What is Site5 Hosting?
Founded in 1999 during the dot-com boom and based in Dallas, Texas, Site5 is a web-hosting company under the umbrella of Endurance International Group. EIG also owns Bluehost and HostGator among others. Site5 specializes in a boutique web hosting experience aimed at designers and developers.
How Good is Site5 Hosting?
Site5 is a premium hosting company with guaranteed uptime, speed, and technical support. What truly sets them apart from their competitors is that they offer a completely free 30-day trial. These are all solid selling points, but on the whole, Site5 isn't terribly innovative and is priced higher than most competitors. A few of their advantages may make them worth your while in specific cases, but for the most part, plenty of other hosts do the same or better for cheaper.
Our Official Site5 Hosting Review
With lots of experience and plenty of titillating promises aimed at designers and developers, Site5 has many attractive features that have earned them a solid reputation and base of clientele. But does Site5 hosting really deliver considering the premium prices they charge?
Best Features of Site5 Hosting
Site5 definitely gives the appearance of knowing what they are doing. Contrast their sleek homepage with the cartoonish likes of HostGator or GoDaddy and it really does seem like you're choosing the more sophisticated hosting option. And there is plenty to like!
Site5 Web Hosting Pricing Table
| Hosting Plan | hostBasic | hostPro | hostPro + Turbo |
| Starting Price | $11.99/mo | $20.99/mo | $31.99/mo |
| Disk Space | Unmetered | Unmetered | Unmetered |
| Bandwidth | Unmetered | Unmetered | Unmetered |
| No. of Websites | 1 | Unlimited | Unlimited |
| Migration to Site5 | ✓ | ✓ | ✓ |
| Backups | ✓ | ✓ | ✓ |
| Backstage | ✓ | ✓ | ✓ |
| Uptime Guarantee | 99.9% | 99.9% | 99.9% |
| 45-Day Money Back Guarantee | ✓ | ✓ | ✓ |
Site5 Reseller Hosting Pricing Table
| Hosting Plan | Starter | Standard | Premier |
| Starting Price | $41.99/mo | $58.99/mo | $87.99/mo |
| Disk Space | 50 GB | 80 GB | 120 GB |
| Bandwidth | 500 GB | 700 GB | 1000 GB |
| Unmetered Resold Accounts | ✓ | ✓ | ✓ |
| cPanel / WHM | ✓ | ✓ | ✓ |
| Custom DNS Nameservers | ✓ | ✓ | ✓ |
| Migration to Site5 | ✓ | ✓ | ✓ |
| Backups | ✓ | ✓ | ✓ |
| Uptime Guarantee | 99.9% | 99.9% | 99.9% |
| 45-Day Money Back Guarantee | ✓ | ✓ | ✓ |
Real Developers, Lots of Experience
If you have a technical background, Site5 uses developer-speak that can really make it feel like finally, you've found a hosting provider that is speaking your language. They claim they maintain their server speed because they never overburden their shared servers with too many clients' data. Their support staff is completely domestic, fluent in English, and actually possess technical experience themselves. Their in-house engineers built the Site5 Backstage portal custom-tailored to your development needs. They start out with the assumption that you too know what you're doing, and that kind of confidence in you as a client is refreshing (provided, of course, that you actually do know what you're doing).
Site5 Plans are Scalable
Site5 plans to start off pretty basic at less than five dollars a month. After that there are several upgrade options, allowing you to cater your plan as you see fit as your website grows. On the surface, they have three basic plans, starting off with hostBasic at $4.95 per month, hostPro at $8.95 per month, and finally moving up to Lightning Speed at $11.95 per month. That’s just for their shared hosting plans. You can move up to reseller hosting, VPS hosting, and even your own dedicated server.
Unlimited Bandwidth and Disk Space
Any Web hosting provider that can provide unlimited bandwidth and disk space is always worth a second look. There are far too many web hosting providers out there that try to place a cap on how much data can be transferred between your visitors, yourself, and the site itself. On top of that, it’s always an extra headache when you have to watch the amount of disk space you are using closely. Most websites aren’t going to use 10TB of disk space, so having a piece of mind that you can use as much as you need is always a nice feature to have with your hosting provider. Unlimited bandwidth means that you will never have to worry about your users getting an error that you exceeded your bandwidth limit.
