Search results for

"clean"

30
May
2025

VPN Review 2025: A Spooky Good Deal or Just a Privacy Mirage?

☑︎ This review has been last updated in July 2025

Looking for a creepily fast VPN 🦇 that lets you vanish from trackers and haunt Netflix libraries — all without cursing your wallet?

CyberGhost sure makes a lot of promises.

From a massive server network to special “NoSpy” features and streaming-optimized servers, it paints a pretty picture. But in 2025, when every VPN claims top speeds, military-grade encryption, and total anonymity… you’ve got to ask:

Is CyberGhost the real deal — or just a well-disguised specter of what a good VPN should be?

You’re in the right place. In this no-nonsense review, we’ll break down what CyberGhost actually offers in everyday use — the good, the meh, and the slightly overhyped.

No fluff.

Plenty of spooky puns 👻

For starters, here’s a quick overview if you’re short on time:

Verdict summary: CyberGhost is a user-friendly VPN with great streaming support and strong privacy features. Its massive server network and long refund period make it a good fit for budget-conscious users — though speeds can vary by location.
Read expert review
Visit CyberGhost website ›

Pricing: is it value for money? Read more
9/10
Servers: how fast and reliable is it? See data
7/10
Features: what do you get as a client? Details
8/10
Support: is it available and helpful? Find out
7/10

Alright, let’s peel back the mask and see if CyberGhost really stands up to its promises:

How Is CyberGhost Different from Other VPNs?

Let’s be real: most VPNs these days claim the same basic stuff — strong encryption, thousands of servers, “no logs ever,” blah blah blah.

So what (if anything) makes CyberGhost stand out from the ghostly crowd?

Below are a few actual differences that aren’t just marketing noise:

  • Dedicated servers for streaming and torrenting: CyberGhost doesn’t just say “we work with Netflix” — they actually label specific servers for unblocking Netflix, Hulu, BBC iPlayer, and others.
  • NoSpy servers: located in a privately operated Romanian data center, these are extra-secure, fully managed by CyberGhost staff only — useful if you’re extra-paranoid (we don’t judge).
  • 45-day money-back guarantee: the longest refund window we’ve seen in the VPN space, giving you ample time to decide if it’s right for you.
  • Smart Rules: an automation feature that lets you auto-launch apps or connect to certain servers under custom conditions. Surprisingly handy for power users.
  • Dedicated IP (optional): lets you pay extra to get a VPN IP address that’s yours and only yours — useful for accessing sensitive services that don’t like shared IPs.

Most VPNs want to sound secure and fast. CyberGhost goes a step further and adds some useful quality-of-life features for people who use VPNs daily — not just when traveling or torrenting.

That said, how safe is it really? Time to peek under the (data) hood.

Privacy and Security Features

For any VPN, this is where the rubber meets the road — or rather, where the encryption meets your data.

CyberGhost has been in the game since 2004, and they’ve built a reputation around no-logs policies and strong encryption. But let’s go beyond the buzzwords.

Here’s what you’re actually getting:

  • AES-256 encryption: same cipher used by banks, militaries, and probably secret vampire councils. It’s the gold standard — fast, secure, and basically uncrackable.
  • WireGuard, OpenVPN, and IKEv2 support: you can choose between protocols depending on whether you value speed, compatibility, or security. WireGuard is now the default on most platforms.
  • No logs policy: CyberGhost claims they don’t track what you do, what you download, or even when you connect. They’ve also published independent transparency reports since 2011 — a good sign.
  • Kill switch: automatically cuts your connection if the VPN drops, so your real IP doesn’t leak. Enabled by default (and yes, you should leave it that way).
  • DNS and IP leak protection: we ran standard tests and couldn’t find any leaks while connected. So far, so good.

These are all standard features of any good VPN by now; but that’s not all. Let’s go deeper 🕳️ down the privacy rabbit hole and talk about the unique NoSpy servers:

  • Fully owned & operated: Unlike regular VPN servers that are often rented from third-party data centers, NoSpy servers are located in CyberGhost’s own private facility in Romania — with no external access.
  • Staff-only access: The servers are managed exclusively by CyberGhost’s internal team, minimizing exposure to third-party tampering or surveillance requests.
  • Outside 14-Eyes jurisdiction: Romania is known for its strong privacy laws and is not part of the 14 Eyes intelligence-sharing alliance. Translation: fewer legal obligations to store or share your data.
  • Extra performance & privacy: Because NoSpy servers aren’t shared with as many users and don’t rely on external infrastructure, they tend to be faster, more stable, and more secure.

They’re not the default — you’ll need to scroll a bit in the server list or search “NoSpy” — but if you want the most private connection possible, this is where CyberGhost earns its name.

Standard VPN Servers NoSpy Servers
Server ownership Third-party data centers ☑️ Fully owned by CyberGhost
Physical access External staff may have access ☑️ CyberGhost personnel only
Location Worldwide ☑️ Romania (outside 14 Eyes)
Surveillance resistance Standard legal exposure ☑️ High (strict privacy laws)
Performance Shared with more users ☑️ Lower load, faster connections

Bottom line?

TL;DR: CyberGhost ticks all the right boxes for privacy — and even adds a few that most competitors skip.

Alright, let’s talk speed next — because privacy means nothing if your video’s stuck buffering like it’s 2009.

Server Network and Speeds

CyberGhost boasts one of the largest server fleets out there, offering 125 locations in 100+ countries (11 in the 🇺🇸 US, 3 in 🥨 Germany, 🥐 France, 🇪🇸 Spain, and the 🇬🇧 UK, and 1 per country for the rest of the world).

They don’t disclose the actual server count, but it’s safe to assume it’s in the 1000s.

Most of the servers (again, it’s not disclosed how many exactly) are physical servers, meaning they are physically located in the specific countries rather than cleverly routing requests.

Sounds impressive, right? But quantity doesn’t always equal quality. So we tested performance in real conditions, across several locations.

Here’s what we found:

  • Fast on nearby servers: In our European test locations, we regularly hit 80–90% of our base speed using WireGuard — great for streaming, browsing, and gaming.
  • Mixed results internationally: US and UK servers were solid. Asia and South America? Not always. Expect some slowdowns, especially on weekends or when using the OpenVPN protocol.
  • Streaming servers are fast (by design): CyberGhost tags specific servers for Netflix, BBC iPlayer, and more. These are optimized for speed and rarely disappoint, even at peak hours.
  • WireGuard makes a big difference: If you’re still on OpenVPN, do yourself a favor and switch. WireGuard gives a noticeable speed boost, especially for mobile users.

Of course, raw speed isn’t everything — what matters most is stability.

In our 30-minute continuous-use tests, CyberGhost connections were stable with zero dropouts or reconnections. That’s more than we can say for some “faster” VPNs.

As for the app itself? Switching between server locations takes 2–4 seconds on desktop and around 5 seconds on mobile. Not lightning fast — but not frustratingly slow either.

Oh, and bonus: you can conjure a sigil add specific servers as favourites (e.g. Netflix US or Torrent DE) for quick access next time.

Next up — can this ghost sneak past the streaming giants’ defenses?

Streaming and Unblocking

CyberGhost claims to be streaming’s best friend. And unlike some VPNs that shrink at the sight of Netflix’s geo-blocking army… it actually puts up a very decent fight.

Let’s look at the facts:

  • Dedicated servers for streaming: Instead of just saying “we work with Netflix,” CyberGhost actually labels servers by platform — Netflix US, BBC iPlayer, Hulu, Amazon Prime Video, and more. It’s surprisingly convenient.
  • Fast enough for HD and even 4K: In our tests, Netflix and YouTube ran smoothly at 1080p from EU and US servers. Some 4K content had minor startup lag, but playback stayed crisp.
  • Works with other platforms too: We successfully unblocked Disney+, HBO Max, and even DAZN (though results may vary by region — DAZN is fickle like that).
  • Smart TV and Fire Stick support: CyberGhost has native apps for Android TV and Amazon Fire Stick, plus setup guides for others. You can also install it directly on some routers if you’re feeling adventurous.

Here’s a quick overview of test results for major streaming services:

Platform Access with CyberGhost
Netflix (US) ✅ Yes (via dedicated servers)
Netflix (UK) ✅ Yes
BBC iPlayer ✅ Yes
Hulu ✅ Yes
Disney+ ✅ Yes
Amazon Prime Video ✅ Yes
DAZN ⚠️ Inconsistent (may depend on location)

Not all servers are equal, though. Some “regular” ones didn’t work with Netflix during our tests — but that’s why the labeled streaming servers exist. Stick to those, and you’ll be golden.

Pro tip: If a server doesn’t work, just close the app, switch to another labeled server (e.g. Netflix US → Netflix NY), and try again.

Next up: can CyberGhost handle torrents without spilling your secrets? 👀

Torrenting and P2P Use

CyberGhost has long been a favorite among torrent users — and for good reason.

While many VPNs quietly tolerate torrenting, CyberGhost actually embraces it by offering specialized P2P servers that are clearly labeled inside the app. No need to guess which servers work for downloads.

Here’s what stands out:

  • Dedicated P2P servers: Optimized specifically for peer-to-peer traffic, these servers help keep speeds up and interruptions down. You’ll find them under the “For torrenting” tab in the app.
  • Kill switch + leak protection: Even if your connection drops mid-download, your IP won’t leak. We tested it. It works.
  • No bandwidth limits: CyberGhost doesn’t throttle or cap your torrent speeds. As long as your ISP isn’t being sneaky, you’re good to go.
  • Jurisdiction matters: CyberGhost is based in 🇷🇴 Romania — where torrenting laws are generally more relaxed, and data retention rules don’t apply to VPNs. That’s a win for privacy.

That said, not all servers allow P2P — some locations (like the US or Singapore) block torrents entirely due to legal pressure. But that’s exactly why the app flags P2P-friendly servers for you.

TL;DR: If torrenting is part of your digital diet, CyberGhost has the infrastructure — and the attitude — to support it.

So what’s this going to cost you, and can you really try it risk-free?

Pricing and Refund Policy

Let’s get to the spooky part: money.

CyberGhost may not be the cheapest VPN on a 1-month plan — but once you look at their long-term offers, things get way more attractive.

Here’s the deal:

  • 2-year plan: ridiculously cheap for the first two years and billed yearly after that.
  • 6-month plan: a decent middle ground if you’re not ready for a full-on ghost marriage just yet.
  • Monthly plan: 5x more expensive, as is quite usual these days for most VPNs. Only worth it if you absolutely need a VPN for a short trip.

What sweetens the deal even more:

  • 45-day money-back guarantee 🛡️ That’s not a typo. You get a month and a half to test-drive the VPN and still get your money back if you change your mind. One of the most generous refund windows in the biz.
  • 1-day free trial (desktop only) 💸 Limited, but better than nothing. Just install the app, and you can start testing right away — no payment details needed.

Pro tip: grab the 2-year plan if you’re even mildly convinced — and mark your calendar just in case you want to cancel before the refund window closes.

Oh, and there are sometimes extra months added on top of the 2-year plan (e.g. 2 months free), depending on the promo. We’ll show you how to grab the best one in the bonus section later.

Support and Usability

Even the best VPN is useless if you can’t figure out how to use it — or if things break and no one’s around to help.

Luckily, CyberGhost nails the basics here:

  • Easy setup: The apps are available on Windows, macOS, iOS, Android, Linux, Fire TV, smart TVs, and even some routers. Installation takes under 3 minutes in most cases.
  • Clean interface: You don’t need a CompSci degree to navigate the app. Server locations, specialty servers (like streaming or torrenting), and settings are all clearly separated.
  • Connect on startup + Smart Rules: Want your VPN to auto-connect when you launch your browser or open a torrent app? CyberGhost lets you set up automation — very handy.
  • Live chat support: Available 24/7 from the website. During testing, we reached an actual human in about 7 minutes. Not blazing fast, but decent in our modern AI-filled world.
  • Support center: There’s also a searchable help base with setup guides, troubleshooting tips, and a few too many puns (you’ve been warned).

If we’re being picky: the mobile app is slightly more limited than the desktop one (fewer settings, no Smart Rules), but it’s still stable and performs well.

In short: CG doesn’t just protect your connection — it respects your time.

Alright, so we’ve summoned the ghost. Time for our final verdict…

Final Verdict

So, is CyberGhost VPN the real deal — or just a well-branded specter?

Based on our tests, it’s very much alive. Here’s what stood out:

  • Excellent streaming support: Dedicated servers for Netflix, Hulu, BBC iPlayer, and more — all clearly labeled in the app.
  • Privacy-first approach: AES-256 encryption, a proven no-logs policy, and the extra-safe NoSpy server option hosted in CyberGhost’s own data center in Romania.
  • Strong server network: Locations across 100+ countries. Plenty of options, even for picky ghosts – most notably the NoSpy option.
  • Beginner-friendly UI: Clean, simple apps that don’t overwhelm you with jargon or options.
  • Affordable long-term pricing: One of the best deals around if you’re willing to commit — and with a generous 45-day refund window to test it all.

What could be better?

  • Speeds vary on distant servers: Nearby performance is great, but connections to some locations (especially Asia/South America) weren’t always lightning-fast.
  • Monthly pricing is steep: The 1-month plan is hard to recommend — go long-term or skip it.
  • Support chat speed: Reaching a human takes on average longer than with some other providers; so you’ll need a bit of patience for the cases when your issue or question can’t be resolved by the detailed knowledgebase.

Bottom line:

if you want a VPN that’s beginner-friendly, capable, and privacy-respecting without cursing your wallet — CyberGhost is one of the safest bets in 2025.

Questions? Opinions? Suggestions or requests for improving this review? please do share in the comments section below!

21
May
2025

The Ultimate Review 2025 – Pros, Cons & Lifetime Plan Explained

☑︎ This guide has been last updated in July 2025

What if you could stop paying for cloud storage every single month… and just own it?

No more subscription creep.
No sneaky privacy clauses.
No getting locked into Big Tech’s ecosystem.

That’s the pitch behind pCloud — a 🇨🇭 Swiss-based service that’s quietly been building a loyal following of privacy nerds, freelancers, and digital nomads with one very bold promise:

Pay once, and get cloud storage for life.

But is it really worth the upfront cost? How good is the sync, the mobile app, the security? And does it actually compete with giants like Dropbox or Google Drive?

Glad you asked.

We’ve spent over a year using pCloud across multiple devices and operating systems — this review is our full, no-fluff breakdown of what it gets right (and what still feels clunky).

At the end of this review we will also share a coupon code that unlocks 3 months of 500 GB storage completely free of charge.

If you’re short on time, here’s the high-level take:

Verdict summary: pCloud stands out with its lifetime pricing model, solid file-sharing tools, and top-notch privacy options — making it an excellent pick for long-term cloud storage, especially if you value ownership and simplicity.
Read expert review
Visit pCloud website ›
Pricing: is lifetime storage worth it? See verdict
10/10
Privacy: can you really trust it? Read more
9/10
Speed: uploads and sync Test results
8/10
Apps: how smooth is the user experience? Details
8/10

Interested to know how pCloud stands out from the alternatives and who should consider this service? Let’s dive in:

What Is pCloud?

Let’s start with the basics: pCloud is a cloud storage service that launched in 2013 with a pretty straightforward goal — give people a secure and user-friendly way to store and share their files online.

So far, so normal.

But what sets pCloud apart from the Dropboxes and iClouds of the world is a mix of bold choices you don’t see every day:

  • One-time payment options — yep, lifetime storage plans are a real thing here
  • Zero-knowledge encryption add-on — for those who want full privacy over selected files
  • Based in Switzerland — which means strong data protection laws and no US/EU snooping
  • Media playback built in — audio and video files can be streamed directly from your storage

In other words, this isn’t just a Dropbox clone with a prettier logo.

pCloud has carved out its own niche by targeting people who are done renting storage space and would rather own it outright — with a one-off payment and no ongoing fees.

Still, the devil’s in the details. In the next section, we’ll break down pCloud’s key features and show what it actually feels like to use it day-to-day.

Core Features & What Sets It Apart

At first glance, pCloud gives you what you’d expect from any decent cloud storage provider: you can upload files, organize folders, sync across devices, and share stuff with other people – all baked in 🧁

But once you dig a little deeper, you start noticing the things that make it different.

Here are the features we think deserve special attention:

  • Lifetime storage (for real): Instead of paying every month, you can just pay once and use the space forever. No recurring bills, no account cancellations if you forget to update your card. It’s like buying your own personal chunk of the cloud.
  • Built-in media player: Got music or videos stored on pCloud? You can stream them directly from the web or mobile app — with playlists, shuffle, and all the usual stuff. This makes pCloud especially great for creatives and media hoarders.
  • Extended file history: Want to go back in time and restore a file from weeks ago? pCloud offers 30 days of versioning by default (upgradable to 1 year with the Extended History add-on).
  • Smart syncing with pCloud Drive: Unlike Dropbox or Google Drive, pCloud doesn’t take up space on your hard drive by default. Their desktop app creates a virtual drive — files are streamed as you access them. You can still mark folders for offline access, of course.
  • Easy file and folder sharing: Share anything with a click, customize access rights, and even brand your download links with your own logo and cover image (yep, white-labeling is built in).

