Hostwinds vs Interserver: guide for 2024

Final verdict

Looking over Hostwinds vs. InterServer, the comparison highlights distinct strengths and weaknesses for each hosting provider, guiding users toward the best fit for their needs.

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  InterServer (Overall grade: 8.1)
  
  
  excels with its comprehensive and reliable performance, enhanced by features like SSD caching, a 10GB Cisco network, and Cloudflare CDN integration. InterServer’s offerings, such as easy WordPress installation, weekly backups, and robust security measures, solidify its standing as a strong contender. The platform’s streamlined user management using cPanel, Plesk, and DirectAdmin, along with its free email encryption and practical support resources, further enhance its appeal. Although lacking in SSH access, InterServer’s budget-friendly pricing and extensive control panel options cater to a wide range of users, providing high value and stability.
  
• 
  Hostwinds (Overall grade: 7.1)
  
  
  stands out with its adaptive feature set, including SSD drives, LiteSpeed Web Server, and various forms of scalable hosting. The platform’s proactive customer support, nightly backups, and free dedicated IPs underscore its commitment to delivering performance and security. Users benefit from a Weebly site builder, making it a suitable choice for agencies and high-traffic websites. Despite some concerns with response times and migration issues, Hostwinds remains a reliable and flexible hosting option, particularly for those who prioritize comprehensive control and advanced customization features.
  

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 InterServer: InterServer delivers exceptional uptime and availability, ensuring minimal downtime and reliable performance.

SECTION-2:
Hostwinds offers a commendable uptime of 99.89% and guarantees a 99.99% uptime which could face consistency challenges. The response time of 945ms is below the market average, and international loading times show variability. Their data centers in Seattle, Dallas, and Amsterdam, coupled with continuous server monitoring and 2N redundancy, provide good infrastructure resilience.

SECTION-3:
InterServer guarantees a 99.9% uptime and delivers an impressive long-term performance uptime of 99.99%. With a server response time of 662ms, the performance is rated average but supported by Cloudflare CDN and route optimization for faster website loading. The use of 50% server capacity and features like InterShield Security and inter-proxy caching further enhance performance and security.

🏆 Winner Hostwinds: Exceptional hosting performance with high uptime and comprehensive features.

Hostwinds and InterServer both offer competitive hosting services, but Hostwinds stands out due to its slightly higher score and overall performance features. Hostwinds leverages SSD drives, Litespeed Web Server, and Cloudflare CDN to ensure fast speeds with optimized network path selection. They have built-in plugins like Cloudflare CDN for enhanced performance. Their support is proactive, with constant monitoring and nightly backups. Hostwinds provides unlimited bandwidth and disk space on certain plans. InterServer, meanwhile, offers a 10GB Cisco Network, SSD Caching Servers, and also partners with Cloudflare for CDN, ensuring speed and security. Their network is designed to be highly reliable, with a focus on speed optimization and industry-leading content delivery. Both use the latest server optimization and security technologies but differ in how they balance performance and resource allocation.

Website Speed

Hostwinds ensures rapid website loading with features like SSD drives, Litespeed Web Server, and Cloudflare CDN. These technologies significantly reduce load times and increase performance levels. Additionally, route-optimized networking ensures the fastest network paths, resulting in consistent speed and reliability. With InterServer, their 10GB Cisco Network, SSD Caching Servers, and optimized route networking delivers competitive web speeds. By maintaining 50% server capacity utilization, they minimize performance issues, ensuring sites load quickly. Both hosting services offer robust speed optimization, but Hostwinds’ constant monitoring and website optimization slightly edge out InterServer’s offerings.

Scalability

Hostwinds offers instant scalability, allowing users to quickly upgrade server resources based on need. They provide enterprise hardware for optimal performance and support fast, seamless upgrades. Hostwinds also offers dedicated servers, providing more flexibility for growing businesses, although specific costs associated with scaling are not mentioned. InterServer also supports easy scalability to VPS or Dedicated Servers without downtime, facilitating flexible hosting for various online projects. While both services offer flexible options for scaling, Hostwinds’ instant scalability and enterprise hardware highlight its superior adaptability to growing demands. Specific costs related to scaling are also not provided for InterServer.

🏆 Winner
InterServer: Delivers robust security with comprehensive end-to-end protection and superior data center measures.

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

Technical security measures:

Hostwinds offers SSL certificates including AutoSSL, RapidSSL, and WildCard SSL, providing solid encryption for secure data transmission. They ensure the latest PHP versions are available, contributing to site security and performance. Their use of Litespeed Web Server and Cloudflare CDN enhances content delivery speed and security. InterServer also provides free SSL certificates and supports multiple PHP versions, allowing flexibility and modern security standards. Their InterShield Security leverages advanced technology, including machine learning, to detect and mitigate attacks before they occur, offering a proactive security stance.

