OVH Cloud vs Netfirms: guide for 2024

OVH Cloud vs Netfirms: Final verdict

Comparing OVHcloud with Netfirms reveals that both offer various hosting solutions and cater to different user needs, but OVHcloud generally provides a more versatile and feature-rich experience.

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  OVHcloud (Overall grade: 8.2)
  
  excels in offering a wide array of hosting types, including shared, cloud, VPS, and dedicated hosting. Its infrastructure spans 43 data centers globally, and it has significantly improved its uptime to 99.962%. OVHcloud includes advanced features such as Anti-DDoS protection, a wide range of SSL options, and comprehensive compliance certifications, making it highly reliable for high-traffic and multimedia websites. Its Performance Web Hosting plan is particularly notable for the robust CPU/RAM configurations and additional features like a basic CDN, which favor demanding sites. Moreover, its user management system and broad accessibility make it a top choice for advanced users who require detailed control over their cloud resources.
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  Netfirms (Overall grade: 7.3)
  
  stands out for its consistent and strong uptime and reliable customer support, offering a 30-day money-back guarantee. The provider specializes in shared and dedicated hosting, with a strong focus on eCommerce solutions and marketing tools, thus suitable for small businesses aiming to build a robust online presence. Netfirms’ plans come with unlimited storage and scalable bandwidth, and their integration with Google Workspace can be highly beneficial for businesses. However, it lacks the extensive resource options and flexibility provided by OVHcloud. Additionally, while its customer service is greatly appreciated, users may encounter limitations in technical features like advanced security measures and performance scalability.

Overall, OVHcloud emerges as the stronger contender with its extensive feature set, high performance, and flexible scaling solutions, making it well-suited for those requiring advanced functionalities and robust performance.

Hosting types offered

Both platforms provide a variety of hosting types, each designed to meet the different needs of users.

Although both offer a variety of hosting plans tailored to different needs, in certain cases, one platform may prove to be more suitable.

Detailed comparison

🏆 Winner Netfirms: Consistent and strong uptime with reliable customer support.

OVHcloud has a notable global infrastructure with 43 data centers and 44 redundant Points of Presence across four continents. The company has shown improvement in uptime, reaching 99.962% after a less satisfactory period of 99.37%. OVHcloud ensures high availability with Anti-DDoS protection included in all plans and offers automatic backups for restoring data from previous days.

Netfirms promises 99.9% uptime for all hosting plans and has displayed strong stability in tests with 100% uptime over a two-week period. They operate data centers in New York and Toronto and offer 24/7 customer support via phone, live chat, and ticketing. Netfirms also provides a 30-day money-back guarantee for credit card payments, making it a reliable choice for hosting services.

🏆 Winner OVHcloud: Exceptional hosting performance and a wide range of resource options.

OVHcloud’s Performance Web Hosting plan outshines Netfirms with its superior CPU/RAM configurations, ranging up to 8 vCores and 16 GB RAM, ensuring faster load times and enhanced performance for demanding websites. Both host providers offer free SSL certificates, but OVHcloud additionally includes a basic CDN, which helps improve website load times globally. Netfirms, while cost-effective and offering scalable bandwidth, doesn’t provide the extensive virtual resource options that OVHcloud does. Data centers’ specifics are not disclosed, which doesn’t let us compare their geographical spread directly.

Website Speed

When it comes to website speed, OVHcloud holds an edge by offering various high-performance resources. The availability of up to 8 vCores and 16 GB RAM means server efficiency and speed are top priorities. Netfirms’ shared hosting options might be sufficient for smaller websites but won’t match the high resource allocation OVHcloud provides for heavy traffic websites. OVHcloud’s inclusion of a basic CDN also helps reduce latency for international visitors, enhancing overall website speed.

Scalability

OVHcloud provides elastic scaling through various resource options, accommodating up to 1,000 sites without switching plans, and has a dedicated boost option for traffic spikes at $0.65/day. The automatic scaling and detailed management interface make scaling straightforward. Netfirms offers varied plans from shared to dedicated, but scaling usually involves upgrading to a more expensive plan, especially for dedicated hosting, the cost specifics of which aren’t itemized. Thus, OVHcloud offers more transparent and flexible scaling solutions.

🏆 Winner OVHcloud: Offers a robust set of security features and compliance certifications.

Both OVHcloud and Netfirms, have notable differences in their approaches to technical and operational
security, as well as in their compliance with regulations.

Technical security measures:

OVHcloud includes a Let’s Encrypt SSL Certificate for free and offers advanced SSL options like Sectigo DV and EV certificates. In contrast, Netfirms provides its SSL certificates at an additional cost but includes a free SSL from Let’s Encrypt with every hosting plan. OVHcloud offers built-in anti-DDoS protection, a default firewall, and automated backups, whereas Netfirms provides additional site lock services that include malware scanning and DDoS protection. Both providers support PHP for dynamic sites, although specific versions were not detailed.

