Before you trust an old CoolHandle review: CoolHandle still exists as a login, but not as an independent web host. Once part of the registrar Moniker, it was sold to Pronet Hosting in 2010 and to Cloud Equity Group in 2019, then ended up in World Host Group. That group bought A2 Hosting in January 2025 and renamed itself hosting.com. Today coolhandle.com opens a hosting.com-branded customer panel.
The short version: your CoolHandle account is now a hosting.com account in all but name. Log in, check your renewal price, take a backup. Then decide if you want to stay.
Key takeaways
- CoolHandle changed owners at least three times: Moniker, then Pronet Hosting (2010), then Cloud Equity Group (2019).
- It now sits inside hosting.com, the company formerly called World Host Group, which is backed by the private equity firm Oakley Capital.
- We found no evidence that A2 Hosting itself ever bought CoolHandle. The link is the parent group, which bought A2 Hosting in 2025.
- If you still pay a CoolHandle bill, your next renewal is the moment to compare prices.
The CoolHandle file: a dated timeline
Every row below has a source in our source list. Where a date could not be pinned down, we say so.
| Date | What happened | Source |
|---|---|---|
| Before 2010 | CoolHandle operated as part of Moniker, the domain registrar | PR Newswire (2010) |
| Jan 11, 2010 | Pronethosting.NET completes its purchase of CoolHandle from Moniker (price not disclosed) | PR Newswire, Hosting Discussion |
| Jun 18, 2019 | Cloud Equity Group acquires CoolHandle, adding 11,000+ clients and 37,000 services | Cloud Equity Group, Mergr |
| Oct 26, 2020 | Cloud Equity Group takes over A2 Hosting’s Windows hosting customers in a carve-out (a separate deal, not a CoolHandle sale) | Cloud Equity Group |
| Feb 21, 2023 | World Host Group US signs an asset purchase agreement with O’Cloud Ventures, whose units include OC1-CoolHandle LLC | New York court decision (2025) |
| Oct 2023 | Oakley Capital invests in Webcentral through a carve-out from its Australian listed parent | Oakley Capital |
| 2024 | Oakley agrees the merger of Webcentral and World Host Group | Oakley Capital |
| Jan 29, 2025 | World Host Group announces it has acquired A2 Hosting | PR Newswire |
| Apr 1, 2025 | A New York judge rules on motions in World Host Group US’s lawsuit against O’Cloud Ventures and its units, including OC1-CoolHandle LLC | Leagle, NY Courts |
| Apr 28, 2025 | A2 Hosting announces its rebrand to hosting.com on its blog (formal press release followed on May 7, 2025) | hosting.com blog, PR Newswire |
| Sep 24, 2026 | coolhandle.com redirects to clients.coolhandle.com, a hosting.com-branded customer panel (our own check) | WTH site check |
We found no press release announcing the handover. The paper trail is a court case: World Host Group US sued O’Cloud Ventures and a set of units named after hosting brands, OC1-CoolHandle LLC among them, over an asset purchase agreement. Those brand names (CoolHandle, MochaHost, HostForWeb, Cirrus, Conseev) match companies Cloud Equity Group bought,. We could not read the court’s full decision, so we do not know the closing date or the terms. If you have them, tell us and we will add them.
Who owns CoolHandle now?
Hosting.com does. That is the trading name the former World Host Group adopted when it absorbed A2 Hosting in 2025. Oakley Capital lists hosting.com as one of its portfolio companies.
So the chain runs like this. Cloud Equity Group bought CoolHandle in 2019. By 2023 CoolHandle sat in O’Cloud Ventures, which agreed to sell its hosting assets to World Host Group US. World Host Group bought A2 Hosting. The combined business now trades as hosting.com. Your old CoolHandle login points there.
We found no public report, as of September 24, 2026, that hosting.com itself has been sold.
What should existing CoolHandle customers do?
Short answer: treat this as a hosting.com account now, and act before your next renewal. Here is the order we would do it in.
- Log in at coolhandle.com. It lands on a hosting.com-branded panel. Confirm your email address and billing contact are current, because renewal and migration notices go there.