Operational security measures:

Hostwinds ensures constant network and website monitoring, including nightly backups and full management support, promising timely resolution of issues. They also provide free website migration, easing transitions without downtime. InterServer ensures automatic email encryption, anonymous email account setup, brute-force protection, spam, and virus filtering, and guaranteed email delivery with AI monitoring. Their self-healing hardware ensures uninterrupted services, and they offer a comprehensive cleanup service named Inter-Insurance for compromised accounts. InterServer’s robust operational measures clearly enhance ongoing security and reliability.

Compliance and certifications:

Hostwinds’ compliance details, including GDPR and PCI, are not specified and would need direct confirmation. InterServer suggests GDPR adherence through its emphasis on privacy and security. Neither provider explicitly mentions PCI or HIPAA compliance. For specific regulatory compliance, checking directly with the providers is advised.

🏆 Winner
Hostwinds: A solid choice for users seeking a robust range of hosting features and FTP/SFTP and SSH access.

Hostwinds and InterServer are two prominent hosting providers, each offering an array of services designed to cater to varied user needs. Hostwinds provides a comprehensive set of features across its different hosting plans. It stands out with its inclusion of a Weebly site builder, which is particularly user-friendly and offers ample customization for both beginners and seasoned developers. Additionally, Hostwinds ensures ease of setup with features like free SSL certificates, instant setup, and a free dedicated IP. Features such as Cloudflare CDN, LiteSpeed Web Server, and nightly backups for business hosting amplify its appeal, especially for those seeking a reliable and performance-optimized environment.

On the other hand, InterServer boasts unlimited storage space and data transfer, coupled with a focus on speed optimization, thanks to SSD caching servers and a 10GB Cisco network. It provides weekly backups, a significant nod toward data security. InterServer’s hosting package includes a Cloud Linux OS and free Cloudflare CDN, which further enhance website performance and security. A noteworthy point is its omission of SSH access, which might be a dealbreaker for users needing deeper server-level customization. Both providers offer unlimited FTP accounts and cloud apps, making them versatile choices, but Hostwinds edges out slightly due to its additional features and overall flexibility.

Email services:

Regarding email services, both Hostwinds and InterServer offer unlimited email hosting capabilities, allowing users to set up their own email campaigns and manage email communications effectively. Hostwinds includes unlimited email accounts across both its web and business hosting plans, making it suitable for businesses with substantial email needs. InterServer also supports this, but specific details about transactional email limits or third-party services are not mentioned. Both providers ensure that their users can manage comprehensive email solutions directly through their hosting packages.

🏆 Winner
Hostwinds: Offers comprehensive plans with impressive features suitable for both beginners and advanced 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.

Hostwinds and InterServer offer a variety of hosting plans, each catering to different needs. Hostwinds provides extensive features across its Shared, Business, and Reseller Web Hosting plans, with prices ranging from $5.24 to $12.74 per month. Hostwinds’ managed and unmanaged VPS hosting offers diverse configurations, starting at $4.99/month. InterServer’s Standard Web Hosting is priced at $2.50/month, featuring unlimited resources and ultra-fast speeds. For VPS hosting, InterServer’s VPS Special costs $6.00/month, and their WordPress plans start at $6.00/month as well. Hostwinds’ comprehensive offerings and additional features like nightly backups and full management provide a more feature-rich experience compared to InterServer’s more budget-friendly plans.

Enterprise plans

Hostwinds’ managed VPS and dedicated server offerings provide robust support for enterprises needing scalability and reliability. Their managed Linux VPS hosting starts at $8.24/month, climbing up to $395.24/month for advanced configurations with extensive storage and bandwidth. InterServer’s enterprise options include high RAM WordPress plans, scalable up to 30TB transfer for a maximum of $90.00/month. Hostwinds’ plans cater to a wider array of enterprise needs with extensive features like server monitoring and nightly backups, making it a more fit solution for enterprises compared to InterServer.

🏆 Winner Hostwinds: Simplifies web hosting setup with intuitive tools and free migration services.

Hostwinds offers a cPanel for managing your website, making it accessible for both technical and non-technical users. With a user-friendly interface, cPanel provides comprehensive control over various aspects such as email accounts, databases, and website files. Additionally, Hostwinds integrates the Weebly drag-and-drop website builder, ideal for users without coding experience. For those needing specific applications, the Softaculous Apps Installer provides one-click installations for popular CMSs like WordPress. From a management standpoint, Hostwinds’ cPanel combined with their additional tools makes the entire setup process straightforward and efficient.