Site5 Backstage Allows Multi-Admin Capabilities
An excellent feature of Site5's hostPro plan is that they allow you to host multiple websites from a single account. Each of those websites will come with its own Site5 Backstage admin panel that allows you to keep this information organized. You don’t get this with the hostBasic plan, which permits only one domain. Sure this means you have to use the hosting plan or higher, but this is an excellent feature that basically gives you the capabilities of a reseller account for a fraction of the price. This feature alone may be enough to sway you toward Site5 if this capability is a major advantage for you.
Host Your Site From A Selection of Servers Worldwide
With a dozen servers located on four different continents, all near major metroplexes, Site5 gives you the added advantage of being able to choose where your site is hosted globally. This can give you an extra edge in SEO if ranking locally is a priority for your business.
SSL Certificates Come Standard
Any webmaster who has an e-commerce site knows the importance of SSL certificates, as well as how irritating it can be if your web host offers free e-commerce capabilities but charges for their basic security. SSL certificates encrypt and protect web transactions, earning you your customers' trust and money. If you plan to include e-commerce on your site, you will need to get SSL certificates one way or another. It is refreshing to know that with Site5 you won't have to shell out extra cash for this when you may not have budgeted for it.
Site5 WordPress Integration
Like many web hosts, Site5 offers one-click installs for WordPress, scalable WordPress hosting plans, and customer service that is well-versed in the ins and out of this popular CMS. However, they don't offer WordPress staging, which is a serious downside considering how important this tool can be for designers and developers, Site5's self-proclaimed target demographic.
Completely Free 30-Day Trial
Lots of web hosting companies offer a money-back guarantee, but Site5 is one of the only web hosts that actually lets you try out their services for a full month free of charge. This is pretty much a unicorn in the web hosting world.
Downsides of Site5 Hosting
Most of our complaints about Site5 come down to price. They're just more expensive than other hosting companies that provide the same (or sometimes better) levels of service. For a premium web host aimed at developers, we expect more innovative tools.
They Don’t Do Prorated Refunds
It’s one thing to have a money-back guarantee up to a certain point – the industry standard is 30 days. Site5 has a 45-day money-back guarantee. However, every other hosting provider that I’ve ever seen will offer a prorated refund after you exceed the delimiter mark, which in this case is 45 days. Site5 will not provide a refund. If you’ve paid for six months’ worth of hosting and you cancel on the 46th day, they will not give you a refund. Plus, to get the best price on most plans, you will sometimes have to pay upfront for two years worth of service. That's a huge amount of cash to put down upfront, so definitely take advantage of that free trial before you buy.
They Don’t Have Solid-State Drives
No SSD means that your entire website operation runs off old, mechanical hard drives which can severely slow down your website. Nearly every other web hosting provider worth their salt offers solid-state drives as a standard piece of equipment. Sure, Site5 never overloads its servers with too many clients. But that may just be because their rusty old hardware literally cannot take it.
Site5 Pricing is Pretty Hefty for What You Get
Site5 is fine. But we see no reason why they are priced the way they are. For about the same price, A2 Hosting provides speed and uptime that far surpasses Site5. Another similarly priced option is SiteGround, which offers truly exceptional customer support that blows Site5 out of the water. Or, for about half the price, HostGator has all the same features as Site5 plus some added bells and whistles.
Bottom Line
Site5 is a perfectly adequate host with an aesthetically pleasing and savvy veneer that is sure to appeal to designers and developers. Their services have some great upsides that make them an excellent value for webmasters with niche demands. But if you're a novice webmaster looking for a budget host, there's no reason to incur a premium price tag for average services. Designers and developers, too, should do considerable research before picking Site5. There are plenty of boutique web hosts who will give you more features for your money.
Site5 Hosting FAQs
How long has Site5 been around? What is the company's mission?
During the dot-com boom, two friends started a hosting company based on the philosophy that hosting should be fun, easy, reliable, and accessible — above all, it shouldn’t be painful. Matth Lighter and Rod Armstrong began Site5 in 1999, and while they sold the company in 2008 to the current owners, they remain intimately involved with the company, working hands-on to complete more detailed projects
Site5 places a high priority on five distinct areas, which include:
- No overloaded servers: The company’s hosting philosophy is grounded in guaranteed, performance from their top-of-the-line servers.