There’s also a cool bonus feature that not many people know about: you can backup your files from other cloud services (like Google Drive, Dropbox, OneDrive, or even Instagram) directly into your pCloud account.

Think of it like a personal data vault with cross-platform redundancy — a very nerdy but very satisfying concept.

Okay, so the features look promising. But is pCloud actually safe to use? Let’s talk about privacy and encryption next.

Security and Privacy

One of pCloud’s biggest selling points is privacy — and not just in the “we value your data” marketing-speak kind of way.

They actually walk the talk.

Let’s break it down.

🇨🇭 Swiss-based = better data laws
Unlike most big tech players (hi Google, hi Microsoft), pCloud is based in Switzerland. That means your files are protected by some of the strongest data privacy laws in the world — and not subject to U.S. gag orders or EU’s bureaucratic drama.

That alone is already a win.

pCloud Crypto: zero-knowledge encryption
If you want full control over who can access your files — even pCloud themselves — you can activate an optional add-on called pCloud Crypto (and no, it’s not about bitcoins).

Here’s how it works:

  • It creates a special “Crypto Folder” in your account.
  • Everything you put inside is encrypted client-side — meaning it gets scrambled on your device before it even touches the internet.
  • Only you hold the encryption key. No one else can access your Crypto Folder. Not even pCloud.

They’ve even offered a $100,000 bounty for anyone who can break it.

(Spoiler: no one has.)

The catch? Crypto isn’t included by default — it’s a paid extra (more on that in the pricing section). But for people storing sensitive stuff (contracts, IDs, bitcoin seed phrases, you name it), it’s a solid investment.

Regular files = TLS + AES-256
Even if you don’t use Crypto, your files are still protected with TLS encryption during transfer, and AES-256 encryption at rest. That’s the same level used by banks, governments, and probably your paranoid neighbor.

TL;DR: if privacy is a major factor in your choice of cloud storage, pCloud ranks up there with the best of them — especially when paired with the Crypto add-on.

Next up: how does it all perform in real-world use? Let’s look at speed, sync, and overall usability.

Performance and Usability

Let’s be real: no one wants a “secure” cloud drive that lags like it’s 2003.

So we ran pCloud through its paces — syncing, uploading, downloading, offline mode, mobile use, even stress-testing it with 10GB+ media folders.

Here’s how it held up:

✅ Upload and sync speed
In our tests, uploads and syncs were generally fast and stable — especially via the desktop app, which uses something called block-level syncing. That means only the changed parts of a file get re-uploaded.

  • With a 100 Mbps connection, uploads averaged around 8–10 MB/s (via desktop client)
  • Web uploads were slower (2–5 MB/s), but still respectable. That’s about 3 min to upload a high-definition 1GB video
  • Folder syncing was smooth and didn’t kill CPU/RAM like some competitors do (looking at you, Dropbox desktop app 👀)

✅ Smart file access
pCloud doesn’t dump all your files onto your hard drive unless you tell it to. Instead, it creates a “virtual drive” — so you can access everything instantly without filling up your local disk.

Want offline access? Just right-click any file or folder and mark it for offline use. That’s it.

✅ Mobile experience
The mobile app is clean and responsive — whether you’re browsing docs, sharing folders, or streaming videos straight from your storage (yep, without downloading first).

You can even auto-upload your phone photos in the background — like Google Photos, minus the creepy AI that scans your dog’s face.

🔄 Cross-platform coverage
There are native apps for Windows, macOS, Linux (yes, Linux), Android, and iOS. Everything syncs smoothly. You can even use it entirely in your browser, no install required.

TL;DR: pCloud is fast, stable, and doesn’t get in your way. It’s the kind of tool you forget about — because it just works.

Up next: how good (or gimmicky) is their mobile and desktop experience? Let’s break down the apps.

Desktop, Mobile, and Web Apps

pCloud’s interface doesn’t try to reinvent the wheel – and we believe that’s generally a good thing.

Whether you’re on desktop, mobile, or just using your browser, the experience is consistent, intuitive, and mercifully free of bloat.

🖥️ Desktop (Windows, macOS, Linux)

The desktop client installs a virtual drive (called pCloud Drive) that behaves just like a regular folder — except it doesn’t eat up local storage unless you ask it to.

  • Files open instantly from the cloud, like magic
  • You can mark folders for offline use with one click
  • The interface is minimal: no ad banners, no feature creep

It also runs quietly in the background — unlike some cloud sync apps that behave like attention-hungry toddlers.

📱 Mobile App (Android & iOS)

The mobile app is surprisingly full-featured. You can pretty much do everything that’s available on desktop, plus:

  • Browse, preview, rename, and move files
  • Stream audio and video directly from your cloud
  • Set auto-uploads for your camera roll (with folder selection!)

Performance is snappy, and the UI feels modern — not like it was designed in 2012 and never touched again.

🌐 Web Interface

If you’re on a shared computer or just want quick access from a browser, the pCloud web app delivers:

  • Drag-and-drop uploads
  • Audio and video player built in
  • Share files and folders with custom branding
  • Crypto Folder access (if you’ve purchased the add-on)

There’s also a lightweight photo viewer, media player, and even a backup tab where you can sync your files from Dropbox, Google Drive, OneDrive, or social media accounts like Instagram and Facebook.

TL;DR: all pCloud apps are well-designed, fast, and get out of your way. No clutter, no ads, just simple file access across every device.

Now let’s talk about that 🐘 elephant in the room — the legendary one-time payment. Is the lifetime plan really worth it?

Lifetime Plans

This is the thing about pCloud that makes people do a double take:

Pay once, and get cloud storage forever.

It almost sounds sketchy — but pCloud has been offering lifetime plans for nearly a decade now. And yes, they still honor the original deals.

Here’s what’s on offer as of 2025:

  • 500 GB Lifetime — a one-time payment of $199
  • 2 TB Lifetime — a one-time payment of $399
  • 10 TB Lifetime — introduced recently, priced at $1190

There are also Family versions of the 2TB and 10TB plans which add up to 5 users and advanced privacy and sharing options. But the core idea stays the same: you pay once, and never again.

Is it actually worth it?

Let’s do some quick math.

Say you’re using Dropbox or Google Drive, both of which charge ~$10/month for 2 TB. That’s $120 per year. In less than 3.5 years, you’ll have paid more than pCloud’s 2 TB lifetime plan — and still have ongoing costs.

If you’re planning to use cloud storage long-term (and who isn’t?) the lifetime plan is a no-brainer.

Any fine print?

Surprisingly little. There are no bandwidth limits, throttling, or weird hidden fees. The only optional costs are:

  • pCloud Crypto (for zero-knowledge encryption) — available as lifetime or annual add-on
  • Extended File History — lets you recover older file versions up to 1 year back

TL;DR: if you’ve ever complained about “subscription fatigue,” pCloud’s lifetime plans are one of the best deals you can get in the cloud storage world. Period.

Alright — let’s break down the full pricing, including all the optional stuff, and see where the real value is hiding.

Pricing Breakdown

pCloud’s pricing model is refreshingly simple — no hidden upgrades, no forced bundles, and no “Oops, you hit your storage cap” moments.

Here’s a full breakdown of what you can get and what it’ll cost you:

Plan Storage Lifetime Notes
Individual 500 GB $199 Best for light personal use
Individual 2 TB $399 Most popular plan overall
Individual 10 TB $1190 Heavy storage needs (e.g. media archives)
Family 2 TB (shared) $595 Up to 5 users with private accounts
Family 10 TB (shared) $1499 Same as above, but bigger

Monthly and annual options also exist, but unless you’re just testing the waters, the lifetime deals are where the real value is.

Optional Add-ons

You don’t need these for your pCloud storage to function properly, but for specific use cases it might make sense:

pCloud Crypto (client-side zero-knowledge encryption):

  • Annual: $49.99/year
  • Lifetime: $150

Extended File History (restore deleted/changed files up to 1 year):

  • Annual only: $39/year

Worth noting: the basic plan already includes 30 days of versioning. The add-on just stretches that to a full year.

Value comparison

Let’s run a quick comparison to mainstream cloud storage platforms:

  • Dropbox 2TB = $120/year → in 3.3 years it’s more expensive than pCloud Lifetime
  • Google One 2TB = $99/year → in 4 years it’s more expensive than pCloud Lifetime

And neither Dropbox nor Google offers zero-knowledge encryption, by the way.

TL;DR: pCloud’s pricing is aggressive in the best way. If you’re in it for the long haul, the Lifetime + Crypto combo can pay for itself in under 4 years — and keep saving you money for the next 40.

Coming up: how to unlock hidden deals with a coupon, even if you’re already getting a discount.

BONUS: 500 GB free coupon

Before you commit to a lifetime plan, there’s a possibility to fully test all pCloud features using our exclusive promo code.

And instead of using the measly 3 GB provided after you create a free account, here’s a way to get 500 GB for 3 months completely free of charge, no credit card required:

  1. Visit the pCloud website using the link below and create an account. You get 3 GB right away, but we’ll extend it to 500 GB very soon:

    Get 500 GB free for 3 months

  2. Confirm your email address to verify your account. This is important because unverified accounts cannot use coupon codes. No need to download the desktop client for this to work, though.
  3. Now that you are logged in, go to the promo page and input the following coupon code:

    3MONTHS500GB

Voila! You now have 500 GB completely free of charge for 3 months – more than enough to understand whether pCloud is right for you.

Pros and Cons

Here’s our take after thoroughly testing pCloud across multiple devices, use cases, and storage tiers:

  • Truly lifetime storage: Pay once, use forever. Saves a ton in the long run compared to Dropbox, Google, or iCloud.
  • Zero-knowledge encryption (optional): With pCloud Crypto, even the company itself can’t access your sensitive files.
  • No forced sync: Smart virtual drive means files don’t take up local space unless you want them to.
  • Built-in media player: Stream audio and video files right from the cloud — no downloads required.
  • Clean and consistent apps: Whether on desktop, mobile, or web, the experience is sleek and stable.
  • Located in Switzerland: Strong privacy laws and no ties to U.S. or EU surveillance frameworks.
  • Frequent promos and solid referral system: Easy to score discounts or earn extra space if you’re into that.
  • Crypto costs extra: Zero-knowledge encryption isn’t included in the base price, which feels a bit stingy for a privacy-focused service.
  • No collaborative editing: Unlike Google Drive or OneDrive, there’s no built-in way to co-edit documents or spreadsheets.
  • UI is clean but not flashy: If you’re into ultra-modern interfaces and animations, pCloud might feel a bit too utilitarian.
  • Slower web uploads: Upload speed via browser is noticeably lower than via the desktop app (but still usable).

Coming up next: the final verdict — and your chance to share your own experience with pCloud.

Final Verdict + User Reviews

If you’re tired of monthly fees, bloated apps, or trusting Big Tech with your data, pCloud offers a refreshingly sane alternative.

It’s fast. It’s private. It works across all your devices. And once you buy it, it’s yours — forever.

Sure, it doesn’t have built-in document editing or shared workspaces like Google Drive or Microsoft 365, but that’s not what it’s trying to be.

Verdict: pCloud is one of the best long-term cloud storage options out there — especially if you value privacy and don’t want to “rent” your files month after month.

Is it perfect? No.

Is it good enough to replace Dropbox, Drive, or iCloud for most people? Absolutely.

If you’re still on the fence, don’t forget there’s a way to try 500 GB completely free for 3 months — no credit card required.

***

Over to you: have you used pCloud already? Got a question or a horror story? Or maybe you found a cool use case we didn’t mention?

Scroll down and drop a comment — let’s make this review even better together.

02
May
2025

Review 2025: Why Is It Popular Despite the Price? + Best Deal Inside

☑︎ This guide has been last updated in July 2025

If you’ve spent more than 5 minutes researching VPNs, you’ve probably come across ExpressVPN.

😎 Slick branding, bold promises, and a long list of celebrity endorsements — but does all the hype actually hold up in 2025?

Is ExpressVPN really the gold standard of online privacy and streaming access — or just an overpriced dinosaur riding on its early fame?

Glad you asked.

In this no-BS review, we’ll skip the generic fluff and dig deep into real test results, pricing tricks, and lesser-known features — to help you decide whether ExpressVPN is still worth your money today.

Before we dive in, here’s a quick summary of our findings:

Verdict summary: ExpressVPN remains one of the most polished VPN services on the market, with exceptional streaming access and above-average speeds. Its high price is justified for users who want premium reliability, especially for travel or censorship-heavy countries.
Read expert review
Visit ExpressVPN website ›

Privacy: does it truly keep no logs? Read more
9/10
Speed: how fast is it globally? See test data
8/10
Streaming: does it unblock well? Check results
10/10
Pricing: is it worth the cost? Evaluate plans
7/10

Before we dive into the nitty-gritties though: there are dozens of VPNs out there, is ExpressVPN any different? Let’s see:

How Is ExpressVPN Different from Other VPNs?

With hundreds of VPN services out there offering AES-256 encryption, kill switches, and flashy mobile apps, it’s getting harder to tell them apart.

But ExpressVPN does manage to stand out — not through gimmicks, but by consistently delivering on fundamentals with a few clever twists:

  • Independent no-logs audits: ExpressVPN doesn’t just say they don’t keep logs — they’ve hired firms like PwC and KPMG to prove it. The audit results are publicly available and updated regularly.
  • TrustedServer technology: their servers run only on RAM, not hard drives — which means all user data is wiped with every reboot. There’s literally nothing to seize or steal.
  • Own DNS on every server: ExpressVPN runs its own zero-knowledge DNS — so your traffic never touches third-party DNS providers, which reduces the chance of leaks or logging.
  • Lightway protocol: instead of relying solely on OpenVPN or WireGuard, ExpressVPN built its own next-gen protocol. Lightway is faster to connect, lighter on battery, and designed for high mobility (switching networks mid-use).
  • Jurisdiction: the company is based in the 🇻🇬 British Virgin Islands — a region with no data retention laws and a strong record of respecting user privacy.
  • Complimentary eSIM: each ExpressVPN plan includes a free eSIM to use in your travels. The available data roaming depends on the chosen plan.
  • Aircove routers: the only VPN provider that offers physical devices with built-in ExpressVPN features to protect your entire home or small business network at once.

To be fair, ExpressVPN isn’t the only VPN offering these kinds of features — but it was one of the *first* to implement many of them, and it still executes better than most competitors in 2025.

If privacy is your #1 concern (especially when traveling or living in restrictive regions), ExpressVPN’s setup makes it a very strong candidate. But how well does it protect you in practice?

Let’s dive deeper into the technical side next:

Security and Privacy Features

ExpressVPN advertises a strong focus on privacy and security — but how well does it hold up under closer inspection?

1. Independent audits back up the no-logs policy.
As mentioned earlier, instead of relying on marketing claims alone, ExpressVPN has been audited by third-party firms like PwC and KPMG. These audits confirm that the service does not store data such as browsing activity or connection timestamps.

2. RAM-only server infrastructure.
All ExpressVPN servers run on volatile memory (RAM), which erases all data on reboot. This reduces the risk of persistent logs or accidental data retention — a common concern with traditional hard drive-based setups.

3. Kill switch is available on all major platforms.
Known as “Network Lock,” this feature blocks all internet traffic if the VPN connection unexpectedly drops, helping prevent IP or DNS leaks.

4. Private, encrypted DNS on every server.
Unlike many VPNs that rely on external DNS providers, ExpressVPN runs its own encrypted DNS to avoid third-party data exposure and improve resistance to DNS leaks.

5. Offshore jurisdiction in the British Virgin Islands.
The BVI does not have data retention laws, and it operates independently of intelligence-sharing agreements like Five Eyes. While this doesn’t guarantee immunity from legal pressure, it offers more privacy than many Western jurisdictions.

In short, ExpressVPN combines solid technical measures with a favorable legal setup. It’s not the only VPN doing this, but its track record and infrastructure are above average.

With privacy policies and audits accounted for, the next question is whether these safeguards come at the cost of usability — starting with raw connection speeds:

Server Speed and Performance

Let’s get one thing straight: no VPN will make your internet faster. But the best ones keep the slowdown so small, you barely notice it.

ExpressVPN is pretty good at that.

According to their official numbers, ExpressVPN operates thousands of servers in 105 countries — all of them physical, with no dodgy virtual locations. But numbers are just numbers, so we did our own tests.

Here’s how we tested:

  • Used both Speedtest.net and Fast.com to double-check results.
  • Connected to 12 server locations across the US, Europe, and Asia.
  • Measured speed with 3 different ISPs from two physical locations (EU and SEA).
  • Ran tests 3–5 times per server and averaged the results.