Operational security measures:

OVHcloud offers automatic data backup with the ability to restore files from up to 14 days earlier. Task automation can be managed through the OVHcloud Control Panel and API. Netfirms includes continuous malware scans, domain privacy protection, and alerts for unauthorized changes. Both providers offer security measures like blacklist monitoring and alerts for domain security, but OVHcloud’s inclusion of a multi-site management feature gives it a slight edge.

Compliance and certifications:

OVHcloud is compliant with a broad array of certifications, including GDPR, PCI DSS, HIPAA, and various ISO standards, and also adheres to multiple country-specific regulations. Netfirms is GDPR compliant since 2018 and ensures online retailers comply with PCI standards. However, only OVHcloud covers an extensive range of federal and international certifications.

🏆 Winner
OVHcloud: OVHcloud stands out with its extensive feature set and user-friendly managed hosting services.

Both OVHcloud and Netfirms offer robust hosting solutions, each tailored to different customer needs. OVHcloud provides managed hosting, which means they handle the infrastructure and security details, making it ideal for users who prefer a hands-off approach. The availability of a Control Panel allows for easy management of products and services, coupled with features like unlimited monthly traffic and anti-DDoS protection, making it suitable for high-traffic websites. OVHcloud also offers comprehensive backup and restore options and a Crontab task scheduler for automation. In contrast, Netfirms emphasizes eCommerce solutions and marketing tools, ideal for small businesses looking to build a strong online presence. Netfirms includes free domain registration for a year and scalable bandwidth, which offers flexibility as your website grows.

OVHcloud supports advanced users with features like 1-click CMS installation, unlimited FTP/SFTP, and SSH access, which opens up complex customization possibilities. Netfirms, on the other hand, includes unlimited disk space and offers fast customer support, making it user-friendly for beginners. The lack of clear information about SSH/SFTP in Netfirms’ plans may be a drawback for more tech-savvy users. OVHcloud’s detailed statistics and logs, multi-site management, and the OVHcloud API for advanced customizations further enhance its appeal. While Netfirms provides SSL certificates and subdomain creation across all plans, which could be crucial for eCommerce sites, OVHcloud’s solution is more feature-rich for a wider range of applications.

Both providers support a range of users from beginners to experts with user-friendly website builders and WordPress staging areas. However, in terms of developer tools, both OVHcloud and Netfirms offer robust options including SSH access, support for multiple programming languages, and Git for version control, thus appealing to developers looking for advanced capabilities.

Email services:

Email services at OVHcloud are provided through robust email hosting capabilities across its plans, maintaining up to 1000 email addresses on its Performance Web Hosting plan. This proves advantageous for businesses managing extensive email campaigns. Netfirms does not explicitly mention email hosting services in the provided context, potentially requiring customer support engagement to clarify email options. Users prioritizing integrated email solutions might find OVHcloud more appealing.

🏆 Winner OVHcloud: OVHcloud shines with high-performance resources, extensive feature offerings, and competitive pricing.

Evaluating the pricing of plans among various hosting providers can be complex due to their differing pricing and renewal strategies. Additionally, certain plans require annual commitments, which adds to the difficulty of making comparisons. The prices listed are based on monthly commitments; plans requiring annual commitments are indicated. Additionally, although some providers offer identical plans for WordPress and shared hosting, we have created separate tables for each to enhance clarity.

OVHcloud offers a wide range of hosting plans that cater to different needs, with monthly prices starting at $1.04 for their shared Starter Web Hosting plan. This plan includes a free domain for the first year, 1 GB of disk space, and 2 email addresses. Netfirms’ most affordable shared hosting plan, the Plus Plan, begins at $3.95 per month and includes unlimited storage, scalable bandwidth, and a free SSL by Let’s Encrypt. For cloud hosting, OVHcloud also starts at $1.04 for the Starter plan, offering similar features as their shared hosting. In contrast, Netfirms does not provide detailed information about cloud hosting in the provided data, focusing instead on shared and dedicated hosting options.

Enterprise plans

OVHcloud’s Performance Web Hosting plan offers high-performance resources, 500GB of storage, and an impressive 1000 email addresses, priced at $13.19 per month. This package includes Web Cloud databases with 512 MB of RAM and CDN Basic, making it suitable for enterprise-level projects. Netfirms’ highest-tier Business Plan provides unlimited storage, bandwidth, and multiple websites at $14.95 per month. Both plans come with a free domain name for the first year and various security features like SSL certificates. Choose OVHcloud for dedicated high-performance resources or Netfirms for comprehensive enterprise features with scalability.

🏆 Winner
OVHcloud: Simplified setup with seamless management and support.

OVHcloud features a custom control panel known as the OVHcloud Control Panel, designed for both accessibility and user-friendliness. It provides a centralized interface for managing products and services, making it easy for users to navigate. With their managed hosting, the infrastructure, monitoring, and security are handled by OVHcloud, allowing users to focus on their websites. They also offer 1-click installation for popular CMS tools, which simplifies the setup process especially for non-technical users. For those who prefer traditional methods, OVHcloud provides options to use FTP Explorer, FTP Client, or SSH.