- Find your renewal date and price. Hosting.com’s renewal-pricing page says plans renew at its regular price once a prepaid term ends, and its invoices go out 14 days before renewal. Compare that number with what you paid last time, since legacy plans rarely keep their old price forever.
- Take a full backup you control. Download your files, databases and email. Hosting.com has run a large migration of services onto its platform, and in May 2025 it admitted to migration bugs and a spike in support tickets. A local copy costs you nothing.
- Check your domain. Note where it is registered and when it expires. A domain that lapses during a move is the most common way small sites go dark.
- Decide: stay or move. If the site works, support answers and the renewal price is fair, staying is fine. If any of those fail, move before the renewal charge hits.
For a deeper look at the company now running your account, read our A2 Hosting (now hosting.com) review.
Show me hosting.com’s current plans
Best CoolHandle alternatives
If you decide to leave, these are the two we would look at first. Prices move often, so check the live page before you pay.
| Host | What it costs | Who it suits | Who should skip it |
|---|---|---|---|
| Hosting.com (former A2 Hosting) | Plans renew at hosting.com’s regular price after the prepaid term; check today’s plan prices on hosting.com | CoolHandle customers who want the least disruption | Anyone unhappy with how the migration went |
| InterServer | Prices not shown: interserver.net blocked our tools on Oct 24, 2026, so check the plan and renewal price at checkout | Small sites on a budget | Sites that need managed WordPress hand-holding |
| DreamHost | Launch plan $2.89/mo for the first year, then renews at $10.99/mo | Bloggers and WordPress users who want a long-running independent host | Anyone chasing the lowest possible renewal price |
Hosting.com. Staying put is the least work. You are already on its panel. The catch is that you should read the renewal line first, because we could not confirm today’s plan prices from the live page for this update.
InterServer. We could not read its plans or renewal terms on its own site (blocked on September 24 and again on October 24, 2026), and the reviews we found disagree on which plan carries its renewal price lock. So we have left its prices out. Check the plan and the renewal line at checkout. Our InterServer review has the details.
Show me InterServer’s current price
DreamHost. A known renewal price makes budgeting easy. See our DreamHost review before you move.
What was CoolHandle known for?
Cheap shared hosting and email. When Pronet bought it in 2010, the announcement described CoolHandle as a value-priced shared and email host. By 2019 it had more than 11,000 active clients, which is the figure Cloud Equity Group gave when it bought the company.
It was never a big brand. It was the kind of host people signed up with once and then forgot about, which is exactly why so many accounts are still running today.
FAQ
Is CoolHandle still in business?
Not as an independent company. The coolhandle.com address still works, but it opens a hosting.com-branded customer panel. Hosting.com is the business formerly called World Host Group.
Did A2 Hosting buy CoolHandle?
We found no evidence of that. Cloud Equity Group bought CoolHandle in 2019. The brand later moved under World Host Group through a 2023 asset deal with O’Cloud Ventures. World Host Group separately bought A2 Hosting in January 2025 and then rebranded as hosting.com.
Will my CoolHandle website keep working?
If your account is paid up, it should. Hosting.com has been migrating services onto its own platform, so watch your inbox for migration notices and keep a backup.
How do I cancel CoolHandle hosting?
Log in at coolhandle.com and open a ticket or cancellation request from the hosting.com panel. Move your domain and download your backups first, so nothing is lost when the account closes.
Who owns hosting.com?
Hosting.com is a portfolio company of Oakley Capital, a private equity firm.
Sources
Full source list with retrieved dates in the sources block. Key primary sources: PR Newswire releases (2010, 2025), Cloud Equity Group announcements (2019, 2020), the 2025 New York court decision in World Host Group US v. O’Cloud Ventures, hosting.com’s own blog and Oakley Capital’s portfolio pages.
Related
- A2 Hosting (now hosting.com) review
- Web hosting mergers and acquisitions tracker
- What happened to HostMonster
- What happened to Site5
Update log
- : Rewrote and fact-checked the page: the first full update since 2023.
- : Prices and facts checked against the cited sources, read September 24, 2026.