- No outsourced support: All of the technicians and service and support members are employees of Site5.
- No gimmicks: Site5 is proud of the clear, easy-to-understand Web hosting and features they offer.
- Money-back guarantee; Site5 offers a 45-day, hassle-free money-back guarantee.
- In-house developers and engineers: Just as their support technicians are all employees of Site5, so are their developers and engineers, who work to improve the services they offer.
What are the Site5 hosting plans?
Site5 offers a wide variety of hosting plans and programs, which include:
- Web hosting
- Cloud Web hosting
- Reseller hosting
- Cloud reseller hosting
- Fully managed VPS
- Unmanaged VPS
- Cloud VPS
All plans include many different features, including unmetered bandwidth, unmetered disk space, free migrations, disaster recovery backups, and 24/7 support.
Where are Site5's servers located? What locations can I choose for my site's hosting?
Site5 servers are located around the world, allowing customers to choose where their sites are hosted. Site5 owns servers in the central, east, and west of the United States; Montreal, Toronto, and Vancouver, Canada; and Joao Pessoa and Sao Paulo, Brazil, as well as Amsterdam, Bucharest, Paris, Singapore, and Hong Kong.
What shared hosting plans does Site5 offer?
Site5 offers three different levels for the Web hosting plans, all of which include unmetered disk space and bandwidth, one-click script installs, as well as free migration, and a 45-day money-back guarantee.
Unmetered at Site5 means that there is no set limit on either the amount of disk space or bandwidth users have on their accounts. This was designed to allow customers the peace of mind to build the Web sites they need without worrying about reaching or exceeding their limits. As long as customers follow the terms of service and resource usage policy, they stay well within normal usage; the company says that the .1 percent that falls outside normal usage are typically violating the terms and agreements.
Shared web hosting customers can choose from one of 13 different locations for their server locations, which is ideal when considering the geographic locations of the majority of each customer’s own users. There is an additional cost of $1 each month for customers who choose a site outside of Dallas, though.
Each shared web hosting plan also includes full nightly backups of each file and is easily accessible when needed. Site5’s interface, Backstage, gives users a quick and efficient log-in where they can find all of their important information, like domain registration, billing, and affiliate accounts, among other facts. They also give each user SiteAdmin, the custom cPanel skin that allows users to get the information they need about their servers, databases, FTP accounts, and domains, and view Web site stats.
Shared plans start with the hostBasic, which starts at $4.95 each month when customers choose a two-year plan; those who want a one-year plan, they’ll start at a monthly cost of $5.95.
hostPro, the second tier of Site5’s shared hosting plans, starts at $8.95 a month for a two-year plan; a one-year plan starts at $9.95 each month, and, at this tier, customers can choose a monthly contract that starts at $10.95 per month. In addition to everything included in hostBasic, users get unlimited Web sites.
The company’s highest tier is hostPro + Turbo, which starts at $11.95 per month for a 24-month plan. One year with this package costs $12.95 per month, and a monthly contract starts at $13.95 per month. Customers at this level get a dedicated IP, as well as MultiAdmin control, which gives each Web site on the account a separate control panel.
What Cloud Web plans does Site5 offer?
Site5’s three Cloud Web hosting plans were all designed to minimize downtime for e-mail and website operation, geared toward customers with small IT budgets but high-level uptime needs. Site5 gives Cloud customers a step above-shared web hosting with the same quality of hardware and uptimes as a VPS server.
All Cloud customers get unlimited websites, dedicated IP, backups, and Backstage. Each customer also has access to both SiteAdmin and MultiAdmin.
- The Plus plan starts at $20 each month in a 12-month commitment. Plus offers 10GB of disk space and 100GB of bandwidth. For a month-to-month plan, users can expect to start at $25 each month.
- The mid-level tier, Advanced, starts at $27 per month for a 12-month plan, and $30 when customers want to pay each month. The advanced plan gives users 20GB of disk space and 200GB of bandwidth.
- Site5’s top level, the Premium, offers users 40GB disk space and 500GB bandwidth, with a $36 monthly cost when a user purchases a 12-month plan, and costs $40 each month in a monthly plan.
