GreenGeeks Review

Going green is not just a trend. And even if it is, this is a useful one, as it will eventually help in saving our planet.

Many of us do not think about web hosting providers at all, it is something we take for granted. But, every website is hosted somewhere, it has a server (cloud technology geeks would disagree). And all those servers consume electrical energy, take up physical space, and eventually die, and get thrown away in garbage.

All this creates enormous amounts of pollution, both directly and indirectly. In fact, in the near future, web hosting industry will overtake airline industry on the biggest sources of pollution list. This is something not to be proud of.

You may ask “What this has to do with me?!” Well, it has. You probably own a website (or plan on creating one), and that is the reason why you are reading this article. Your website is hosted somewhere, and is contributing to this growing pollution problem.

But it is not all black, there are (few) environmentally aware hosting companies, that actually think about our planet, and our future. The leader among these is certainly GreenGeeks.

GreenGeeks is a Canadian company, based in Toronto, Ontario. And GreenGeeks is truly that, green. Why? Because they put back into the grid 3x as much energy as they use, and they do it by buying wind energy credits. So not only that GreenGeeks covers for the pollution they make, they actually cover for two more companies of the same size. Amazing!

But, the number one reason for considering web hosting providers is performance of their servers, and features they provide. If being “green” was the only great thing about GreenGeeks, you would look elsewhere. But, rest assured, GreenGeeks is an excellent hosting provider. They will offer awesome features, uptime, support and security. They are an excellent choice as a hosting provider, and they are environmentally friendly on top of all this.

Plans and Pricing

GreenGeeks offers many different hosting options, and you can find exactly the right one for your needs. Initially when the company was created, way back in 2006, it offered only shared hosting. But as GreenGeeks got bigger, they broadened their service, and now they have options for bigger websites too, like reseller, VPS and dedicated server hosting.

GreenGeeks shared hosting starts at affordable $3.95/mo. For this awesome price you will get all that you need to start your website. It includes unlimited domains, unlimited SSD Web Space and data transfers, free domain name registration. All shared plans are scalable. You will also get free email accounts, and excellent marketing and SEO tools.  So basically, all the essentials for a beginner, and all that is needed to put your website on the right tracks.

Beginners will also appreciate 1-click Installer for popular platforms like WordPress, Joomla, Drupal and over 150 more. It is good to know that app update is done automatically. And if you have an online shop, GreenGeeks has you covered with excellent e-commerce options such as PrestaShop, Magento and PCI Compliant Hosting for security.

And if you plan your website to be bigger, or if it is already too big for shared hosting, no worries. GreenGeeks has options for you- VPS and dedicated hosting.

They have 5 VPS plans, starting from $39.95/mo to $159.95/mo. The cheapest option has 2 GB RAM, 25 GB SSD RAID-10 storage, 1,000 premium bandwidth and 4 cores. And the most expensive option will handle even the biggest websites- it offers 8 GB RAM, 125 GB SSD RAID-10 storage, 3,000 GB premium bandwidth and also 4 cores. 3 remaining options fall in between these two, both in price, and in performance. Every GreenGeeks VPS plan has VPS management control, free nightly backup, CPANEL/WHM license ($200/year value!). Also, every VPS is provisioned on blacklist-free IPs, and you will have access to eNom domain reseller account.

GreenGeeks has 4 dedicated server options – Entry, Standard, Elite and Pro. Each is different in power, and in price ($169/mo for Entry, $439/mo for Pro server). Best value for most big websites is their Standard server- you will have Xeon E3-1220 3.1Ghz CPU, 4 GB DDR3, 2x 500 GB SATA drive, 5 IP addresses, and 10,000 GB of transfer at your disposal, all for $269/mo. GreenGeeks dedicated servers certainly are not the cheapest, but they are top quality, and with enough muscle to satisfy any website’s needs.

GreenGeeks has some plans for resellers too – Seed, Sprout, Plant, Tree, and Forest- going from $19.95/mo to $99.95/mo. The differences are in the amount of premium bandwidth and the amount of SSD space. But every option has unlimited cPanel accounts and is provisioned in USA or Canada. GreenGeeks reseller plans are great, and they will guarantee satisfaction of your customers.

