Web.com vs Hostpapa: guide for 2024

Web.com vs Hostpapa: Final verdict

Looking over Web.com vs. HostPapa, it’s clear why both hosts are so popular. They have both hosted millions of
websites that run on WordPress for decades, building up a loyal customer base.

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  HostPapa (Overall grade: 8.6)
  
  
  provides a diverse range of hosting plans, including VPS hosting, making it suitable for agencies and multimedia websites. With commendable uptime and fast load times owing to NVMe storage and Cloudflare Enterprise CDN, it is geared towards reliable performance and speed. HostPapa’s security measures are more advanced, including comprehensive backup options, Protection Power suite, and extensive compliance standards. Customers praise its user-friendly cPanel, seamless migration service, and robust customer support, featuring multilingual assistance and customized training sessions. While the upfront costs might be slightly higher, the feature-rich plans and additional services like email hosting and SSL certificates offer excellent value for money.
  
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  Web.com (Overall grade: 7.3)
  
  
  is a solid choice for ecommerce and high-traffic websites due to its unmetered bandwidth and reliable uptime of 99.83%. It provides a user-friendly environment with a drag-and-drop website builder and straightforward WordPress hosting with automatic updates. Web.com offers various business-centric features like business email and extensive SSL options, but its higher renewal rates and limited technical user tools like SSH access might deter some advanced users. Although it doesn’t support VPS hosting, its straightforward control panel and comprehensive customer support make it a good fit for beginners and small businesses seeking ease of use and immediate support options.
  

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
HostPapa: Reliable uptime and consistent load times for optimal performance.

HostPapa offers strong uptime performance and reliability. Their 99.93% uptime is commendable, with only about 5 hours of downtime a year from Montreal testing locations. HostPapa guarantees 99.9% uptime and offers refunds if they fall short. Their load times from locations such as Montreal, Toronto, and Vancouver average around 680 ms, which is above average.

Web.com guarantees 99.9% uptime and delivers an actual uptime of 99.83% based on third-party testing. While they provide 24/7 monitoring and faster server response times, their recorded uptime falls slightly below the industry standard. Despite strong support and rich features like unmetered bandwidth and automatic backups, the renewal rates are steeper compared to initial offers.

🏆 Winner
HostPapa: Superior performance and advanced features.

When comparing the general performance of Web.com and HostPapa, HostPapa comes out ahead. HostPapa’s servers are optimized for fast loading speeds, supported by NVMe storage which is three times faster than traditional HDDs. In contrast, Web.com focuses on server response times and optimized storage systems. HostPapa also benefits from the Cloudflare Enterprise CDN, providing global content delivery from over 250 locations, whereas Web.com does not specify CDN services. HostPapa features multiple global edge hosting locations, enhancing site delivery speed, while Web.com relies on unspecified upgrades and enhancements.

Website Speed

HostPapa leads in website speed metrics with Time to First Byte (TTFB) being ~233% faster and First Contentful Paint (FCP) approximately 45% faster compared to competitors. Additionally, HostPapa’s NVMe storage and Cloudflare CDN enhance load times significantly. Web.com, while implementing upgrades such as PHP 8.0 and improved OPcache and MySQL 8, does not match HostPapa’s exceptional PageSpeed scores and storage technology.

Scalability

Both Web.com and HostPapa offer scalable solutions. Web.com can support over 99.5% of customers’ bandwidth needs with options to upgrade when customers outgrow shared architecture. HostPapa provides an elastic scaling model, allowing seamless site growth; however, details on dedicated servers and specific scaling costs are not mentioned for either provider. HostPapa’s automated backups offer added reliability during scale-ups.

🏆 Winner HostPapa: Offers a broad range of advanced security measures and comprehensive customer support.
Both Web.com and HostPapa, have notable differences in their approaches to technical and operational
security, as well as in their compliance with regulations.