Here’s what we found:

  • Local connections (within same continent): average speed loss was just 10–15%, often unnoticeable even during video calls or large downloads.
  • Long-distance connections: latency increases were expected, but streaming still worked smoothly (see next section). Speed drops ranged from 20–30%, which is acceptable for encrypted traffic.
  • Lightway protocol: gave faster connection times and better stability in flaky network conditions — like switching from Wi-Fi to mobile data on the go.

In practice, ExpressVPN is more than fast enough for HD streaming, torrenting, Zoom calls, and gaming (if you’re not trying to compete in CS:GO on Brazilian servers from Berlin).

Want to download a 2GB file or stream a 4K movie through a US server from Tokyo? ExpressVPN can handle that without breaking a sweat.

But let’s test its real specialty next — streaming.

Streaming and Unblocking Capabilities

This is where ExpressVPN earns its reputation.

Unlike most VPNs that trip over Netflix’s increasingly aggressive VPN blocks, ExpressVPN just… works.

In our tests, we were able to access:

  • Netflix US, UK, Canada, Japan, Germany: full access to local libraries with no proxy errors or buffering issues.
  • BBC iPlayer: smooth playback from EU and US servers. (Yes, even the BBC hasn’t caught them yet.)
  • Hulu, Disney+, Amazon Prime Video: all working with zero fuss from multiple test locations.

Unlike Surfshark or NordVPN, ExpressVPN doesn’t use “specialty servers” for streaming — it just unblocks content out of the box, no need to dig through menus or contact support.

Even better, their browser extension lets you spoof your geolocation *in sync* with your VPN server — so you can trick stubborn websites that check your location using both IP and browser data.

A couple quick notes:

  • To access some services (like HBO Max), you might need to clear your cookies or use incognito mode.
  • Streaming in 4K requires at least 25 Mbps. With ExpressVPN, we consistently got 30–40 Mbps even on US servers from Europe.

In short: if you’re paying for multiple streaming subscriptions and want full access anywhere in the world — ExpressVPN is one of the most reliable tools for the job.

Next up: what about file sharing, torrenting, and good old P2P?

P2P and Torrent Support

There’s one area where both speed and privacy really matter — and that’s torrenting.

Whether you’re downloading public domain documentaries, Linux ISOs, or indie films, you probably don’t want your ISP or government sniffing around your connection.

So how does ExpressVPN hold up when it comes to peer-to-peer use?

  • All servers support P2P: unlike some VPNs that restrict torrents to “specialized” locations, ExpressVPN allows torrenting on every server in its network.
  • Kill switch + DNS protection: their Network Lock feature ensures that your IP and DNS traffic stay hidden even if the connection drops mid-download.
  • No bandwidth limits or throttling: ExpressVPN won’t slow you down based on usage — and it often prevents throttling by your ISP in the first place.
  • Compatible with all major clients: uTorrent, qBittorrent, BitTorrent, Transmission, Deluge — they all work just fine.

During our testing, torrenting with ExpressVPN was fast and seamless — especially on servers close to our actual location. We were able to reach 8–10 MB/s on a 100 Mbps line without triggering any connection warnings or disconnections.

Just one thing to keep in mind: you’ll want to pick a nearby server to minimize latency and maximize throughput. ExpressVPN’s smart location picker usually gets it right — but you can always experiment for better results.

Oh, and in case it needs saying: always use legal torrents and support content creators when you can. We don’t condone piracy — we just want you to be safe while exploring the open seas of the internet 🏴‍☠️

Next up, let’s look at how ExpressVPN actually feels to use — from setup to everyday experience.

ExpressVPN Apps and Ease of Use

ExpressVPN has been around since 2009 — and it shows, in a good way.

The apps are polished, stable, and refreshingly free of bloat. Whether you’re new to VPNs or a settings nerd, you’ll probably feel right at home.

Let’s break it down by platform:

  • Windows & macOS: the desktop clients are fast, minimal, and easy to navigate. You get a big “on” button, a smart location suggestion, and a quick menu to switch servers. There’s a built-in kill switch and protocol selector (Auto/Lightway/OpenVPN).
  • iOS & Android: clean, one-tap interface with most of the features you’d want — Lightway protocol, split tunneling (Android only), and auto-connect on public Wi-Fi. Bonus: it doesn’t drain your battery like some other VPN apps do.
  • Linux: unlike many competitors that barely support Linux, ExpressVPN actually delivers a fully functional CLI app. It’s easy to install, stable, and supports all major distros.
  • Browser extensions: available for Chrome, Firefox, and Edge — these aren’t just proxies. They control the main VPN app, and also spoof your geolocation, DNS, and WebRTC settings for better privacy.
  • Routers & Smart TVs: ExpressVPN has custom firmware for select routers and detailed setup guides for the rest. Also works with Fire TV, Apple TV (via Smart DNS), and even gaming consoles via router sharing.

In short: ExpressVPN doesn’t just check the “multi-platform” box — it actually makes an effort to deliver a good experience on each.

We especially liked the speed of the Lightway protocol and the reliability of auto-reconnect on mobile. It’s the little things that make a VPN feel invisible — and ExpressVPN nails a lot of them.

If you ever do run into trouble though, is their support team actually helpful?

Let’s find out.

Customer Support Experience

VPNs are one of those tools that work great… until they don’t.

It’s hard to find a company which has not switched to some sort of AI assistant these days, and reaching an actual human being can often be a near-impossible task.

Thankfully, ExpressVPN doesn’t cheap out here.

  • Live chat support: available 24/7 on their website, and yes — it’s actually human if you ask to speak with one. You don’t have to be a paying user to ask questions, either.
  • Email support: good for more technical stuff or when you need to send logs. Replies usually land within a few hours.
  • Extensive help center: hundreds of well-written articles, setup guides, and troubleshooting walkthroughs — searchable and regularly updated.

We tested the live chat multiple times across several days and time zones. Average wait time? Around 3-5 minutes, which is fantastic in our AI-everywhere age. The agents were polite, fast, and knew what they were doing.

They were also refreshingly honest — for example, when asked about which streaming servers work best, the rep admitted some might rotate due to Netflix’s ongoing cat-and-mouse game, and pointed us to updated resources.

In short: if you’re stuck, you’ll probably get help fast — and without feeling like you’re yelling into a void.

Now that we’ve covered most of the core features, let’s talk about money. How much does ExpressVPN actually cost — and is it worth it?

Pricing and Refund Policy

Let’s address the elephant in the room: ExpressVPN is not cheap.

It’s consistently one of the most expensive VPNs on the market — and they almost never run wild “90% off” promos like some other services do.

Here’s what the current plans look like:

  • 1-month plan: expensive, basically there just for psychological framing purposes. With a 30-day money back guarantee this one is kind of moot compared to the yearly plan…
  • 1-year plan: you get 3 months extra as a bonus, so 15 months in total. Two times less than the previous plan, per month.
  • 2-year plan: you get 4 month on top, i.e. 28 months overall – another 15% cheaper on a monthly basis compared to the annual billing above.

Yep, you’re paying premium prices — but in return you’re getting premium reliability, top-tier privacy features, and arguably the smoothest user experience in the VPN world.

Still, if you’re on a tight budget, ExpressVPN might feel like overkill — especially when solid alternatives like NordVPN or Surfshark often come in at half the price (or less).

💡 **Pro tip:** check out the bonus section below to get the best ExpressVPN deal in your region.

All plans come with a 30-day money-back guarantee. No weird conditions, no sneaky “store credit” refund traps.

We tested the refund process ourselves:

  • Contacted live chat and asked to cancel (you don’t need to give a reason, but we just said we were testing it).
  • Agent confirmed the refund instantly — no hassle, no guilt trip.
  • Money was back in our PayPal account within 5 days.

So if you’re on the fence, you can give ExpressVPN a full month-long try with zero risk.

Still reading? You’re about to get rewarded with a little discount tip 👇

BONUS: ExpressVPN Coupon

Want to try ExpressVPN and save a bit while you’re at it?

While they don’t shout about it from the rooftops, ExpressVPN often runs exclusive deals through partner links — including ours. At the time of writing, the annual plan comes with 3 free bonus months, which lowers the monthly price significantly.

There’s no need to enter a coupon code — just follow the steps below:

  1. Click the button below to open the official ExpressVPN plan choice page in a new tab:

    Unlock ExpressVPN Deal ›

  2. You can choose the 12-month or the 24-month plan — the bonus pricing will be applied automatically at checkout.
  3. Download the app and try ExpressVPN across your devices. You’re covered by a 30-day money-back guarantee, so there’s zero risk.

Not seeing the deal? Try opening the link in a private window or clearing cookies first — ExpressVPN’s pricing page can behave oddly if you’ve visited before.

Our Verdict + User Reviews

So — is ExpressVPN still worth it in 2025?

If what you want is a VPN that “just works,” unblocks everything, and doesn’t mess around when it comes to privacy — then yes, ExpressVPN is still one of the top dogs in the game.

But it’s not perfect for everyone.

Here’s the final breakdown:

  • Excellent streaming access (Netflix, BBC iPlayer, Disney+, Prime Video — all tested and working)
  • Solid performance across continents with their proprietary Lightway protocol
  • Top-tier privacy stack: RAM-only servers, no-logs audits, own DNS, kill switch — all checked
  • Easy to use apps on everything from smartphones to routers
  • Proven customer support with 24/7 live chat that doesn’t suck
  • Above-average pricing: especially compared to newer providers offering more features for less
  • Fewer advanced configuration options: may not appeal to power users looking to tinker

Bottom line: ExpressVPN is a premium service at a premium price — ideal if you want reliability, simplicity, and strong privacy defaults. But if you’re looking for feature-packed extras or budget pricing, there are more flexible options out there.

Already using ExpressVPN? Thinking of switching from another service?
👇 Leave your thoughts, tips, or questions in the comments below — let’s compare notes!

25
Jul
2020

Full JotForm Review (2025): Should You Use This Online Form Builder?

☑︎ This review was last updated in July 2025

Ah, online forms! One of those things you don’t know you need – until you need it really badly.

JotForm is one of the most popular solutions for this situation… but since you’re reading this, you are probably also wondering:

“Building and managing online forms sounds like a hassle! A great tool should be simple to use but also meet my specific needs and requirements. Should I trust JotForm to do the job?”

Let’s find out together. In this detailed review, we will analyze JotForm from every possible angle and cover the most popular questions –

  • 👶Is JotForm easy to use for beginners?
  • 🔒Security and privacy – should you trust JotForm?
  • 💸Which pricing plan should you choose?
  • 🏆Is JotForm better than the alternatives?

Before we discuss the unique features that distinguish JotFrom from alternative services, let’s get a quick overview of the service itself:

What Is JotForm?

Forms are everywhere! Every time an organization needs some kind of input from a large number of people – be it customers, employees, supporters, students, etc. – it uses some sort of form to collect this information.

The main idea behind JotForm is to make the entire process as easy as possible: from actually building the forms, to managing the gathered data.

…And it’s not just about surveys – the range of possible uses for JotForm also includes the following popular scenarios:

  • Applying or registering for events, jobs, scholarships, memberships – even loans or housing. Simplicity 🎯 is key here, since there’s typically a lot of information to be collected from a single person in such cases.
  • Giving feedback or evaluation, which also includes filing complaints, leaving reviews or ratings, or voting on a decision. Clarity 🔮 is critically important here, as well as the ability to analyze the data to form insights.
  • Getting in touch with an organization (or public figure) in order to ask a question, offer cooperation or simply share an idea. Since this type of form is often used by strangers first-time visitors, privacy 👁️‍🗨️ and data protection become additional concerns.
  • Making a reservation, which can mean anything from booking a table or scheduling an appointment, to hiring various services, to vacation rentals. Getting started with this type of form is much easier via ready-made templates 📑 that include all the necessary fields and interactions.
  • Obtaining new business prospects, both online and offline; the latter also implies the ability to use the forms on a variety of devices 📱 such as smartphones and tablets.
  • Ordering a product or service online is one of the use cases you wouldn’t typically expect from an online form builder, but JotForm possesses sufficient security 🔑 and payment integrations to build surprisingly efficient checkout forms.

…and we haven’t even mentioned niche cases and special requirements, such as collecting sensitive health data from patients! (e.g. under HIPAA in the United States)

JotForm promises to solve each of those challenges – but does it actually deliver? Let’s see what’s so special about this tool.

Unique Features of JotForm

Of course, JotForm is not the only way to build online forms – so are there any specific advantages to using it?

Actually, there are quite a few:

  • Conditional logic makes it possible to “teach” your form to react to the user’s inputs, automatically adding, removing, hiding, skipping or changing fields in response to specific answers.

You can also use any field the respondent completes as an input for the rest of the form – e.g. to alter the labels or recalculate values of other fields!

This opens up almost limitless possibilities for making your forms even more effective, e.g. easily building highly personalized thank-you pages:

JotForm: conditional logic

And yes, conditional rules are present (to some extent) in most form builders, even Google Forms – but none comes even close to JotForm in terms of flexibility.

  • Apps and integrations library is what really makes JotForm exponentially more powerful, by connecting your forms with hundreds of third-party services.

This allows you to add various cool things to your forms (like signatures or additional verification), export form data into your favorite project management or analytics tools, and even securely collect payments without the need for expensive e-commerce solutions!

Speaking of security:

  • Data protection and privacy features ensure safety both for the creators and the respondents: JotForm uses 256-bit SSL certificates on all forms and lets you decide exactly who can fill in the form and who can see the results.

You can also choose to additionally encrypt all form responses with an RSA-2048 key before they are submitted to you, which acts as a double insurance against anyone trying to intercept your users’ data.

In order to enable encryption, you will need to go to your form’s settings and click on the brown “Show more options” button.

In addition to these security features, we should mention several abbreviations that might sound familiar to you. Here goes:

JotForm is fully compliant with GDPR (European data protection laws) and PCI (for payment processing) – and if you need to collect health-related information from your respondents, you can upgrade for HIPAA compliance.

  • Advanced publishing options give you full freedom when it comes to delivering your forms to your audience. Again, JotForm really raises the bar here, compared to other similar tools:

There are numerous ways you can publish a form created in JotForm – as a direct link, a social media post, or even a fillable PDF document –

JotForm publishing

You can also email the form directly to your respondents or embed it into your website – the specific code for each popular web platform like WordPress or Shopify is generated for you automatically.

  • PDF constructor is another unique feature of JotForm that lets you easily convert form responses into professional-looking PDF documents – ideal for generating invoices, proposals, tickets, certificates, etc.

The best part here is that you don’t need to start from scratch: there are hundreds of ready-made PDF templates at your disposal.

…Which brings us to the next aspect of JotForm:

  • Template library contains thousands of pre-made forms for just about every situation, grouped by type and industry. A huge time-saver!

To better understand the role of templates in JotForm, let’s take a closer look at how the form builder itself works:

Form Builder and Templates

Getting started with JotForm is super simple: you can create a new account by filling in your name, email, username, and password – or even faster via the Facebook or Google sign-up:

Create a Free Account at JotForm ›

It takes about 30 seconds in total, and we’re ready to begin! Let’s click on the big green “Create Form” button and explore our options –

There are 3 ways to create a form: starting from a blank canvas, using a template, or importing an existing one (from a website, your JotForm account, or a PDF document).

In day-to-day situations you will most likely be using templates – they save so much time! – but for the sake of introduction it might be better to start with a clean slate 📖

The form builder has a simple interface that conceals a surprisingly rich array of tools and powerful features:

JotForm builder

You can add new fields and other elements by clicking on the dark-grey rounded button on the left on the screen [1] which opens an entire panel of various things you can use in your form.

Apart from the basic elements and payment gateways, take note of the third tab which contains a huge number of more advanced blocks, like automatic geolocation or taking a photo of the respondent.

If you click on an existing field, a circular cog button will appear [2] that opens the field settings panel. Here, you can change the label, size, and position of the field, as well as marking it as required.

The third important panel is for the overall form design – it’s opened by the blue paint-roll button [3] in the top right corner of the interface.

To be frank, this part of JotForm’s builder was the biggest positive surprise for us; the variety of options is far beyond anything we’ve seen in other form builders:

  • You can choose colors and backgrounds for every individual part of the form – or click on the button at the bottom to activate the advanced designer interface with a mind-blowing amount of additional granular settings.
  • You can adjust the form’s fonts, size, and position – and even add your own CSS code if you’re familiar with web development languages.
  • OR you can simply choose a ready-made visual template for your form! There are both free and premium themes available in JotForm’s store.

…While we’re still in the form builder, have you noticed the JotForm banner at the bottom of the screen? [4] It will appear on all forms published using the free account.

In order to remove the banner from your forms, you’ll need a subscription. How does it work? And is it worth the money? Here’s the gist:

JotForm Pricing

The nice thing about JotForm is that it’s a so-called freemium service – in other words, it has both a free and a paid version.

This means you can start building and using your forms without any financial commitments, and later upgrade if JotForm proves to be useful for your project.

What we particularly like about JotForm is that there is absolutely no difference in features between the free and the paid plans: you only need to pay for additional usage limits and for removing the branding below the forms.