All in all, GreenGeeks has numerous options, no matter how big your website (or how deep your pocket) is. And don’t forget, no matter what your choice is, it will be 300% green powered by renewable energy!

GreenGeeks Features

First and the most important thing when considering hosting providers is uptime. You could have the most beautiful website in the world, but if people can’t reach it, it will mean nothing. Making sure that your customers can reach your website ALL THE TIME is imperative.

If you decide to choose GreenGeeks to be your hosting provider, unreachable website(s) will be history. GreenGeeks has 99.9% Uptime, guaranteed. But this is not only just a claim, many test prove it, and it is usually a bit better, around 99.95%! You will hardly find a hosting provider that has better uptime.

We already mentioned the “green” part of GreenGeeks, they sure do their best to keep our planet, and our future safe. But they also take great care about the security of their users. SSL secure server, brute force detection, spam assassin, combined with real time security scanning will make your website and data extremely safe. But, if something does go wrong, don’t worry. GreenGeeks has nightly backups, so you can always revert everything back to normal.

The physical state of servers is closely monitored, around the clock, both by onsite security, and UPS systems. This means that even a power failure won’t harm your website.

All GreenGeeks servers are Linux based, and this is something preferred in the developer community, since it is a lot easier to master, and to work in. But if you if you insist on Windows hosting, you will have to look elsewhere.

Two types of control panels are available – WHM and beloved CPanel. Nothing new about cPanel, every experienced developer knows everything about it, which means you will have no problems getting used to. Also, GreenGeeks has a good number of supported scripts and languages, including Django, Perl, PHP, Python and Ruby on Rails (not available in shared hosting plans).

And if you are worried about setting everything up, GreenGeeks quick install tool supports many apps- b2evolution, Drupal, WordPress, Joomla, Magento, Mambo, Fantastico/Softaculous, MediaWiki, SSL, etc.

Two types of databases are supported, PHPMyAdmin and MySQL.

If you are not convinced by all this, and you want to try GreenGeeks yourself, feel free to do that. They offer a 30 day money-back guarantee.

However, there are few not so “green” things about GreenGeeks. First, all their pricing is only for longer contracts. This is not unusual, since many hosting providers try to lure customers to join them using these kinds of manipulations. But still, it is not nice to see. Also, if you opt for their “free” domain name, it will stay free only if you are satisfied with their overall service. But, if you decide to request your money-back guarantee, GreenGeeks will charge your domain name. Not that free after all? Third issue is with their website latency. It is better than the industry’s standard, and that is a fact, but just barely.

Customer Support

When it comes to support, GreenGeeks shines. You will hardly find a Web hosting provider with better and more professional support. It is available 24/7. You can check this out yourself, just visit their website and a kind operator will ask you if you need any help.

It is good to know that the GreenGeeks support team is based in-house. This means they speak fluent English and you will not have trouble understanding them while they help you. They respond quickly, often in less than a minute.

If your website is hosted elsewhere, the GreenGeeks support team will offer free migration, or help, if you prefer doing it yourself.

You can reach them by live chat, email or phone, anytime, 24/7. However phone calls are only available for users from USA or Canada.

If you’re the type of guy that likes to investigate and research himself, you will love GreenGeeks. They provide hundreds of articles and useful video tutorials for you to explore. Their self-study materials are top quality and easy to understand. The only downside is that they don’t have a forum nor a blog, and that is something they should improve upon in the future.

But overall the GreenGeeks support team is something this company should be proud of. It is among the industry’s leaders when it comes to customer support.

Conclusion

GreenGeeks is an excellent choice, you will be far from disappointed if you decide to choose them to host your website(s). They have many great hosting plans- Shared, Virtual private server, dedicated server or reseller hosting, there is something for everyone.

Their servers are extremely secure, and their uptime and support is one of the best in the industry. And if you are not satisfied, you can cancel your subscription within 30 days, and keep (most of) your money.

GreenGeeks is not the cheapest, but the “green” factor makes it worth considering. Hosting industry is polluting our planet more and more, and it is always good to do something about it, if you can. Small things and actions add up, and you can start by switching your website to a green hosting provider. Going green can also benefit your business reputation, as it will mean you are environmentally-aware and follow the latest trends.

Reviewer:

WebHostingListing

Rating:

4.5

From:$3.95/ month

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