Netfirms integrates its hosting with your domain purchase, which can streamline things if you manage both under one provider. They offer a standard control panel and provide onboarding assistance for new users to get their websites up and running quickly. The availability of 24/7 technical support via phone or chat ensures that users can get help whenever needed. The integration with Google Workspace further simplifies management tasks, as users can easily access and manage their email and productivity tools.

OVHcloud provides various options for migrating websites, including FTP, SSH, and CMS-specific migration tools, making it more flexible for users who prefer different methods. Advanced users can make use of automated and manual backup services, ensuring data is safely handled during migration. Netfirms offers some migration tools but lacks the flexibility and range of options provided by OVHcloud. Their tools are integrated with the Google Workspace, which can be beneficial, but there’s limited information on automated migration processes.

Both hosting providers offer extensive help centers with ample resources. OVHcloud has a detailed help center with multilingual guides and a community space for user support. Various guides are available to assist with task automation, API usage, and product configuration. Netfirms has a comprehensive knowledge base with articles on website management, including backup and restore, user additions in WordPress, and GDPR compliance. Each provider offers 24/7 customer service, but OVHcloud provides a more collaborative support environment through its user community and partner program.

🏆 Winner
OVHcloud: Full access and rights management for your infrastructure’s cloud resources.

OVHcloud and Netfirms both provide user management features but with distinct approaches tailored to their platforms. OVHcloud excels in creating and managing an unlimited number of OpenStack users, offering detailed role-based access control (RBAC), making it highly flexible. Users can be assigned multiple roles, such as Administrator, Network Operator, and ObjectStore Operator, which define the scope of their activities. In contrast, Netfirms focuses on WordPress user roles including Administrator, Editor, Author, Contributor, and Subscriber. Each role has specific permissions, providing a solid but less versatile system compared to OVHcloud’s more granular and customizable approach.

The user interfaces for managing accounts are well-thought-out on both platforms but cater to different use cases. OVHcloud uses the OVHcloud Control Panel, which allows for easy role creation and offers direct generation of configuration files for tools like OpenStack CLI or Rclone. This streamlines complex management tasks within a cloud environment. Netfirms employs the WordPress Dashboard for user management, which is accessible and intuitive, featuring straightforward options for adding new users and assigning roles. While both interfaces are user-friendly, OVHcloud’s control panel stands out for offering more comprehensive tools aimed at advanced management needs.

When it comes to access control and scalability, OVHcloud holds the upper hand. It offers multiple access points that can be disabled individually, ensuring tighter security. The ability to manage an unlimited number of users and group multiple roles together adds to its high efficiency. The flexibility in adjusting roles over time makes OVHcloud apt for businesses with growing and dynamic needs. Netfirms, while effective within the confines of WordPress, is less scalable due to its limited user roles and simpler structure. It can handle the user base efficiently but doesn’t provide the same level of detailed access control as OVHcloud.

OVHcloud user roles table:

🏆 Winner
Netfirms: Offers 24/7 customer support via phone, chat, and email, coupled with a 30-day money-back guarantee, facilitating quick resolutions and better customer experience.

OVHcloud provides multiple support tiers, ranging from Standard to Enterprise, with varying levels of accessibility and response times. While it offers essential contact methods including email, phone, and a community forum, its higher-level supports like Premium, Business, and Enterprise come with added costs, making them more suitable for critical or larger-scale operations. The lack of a live chat option currently in operation is a notable drawback for immediate support.

Netfirms stands out for its 24/7 support availability across phone, web chat, and email, with exceptional response times. Their customer service is praised for its quick and direct answers, further enriched by a money-back guarantee on hosting plans. Although some users encounter billing and cancellation issues, the overall feedback remains positive, making Netfirms a reliable choice for those valuing readily accessible and efficient support.

OVH Cloud vs Netfirms: User feedback

User feedback for this hosting provider reveals a stark contrast in experiences. On one hand, users appreciate the competitive pricing, diverse range of services, multiple datacenter locations, and solid server performance when issues do not arise, reflecting a favorable cost-benefit ratio. On the other hand, many users criticize the provider’s customer service, highlighting slow response times, inadequate technical support, and unresolved billing discrepancies, with some experiencing significant delays and lack of assistance in critical situations. Overall, while the hosting services can be robust and reliable, the customer support and service delivery times need considerable improvement.

Based on user reviews, the hosting provider appears to offer decent uptime and moderately reliable customer support. However, users frequently report slow server performance and connectivity issues that significantly hamper the experience. While some appreciate the low costs and basic domain registration services, others criticize the clunky system, confusing server setup, and unreliability, especially when working with CMS tools. Overall, the service seems better suited for those with low budgets and high patience.

OVH Cloud vs Netfirms: FAQ