With this in mind, the logic behind JotForm’s subscription plans is quite straightforward:

JotForm plan Free Bronze Silver Gold
Monthly cost $0 $24 $29 $79
Form limit 5 25 100 ∞
Responses per month 100 1,000 10,000 100,000
Available space 100 MB 10 GB 100 GB 1 TB
JotForm banners yes no no no

As you can see from our summary table above, JotForm scales together with your needs – while not putting any limits on the functionality.

Another thing worth noting is a 50% discount for registered non-profits and educational institutions, which is something you won’t find at other online form providers 🎓

Finally, JotForm offers a 30-day money-back guarantee on any paid plan, which means you can ask for a full refund during the first month, by contacting the support team using the contact form or via email (they reply 24/7).

Neat! By now we pretty much have all the information we need to answer our main question:

Should You Use JotForm?

There’s no doubt – JotForm is by far the most advanced form builder service we’ve laid our hands on (and we at Satori Webmaster Academy have tried them all).

Long-time readers of our blog will know that we especially like products which manage to stay simple and intuitive while packing powerful features that are good enough to satisfy even the most expert users

– JotForm is one such product. Its online builder is easy to use for beginners, but gradually reveals a huge variety of options and capabilities as you get to know it better.

Every single feature is available in the free version of the service, which means you don’t have to pay anything until you’re really sure JotForm is the right toolkit for your needs:

Start using JotForm for Free ›

We initially expected JotForm to be a complicated tool for the more demanding cases – now we’re using it across the board, even for the simplest, text-only forms (bye-bye, Google Forms!)

Regardless of whether you’re a solo entrepreneur or a part of a big team, JotForm makes it surprisingly easy to forget that online forms used to be a difficult and tedious task.

***

We hope this review was helpful and answered more questions than it created! Share your thoughts and opinions in the comments section below – let’s help each other make a sensible choice 💬

03
Jun
2020

The Ultimate Review: Is Canva for Work Worth Your Money in 2025?

Wondering whether Canva Pro is really worth your money — or perhaps the free version already has everything you need?

You’re not alone.

With over 100 million users worldwide, Canva has become the go-to design tool for non-designers and professionals alike.

But here’s the kicker:

The free version is already pretty great.

So why do millions of people still upgrade to the Pro plan every year — and should you be one of them?

This guide will help you figure that out, fast. We’ll answer the most common questions about Canva Pro, including:

  • 🥇What is the biggest benefit of Pro?
  • 💵How much does Canva Pro cost?
  • 📊How does it compare to alternatives?
  • 🚀Should you upgrade to Canva Pro?

Before we dig into the differences between the free and the pro versions, it makes sense to take a bird’s eye view of the entire product:

What Is Canva? A Brief Overview

At its core, Canva is a web-based graphic design platform that lets you create everything from Instagram posts to business proposals — with zero design experience required.

The magic? Templates.

Lots of them.

Canva gives you professionally designed templates in almost every imaginable category:

  • Social media: Create stunning posts, banners, stories, and thumbnails for Facebook, Instagram, YouTube, Pinterest, and more. You can even animate them.
  • Branding & identity: Need a logo or a set of cohesive brand assets? Canva makes it surprisingly easy to whip up a decent-looking visual identity using its huge pre-made icon and font library.
  • Business materials: Presentations, invoices, proposals, certificates, resumes – all ready-to-edit in drag-and-drop templates that won’t make you look like a beginner.
  • Infographics & posters: Whether it’s for a pitch deck, classroom, or Pinterest board, Canva simplifies the process of turning data or ideas into good-looking visuals.
  • Printables: Need flyers, menus, brochures, or event invitations? Canva lets you design them and even order the printed versions right from the dashboard — delivered to your door in under a week.
  • Personal & everyday use: From custom calendars to postcards and photo collages, Canva can be your go-to tool for gifting or organizing your personal life in style.

The best part?

You can do all of this – yes, all of it – using Canva’s free version.

Why would anyone pay for Canva Pro then? That’s exactly what we’re about to explore next:

Canva Pro vs Canva Free

So, if Canva’s free version already lets you create beautiful designs… why do so many people still pay for Pro?

Let’s break it down.

When you’re browsing templates or building your design, you’ll quickly run into assets with diagonal lines — those are watermarked elements, and unlocking them either costs a few dollars per item… or you go Pro.

Here’s what that looks like:

Canva: the watermarks

If you’re using Canva frequently, paying per image gets old (and expensive) fast. That’s where the subscription starts to make sense.

  • Pro unlocks 140+ million premium assets — including high-quality photos, videos, graphics, icons, and audio files. Use them freely in your designs, no extra charges or surprises.

But that’s just one part of the story.

Let’s walk through what else you get — in three big buckets:

1. Premium Content & Templates

  • Unlimited access to Canva’s full collection of premium templates (2M+ and growing)
  • 1,000 Brand Kits to organize logos, fonts, and colors for your projects
  • Exclusive fonts and advanced text effects to level up your visuals

Canva Brand Kit

Whether you’re designing for yourself or managing a brand, this gives you way more flexibility and polish.

2. Design Tools That Save Hours

  • Magic Resize: instantly reformat any design for different platforms (e.g. Facebook → Instagram → YouTube)
  • 1TB cloud storage (Free plan has 5GB — that’s 200x less)
  • Background remover: click once, background gone. No fiddling with layers or clunky cutouts.
  • Transparent PNG export for logos, overlays, and clean web assets
  • Animation & video export: turn any design into a slick MP4 or GIF
  • One-click translation: resize and translate designs at scale, super useful for international teams or campaigns

Canva Pro animations

3. Workflow Boosters & Smart Features

  • Content Planner: schedule social posts right from Canva
  • Version history: go back in time and restore older versions of your design
  • Priority support: Pro users get faster responses and access to customer service
  • 25+ AI-powered tools to help generate, edit, and adapt content more efficiently (like Magic Write for text and design suggestions)

Canva Pro brings premium assets, time-saving tools, and automation features together into one very tidy (and surprisingly affordable) package.

Coming up next: what does it cost, and is it cheaper than buying stock assets and design tools separately?

Let’s run the numbers →

How Much Does Canva Pro Cost?

Canva Pro is currently priced at $10 per month (when billed annually), or you can pay monthly if you prefer a bit more flexibility.

And yes — there’s a 30-day free trial, no strings attached. You’ll need to enter a payment method, but you won’t be charged unless you decide to keep it after the trial ends:

Try Canva Pro – 30 days free ›

Compared to other design platforms in the same price range, Canva Pro offers an unusually generous toolkit.

Over the last years the prices have converged, but Canva still offers the most serious combination of features, flexibility, and polish.

Here’s how it stacks up:

Tool Pricing Templates Photos Brand kit Free trial
Canva $10 14000+ 60M yes 30 days
Alternatives
PicMonkey $10 2400+ 1M yes 7 days
Stencil $9 1300+ 5M no –
Snappa $10.00 6000+ 5M no –
Canva clones
VistaCreate $10 200K+ 170M+ yes 14 days
FotoJet $12 800+ 1M no 7 days

You might notice several brands at the bottom of the table priced well below Canva Pro – those are what we call “Canva clones” –

– an entire group of more recent tools that noticeably imitate Canva’s features, and even its interface 🐒

While added to the comparison table for the sake of a fuller picture, they can hardly be considered true substitutes to Canva Pro.

To be fair though, the first three competitors aren’t looking too awesome compared to Canva either, for a couple of reasons:

  • much smaller libraries, i.e. more limited choice of templates, images, videos, and other design components,
  • fewer features, most notably the absence of a well-defined brand kit and lack of productivity enhancing tools such as auto-animator,
  • narrower focus, typically on photo editing or social media posting rather than full-scale, multichannel, brand-centric design and collaboration.

In other words,

if you’re working on brand content, juggling multiple platforms, or just want an all-in-one design solution with no pay-per-download surprises, Canva Pro delivers excellent value for the price.

What about the practical things – is it easy to manage your Canva Pro account? Let’s have a closer look:

Managing Your Canva Pro Subscription

Starting a Canva Pro trial takes no more than a minute – all you need to do is visit the official page and add your payment method (card or PayPal). It will not be charged until the 30-day trial expires.

You can change your subscription settings and manage your team in the Billing part of the Settings area, which you can visit by clicking the circle in the bottom left corner of the Canva dashboard:

This is also where you’ll find your invoices if you have an active Canva Pro or Enterprise subscription.

If you’re part of a team, you’ll also see a People tab where you can invite, remove, or manage team members. Just keep in mind:

  • Canva charges per user on the Teams plan (currently $100/year per person, billed annually, with a 3-user minimum)
  • Team members only see what you explicitly share with them — it’s easy to keep personal designs private

But what if you don’t need the paid version anymore? Here’s how to do it in under a minute:

  1. In the Settings → Billing section click “Cancel subscription” at the bottom of your current plan
  2. Confirm cancellation (you won’t be charged again, but you’ll still have Pro access until the current billing period ends)

Note: Canva does not offer refunds for unused time, so if you’re thinking about cancelling — it’s best to do it near the end of your billing cycle.

Will your designs disappear after you cancel?

Nope! You’ll still have access to all your projects after downgrading — but any Pro-only elements (like premium images or fonts) will get watermarked again until you re-subscribe.

If you plan to cancel, it’s a good idea to download your key designs in high resolution beforehand — especially if they include premium content or transparent backgrounds.

Next up: can you use Canva designs commercially, and what happens with licensing if you cancel Pro?

Licensing and Copyright in Canva

Canva is incredibly user-friendly — but licensing can still trip people up.

So let’s make it simple:

You can use your Canva designs for both personal and commercial purposes, as long as you follow a few key rules.

We’ve combed through the fine print in Canva’s Content License Agreements and Terms of Use to break it down for you.

  • Yes, you can sell products (like T-shirts, eBooks, posters, presentations) that include designs made with Canva — as long as the design isn’t just a raw Canva element copied and resold as-is.
  • Premium content (Pro-only assets) is licensed on a “one design = one use” basis. If you reuse a Pro image across multiple projects, each variation technically needs its own license. But if you have an active Pro subscription, this is handled automatically — no extra charges.
  • Free content is covered by a more flexible license. You can use it across as many projects and platforms as you like, provided you’re not reselling the original asset (e.g. uploading a Canva image to a stock photo site = not okay).
  • Logo use: You can absolutely design a logo in Canva — just be aware that it may include non-exclusive elements (icons, fonts, etc). For legally protected logos or trademarks, it’s best to use fully original components or consult a designer.

If you cancel Canva Pro, you can still use your downloaded designs — even commercially — as long as the usage complies with the original license at the time of download.

In short: Canva’s licensing is generous, but not “do anything, anywhere, forever” — especially when it comes to Pro assets. If in doubt, check their official license guide or contact support directly.

Hopefully this clears things up! If you have more questions, don’t hesitate to share them in the discussion section below!

Now that we’ve covered the legal stuff, let’s sum everything up in one final verdict:

Should You Use Canva Pro?

After all the features, pricing, and legal fine print — here’s the bottom line:

Canva Pro is a serious upgrade over the free plan — not just in assets, but in workflow, polish, and time saved. If you design anything more than occasionally, it’s probably worth it.

That said, here’s how to decide based on how you actually use Canva:

  • If you need a quick one-off design (like a resume, flyer, or invitation), the free version is more than enough. Just watch out for watermarked elements — or activate the free trial to unlock everything temporarily.
  • If you design social posts regularly (especially for multiple platforms), Canva Pro will save you hours. Magic Resize alone justifies the price if you value your time.
  • If you’re building a brand — whether it’s your business, podcast, nonprofit, or YouTube channel — the Brand Kit, premium fonts, and design consistency tools make Pro a no-brainer.
  • If you work on a team (e.g. agency, startup, marketing department), you might want to consider Canva for Teams instead. It’s built for collaboration and comes with shared folders, permissions, and team billing.
  • If you’re on the fence, the 30-day free trial is your best friend. No rush, no risk — and you’ll know pretty quickly if the upgrade is worth it.

Design better, faster, and with fewer roadblocks. Canva Pro doesn’t just unlock assets — it unlocks momentum.

Try Canva Pro – first 30 days free ›

Still have questions? Already using Pro and want to share your experience? Drop into the comment section below — let’s help each other make smarter choices.

05
May
2020

Zyro Review 2025: from Zero to Your Own Website In Less Than an Hour?

“Oh, another site builder…”

An understandable reaction; in fact, we felt exactly the same when we saw Zyro for the first time.

On the other hand, it’s also safe to assume that Zyro’s creators have a realistic view on the extremely competitive market for website building tools. And yet they’ve created this one.

– so what’s the deal with Zyro?!

In this detailed review we will determine once and for all whether this tool is worth your time and money; some of the questions we will cover include:

  • 🦄Is Zyro different from other site builders?
  • 🤖Zyro’s AI tools – are they any good?
  • 💭What else should you know before using Zyro?
  • 🔍Which Zyro plan should you choose, if any?

By the end of this guide you will find out if Zyro is the right tool for your online project and how to use it efficiently.

In addition, at the end of this guide we will tell you how to get a Zyro subscription at a higher discount, using our exclusive coupon code 🤑

First of all, though, let’s try to understand the reason for Zyro’s existence. In other words – how is it any different from other site-building tools?

Unique Features of Zyro

Turns out, there are some real reasons to choose Zyro over other site builders. Let’s highlight some of the areas where it’s clearly ahead of the competition:

  • Artificial Intelligence tools for smart analytics and task automation: e.g. the AI Writer will instantly compose topical texts for your website, and the AI Heatmap tool will help you predict which parts of your page will catch the visitors’ attention.

    Zyro AI Writer

  • Focus on speed and availability: every website made on Zyro benefits from being powered by the advanced server infrastructure of Hostinger, one of the largest web hosting companies in the world.
  • Lots of storage and bandwidth compared to other popular site builders – even Zyro’s BASIC plan offers much higher resource limits, while the UNLEASHED plan is by far the cheapest option on the market with unlimited traffic and storage.
  • The already super-low prices for Zyro’s paid plans get even lower if you choose two- or three-year billing cycles. Even the Basic plan at Zyro offers a custom domain and removes all ads – which makes it 3-4 times cheaper (!) than the comparable plans on other platforms.

We’ll discuss the last point in more detail in this part of our review to help you choose the right Zyro plan; however, right now it feels like a good moment to launch the site builder and see what it can actually do:

Building a Site with Zyro

To get started with your own Zyro website you have to make three clicks: (click #1) the main button on the official homepage leads you to the template library, where you can pick a design (#2) and choose a subscription plan (#3).

What’s the first thing you understand when you start using Zyro’s editor? – Its main focus is definitely on simplicity:

  • You can click on any element on the page to edit its contents and/or appearance – no need to write and deploy a single line of code.
  • Any element can be repositioned by dragging it with a mouse (or with a finger, on mobile) to any location on the page.
  • New elements and entire new pages can be added with a single click from the top left corner of the editor; new page sections can be inserted by clicking on the boundaries between the existing sections.

In other words, you need zero prior knowledge of web design or web development in order to start using Zyro (this is probably where the brand name comes from, by the way). The entire process is just so visual and intuitive 🐣

***

Notice how dark rectangles appear when you start dragging an element, and then it neatly snaps into place when you let it go?

That’s because, from the functional perspective, Zyro is a grid-based site builder:

Zyro Editor Grid

Placing elements on a grid is a common practice in modern web development. In fact, it’s so effective that most professional code packages have grid principles built into them on the most fundamental level.

Zyro follows the same path – by constraining element proportions and positions to a flexible grid it ensures that your website looks clean and well-organized without much effort on your part.

And there’s another advantage to using grids:

It lets Zyro automatically generate a smartphone version of your website’s design without you lifting a finger (alright, you will have to lift your finger once, to click on the mobile view switcher in the top ribbon):

Zyro mobile

Speaking of automation: remember we mentioned Zyro’s AI Writer earlier? Well, now is a great time to observe it “in the wild”!

  1. In the right part of your editor screen, click on the icon which says “Aa” to open the AI Writer panel.
  2. Choose the topic, the category, and the type of text – then click the purple “Generate” button at the bottom.
  3. After a moment the AI Writer will create several fragments of text which you can copy or insert directly into an existing text box.

Each time you run the tool you will get new results, and these are not just copied from somewhere on the Web – each snippet is completely original.

What sorcery is this?!

According to Zyro, their AI Writer runs on GPT-2 (Generative Pre-Trained Transformer), which is a state-of-the-art deep-learning model created by OpenAI, a research institute founded by tech entrepreneur Elon Musk.

However powerful, this tool of course can’t create a text that is 100% specific to your situation (because it doesn’t have knowledge of your situation, just the general topic).

But this doesn’t mean it’s useless –

Zyro’s AI Writer is ideal for quickly providing the starting point for most of your website’s content, which helps you to speed up the entire site-building process and get from zero to Zyro – that is, a fully working website – in less than an hour!

