Company: UltaHost
Background: UltaHost is a web hosting company that provides shared, reseller, and dedicated hosting solutions. It also offers domain registration, email hosting, and SSL certificates. The company has been in business since 2018 and runs accounts from data centers in the US, Canada, the Netherlands, and Germany.
Starting Price: $3.08/mo
Currency: USD
Visit Online: https://ultahost.com/
Review Summary & Ratings
On paper, the plans outlined by UltaHost can be pretty tempting. That’s especially true for their cheaper plans like shared hosting or WordPress hosting. The cost is meager, and UltaHost doesn’t overly penalize those that don’t want extended contracts. There’s no harm in taking them for a spin at just $3 per month with no contract and free website migrations.
Pros: What I Like About UltaHost
1. All UltaHost Plans Run on NVMe Storage
Interestingly, UltraHost offers all customers web hosting plans based on the faster (and more expensive) NVMe technology. These drives run more than ten times (in some cases as much as 20 times) faster than mechanical drives.
Solid State Drive (SSD) technology has been around for some time now, and the cost is significantly lower. However, SSD and NVMe drives remain more expensive than traditional mechanical drives. That’s why few web hosts are willing to transition to these drives completely.
2. UltraHost Uses cPanel
cPanel is one of the best web hosting panels worldwide and is an easy and powerful way for users to control their web hosting environment. Unfortunately, licensing prices have increased, causing several hosts to move to cPanel alternative platforms.
It’s good to see that UltaHost remains committed to the user experience by continuing to offer cPanel-based web hosting. I’ve tried several control panels for shared hosting, and cPanel remains my top choice, even if it is more expensive.
The universal cPanel standard is only applicable to their shared hosting plans. If you sign up for VPS, you’ll need to choose between Hestia, Plesk, and cPanel. Each comes at a different cost, mainly due to the difference in licensing fees.
3. Even Shared Hosting Gets a 99.9% Uptime Guarantee
While a 99.9% uptime isn’t unique to UltaHost, it’s good to see they’ve committed to this standard even for their shared hosting plans. In many cases, you’ll find that web hosts often remain shy about guarantees unless you’re on one of their more premium plans.
4. No Overselling Policy
UltaHost indicates a “no overselling” policy in several places across its website. If true, that’s an excellent point for potential customers to note. Many web hosts often oversell hosting plans, especially on cheaper plans like shared hosting.
That means packing more customers onto each server than it can realistically support. The theory is that many don’t fully utilize their resource allocation, allowing balancing of performance.
Sadly, this also means that servers are often overcrowded and strained to the point where performance degrades. That makes the “no overselling” policy here significant. Unfortunately, I couldn’t find a mention of this in their terms of service. It only exists as statements made on certain UltaHost web pages.
5. Free Malware Scans
You don’t need to worry too much about the integrity of your files on UltaHost since they include free malware scans. You also get periodic reports on the health status of your web hosting account. While you can do this with free plugins on WordPress and other apps, it’s still good to have for free.
Following this concept, you also get email protected by SpamExperts. UltaHost claims o use “100% clean IP” addresses, so there’s little chance your emails will bounce due to spam block lists.
6. Free Daily Backups
Many hosting companies provide some form of backup but what you get at UltaHost is pretty extensive. Their free backup system comes in 7/30 day cycles, and the data is kept offsite for additional reliability.
You can manage backup restoration on your own via a 1-click system. If you need help, their technical team can also do the restoration on your behalf for free. I would say that this seems to be one of the more comprehensive backup systems offered by a host at no cost.
7. UltaHost is a One-stop-Shop
You can find everything you need to run a website at UltaHost. Although they don’t include a free domain name, you can buy one from them. Additionally, other services are available, such as email hosting, SiteLock, commercial SSL certificates, and more.
UltaHosts works in a partnership model with external partners for some of these services. One example is its SEO service partnership with marketgoo. If you sign up for that, you can get a basic SEO audit and plan delivered to your doorstep (figuratively speaking).
The oddest thing I found offered at UltaHost is their VPN service. Although it makes sense for a company that manages servers, the VPN business is quite different from web hosting. In addition, their VPN service is far from cheap.
UltaHost Drawbacks and Cons
1. Somewhat Inconsistent Messaging
At times, it can be difficult to trust what’s shown on the UltaHost website. I find the website messaging inconsistent enough to make me a little uncomfortable. For example, content that alternatively claims 99.9% uptime in some places while stating “Perfect Uptime” and “100% Uptime” in other areas.
There is also the dubious claim about “20X faster servers” without any specific mention of context. For example, I could claim my Honda Civic is more than 20X faster when compared to a bicycle. In short, there’s a lot of what seems to be marketing hype.
2. No Free Domain Name
While I understand the lack of certain features is nit-packing, many hosts today include a free domain name with hosting plans. Sadly at UltaHost, you’ll have to buy your own. While the cost is barely ten dollars for a dot com address, it does add to the bill, especially for shared hosting users.
3. Live Chat Popups Are Annoying
If you spend time on the UltaHost website, you’ll soon discover their live chat pop-up to be a constant irritation. It pops up on every page you visit regardless of how many times you close the window. UltaHost simply can’t take a hint that you want that pop-up to stop popping up.
The first few times were annoying, but you’ll likely never want to revisit their website by the end of a session.
UltaHost Pricing & Plans Review
UltaHost offers a wide spread of web hosting packages. Even among the upper end of the scale, this company distinguishes between VPS hosting and VDS, or Virtual Dedicated Servers. I’ll focus on some of the more common choices to simplify things.
Shared Hosting Plans
UltaHost offers more shared hosting plans than usual, with four distinct options available. These range in price from $3.29/mo to $12.99/mo if you decide on monthly payment terms. The price will be slightly lower for those willing to pay for a year’s hosting.
UltaHost VPS Hosting Plans
VPS plans at UltaHost are even more extensive than shared hosting plans. Here, you can choose between plans on various control panels, including cPanel, Hestia & Cyberpanel, and Plesk. Prices range from a low of $5.50/mo to $38.50/mo.
The key contributing factors here are price and control panel. Resources naturally scale up as cost increases, but some control panels like cPanel come with hefty licensing fees. For example, VPS Basic on Hestia is $5.50/mo, but the same plan with cPanel costs $22.50/mo.
Alternatives to UltaHost
Compare UltaHost to BlueHost
Compared to Ultahost, BlueHost is a more prominent name. It’s one of a handful of web hosts officially recommended by WordPress.org. However, both hosts offer highly competitive features at close prices.
Compare UltaHost to A2Hosting
A2 Hosting is one of my favorite brands but it can also be pretty expensive at the upper tiers. Yet at the lower end it matches well against what’s provided by UlraHost. The biggest downside of UltaHost in this regard remains the alck of a free domain name. Luckily for them, A2 Hosting is just as stingy.
Final Thoughts: Is UltaHost Worth a Try?
On paper, the plans outlined by UltaHost can be pretty tempting. That’s especially true for their cheaper plans like shared hosting or WordPress hosting. The cost is meager, and UltaHost doesn’t overly penalize those that don’t want extended contracts. There’s no harm in taking them for a spin at just $3 per month with no contract and free website migrations.