InterServer also provides well-known control panels like cPanel and DirectAdmin, offering tools for users at all levels. The interface is designed to be straightforward and accessible via a web browser, allowing admins, resellers, and end-users to efficiently manage their websites. Their offering includes one-click script installations for numerous web applications, making it easier for users to get their sites up and running quickly. The usage of standard control panels like cPanel and DirectAdmin ensures that users familiar with these tools will find it easy to manage their hosting services.

Both Hostwinds and InterServer provide free migration services, which is a significant benefit for those looking to switch hosting providers without incurring additional costs. Hostwinds offers this service across all of its hosting plans, ensuring support experts handle the entire migration process for you. InterServer also provides a free migration service for standard shared hosting, but it requires customers to have a full cPanel backup ready and mandates that the new account must have no existing data. These migration tools are crucial for a smooth transition, minimizing downtime and potential issues during the process.

Hostwinds excels with its extensive help center resources, available 24/7/365 through various channels including live chat, support tickets, and email. Their comprehensive product documentation, tutorials, community access, and informative blog offer valuable guidance for users. In comparison, InterServer provides 24/7 support through phone, live chat, and ticket systems, with a knowledge base containing helpful articles and comprehensive tools and training. Both providers offer robust support resources, ensuring customers have the necessary information for successful web hosting.

🏆 Winner InterServer: Superior user management capabilities compared to Hostwinds.

In evaluating the abilities of Hostwinds and InterServer to manage user roles, permissions, and accessibility, InterServer clearly stands out. InterServer employs control panels like cPanel, Plesk, and DirectAdmin, which allow for comprehensive user management, including the creation and management of user accounts, assigning roles, and setting specific permissions. This flexibility ensures that users can be appropriately managed with defined access. Hostwinds, on the other hand, does not have specific details available regarding its user management features, making it less clear how users and permissions are handled.

The user interfaces and tools for managing users are more advanced with InterServer. Using industry-standard control panels such as cPanel, Plesk, and DirectAdmin offers a visually intuitive, feature-rich environment for managing user accounts and roles. These control panels are widely recognized for their user-friendly interfaces and extensive toolsets, including dedicated file managers and email hosting management. For Hostwinds, the absence of detailed information on their user management interface makes it challenging to compare directly, but it suggests a lack of these advanced tools.

When assessing access control measures and the capacity to manage a growing number of users, InterServer provides a more structured and scalable solution. The use of established control panels ensures that access can be finely controlled and permissions adjusted as needs evolve. Features like unlimited email accounts and private email hosting with group lists and forwarding further enhance its capability to handle user growth efficiently. The lack of detailed information on Hostwinds’ user management capabilities means its effectiveness in this area remains uncertain.

InterServer user roles table:

🏆 Winner InterServer: Offers comprehensive support and quick response times, making it a solid choice for reliable hosting.

Both Hostwinds and InterServer provide extensive customer support options, including 24/7 availability via phone, live chat, and ticket systems. Hostwinds guarantees response times within 30 seconds for live chat and phone calls, and five minutes for email tickets, while InterServer ensures response within 30 minutes with issue resolutions generally within 48 hours. Hostwinds comes with a support ticket system reserved for paid customers, whereas InterServer emphasizes its free tech support and proactive daily backups.

Hostwinds also offers an extensive range of self-help resources such as tutorials, product documentation, and a community support platform. In comparison, InterServer includes free standard shared hosting migrations, a user-friendly interface with multiple control panel options, and unlimited email accounts with spam filtering and SSL encryption. Both services include free website migration and a range of data center locations, with Hostwinds located in Dallas, Seattle, and Amsterdam and InterServer having an owned datacenter in the United States. While both hosting providers have their strengths, InterServer stands out with its overall higher rating and comprehensive support features.

User feedback

Hostwinds hosting provider receives high praise for its exceptional customer service, prompt support, and reliable performance, with many users reporting significant improvements in site speed and uptime. Customers especially value the knowledgeable and responsive support team, finding them instrumental in resolving issues quickly. The user-friendly control panel and fair pricing further enhance their experience, though some note that the service can be pricier compared to competitors. However, a couple of reviews highlight issues with site migration and technical support, advising caution for WordPress users. Overall, the positive feedback significantly outweighs the negative, making Hostwinds a highly recommended choice for web hosting.

User feedback on the hosting provider paints a mixed picture. Many users commend the provider for its affordable, straightforward pricing and extensive features like unlimited storage and bandwidth, free SSL certificates, and a user-friendly control panel. The customer support, while generally prompt and effective, has garnered both praise and criticism, especially due to the lack of a dedicated phone support line and sometimes long live chat wait times. However, performance issues such as inconsistent server speed, downtime, and occasional loss of data have been frequent points of frustration for users.

FAQ