Technical security measures:

Web.com and HostPapa both offer robust security measures. Web.com provides multiple SSL certificate options, from Essential to Extended Validation, and supports PHP 8.0, ensuring fast and secure performance. HostPapa also offers multiple SSL options, including GlobalSign SSL certificates, and lets users select their PHP version for flexibility. Both offer unmetered bandwidth; however, HostPapa includes advanced bot and DDoS protection, giving it an edge in this category.

Operational security measures:

Web.com relies on SiteLock for daily malware scanning and CodeGuard for automated backups. It features a Content Delivery Network (CDN) to improve speed and security. HostPapa’s Protection Power suite includes real-time notifications, malware scanning, and Web Application Firewall (WAF), providing comprehensive security against various threats. Additionally, HostPapa offers automated backups and spam protection. HostPapa’s use of domain privacy and advanced monitoring tools surpasses Web.com’s operational measures.

Compliance and certifications:

Both Web.com and HostPapa meet GDPR compliance standards. Web.com is PCI compliant, a critical feature for eCommerce platforms. HostPapa, on the other hand, goes further by adhering to the Personal Information Protection and Electronic Documents Act (PIPEDA) and offering PCI compliance guidelines, making it more robust in regulatory adherence.

🏆 Winner HostPapa: A feature-rich hosting provider with advanced security, comprehensive support, and numerous included services.

Both hosting providers offer a robust set of features that cater to a wide range of user needs. Web.com guarantees 99.9% uptime and provides a drag-and-drop website builder, making it user-friendly for beginners. However, its lack of explicit SFTP/SSH mention might be a drawback for advanced users. Web.com includes a free domain and SSL certificate for the first year, and its WordPress hosting comes with automatic installation and updates. On the other hand, Web.com plans vary significantly, and certain advanced features like unlimited FTP accounts and significant storage depend on the selected tier.

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 Web.com and HostPapa 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 Web.com include business email with all plans, ideal for users looking to set up basic email functionalities. HostPapa offers unlimited email addresses, providing flexibility for larger organizations or those needing extensive email hosting options. Both providers do not explicitly mention transactional email capabilities or the reselling of third-party services.

🏆 Winner HostPapa: HostPapa offers more comprehensive plans with a variety of features and higher value for price, making it a preferred choice for many users.

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.

When comparing Web.com and HostPapa, HostPapa stands out with more inclusive storage and additional features in its plans. Web.com’s Shared and WordPress Hosting Plans offer differentiated pricing and features suitable for a range of users. However, HostPapa provides more storage options and additional freebies like domain privacy and fully managed firewall services which aren’t included in Web.com’s pricing tiers. HostPapa’s plans generally support more websites and email addresses which can cater to a wider audience, offering better value for their price.

Enterprise plans

For enterprises, HostPapa’s Elite plan provides hosting for unlimited websites, unmetered NVMe storage, unlimited email addresses, and includes advanced features like a fully managed web application firewall and free domain registration for the full duration, making it a comprehensive option. On the other hand, Web.com’s Premium Web and WordPress plans are less feature-rich, offering less storage and fewer special features compared to HostPapa’s offerings.

🏆 Winner HostPapa: Offers exceptional ease of setup and extensive knowledge base resources.

Web.com provides a user-friendly hosting control panel that includes a centralized dashboard for managing domains, setting up email accounts, and monitoring website performance. It also integrates a drag-and-drop website builder within its packages, making it accessible for non-technical users. With one-click WordPress installation and automatic updates, Web.com simplifies the process for those who choose to use the popular CMS. The control panel’s intuitive design results in an efficient and user-friendly experience for users of all skill levels.

HostPapa utilizes the standard cPanel, which is widely recognized for its user-friendly interface and comprehensive feature set. The admin panel includes one-click website publishing and zero-click WordPress installation, making it highly accessible for both beginners and more advanced users. cPanel’s extensive documentation and familiarity among web professionals make it a reliable choice. Furthermore, HostPapa’s straightforward interface permits ease of management without any specialized knowledge, which is especially beneficial for small businesses and individuals launching their first site.