***

When you decide that you’re ready to accept visitors, click on the purple “Publish website” button in the top right corner of the editor screen –

the system will let you choose your custom domain name like mywebsite.com and activate your (ad-free) website on that domain.

Let’s see what you get with a published Zyro site:

Behind the Scenes

What makes the difference between a good website and a great website?

No doubt, looks are extremely important – however, we mustn’t underestimate the role of less obvious factors, such as speed, stability, and security.

The logic is quite straightforward: if your website is slow (or doesn’t work at all), most of your visitors won’t even be able to appreciate its wonderful design –

Statistics compiled by Google indicate that most web pages are abandoned within just a couple of seconds of load time.

This is especially true for smartphone users, as mobile internet tends to be slower and less reliable than a Wi-Fi connection.

In the case of Zyro, the underlying infrastructure – the servers and other specialized hardware that run your Zyro-made website – is handled by its sister company, Hostinger.

That’s good news:

Hostinger has been around for more than a decade and currently serves 30+ million clients worldwide from its 6 global datacenters.

The really good news?

– all this seems to be available at really attractive prices. Sounds almost too good to be true… Let’s dig into the topic a bit further:

Plans and Pricing

All major site builders typically offer several pricing plans with progressively more advanced features, for example:

  • As a rule, the cheapest plan in most site builders just allows connecting your own domain name.
  • There may be a slightly more expensive plan which also removes the site builder’s banners from your website.
  • An even more expensive (“unlimited”) plan typically removes any traffic and storage limits still present in the previous plans.
  • Sometimes there might be a fourth plan which offers even more features and priority customer support.

Zyro simplifies these choices by offering just two paid options: the BASIC plan with limited storage and bandwidth, as well as the UNLEASHED plan with unlimited traffic and storage, plus additional marketing and analytics features.

Here’s a visual to help you understand why we mentioned Zyro’s pricing policy as one of its main advantages:

Zyro price comparison

(This graph compares Zyro’s BASIC with similar plans at other site builders – in other words, the cheapest plans that include both a domain and an ad-free website.)

It gets better, though:

So far we’ve looked at the default option of paying for 1 year, but it’s worth mentioning that Zyro also offers 2-year and 3-year billing cycles:

Zyro pricing

Unlike with most other site builders, opting for a longer billing cycle at Zyro reduces the effective monthly price by another 30-40%!

This means that nothing on the market can currently compete with the Zyro BASIC plan with 3-year payments:

Start Creating with Zyro

As for the UNLEASHED plan, it is useful for larger websites with a lot of content and high visitor traffic – so at the beginning it just makes more sense to start small and upgrade when necessary.

Zyro eCommerce

If you’re planning to sell products or services on your website, this part is for you. In addition to its 2 standard plans, Zyro offers another 2 plans for e-commerce projects:

  • The aptly named ECOMMERCE plan contains all features from the UNLEASHED plan while adding full online store capability, including inventory management, gift cards, and online payments. The maximum number of products in this plan is 100 per shop.
  • The extended ECOMMERCE+ plan adds such features as abandoned cart recovery and multiple languages, while removing limitations on the number of products you can create in the shop. This plan also comes with integrations for Instagram, Facebook, and Amazon to maximize your reach.

Based on what we saw in the previous chapter, you’re probably expecting by now that Zyro’s e-commerce offers are much less expensive than similar plans for other site builders…

– and you’re absolutely right:

Zyro stays true to its best-in-market pricing strategy when it comes to e-commerce plans, charging 20-50% below other site builders.

(Again, note that these figures are for the yearly billing cycle – if you choose 2- or 3-year billing you’ll get an additional reduction in price by up to 40%)

For a long time, e-commerce plans have been unreasonably expensive for most site builders: with Zyro, this trend might actually be coming to an end.

***

Now that we have a better understanding of Zyro, let’s sum up its stronger and weaker sides before we formulate our final verdict:

Pros and Cons of Zyro

  • Some of the lowest prices on the market, especially given that even the BASIC plan lets you add your own domain and avoid any ad banners – all at a much more lucrative price point that any other large site builder.
  • Zyro’s primary tool is a super-easy grid-based visual editor which automatically generates the mobile version of your site’s design on the fly.
  • The Artificial Intelligence powered content generator actually produces pretty convincing texts that can serve as a basis for your website’s content.
  • You can get full e-commerce functionality for a fraction of the cost of similar offers from other site builders.
  • More than 1 million free high-quality images on every topic are available to all Zyro users.
  • Zyro’s infrastructure is provided by Hostinger, one of the largest hosting companies on the planet, which implies faster loading and higher stability.
  • 30-day money-back guarantee is available for all Zyro plans.
  • As a user you are eligible for friendly 24/7 support via email and live chat, regardless of your Zyro plan.
  • While Zyro’s template library has been steadily increasing, the choice is still not as wide as in some other site builders.
  • At the moment it’s not possible to switch an existing website to another template, you can either remove all elements and start from a blank page, or create a new website.
  • The AI Writer currently provides good results only in English; we’ve reached out to Zyro for more details, and were told that the team is working hard on training the system in other languages. We will update this guide as soon as more details become available!

BONUS: Zyro Promo Code

Before we move on to the final verdict, here is a quick way to save some extra 💰 on a Zyro order, using our exclusive promo code:

  1. Visit the official Zyro website using the button below; if you haven’t done that yet, create an account by providing an email and a password:

    Get a discount at Zyro ›

  2. Go to the pricing page and pick your preferred plan. The promo code is valid for any plan, including Zyro e-commerce.
  3. On the subscription page, select your preferred billing period (at least 1 year for this promo code):

    Zyro promo code

  4. Below the table, click on the “have a promo code” link and paste the following code into the field:

    SATORI
  5. Noticed how the discounts became higher in the table? You can now proceed with your order in the usual way.

That was easy! Regardless of whether you decide to give Zyro a try, it’s good to know that you can get a better deal if you do 😉

Now to the final summary:

Verdict: Should You Use Zyro?

Getting back to the question we posed at the very beginning of our review: is Zyro just another unremarkable site builder – or is it worth your time and money?

  • If you’re looking for an all-in-one solution which removes the need to separately look for hosting, domains, content management systems, visual editors, and extensions – Zyro is a noteworthy solution offering the complete package, at a bargain price.
  • If you want to create an online presence as fast as possible – and you value simplicity, minimalism, and stability – Zyro will get you there quicker than most other site builders.
  • If, on the other hand, you need full control of the code, a complex site structure with multiple content types, and/or advanced integrations such as Zapier – your best choice would be to try a more developer-oriented platform like Webflow; keep in mind that its plans cost 3-5 times more than Zyro, though.

Since you can switch between plans at any time in Zyro, we recommend starting with the BASIC version while your website is still under construction.

The 3-year billing cycle for the BASIC plan will provide the best value for money on the market and save you heaps of cash over the lifetime of your website 💰

Create your website with Zyro

Need more information about Zyro? Or maybe you’re already a user and would like to share your experience? Check out the Comments section below!

19
Jul
2019

EasyWP Review 2025 – Is It Really Better than Other Managed WordPress Hosts?

You know that feeling when you just need that one thing, but to get started you have to fill in a ton of long forms and spend hours ingesting how it all works?

Yes, we’ve all dealt with government services before…

I was talking about websites, though :) while starting one is certainly neither expensive nor too difficult these days, some believe it should be even simpler.

One such service is EasyWP, and in this in-depth review we will uncover the answers to the most popular questions regarding this managed WordPress provider:

  • 🔎What does “true managed WP” even mean?
  • 👑How does EasyWP compare to competition?
  • 💩Any caveats you should know about?
  • 👥Who is the intended user of EasyWP’s services?

Our ultimate goal in this review is to determine whether it is worth using EasyWP for your first (or next) online project.

In order to understand and evaluate EasyWP, it first makes sense to briefly look at its history and its product/price offer – which is exactly what we’re going to do in the following three sections. For those who wish to skip directly to the impressions as well as pro-con analysis, click this in-text link.

Domain Behemoth Spin-Offs Also Want to Be Cool

It all started in 2000 with the creation of Namecheap, a US-based no-frills domain registrar; over the years it has become one of the leaders of its niche, with 10+ million domain names under its belt…

So yes, you’ve guessed it, EasyWP is another one of those web hosting services that grew out of a large domain provider (think GoDaddy or Domain.com, for example).

Between its launch in 2017 and mid-2019 the service was in public beta and maintained a rather low-key profile.

The stated aim of EasyWP is to “democratize and elevate WordPress”, which can be interpreted as follows:

EasyWP wants to be a more human-centric version of managed WP hosting, offering easy but powerful solution at lower-than-market prices.

It even goes as far as to call itself a “true” managed WordPress. Let’s break it down to avoid any confusion:

– WordPress (also WP) is a so-called content management system, or, in simpler terms, a piece of software that allows you to create your own website, from content to visual presentation. To use WP for your web page, you need a place to run it – a web hosting.

– Managed WP is a type of web hosting specifically optimized for running WordPress, from server settings to automatic updates and security. Managed WP hosting is often contrasted with shared hosting, which doesn’t have those features out of the box but is usually quite a bit cheaper.

– “True” managed WP is, well… a web host which really has its act together, I guess. In fact, it’s not quite clear what that means, and EasyWP is not too eager to give explanations – so for the sake of objectivity let’s write this off as marketing-speak (for now, at least).

How does this all work in practice? Let’s find out by creating an EasyWP account (you don’t need to do that yourself, of course – we’ve done all the tests in preparation for this review):

The Promise of a 90-Second WordPress Site

In one of its FAQs Namecheap promises that the website setup with EasyWP takes less than 90 seconds. Let’s see if it lives up to the expectations.

Here’s how EasyWP user onboarding looks like for first-time users:

  1. We are reminded that EasyWP is not a completely stand-alone product right away: before doing anything, we need to create a Namecheap account, which requires our name, username, and password (don’t forget to un-tick that newsletter checkbox!). Overall, ~ 20 seconds is enough here – weirdly enough, when you create a new Namecheap account you don’t get redirected back to EasyWP, so you’ll need to re-open it in a new tab and click on the button again.
  2. After that, we are given a choice between three plans and two billing periods, which I’ll talk about more in the next part of this review. For now, let’s just pick the default option, i.e. the Starter plan with monthly billing and move on (+10 seconds).
  3. Next, we need an address for the new website: we are presented a choice between an existing domain on Namecheap and a temporary URL which looks like yourhandle-25erg78.easywp.com; let’s go for the latter for now, just input any memorable identifier and click “Continue” (+10 seconds)

    EasyWP domain

  4. Before the website is actually set up, there’s an extra step which allows us to customize the WP setup – while most of the things here can be changed later on via the WP admin panel, we do recommend changing the WP admin password from the auto-filled one, which is identical to your Namecheap account password (+20 seconds)
  5. Oh, hello again, Namecheap! We’re brought to a payment form, where we need to input cardholder data to complete the purchase. Our amount due is a symbolic $0.01, but our card details are still being recorded right away, probably in order to maximize retention. This step will take another 30 seconds to complete.
  6. Finally, our website is being created! In our case, it took about 90 seconds to spin up a new WordPress install. However, after clicking on the WP admin link, we still needed to stare at a blank screen for some additional 20 seconds, probably waiting for the final bits of the installation to complete.

Overall, our website setup with EasyWP took about 2 minutes from start to finish, which is still a very impressive figure compared to “old-school” shared hosting like GoDaddy…

– but it’s definitely not as EASY as the brand would suggest, and doing everything during the promised 90 seconds when you’re a beginner isn’t really feasible 🐣

In total, we needed to fill in some 10+ fields (some duplicate) and make several decisions on the fly (like which plan to choose and which setup options to tick); in addition to that, we also had to create a Namecheap account in the process.

But we made it, so congrats to us!

Now that we’re done with our initial setup, let’s take a closer look at EasyWP’s pricing policy and some of the less obvious things that you should be aware about before subscribing:

How Much Does EasyWP (Really) Cost?

In the process of creating our website we’ve already seen the three plans available at EasyWP; all of them include a single WordPress website and differ mostly by the amount of disk space and visitors you’re allowed per month (yes, no differentiation by processing power or RAM size, which we found a bit weird – but hey, it’s EasyWP’s pricing, so they get to decide, right?):

EasyWP plans

It’s worth noting that for the purposes of this review, we will be mostly looking at the Starter plan – not only because it’s the cheapest (and hence more attractive) option, but also because you probably don’t want to use a beginner-friendly service like EasyWP to host a website with 200k monthly visitors.

If you have that many users, you will be able to get much more value from a professional option like Digital Ocean (or Kinsta, if you absolutely need to have a managed WP host).

***

Anyways, the monthly billing option (which is the default) for the Starter plan will cost you $3.88/mo, with an additional benefit of almost-free $0.01 first month.

As we’ve seen above, your credit card details will still be collected, though – so if you just want to try it out, don’t forget that you will get billed the full amount after 30 days if you don’t unsubscribe.

The yearly billing option gives you a 35% discount compared to the 12 monthly payments (at full price), but doesn’t provide a cheap testing offer because you’ll need to pay for the entire year right away. The first year will still be somewhat cheaper than the full price, though, in this case as well.

But that’s not all.

Remember step 3 in the setup process we went through earlier? In order to make your website look professional, you’ll need a domain name, and that’s not included in EasyWP’s pricing.

In other words, you will need to register a domain in addition to paying for the EasyWP hosting.

And while the domain prices at Namecheap are some of the lowest on the market (as their company name quite fairly suggests), there are a couple of things about this arrangement that’s slightly annoying:

  • Firstly, it makes EasyWP look cheaper than it really is; while this is not a problem per se, we should remember that EasyWP positions itself as a no-hassle, all-in-one WordPress hosting solution.
  • Secondly, it makes comparison with other managed WP hosts more difficult, since most of them offer free domains for up to 3 years included in the hosting packages.
  • Thirdly, you need to go through an entirely separate procedure on the Namecheap website or elsewhere to buy a domain name which you can then use for your EasyWP website.

To get a clearer picture of EasyWP’s pricing, let’s combine all outlays in a single table, taking into account first-period discounts and yearly billing mark-downs:

Item Year 1 Year 2 + Increase
       
EasyWP Monthly $42.69 $46.56
Domain name $8.88 $10.88
SSL certificate $8.88 $8.88
Total, monthly billing $60.42 $66.32 10%
       
EasyWP Yearly $22.88 $29.88
Domain name $8.88 $10.88
SSL certificate $8.88 $8.88
Total, yearly billing $40.64 $49.64 22%

We’ve used current .com domain prices available on Namecheap’s official website. Note that most domain names also have promo pricing for the first year, i.e. your bill increases after the promo period ends.

Apart from a domain, you’ll also need an SSL certificate to avoid Google’s wrath (and generally make your website secure for your visitors). While a free certificate is added by default to your temporary EasyWP address, after you connect your own domain you’ll need to install your own SSL.

And yes, those are also available only from Namecheap of course, and there are only paid options; for the purposes of this analysis we’ve used the absolutely cheapest SSL available at Namecheap, the Comodo Positive.

As you can see from the table above, you should expect your real costs to be quite a bit higher than the figures printed in big bold font on EasyWP’s official website: both for the initial discounted period and for the subsequent periods.

How much higher?

For example, the first year of the annual billing cycle will actually cost you $40.64 (not the advertised $22.88), and this figure will increase a further 22% to become $49.64 after the first year is over.

While promo-pricing and other related tricks are quite common (in fact, almost ubiquitous) among hosting providers, the claims on EasyWP’s website could make you think that “they are different”. It looks like real data doesn’t quite warrant such bold conclusions.

Now that we have a better understanding of costs, here are some observations and musings on EasyWP-generated WordPress websites:

Our Impressions from Using EasyWP

The first thing you notice when you open a freshly-spun EasyWP website? It’s satisfyingly free of pre-installed themes and plugins (aka bloatware).

If you tick any extras in step 4 of the setup process though, those will all manifest as pre-installed plugins: for example, the “security” option will result in the Wordfence plugin being there when you first enter your new WP website.

Given that you can install Wordfence yourself (and for free of course) at any time, we don’t see much value in such settings, but for those who really don’t want to make additional choices, this might be a useful feature.

Apart from that, the WordPress admin indeed looks very much like clean WP install, with no limitations regarding which plugins or themes you add.

***

Speaking about the EasyWP dashboard itself: this is the place where you can manage all of your websites, each of them having its own sub-section with four tabs:

EasyWP dashboard

  • The Overview tab is just that – an informative panel, mostly. Apart from checking your storage and next billing date, you can also power down or completely remove your website here.
  • In the Domains tab you can connect your previously purchased Namecheap domain as well as an SSL certificate; for a truly integrated solution, one would expect to be able to do both right there, in the EasyWP panel, though.
  • The Backups tab allows you to create manual backups of your website. You can set up automatic daily backups via a free third-party plugin (such as UpdraftPlus), but then again, what is the added value of EasyWP in that case?
  • Finally, the Files & Database tab generates credentials for FTP and PHPmyAdmin access to your website’s files and data, respectively. This feature is implemented with simplicity in mind, which is nice after the slight disappointment of the previous two tabs.