What are Site5's VPS options?
Site5 offers an impressive number of VPS options, with 10 different fully managed options. They work to keep software updated, provide constant monitoring, and take immediate, proactive responses to problems or attacks. They will also handle any security fixes.
Fully managed plans start at $55 each month for VPS2, which includes one IP address, SiteAdmin/MultiAdmin and Softaculous or cPanel/WHM and Softaculous, 2 Cores, 1GB of memory, 50GB of disk space, and 800 GB of bandwidth. Choosing between control panels costs an extra $10 a month, but the cPanel/WHM choice gives users 2 free IP addresses. Customers can also add remote backups for 30 days for $7.
The highest tier, VPS11, includes 16 cores, 20GB of memory, 1000GB of disk space, and 7TB of bandwidth for one IP address with the choice of SiteAdmin/MultiAdmin and Softaculous. Again, the choice between the two control panel options costs $10, and cPanel/WHM and Softaculous users will receive two free IP addresses. Remote backups for 30 days can be added for $125 each month.
If customers want root access, they can choose from one of 11 different unmanaged VPS options. The first, UVPS1, starts at $25 each month for 2 cores, 1GB of memory, 50GB of disk space, and 800GB of bandwidth. Full root access is included, as well as the choice of a CentOS, Debian, or Ubunto operating system template. Choosing cPanel/WHM adds $10 to the license, and customers can add a Softaculous license for $1.25 each month.
Their highest unmanaged VPS tier, UVPS11, includes many of the same features, including operating system templates, one IP address, and the same licensing costs for cPanel/WHM and Softaculous, but adds 16 cores, 24GB of memory, 1200GB of disk space and 8 TB of bandwidth, starting at $600 each month.
The 11 Cloud VPS options are also fully managed, with many of the same managed add-ons: remote backups add $5 each month, and the control panel option costs an additional $10 per month. Their lowest tier, CVPS1, gives customers 2 cores, 768MB of memory, 15GB of disk space, and 600GB of bandwidth, starting at $60 each month. The highest tier, CVPS11, has 16 cores, 20GB of memory, 400GB of disk space, and 7TB of bandwidth, and starts at $1,490 each month.
Does Site5 offer reseller plans?
Site5 has three reseller hosting plans, which start at $23.95 per month, and include three IP addresses, cPanel/WHM, custom DNS nameservers, billing software, and backups, as well as 50GB of disk space and 500GB of bandwidth each month. The highest tier costs $49.95 each month for the same features but provides 120GB of disk space and 1000GB of bandwidth.
CloudOne, a Cloud reseller hosting option, costs $50 each month and includes 50GB of disk space and 500GB of bandwidth, along with the same features as non-Cloud plans.
Site5’s hostPro shared hosting plan also gives you the option of managing multiple domains from one account, which could also be used as a lite reseller account if you are on a budget.
Tell me about the Site5 money-back guarantee.
Site5 offers a 45-day money-back guarantee, with a full refund on their shared Web and shared Cloud Web hosting, as well as the reseller and reseller Cloud hosting. They promise no catches or advanced notifications. All VPS plans, including managed, unmanaged, and Cloud, come with a 15-day money-back guarantee. The guarantee does not apply to the registration, transfer, and renewal of domain names, and starts when the account is activated.
Site5 also offers a 99.9 percent uptime guarantee, and will give a pro-rated credit for shared, reseller, semi-dedicated, managed VPS, and managed dedicated servers, with a 100 percent credit toward future invoices for anything less than 95 percent uptime. Their Cloud options (shared, reseller, and managed VPS) come with a 99.99 percent uptime guarantee, and at anything less than 99.5 percent uptime, customers can receive a 100 percent pro-rated credit.
In addition, per-incident credits are given to customers who have waited more than six hours for a technical support response. On average, responses are given within minutes, but should a ticket take longer than six hours, customers can request a $1 credit per ticket.
- Scalable Plans
- Unlimited Bandwidth and Disk Space
- Host Multiple Websites
- SSL Certificates Come Standard
- Selection of Multiple Server Locations
- 30-Day Free Trial
- No Solid-State Drive Storage
- Pricier Than Most
- Only One Domain on the Cheapest Plan
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