HostPapa provides free and seamless website migration from any hosting provider, ensuring that this process is straightforward and without downtime. This service is particularly advantageous for customers looking to switch hosting providers smoothly. In comparison, Web.com does not explicitly mention free website migration tools, which may indicate that there could be additional steps or costs involved in transferring a site to their platform.

The platforms provide extensive knowledge bases filled with guides, how-to articles, and instructional content. Web.com’s help center offers a wide range of knowledge base articles, step-by-step instructions, and 24/7 customer support through various channels, such as live chat, email, and phone support. HostPapa’s help center, however, stands out with its extensive and well-categorized knowledge base, which includes hundreds of articles, video tutorials, and a free 30-minute one-on-one training session with an expert for certain plans. HostPapa’s multilingual support adds to its accessibility, making it a superior option for users who might need help in different languages.

Winner HostPapa: Efficient and versatile user management with extensive permissions control.

When comparing Web.com and HostPapa’s user management capabilities, it’s evident that HostPapa offers more flexibility in defining user roles and permissions. Web.com provides two user roles: Admin, which has extensive controls including billing and contact management, and Tech, which has more restrictive access limited to managing products and services. HostPapa offers a more granular approach with its Plesk integration, allowing users to create customized roles with precise permissions. This flexibility in defining specific permissions such as managing databases, configuring antivirus, and creating mail accounts makes HostPapa more adaptable for diverse user needs.

In terms of user interfaces and tools for managing users, Web.com uses a centralized Account Manager interface, accessible from the user icon. This straightforward interface allows for quick addition, editing, and management of users across single or multiple accounts. HostPapa, leveraging Plesk, also provides a streamlined interface but with deeper functionality. Users can create and manage additional accounts, roles, and permissions more seamlessly through direct interaction with the platform’s tools, including the Plesk dashboard which has a comprehensive feature set for managing site-specific settings and user roles.

Assessing the effectiveness of access control measures, HostPapa again stands out due to its detailed permission settings for user roles, allowing administrators to fine-tune access controls to fit specific needs. Web.com offers a simpler, more generalized approach which may be easier for small businesses or basic setups but lacks the precision control for more complex environments. HostPapa’s ability to handle a greater number of users efficiently with defined roles and permissions makes it more scalable for growing organizations needing tailored access levels and controls.

Web.com User Roles Table

HostPapa User Roles Table

🏆 Winner HostPapa: HostPapa shines in customer service options, providing a wide range of support channels and excellent user reviews.

Web.com offers comprehensive customer service with 24/7 product support available through phone, email, live chat, and a ticket system. They also provide an online help center with knowledge base articles for self-help. Their phone support is available for general inquiries and cancellations, and they monitor email support around the clock.

HostPapa stands out with its extensive customer service options, including 24/7/365 availability via multiple international phone numbers, live chat, and email. They offer unique features such as video tutorials, one-on-one training sessions, and network status updates. Positive customer reviews highlight the efficiency and helpfulness of their support team, solidifying HostPapa as a reliable choice for hosting needs.

Web.com vs Hostpapa: User feedback

The hosting provider offers a comprehensive solution for purchasing domain names, hosting, and website building, making it highly convenient for users managing multiple domains and websites. Users appreciate the convenience of having all services bundled together, but some express concerns about the limitations on hosting unlimited domains and the cost associated with individual website software. Overall, the service is satisfactory and well-rated, though there is room for improvement in accommodating users with extensive hosting needs.

Overall, customers generally appreciate the ease of use, responsive customer support, and affordability of the hosting provider. Many users specifically highlight the excellent technical support and straightforward interface as significant advantages. However, some reviews mention downsides such as occasional transparency issues with billing, aggressive upselling tactics, and sporadic performance concerns like downtime or slow website speeds due to outdated technology. There are also mixed experiences regarding customer service efficiency, with some users facing frustrating delays while others commend the quick and knowledgeable support team.

Web.com vs Hostpapa: FAQ