Apart from creating new websites and sending referral links to your friends, that’s about all you can do with the EasyWP hosting panel – and, frankly speaking, it feels more than enough for most users if you ask us!

Is the service easy to use? In many areas, certainly.

Is it SO easy as to justify this word in its brand name?

Until domains and SSL can be purchased from inside the hosting panel, and backups are automatic – we believe it’s not quite there yet.

But before we can issue our final verdict on EasyWP, it makes sense to take a bird’s eye view at all the satisfying and annoying aspects of this hosting service:

Pros and Cons of EasyWP

In this part of the review we’ve summarized the main advantages and weaker sides of EasyWP, focusing on those which distinguish it from other similar providers. For example, the list doesn’t include items like “automatic WordPress updates” since any managed WP hosting should by definition have those.

  • Pure SSD (fast storage) cloud hosting based on Namecheap infrastructure, optimized for running WordPress websites.
  • Simple and genuinely useful hosting admin panel, with all relevant management features for each website grouped neatly into four tabs.
  • You can add any number of WordPress websites (each at separate cost) from inside the EasyWP hosting dashboard.
  • 30-day money-back guarantee lets you try out the service risk-free – if you remember to cancel in time, of course.
  • Surprisingly little pre-installed plugins or themes; the user is free to install whatever extras they need, i.e. both free or premium third-party extensions.
  • Possibility to upgrade to more storage and monthly users if your website grows beyond the limitations of the Starter plan.
  • Free CDN (= higher speed) and SSL (= better security) are included with the more expensive plans (Turbo and Supersonic).
  • 24/7 support via live chat with the Namecheap team, which is known for its fast and to-the-point replies. You can also use a contact form to get in touch.
  • Prices on their official website do not include a domain name and an SSL certificate – including those outlays can be expected to ~double your final costs at EasyWP.
  • Despite the first-month price on the monthly plan being close to zero, you can’t try the service without entering your bank card information.
  • The initial setup isn’t quite as quick and easy as we expected based on the promo page. You will need to create a separate Namecheap account in the process as well (this is not optional).
  • Only email forwarding is included; no option to create and use your own @domain mailboxes with EasyWP without paying extra for private email at Namecheap.
  • Only manual backups are available from the EasyWP dashboard; automatic backups can be set up using third-party plugins, but that’s true of any WordPress install.

Our Verdict + User Comments

Namecheap had a dream. A hosting solution that would outshine all existing managed WP providers with its unbeatable value for money.

Given the current trends in web services, it needed to be simple and sleek, of course – hence the name was chosen to be EasyWP.

As any large domain name registrar, Namecheap set out to build their solution with great zeal, making good use of the existing infrastructure that already supported millions of domain names.

It had much to gain, as demand for managed WP was picking up.

And it had nothing to lose, since its vast existing domain business provided a nice cushion against any problems…

This might be precisely why EasyWP looks so nice, but doesn’t feel quite as user-friendly as its original idea.

The setup process is close to being easy, compared to other managed WP services, but still takes at least 5 steps to complete, while forcing you to create an additional account at Namecheap along the way.

***

On its official web page, the service characterizes itself as “streamlined” and “smart”, “true managed WP” using big, bold letterings.

By the end of our review we still have no idea what is meant by “true” in this context, but it certainly feels neither too streamlined nor smart when you consider that domains and SSL certificates need to be purchased separately – on a different platform.

And when you include those costs into EasyWP’s pricing structure, their plans don’t look all that groundbreakingly cheap anymore.

It’s up to you to decide whether EasyWP is easy enough to warrant forgetting about all the little nuisances –

…but it’s definitely not a bad host, and an interesting option for those in search of that sweet spot w.r.t ease versus cost vs performance.

***

Have you already tried EasyWP or have additional questions about the service? Any comments on our review, might we have missed something important? Let us know in the comments section below!

02
Apr
2019

34SP Review: Is It Worth Choosing the Locals Over the Big Names?

If you’re considering 34SP as your hosting provider, you’re most probably based in/around the home city of UK’s most famous football club:

“A Manchester-founded hosting provider with a Manchester-based support team, and Manchester datacentre”

– that’s a rough summary from 34SP.com’s official website.

Apart from purely “patriotic” value, are there any real benefits from preferring a hosting company that’s based in a specific city? Let’s take a look from all possible angles and find out! Along the way, we will also answer the following questions about 34SP:

  • 📐How do 34SP’s hosting plans stack up against competition?
  • 🏆Which, if any, of the plans offers the highest value for money?
  • 📞How good is client support at 34SP Hosting?

For starters, we will skip the company’s backstory, which can be found in sufficient detail on their website, and instead focus on their actual offer:

34SP Hosting Plans – A Comparative Analysis

There are 4 options when it comes to hosting your website with 34SP, ranging from a beginner-friendly site builder, to multi-purpose accounts which can be customized to suit the more discerning users.

There’s also the reseller hosting option, which can arguably be viewed as the fifth plan, but for the purposes of this review we’ll not be looking at this option in detail. It is less relevant as it’s geared towards agencies with their own clients, not those who need websites for their own projects.

With that in mind, let’s go over each of the four user-oriented hosting plans and find out who’s the target audience and how it compares to competition:

Website Builder is the least expensive plan at 34SP, and is essentially just a white-label version of the popular Weebly site builder. Weebly itself has several pricing tiers, and the one offered by 34SP is called “Connect” – i.e. the most basic of all Weebly’s plans that allow using your own domain name.

If you get it directly from Weebly, it costs ÂŁ3.00 per month, while 34SP re-packages it with a price tag of ÂŁ2.95 per month (plus the yearly cost of your domain). A gain of 5 pence is still a gain, but does it justify choosing a reseller over the original? Probably only for the most hardcore value-seekers out there.

Professional Hosting, as the next plan is called, is a more universal solution – a full-fledged shared hosting account with a pre-configured software stack that can run most modern content management systems.

The most useful features compared to the previous plan are definitely the automatic backups and the possibility to set up email accounts – essential items for any self-respecting website owner.

For ÂŁ7.95 a month, you can choose between a clean stack or a pre-installed instance of WordPress, Joomla, or Weebly (hello again!).

WordPress Hosting is clearly the most promoted plan at 34SP – just look at the way it’s presented in their plans table. As its name suggests, it is geared towards running WP, and WP only. This makes a lot of sense, given that WordPress is by far the most popular site engine in existence today.

The WP Hosting plan is priced quite close to the Professional Hosting mentioned above, and at £9.95 per month it offers the following noteworthy additions to the latter’s feature set:

  • Automatic daily backups as well as the option to take manual snapshots of your website’s current state at any time. Auto-backups are quite easy to replicate with a free WP plugin like UpdraftPlus, so this is by no means a unique feature, but the fact that it’s built into the hosting itself can be a time-saver.
  • Fast SSD storage for your website’s files which can really have a positive effect on the page load speeds. For some reason this is not included in the Professional plan.
  • Free migration from a third-party hosting, performed by 34SP specialists. Useful if you don’t want to bother, but not something that can’t be done with a little help from a free WP plugin like this one.
  • A simple staging feature enables you to create a temporary copy of your website in one click. This is useful for testing themes and plugins, but isn’t something that can’t be done in WordPress itself.

Apart from the above, the WordPress plan is essentially identical to the previous one, and, as we’ve mentioned, most of the additional perks can be easily replicated with free WP plugins.

The only feature that is truly useful here is the fact that the servers use SSD hard drives – the component which can have a measurable effect on your website’s speed.

Universal Hosting is the fourth and final retail plan at 34SP. Upon closer inspection it looks like the Professional plan with more juice and some additional features from the WordPress plan. The primary difference, though, is the fact that you get guaranteed resources allocated to your account – in other words, it’s a VPS (Virtual Private Server) rather than shared hosting.

With increased autonomy come higher prices: the least expensive Universal sub-plan is £19.95 per month. This is actually cheaper than most comparable VPS hosting offers from large hosting providers in the UK, but here’s the thing:

– if you know you need a VPS, you most probably possess certain experience in web development and/or server administration. In which case you’d be better off getting the same package from, say, Digital Ocean, for just a fraction of the cost (at the time of writing their 2GB RAM, UK-based droplets cost $10 per month and offer 3 times more hard-disk space).

How’s the Operating Company Doing?

It might seem hardly relevant to look at corporate financials in a hosting service review, but there are two reasons why we’ll do it anyway. Firstly, knowing the operating company’s state of affairs can provide useful information about their strategic direction and even the possible future quality of services.

This is especially true in case of small enterprises (and SP34 is by any standard a small hosting provider): being less capitalized and therefore less stable than their larger counterparts, SMEs can respond to internal or external crises by simply going out of business. Not a happy prospect for a hosting client.

Secondly, it’s the United Kingdom, so financial filings are freely available online on the Companies House website – so why not use the extra information?!

Armed with those arguments, we’ve sifted through the last decade of filings submitted by 34SP.COM Limited. Instead of boring you with xerox-copies, scanned papers or even Excel tables, we’ve compiled just a couple of graphs that might produce an interesting summary of the company’s current state.

We’ll start with the most important metric: total earnings. Below you can see 34SP’s net profits and losses for the last eight accounting years (it should be noted that since their accounting year ends in spring, a bar e.g. for “2018” on the graph implies the period of 30th of April 2017 through 30th of April, 2018).

There doesn’t seem to be any stable growth trend in the company’s earnings – during the entire period depicted on the graph 34SP.COM Ltd. has barely made more money than it lost.

Another useful indicator of a company’s state is the evolution of its total assets over time, i.e. all equipment, real estate, and other property belonging to the firm. The respective graph for 34SP reinforces the feeling of stagnation one gets when looking at the earnings stats:

One of the primary assets a hosting provider must possess are its servers – specialized powerful computers that store customers’ websites. Servers are the core of any hosting technology stack, and if a hosting company is growing, its server count typically goes up, which implies higher investment into new machines.

You don’t see that on the 34SP assets graph – what it shows is that over the last decade they’ve been merely maintaining the existing levels, replacing older equipment but never consistently increasing their server count.

The final graph we’ll show here doesn’t come from the Companies House, because it’s the evolution of the number of domain names held by 34SP’s clients over the recent years:

It’s not difficult to see the downward trend. Why is this significant? Since the vast majority of websites use their own domains, such stats can serve as a proxy for the number of active clients of a hosting company.

The steady decline (down 16% since 2013) can either mean that 34SP client base is shrinking, or that the company is slowly refocusing to serve larger clients. In reality, it’s most probably a combination of the two.

To sum up our findings from the operating company’s financial indicators, 34SP seems to have stayed stagnant over the last several years, while registered domain data even hints at declines in the client base.

What does this mean for you as a potential client – if anything?

We will discuss this in the final part of our review; before we do that, we’ll share some impressions from our interactions with the support team:

The Quality of 34SP Support

The company’s support team is located in the UK and is open for queries 7 days per week, during working hours. Superior customer service quality is one of the most-emphasized “selling points” to be found on 34SP’s website, so naturally we wanted some direct experience.

In order to be able to say anything about the much-vaunted 34SP support, we’ve compiled several questions about their hosting plans, with the back-story of being in the process of choosing the most suitable offer; here they are:

  1. As far as I understand, the “Website Builder” plan is based on Weebly: if that’s correct, which Weebly plan is it? – the main concern is essentially whether the website will display Weebly ads in the footer.
  2. In case I run out of, say, RAM on your “Managed WordPress” single-site plan, would it be possible to add more without having to purchase a 5-site or 10-site container?
  3. I already have a domain, purchased at GoDaddy – can I order a hosting package at 34SP without buying a domain here?

The response came after about 3 hours (not bad but also not stellar for a hosting with several thousand clients) – and it left us somewhat perplexed:

We were offered advice as to which 34SP hosting plan to go for, and even received several clarifying questions – all without ANY of our own initial questions being answered even partially.

Since this was just a test email our own reaction to the support team’s reply is not so important, but anyone actually trying to choose between 34SP’s many hosting plans could easily have interpreted it as follows:

for example, something like “Don’t overload your little head with the details, here’s the plan you need, now let’s get on with it and close the deal!”

To be fair, this does not imply that the reply was bad per se – one can surely find a logic in how it was structured. Still, answering customer questions is arguably an important (if not the primary) point of customer support, at least on par with trying to sell.

Our questions did eventually get answered, but not before explicitly bringing them up again to the 34SP support specialist.

So much for “open, honest, and transparent”, the motto used on the company’s website more than on one occasion…

Pros and Cons of 34SP

Having discussed 34SP from several possible angles, in this section of our review we summarize the positive and not-so-positive results, before proceeding to our final verdict below:

  • You won’t get charged more for your hosting after your initial billing cycle, unlike with most other hosting companies.
  • Friendly local support team situated in the same time zone as you (i.e. they don’t outsource their support services to other countries).
  • The prices quoted on their website already include VAT, which is a nice touch compared to many competing providers which prefer to add taxes during checkout.
  • There is a 30-day money-back guarantee on most hosting plans, excluding “Website Builder” plan and dedicated servers; domain registrations are also non-refundable.
  • Most hosting plans at 34SP are more expensive than comparable hosting services with UK-located data centres.
  • The support team’s working hours are from 8 am to 6 pm, which means that you won’t be able to get any help if your website breaks in the evening or at night.
  • Our conversations with the support service couldn’t always be called productive, as some of our explicit questions were simply omitted until we repeatedly asked for answers.
  • The minimum registration term for .com, .org and .me domains is two years, i.e. you aren’t given a choice of any shorter billing cycle.
  • The company hasn’t seen any significant growth over the last 10 years, according to their financial statements. Domain stats might even hint at declining interest in 34SP’s services.

Our Verdict: Is 34SP Worth Your Money?

In all fairness, 34SP doesn’t look like the worst choice one could make when looking for a hosting provider. However, an in-depth review like this one is all about discovering the details, not praising mediocre performers –

– which means we won’t be recommending 34SP to most readers: with 34SP’s non-remarkable hosting plans and less-than-outstanding support, there’s better value for money to be had elsewhere. One example is Hostinger, which offers UK-based servers at much more competitive prices (and a special discount available to our visitors):

Get a 15% discount at Hostinger

To add to things, the financial state of the operating company shows little signs of active growth in the last years, while their domain registration data might actually even hint at a decline in customer interest.

Thanks for bearing with us, if you’ve any questions left about how 34SP compares to competition – or would like to share your own experiences with the company – be sure to leave a comment in the discussion below.

23
Nov
2018

Ionos (1&1) Review 2025: Is the Largest European Hosting Provider Worth Your Money?

Ionos? No, that’s not some remote Greek island – it’s the new name of 1&1 (also spelled 1and1), one of the biggest hosting providers in the world. As the company celebrates its 30th birthday with a /slightly/ funky rebranding, we will take our time to thoroughly examine 1&1 Ionos from a customer’s perspective and answer the following question:

Should you choose Ionos to host your websites, domains, and other online assets – or are there better alternatives?

Apart from that, by the end of this review you will get a clearer picture of 1&1’s product range, allowing you to make a better choice if you do decide to become their client. In other words, you will learn..

  • 👍What is the best hosting plan for new Ionos clients?
  • 🔧Which extras are worth using and which aren’t?
  • 💳Are there any hidden fees you should know about?
  • 💬How good is 1&1 support and personal consultants?

We will also solve some of the “mysteries” which might have left you puzzled after exploring the Ionos website. For example, what’s the difference between “WordPress Hosting” and a simple “Web Hosting” where you can also install WordPress. But first, a summary for those who are in a hurry:

TLDR;

1&1 Ionos is a relatively unremarkable hosting company when it comes to product range, pricing, or support – complicated offerings, prices that can change in subsequent billing cycles, client service that near-impossible to get through.

If you’re after value-for-money hosting, we recommend other options, like Warpgate (for non-professionals) and Digital Ocean (for developers).

You can use Warpgate for 30 days free of charge, without entering any credit card details – it takes just a couple of seconds to create a new WordPress website using their official Warp Wizard:

Get 30 days free at Warpgate ›

Want to know more details about Ionos and understand exactly why we don’t recommend getting a hosting account with this provider? Read on in our detailed review:

The 30-Year Journey of 1&1

Before we go on to evaluate Ionos, let’s take a short trip in a time machine to understand the origins and background of 1&1 –

With more than three decades under its belt, Ionos can be considered a true mastodon of the online services industry. Let’s admit it: even just surviving for that long in such a rapidly changing market is an achievement in itself, let alone growing into one of the largest global players.

From its humble beginnings in 1988 as an online ad seller called 1&1 EDV Marketing, the company has made many strategic switches over the years, eventually expanding on the international arena and focusing almost entirely on web hosting services.

