Site5 Review

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Site5 is a veteran in the web hosting business as they were founded way back in 1999. The goal of the initial management team was to build their web hosting services around being fun, easy, accessible, reliable, and easy-to-use. They wanted something that was not going to confuse the average website owner and that was not painful to use.

Overall, it seems as if those five building blocks have remained as their foundation today. As of today, Site5 is one of the highest rated user reviewed web hosts you will find. They have tens of thousands of happy users and have really worked hard to create one of the better reputations that you will find.

But what is it about Site5 that makes them different from any other web host? Let’s take a look at some of the features that they offer:

Features and Benefits You May Like

The features offered at Site5 definitely will not blow you away. That does not mean, however, that they do not have a lot of impressive things to offer their users.

Ability to Choose Server Location

Maybe the most unique thing about Site5 is that you have the ability to choose a server location that works best for the physical location of you and your target market. They have well over a dozen cities to choose from and you can find a server in four different continents. For US users, they have services on both coasts and even allow you to choose areas in Canada.

SiteAdmin

SiteAdmin is the control panel that Site5 uses. They went out on a limb a bit as this control panel was developed in-house by their very own engineering team. They do mention that it is based on cPanel and is designed to work to make things easier with the other unique features of their site. There are very few website hosts out there that would attempt go away from using cPanel as their flagship control panel but Site5 seems to be having no complaints about it up to this point.

Reliability

Site5 has moved their servers 3-4 times since starting the business, which has led to a few very small patches of inconsistency with their reliability. The management team that took over in 2008, however, have really taken their reliability to another level and made them one of the most trusted web hosts available. And, based on some information retrieved from forums, it looks like management takes the privacy and security of their users as seriously as you will find.

Free Migration Service

Very few website hosts offer free migration services to their customers. This is mostly due to how time-consuming and difficult this process can be, as it generally requires trained experts to complete. Site5, however, does offer it and wisely markets it as an opportunity to build a mutually trusting relationship between the host user and the host provider.

Customer Support

It has become customary in the web hosting industry for every host to claim that they provide the “best possible customer support to their users!”

Site5 is no different in that they also claim to offer excellent customer service. They provide the typical 24/7 support through live chat, email, or phone and also have a support center where you can search for answers to your questions immediately.

One of the unique things about the customer support team at Site5 is that they have all grown with the team in-house. They do not outsource any of the support staff and pride themselves on being straight-forward with their customers about their problems and solutions.

Cons

While you can certainly find quite a few bad reviews in the early stages of the company, their review record has been crystal clean ever since the new management team took over in 2008. There are, however, a few cons associated with their services.

Focus on Developers and Web Designers

The team at Site5 has said in the past that their main aim is to become a top choice among developers. This means that a lot of their control panel settings and options are based around the needs and desires of the developers that they are targeting. It also means that they may not be the best option for a non-tech-savvy business owner who is looking to grow their product based business online.

Page Loading Speed

While they do have a reputation for reliability, one of the downfalls of their services is in the average loading speed for their basic services. They are a bit below the current standard for loading speed, although it does not seem to be a huge discrepancy.

Limited Options

One of the biggest gripes about Site5 has to do with their lack of options and add-ons. This is something that they pride themselves on, however, as they are fully committed to being a website host focused on simplicity and ease-of-use.

Pricing

The pricing structure offered by Site5 is about as simple as it gets. They have three plans which include:

1. hostBasic – $5.95/month x 12 months up front. Unfortunately, they don’t offer a month-to-month payment option with hostBasic.
2. hostPro – $10.95/month or $9.95/month x 12 months up front
3. hostPro + Turbo – $13.95/month or $12.95/month x 12 months up front.

The biggest difference for the “Turbo” option is that you will have a dedicated IP address and will have the option of giving each website you create its own control panel.

The best value that they have is their 24-month plan that is $4.95/month for hostBasic, $8.95/month for hostPro, and $11.95/month for hostPro + Turbo.

There is also a 45 day money back guarantee offered to all users.

The Final Word

Overall, it is actually somewhat surprising that Site5 is not more popular than it is today. While most people familiar with the industry will at least recognize the name, it seems like they should have a wider presence and be better appreciated within the website hosting community.

One of the most intriguing things about their business is that their management team is very hands on when dealing with different issues and answering questions from users. You will often see their top execs answering questions and helping people out through forums and different social media platforms. They are very straight-forward about what they offer and pride themselves on letting you know that they will never attempt to deceive you through hidden fees.

If you are looking for something that will help you grow a product based business, Site5 is probably not your best bet. For service-based businesses, however, you should definitely give them a shot. With their money-back guarantee, there really is no risk to doing so.