-line in the world of web hosting, and they’re designed for ultimate speed and performance. As the name implies, you won’t be sharing any resources with other websites and you’re renting entire physical servers directly from UltaHost.
This solution makes sense for enterprise organizations looking for database storage options and other data-intensive needs. It also works well for multi-national organizations that need to host a mix of websites, applications, and data.
Let’s say you want to start your own social network, or you want to host multiplayer servers for a game that you’ve developed. These are scenarios where you’d want to consider a dedicated server.
UltaHost handles all of the monitoring and technical maintenance for your servers. But you’re in full control over how they’re customized. There are several different plans to choose from before you even begin configuring your options, ranging from $129.90 to $933.30 before add-ons and extras.
Domain Registration
You can also use UltaHost to buy a domain, get SSL certificates, and even build your website from scratch.
This registrar offers popular TLDs, including .com, .org, .net, .info, and more. You can also secure private email hosting that matches your domain.
With that said, there’s really no reason to use UltaHost to register a domain unless you’re also getting a hosting plan. UltaHost offers free domains for your first year when you sign up for at least one year of web hosting, and your .com domain will renew at $13 per year.
But as a standalone domain registrar, they don’t have any advantages over other registrars on the market. They’re not cheaper, and they don’t have any bulk buying tools or advanced domain management features.
UltaHost Reputation
UltaHost has an overwhelming number of positive reviews across multiple third-party review sites. Most reviews are 4.5 stars or higher on a five-star scale, and all of them seem to contain an upbeat and satisfied sentiment.
Lots of the reviews mention UltaHost’s friendly and helpful customer service and many UltaHost customers state that they feel like they’re getting an exceptional value for their hosting needs and they’re happy with the way their sites are performing.
There are a handful of bad reviews, which is inevitable with any product or service. Most of these complaints seem to be one-off scenarios rather than a pattern of poor experiences. It’s also worth noting that some of these bad reviews are tied to UltaHost’s domain registration services and not the company’s hosting services.
Final Verdict
Despite being a newer and smaller web hosting company, we can recommend UltaHost with confidence. It’s a solid choice for any new website that’s looking for affordable hosting without sacrificing performance. UltaHost also has 24/7 support and offers perks like free daily backups, free SSL certificates, and free migrations.
UltaHost has flexible billing cycles, and it’s nice knowing that your rates won’t double or triple upon renewal—helping you keep costs low for the long run. You can start using UltaHost for shared hosting and upgrade to a VPS plan or higher as your traffic scales over time.