Just by briefly examining the official website, one can make a good guess about the origins of the company: true to its German roots, 1&1 Ionos pays a great deal of attention to transparency, privacy, and quality. There are hardly any footnotes or extra-fine print – all details are made clear right where you’d expect to see that information.

The sheer range of available services might get overwhelming, though: there’s web hosting, cloud hosting, dedicated hosting, “online starter kits”, website builders, HiDrive storage, Kubernetes as a service.. Say what?!

In order to not go into stupor over this abundance of options, let’s take a step back and agree on the major user categories we’re interested in: a private person, a small/medium business, and a developer/freelancer. In the next chapters of this guide we will discuss which Ionos services are most suitable for each of these use cases.

You might have noticed we didn’t mention large businesses among our user groups, and that’s intentional – if you are a big, established enterprise, you probably know what you want or can afford to hire expensive consultants to tell you what you want. In any case, discussing this segment is unlikely to add value to this humble review :)

Choosing a Hosting Plan at Ionos, Based on Your Needs

If you’re making a website for yourself (your uncle, your friend, etc) or for your moderately sized business, there are basically two product ranges for you at 1&1 Ionos: the standard shared hosting (they call it simply “Web Hosting”) as well as WordPress Hosting.

This division might seem a bit artificial, because it’s also quite easy to install WordPress (below also WP) on their shared hosting – there’s even an automated system for doing just that included with any Web Hosting package.

To help you (and ourselves) figure this out, we have put together a table of the most important differences between the Web Hosting and WordPress Hosting product lines at Ionos:

Web Hosting WordPress Hosting
File storage HDD (slower) SSD (faster)
Number of websites No restrictions Limited per account
Automatic WP updates Need to set up yourself Included
WP auto-installer Basic Advanced
Pricing after the 12-month promo period Slightly less expensive Slightly more expensive

It’s worth stressing that these are the only real differences we could identify. In other words, we did not include any features that are mentioned as advantages on their WP hosting promo page but which are actually also available for Web Hosting packages.

Can you set up automatic updates on your own? Of course. Do you really need an advanced auto-installer which adds extra plugins and themes right away? Probably not. There’s one thing in the WordPress Hosting packages that you do want, though!

SSD (Solid State Drive) is a relatively new type of storage which works like a flash memory stick rather than a rotating aluminium disk used in the traditional hard drives (HDD). Thanks to its design SSD is way, way faster than HDD, and this difference matters quite a lot for your website speed.

To be clear – there’s no particular advantage to using SSD specifically with WordPress, as Ionos’ website might lead to believe – but it does help to make your website faster, regardless of which content management system you are using.

To sum up, if you need one or two websites and have already considered using WP, go for the WordPress Hosting, choosing the package according to how many websites you need. The speed advantage of SSD is worth it.

If you’re planning to use another site engine or if you need to spin up dozens of WP websites on a single hosting account, the Web Hosting packages might be a better alternative.

What about their website builder, you might ask – seems easier than learning to use a content management system – just choose a template and replace the text with your own, right?

While it does offer a somewhat faster way to a completed website, there are a couple of things that make it less attractive if you think about it:

  • If you go with WordPress, your choice will be much, much wider in just about every aspect. While the number of available templates (over 400) in the Ionos Site Builder is quite impressive, most of them look dated in terms of both design and features, at least in comparison to most of the modern WordPress themes (even the free ones like Bento, we’re not even talking about hyper-advanced paid themes like Avada).
  • On the same note, the choice of features and extras in the Site Builder is incomparable with the 50,000+ plugins available for WP. And those are only the free ones! Since developing website builders is not the main focus of Ionos (and probably never will be), this product is just unable to compete with specialized platforms like WordPress or even Wix in terms of power and flexibility.
  • If you’re using Ionos Site Builder, you are bound to that platform for as long as your website exists – there’s no option of migrating to another content management system later on, even the open-source ones. This means that if Ionos decides to change something later on or increase prices, you won’t have any alternatives other than completely re-creating your website from scratch somewhere else.

Unlike other providers like e.g. Hostinger, Ionos does not allow you to actually try the website builder before you pay for it, so you’ll have to just trust me on this one: it’s not worth your time. Taking into account the above arguments, I don’t see why anyone would choose the Ionos proprietary site builder over a full-fledged WordPress.

Alright, alright. What about the Website Starter Kit? Well, it’s essentially a simplified version of the website builder which tries to make additional upsells along the way. After what I’ve stated in the previous paragraph it would be inconsistent to recommend this one.

This was a long explainer, I agree. And it’s still not over, because we promised to also look at Ionos products for more advanced users! So go stretch, grab a coffee maybe, and come back for the second part. Or, if you’ve seen everything you need already, you can use this in-text link to scroll down to the next section which summarizes the pros and cons of 1&1 Ionos.
..
..

If websites and web applications is what you do for a living (i.e. you’re a freelancer, a developer, an online entrepreneur, etc) – you might need something more powerful and customizable than simple shared hosting. Which means you have the following Ionos offers to choose from:

  • Virtual Private Server (VPS), or vServer, offering dedicated resources and root-level access so that you can configure each detail exactly as you need. Here’s where all the advantages of Ionos as an international giant really shine: solid infrastructure and built-in security, 100% SSD storage, as well as 24/7 personalized support make for a fairly attractive package. As an added bonus, you can choose between European, UK, and US data centers for optimal performance.
  • Cloud Hosting comes in various flavours at Ionos, which can be rather confusing until you realize that the Cloud Hosting offers are exactly the same as IONOS Cloud, plus free domains on top. In any case, the specs look good until you start comparing the offers with companies which actually specialize on cloud hosting: very similar plans cost significantly less at Digital Ocean, which has more data centers and arguably more features for professional users.
  • Dedicated Servers, suitable for the most demanding projects, is another example of a product which uses the competitive advantages and the sheer scale of Ionos to the fullest extent. If you’re sure you need dedicated hardware, there’s no reason not to choose one of Ionos’ packages (also, if you’re not sure, then probably you don’t; a VPS might be a more suitable solution).

By the way, if you’re still a bit confused about the differences between shared, VPS, cloud, and dedicated – or just want to refresh your memory, there’s a summary table in our in-depth guide on choosing hosting in the Satori Webmaster Academy.

Let’s summarize what we’ve discussed above: if you just need a more powerful and flexible hosting, go for Ionos vServer, they have very decent offers which fully take advantage of the state-of-the-art infrastructure and international scale.

To reiterate – the other hosting types are usually worth considering only if you know that you specifically need cloud or dedicated.

Regarding the first one, I’d recommend going with the industry leader rather than Ionos, because cloud hosting is Digital Ocean’s flagship product and they clearly invest more time and money into continuously improving it. For the same reason, they are able to offer superior cloud quality for lower prices.

As for dedicated hosting, Ionos is a perfectly fine choice, considering their focus on hardware quality and security.

Alright, the logic behind their product range seems clearer now. In the next chapter we will share our overall impressions from using 1&1 Ionos, before wrapping up with pros and cons as well as the final verdict.

Our Impressions Of Ionos

Apart from features and specs, customer support is a vital part of any hosting offer. Regardless of your proficiency level, you will have questions sooner or later, be it silly rookie mistakes or something not working fine on their end.

From what we’ve seen, Ionos does take support seriously, judging by their move towards the concept of a personal consultant – a company representative who acts as your primary point of contact with the hosting, and knows your situation in more detail than a random support officer.

The personal consultant thing works like this: once you register an account at Ionos, you are able to “activate” this feature from your hosting admin panel. Once you click the activation button, you will see the name and the direct phone number of your direct contact at Ionos.

One might think that a company with several million clients is just physically unable to pull this off, but let’s do a quick calculation:

Ionos claims to have over 8 million clients and 7000 employees in total. Even if just half of them work in the client support function, and assuming each client makes 3 support requests per year, every year, we arrive at an estimate of 25 support requests per specialist per day, or 3 per hour – quite manageable.

Having said that, of course it’s still not possible to ensure you’ll always be talking to your manager when you contact Ionos (not even mentioning that servers can also misbehave in the evening or at night, for example) – but it’s a nice touch and a laudable attempt nevertheless – especially in an industry which mostly looks the opposite way when it comes to support (i.e. trying to get rid of human interaction as much as possible).

On the other hand, there’s no live chat option at Ionos like e.g. at GoDaddy, which is a pity because being able to write in real time, to a real person, can sometimes be a real time-saver. We feel like a chat (or a hybrid chat-email system) would be a welcome addition to Ionos’ already strong support offer, even if you won’t be chatting with your personal consultant most of the time.

Apart from tete-a-tete support, Ionos has made sure that as many standard questions as possible are covered by its written guides. In fact, they took it so seriously that they’ve created three separate environments for that: the Community, which is a collection of general hosting-related articles, the Startup Guide specifically for new businesses, as well as the Digital Guide which covers a wider range of topics from promoting your website to digital laws and regulations.

Are those really useful? Absolutely. Why did Ionos need three separate knowledge bases instead of a single massive archive of useful materials? Beats me.

Since it’s not the first time we’re observing something like that (remember the multitude of re-packaged site builders and cloud hosting?), maybe it’s just what Ionos likes to do – puffing up like an alpha-male pigeon to look big and serious.

While it’s a perfectly reasonable compulsion for a multinational company with millions of clients (and most other large hosting providers do that too, of course), I still feel like in this day and age, focussing on being lean and easy to use is even cooler. Just a personal opinion.

But I digress!

You might have noticed that Ionos even has a mobile app which allows managing your hosting account from any Android or iOS device:

And it’s a pretty decent app, by any standard – you can use it to check if everything’s alright with your server, ask for support, view invoices, change your account details, and even get automated advice for improving your website.

With that being said, it still doesn’t feel like a very essential component – I mean, if managing a website is not your primary occupation, you won’t be using the hosting admin panel too often in any form. If, on the other hand, most of your work revolves around websites, you are already online most of the time from your primary device.

Or maybe it’s just me being old-school, who knows. In any case – a hosting panel app is not something I would download on my phone, because I’m totally fine with the online hosting panel.

Pros and Cons of 1&1 Ionos

Alright, now that we’ve examined Ionos from various perspectives, it’s time to summarize its advantages and weaker points. We will not mention the obvious things and only focus on the real differences compared to other hosting providers:

  • State-of-the-art hardware: over 90,000 powerful servers in 10 data centers in Europe and the US. Installed and managed by Ionos, no outsourcing.
  • High security standards on both hardware and software levels. All EU data centers of 1&1 Ionos have ISO 27001:2013 certificates.
  • Close to 100% availability for your website thanks to geographically redundant architecture, as well as high speeds thanks to 360 Gbit/s data center connectivity.
  • Flexible scaling system for server performance: you can add more processing power or memory in a click and get billed by the day. If you afterwards feel that the extra resources are not needed anymore, downgrading is also surprisingly easy.
  • Some of the best value for money WordPress hosting packages with fast SSD file storage you can get anywhere on the web right now.
  • Each Ionos client gets a personal assistant to help with any questions and issues. While the quality of support can still be improved, this is definitely a positive approach for a large international hosting provider.
  • SSL (Secure Socket Layer) certificate included with each hosting plan, allowing you to make your website safer for visitors by encrypting traffic. Sites with SSL use the https:// handle in front of their addresses and display a friendly green lock in the browser address bar.
  • A built-in CDN (Content Delivery Network) with some hosting plans: your website automatically gets distributed between several data centers in different parts of the world, thus maximizing page load speed regardless of where your visitors are physically located.
  • While their site builder looks more modern than other similar offers by hosting companies, it’s still far behind even the free content builders available for WordPress or other popular site engines.
  • Ionos’ custom-built hosting control panel looks clean and works smoothly enough, but it’s still not cPanel or Plesk, so if you’ve already dealt with any of the popular hosting admins, you’ll need to get used to a completely new one.
  • The process of creating a new account could be made smoother, especially the personal details form which consists mostly of free-form text fields like postal index and street address which only get validated after you try to submit the form.
  • Live chat could arguably be a welcome addition to the support options, even if you wouldn’t be talking to your personal consultant most of the time.
  • The product range seems bloated at the moment, with some near-identical offers re-packaged as different products, for example Website Builder vs Website Starter Kit, or Cloud Hosting vs Ionos Cloud.

Whew, that’s a lot to take in! So what’s the bottom line? Is the 30-year-old hosting provider still on top of its game – or is your money better spent elsewhere?

Our Verdict on Ionos + Discussion

As you might have noticed, we haven’t tried to evaluate 1&1 Ionos as a whole so far. And that’s a conscious choice: when a company gets as large as that, there will inevitably be some really strong products as well as some offers which are meant to just pluck holes in the product portfolio.

So we could, of course, say that Ionos is a respectable international hosting giant which top-notch infrastructure and support, and that it will probably keep offering reliable services for another 30 years (and probably 30 more)..

..but such superficial characteristic, albeit true, would not help you much in deciding whether to spend your actual money at Ionos or take it elsewhere. Because everyone is interested in solving their specific problem, hence the need to look deeper.

With that in mind, here are the main takeaways from the more detailed analysis above:

  • If you want to build a relatively simple website (1-50 pages) for personal use or as a small/medium organization, you’d better off creating a WordPress website with the likes of Warpgate – faster, easier, and at a lower cost.
  • If your work is tightly connected with websites and web apps (e.g. you’re a freelancer or a part of a developer team), go for one of Ionos VPS packages. These successfully leverage all the strong sides of this well-capitalized multinational hosting provider.
  • The plethora of cloud services at Ionos seems more like a catching-up attempt on their part than a flagship product, so you might consider Digital Ocean hosting instead – at least for the time being, DO is way ahead in terms of both features and value for money.

Still perplexed? Not sure if one of Ionos products is a good fit with your project? You know what to do! Just scroll down to the comments section below and tell us what’s bothering you. Personal opinions and real-life experiences with Ionos are also very welcome, of course. Let’s discuss!

05
Nov
2018

How to Create a Blog in 2025: Become a Blogger in 30 Minutes and Maybe Even Earn Some Money

If you’re reading this, you’ve realized that you have something to say to the world. Or, maybe, your boss has. In any case, what you need is a place to regularly post witty text and other content like images or videos. A place entirely under your control, unlike those faceless, constraining Instagram feeds or Facebook pages, am I right? In other words – a weblog!

(Knock-knock, 1997! We are the cooler generation, we use phones that don’t fit into our pockets and shorter versions of words these days! Let’s stick to “blog” from now on, alright?)

Soo yes, the next logical question you type into the search engine becomes: how to start a blog? Well, you can close your search results page now, you’ve come to the right place.

..Go on, close it. Good.

In this detailed yet relaxed guide we will go through all the steps required to make your own blog (there are just 4 of them, in fact). In the end, I will provide tips on how to secure, grow – and monetize your new site. As a result, you will:

  • 😎learn to create websites without a single line of code
  • 💰save tons of money and days of your precious time
  • 🎯reach anyone in the world with your awesome content
  • ✨befriend a unicorn (alright, maybe not literally)

Before we dive in, there is an important question that should be answered right away in order to better understand what we’re dealing with. However, if you’re eager to start RIGHT NOW, just skip the next two sections or use this in-text link to scroll directly to Step 1.

Free or Almost Free?

While you can certainly start a blog for free using one of the existing “mass blogging” services, or even social networks like Twitter, it is worth remembering that there are several important drawbacks to any approach that involves free blog services:

  • Your blog will look like thousands of other blogs because personalization is typically not the strongest side of such platforms. Templates tend to be either non-existent or so outdated/shoddy you’d wish they were non-existent.
  • Your blog will display somebody else’s ads: you won’t see any of those ad revenues, however – the platform needs to run computers which host your blog, so they will keep the money to themselves.
  • You will work under technical limitations, such as the available space to store your blog’s files, number of visitors per month, and the size of files you upload.
  • Your web address will be a subdomain of the blogging platform, like blog.platform.com – instead of a far more serious-looking blog.com

This is not to say that a completely free blog is necessarily a bad idea – in fact, if you’re okay with the things listed above, you should probably choose this path. However, if you’re serious about your blog and are able to spend half an hour on making it look professional and trustworthy, read on.

To understand why having your own website cannot be completely free (or, equivalently, why any “completely free” blogging service will necessarily want to earn money from your blog via ads or some other hidden fees), we need to understand what a website is and how it works:

Any website (for example a blog) is a collection of files which are recognized by a certain unique identifier – its web address, i.e. the text you input into your browser’s address bar to visit a certain website.

Those files need to be accessible 24/7 in order for your website to be truly online – which means they should be stored on a computer that is always on and always plugged into the Internet. Such specialized computer is called a server, and a company which offers servers is called a hosting provider.

The most popular form of web address is a domain name – a human-readable string of text which provides some information about the website it points to. For example, domain name dogs.com is (probably) about dogs and targets US or international visitors.

Here’s a revelation (I hope not): operating both a domain name and a hosting service always costs money. Here’s why:

  • In order to become a domain registrar, a company needs to meet a lot of criteria – technical, financial, legal – and pay annual fees (for example, $4000 per year to ICANN for international domains),
  • In order to provide hosting services, a company needs to buy and maintain a bunch of powerful computers in a safe location, which implies a slew of expenditures. These are both fixed costs (the equipment) and recurring ones (salaries, rent, etc.).

This means that anyone who claims to offer you a domain name and a hosting free of charge are either hardcore philanthropists with very deep pockets – or are planning to earn money off your blog in some other way later on (ads!). Your guess?

Alright, I suppose by now you understand what I’m getting at – no self-respecting blogger will tolerate ads and technical limitations connected to a “free blog”; in other words:

If you want your blog to look professional and plan to grow it in the future (and earn money from it), some expenses are inevitable.

Here’s the good news, though: by taking a smart approach and focusing only on the most essential items, we can bring down the cost of setting up a blog to an absolute minimum. This is exactly the goal of this guide.

Oh, yes, and don’t forget an exclusive coupon code!

..We will get to that in a minute. Let’s start with the first essential step (and the only one which will cost you any money):

Step 1 of 4: Choosing a Domain Name and a Hosting Provider

Alright, down to business! First, we will need a place for our blog to live and a unique address for Internet users to find it. Fortunately, we can do both in one go, as most large hosting providers tend to offer domain name registration as an additional service.

Of all the companies we’ve worked with over the last 10 years, the one particularly worth recommending is Hostinger: with 30+ million users around the world and a focus on simplicity, it’s a logical choice for beginner bloggers.

Hostinger currently offers some intriguing discounts on its “hosting + domain” packages, but we will go even further and save even more money by using our exclusive promo code.

We’re now ready to begin: click on the button below to visit the official Hostinger page with discounted prices. In addition to that, it is also possible to get a FREE domain name with certain offers, which we will discuss in a second.

Get 15% off Hostinger + free domain name ›

On the page, you will see three hosting plans: unless you need several blogs at once, go with the Premium option. The Single plan has bandwidth limitations and does not allow applying the free domain offer and our exclusive coupon code, which in total makes it a less attractive alternative.

After you choose the hosting plan you will be taken to a checkout page where you will need to make several choices regarding your order. Let’s go through each of them quickly:

  1. First, you’ll have a choice of several time periods for your initial order (your hosting account will be auto-prolonged after that to avoid losing your blog – unless you cancel manually, of course). The most sensible value to pick here is one year (12 months), which will both entitle you to all the discounts AND give you enough time to test your blog idea and see if it’s working.
  2. After that, you will see several checkboxes, the first being the SSL certificate. That’s a security measure that prevents your visitor’s data from being exposed on the network, and it gives you a nice trustworthy green padlock sign in the address bar (like the one on this page). SSL has become a universal standard for safe websites around the world, and can even positively affect your search rankings in Google. I recommend activating the SSL option because you’ll need it in any case – and Hostinger provides it for a low flat fee instead of an annual payment like almost all other sources.
  3. Next up is the backup add-on, which I recommend turning off because you will be able to replicate it for free later on (I will show you how).
  4. The final checkbox – Cloudflare – can also be left unchecked: while it’s a “nice to have” feature for any website, you won’t need it for the first 1-2 years until your blog gets really large amounts of visitor traffic.
  5. Finally, there’s the free domain offer which we mentioned earlier: just input your desired name and choose the domain zone from the drop-down list and hit the search button. TIP: if your first choice has already been taken, try using other domain zones or altering your name, for example by rephrasing or adding more words.

To recap, here is how the order page should look like when you’re done with all of the settings described above:

Now we’re almost ready – “almost” because there’s still the discount code I keep telling you about :) In order to get an additional 15% discount on your (already discounted) order, click on the grey link right after the taxes line in the order summary on the right side of the page. A new input field will appear, where you can copy and paste the code below:

SPECIAL15

NOW you are ready to click the big green checkout button and proceed to the payment. I won’t walk you through that one – you know how the online shopping works, you’ve done that before.

Let’s sum up: we just got our hosting and domain from a top provider, for the lowest possible price. No big deal. Wait, actually – a really rather big deal!

You are now free to build and monetize your own blog, and nobody will display any ads or limit your design choices. Your blog will look professional and trustworthy on its very own domain with a friendly green SSL icon.

And yes, we are officially done with the first step of our guide (to remind you, the only one that involves paying for things!). Let’s continue:

Step 2 of 4: Installing a Blog Management System

Some of you reading this title might have thought “well, it’s probably going to be WordPress”.. Of course it’s going to be WordPress! With a simple yet powerful interface, enormous number of online help, as well as vast choice of free extensions and visual themes WP is undisputedly the number one choice for anyone starting a blog.

In theory, since you already have your own domain and hosting set up, you are not dependent on any particular content management system. You can choose Drupal or Joomla, for instance, as an alternative to WordPress – they’re also free and have many strong points.

However, I’ll be sticking to WP in this guide, as it is by far the easiest one to learn for beginners – based on my experience of working with each of them at some point.

..Alright, enough chit-chat, time to roll up our sleeves again. Log in to the Hostinger account we’ve created in the previous step (you will see a list of products) and click the button to manage your hosting.

This will bring you to your hosting administration panel – the central hub for managing your hosting and domain settings. The panel also contains software which will help us quickly install the blog engine of our choice. To launch the auto-installer, click on the icon that looks like a computer screen with a yellow lightning – it should be located in the “Website” section:

Once inside the auto-installer interface, click on the WordPress logo (the “W”) or type “wordpress” into the search field if you don’t see it right away.

The application will guide you through three easy steps:

  1. First, you will need to choose the default address of your new WordPress install – just choose your domain, that’s what we got it for, remember? This will be your blog’s home page.
  2. Second, you will be asked to input the username and password for the blog’s administrator account, as well as an email address for cases when you need to restore access. Use your real email and, for the love of Buddha, don’t set obvious things like “admin” and “12345” as your username and password! I know you’re better than that. There are tons of hackers around just waiting for new blogs with simple passwords, don’t let it be yours.
  3. Third, you will be able to set the language of your new blog’s admin panel as well as its title. Don’t spend too much time here, as you will be able to change any of this very easily later on, from the WordPress admin panel. When you’re ready, click on the friendly green “Install” button..

..and watch as the magical fairies work hard to install WordPress for you. When they finish their work, you will be shown a table with relevant information and links for your new blog:

You can click on the black “WP Admin” button to open your WordPress admin panel. Alternatively, you can add “/wp-admin” at the end of your website’s domain name (for example, domain.com/wp-admin) in your browser’s address bar to enter the admin panel at any time.

That wasn’t too hard, was it? You now have a fully functional blog management system ready for your awesome content. Before you start writing, however, it is worth taking a quick tour around WordPress and adjusting some settings right away:

Step 3 of 4: Configuring Your New Blog

When you visit the WordPress administration panel you will see a black menu on the left side of the screen – it contains everything you need to manage your blog. Not all menu sections are equally useful for beginners, so we will be going only through the most important ones:

The first two sections we will discuss are Posts and Pages, which are both used for creating the most basic forms of content in the WordPress core. What’s the difference, you might ask?

Pages are for content that doesn’t tend to change much over time, like a “Contact Us” page, while posts are envisaged for periodic entries, like news, updates, or (yes, you guessed it) blog posts.

WordPress automatically aggregates your posts into a single timeline which is confusingly called the blog posts page. Technically, though, it’s more of an archive – not a static page but a collection of posts, usually displayed in a reverse-chronological order (in other words, what people normally envisage when they think about a “blog”).

To really bring home the difference between posts and pages in WordPress, here’s a little table highlighting some of the important distinguishing points:

Posts Pages
Together comprise the blog archive Stand-alone content linked via site menu
Published on a specific date Static content
Typically have an author Author is not important
Usually allow commenting Comments are usually disabled
Tend to have uniform layout Layout of each page tends to be unique
Used for periodic, time-sensitive content like blog posts, news, and opinions Used for time-independent content such as “about”, “contact”, etc.

Next up in the WP admin menu is the Comments section, which is quite self-explanatory: it contains all comments which visitors leave on your blog posts. It also lets you moderate them – to edit, approve, remove or mark as spam any new or old comment.

The following two admin menu sections highlighted in the picture above – Appearance and Plugins – deal with the visual and functional aspects of the website, respectively. We will talk more about those two in the next step of our guide, when we choose the blog’s template as well as install some useful extensions.

Finally, there’s the Settings section, which (surprise!) contains all the high-level settings that affect your entire blog. There are four sub-sections here that are worth visiting right away and making sure all options are set according to your preferences. Here are some quick tips:

Settings → General: this sub-section collects the most basic settings, like your blog’s language and time format, as well as the site title field we skipped over in the final step of the auto-installer earlier in this guide.

Settings → Reading: here you can control how your blog is displayed and how many items it should show per page. This group of settings is an important one, as it determines whether your website’s front page will display the blog (i.e. the posts archive) or a static page (for example, information about yourself and an intro to the blog).

Settings → Discussion: while this sub-section might look frustratingly complicated, most options here are good as defaults. The only item which I definitely recommend revising is the “Before a comment appears” checkbox: make sure the “Comment must be manually approved” is active, because otherwise you will quickly start getting an unmanageable amount of comment spam.

Settings → Permalinks: nothing much here, just make sure the URL structure is set to anything other than the first option so that your visitors can use human-friendly addresses for your posts and pages, like blog.com/post-name instead of blog.com/?p=42. I personally usually go for the “post name” (the penultimate option) because it results in the cleanest URLs.

And that’s it for the WordPress introduction tour! You will no doubt find and adjust more settings as you go along, but what you’ve read above is the bare minimum that allows you to get started without scratching your head too much.

Step 4 of 4: Choosing a Theme and Installing Plugins

Remember I was all exultant about how WordPress offers tons of extensions and customization options? Here are some figures to back this up: there are to date more than 50,000 (that’s fifty. thousand.) free plugins in the official WP repository, as well as some 3000+ themes.

Just take a second for that to sink in. If you started testing one WordPress plugin per day, you still wouldn’t be finished after 135 years! And these are only the free ones from the wordpress.org repository – apart from that there are thousands of premium plugins out there on marketplaces like Envato.

Given the ludicrous number of options, people tend to encounter choice overload when it comes to looking for the right WP themes and plugins. That’s why we will only mention one (multi-functional) theme and just a couple of the most universally useful plugins. The rest will be up to you to explore!

While we’re on the subject, why not shamelessly promote my own creation :P the theme is called Bento (version 2.0 now available), and its main goal is to be as flexible as possible, accommodating any personal preferences of the owner of a particular blog.

The theme allows adjusting every imaginable parameter of your website, from the colors of each element to layouts that are automatically mobile-friendly. And it’s free and open-source! Here’s the official page (it’s on the same domain as this article):

Get Bento theme for free ›

Bento is a result of more than 10 years of working with WordPress and building premium templates for clients. It has clean, future-proof code, detailed documentation as well as five-star support on dedicated forums.

/ end of self-promotion /

Moving on to plugins, below I’ve collected the essential ones that can be helpful for the majority of beginner bloggers:

  • Google Analytics Dashboard for keeping track of your blog’s visitors: where they come from, how long they stay and what they do while on your website.
  • All in One SEO for making your blog even more attractive to search engines. The most important settings it lets you manage are the meta title and description for each page and post – which is exactly what Google uses for displaying its search results.
  • Akismet for preventing comment spam: just install this baby and let it do its thing. Its algorithms are so good these days that you will hardly ever see a dodgy-looking comment anymore – they will all get quietly filtered out into the “Spam” folder.
  • WooCommerce if you decide to start selling stuff on your website. It deserves its own guide so here we will just say it’s by far the most popular and extendable e-commerce plugin worldwide.

And now we are done for real! There is much to explore when it comes to the WordPress ecosystem, and you will no doubt make many exciting discoveries for yourself – but the toolkit provided in these four steps is really all you need to just start blogging.

Before we wrap things up, here are some follow-up recommendations based on collective experience. None of these is a must, strictly speaking, but all of them are essential for your website’s long-term well-being:

Step 4.5 of 4: Some Useful Tips

Remember back in Step 1 we skipped the paid backup and security features while buying a hosting account? Well, I do! And here’s where we are going to look at FREE alternatives that are at least just as good (probably even better):

Useful tip #1: automatic backups. You know how it usually works: until a website owner is forced to re-create their blog from scratch due to a malfunction or a hack, they rarely stop to think about backups.

Now that we’ve made it more obvious, I am sure you won’t wait for a disaster to happen – in this case all you need is one of free WordPress plugins that do automatic backups, for example UpdraftPlus. Its interface is quite intuitive, and it allows saving copies of your entire website on your server or in remote storage such as Google Drive (the latter is recommended because cloud storage is much more resilient than individual servers).

Useful tip #2: website security. While this is a vast topic all in itself, here I will just state two things that tend to be the reason behind some 80-90% of all website security breaches: software versions and the login procedure. The recommendations below cover both and will help you achieve maximum security with minimum effort.

To make sure your themes and plugins, as well as WordPress core itself, do not have any vulnerabilities that can be exploited by malicious agents, just make sure you are using the latest version of everything. As simple as that! You can check your admin panel for updates once a week (“Dashboard → Updates”) or set up automatic updates for everything if you feel you can handle some code – either way a fully up to date blog is a much more secure blog.

As for the login procedure, ensuring your username and password are complicated enough is the obvious first step. As an additional precaution, I recommend installing a two-factor authentication plugin such as this one – it will require an additional temporary code generated by your smartphone each time you login, which will make the entire idea of guessing your username and password quite meaningless for any hacker.

Making Money With Your Blog

People start blogs for various reasons, and earning income is just one of them – however, I’ve still decided to give it a separate chapter because a) it’s arguably the most difficult part and b) because it still potentially applies to every blogger.

In other words: even if monetization is not your priority, why not keep it in mind right from the start? After all who doesn’t like some extra cash? Especially passive income?

So in this part of the guide I will provide an overview of the most feasible ways of making money with your blog (all of which I’ve tried at some point, and some are still my major income sources):

Advertising: putting up image or text or video ads on your blog. This is probably the most “automatable” way of monetizing a blog – just insert a code snippet and watch your visitor traffic convert into cash. The catch? Ad conversions tend to be relatively low on the Internet: this means that you need a lot of incoming visitors for your ad earnings to amount to any sizeable sum each month. Some of the best platforms for bloggers who wish to start earning ad revenue are AdSense by Google and BuySellAds.

Affiliations: mentioning or even actively recommending certain third-party products on your blog, while earning commissions from each sale you refer via your tracking links. The key word in modern affiliate marketing is: quality. The more trustworthy and useful your blog, the more likely your readers are to follow your advice. There is a stand-alone guide on affiliation in our Webmaster Academy, so I will just refer you to it for in-depth information and tips.

E-commerce: aka selling stuff online. In some sense it is a more advanced version of affiliate marketing, because now you’re offering the goods and services directly on your website, instead of promoting somebody else’s. This means more things to worry about like inventory management, logistics, and taxation, but once you manage to get it going it can be a much more stable source of (recurring) income than any other method.

The Most Important Secret / Wrapping Up / Discussion

Half an hour ago you were just playing with the idea of starting a blog, and now here you are, a blog owner! This wasn’t that hard, was it? If you found this guide useful, I’ll go ahead and recommend sharing it on all your Google+ accounts as well as recommending it to anyone who wants to become a blogger. If you feel there’s something missing from the guide or you simply have a question, be sure to scroll down to the comments section and join the discussion.

Pardon? The important secret? Oh, that.. Well, nobody reads conclusion sections unless they have catchy titles like this.. But! I do have one universal piece of advice I would gladly give to my past self if I had the chance: creating an awesome blog takes time – not weeks, but months and months of work. Be patient and tenacious – the point when you want to stop is usually also the point when your efforts are most likely to bear fruit.

So keep reaching for the stars, and see you again on Satori Webmaster Blog!

06
Sep
2018

The Ultimate Review: Everything You Need to Know in 2025 + Best Deal Promo Code

☑︎ This review was last updated in July 2025

Hostinger is one of the most affordable options among the hosting giants today. But “big and cheap” doesn’t necessarily mean anything by itself –

⚓ Titanic was also big, and some of the tickets were quite affordable…

So instead of relying on marketing claims or crowd psychology, we decided to dig into real-world data and hands-on experience to see if Hostinger actually delivers.

Verdict summary: Hostinger is a strong contender in the value-for-money category, thanks to its low pricing, modern tools, and beginner-friendly options. Whether you’re building a small/medium business site or launching a personal blog, there’s a plan that likely fits.
Read expert review
Visit Hostinger website ›
Pricing: is it value for money? Read more
10/10
Servers: how fast and reliable is it? See data
7/10
Features: what do you get as a client? Details
9/10
Support: is it available and helpful? Find out
8/10

By the way, if you ended up here by typing hostenger, hosinger, or even hostiger into your browser — yes, you’re still in the right place 😄

We’ll walk you through everything you need to know about this hosting platform — and show you when it’s a great deal… and when it’s not:

How Big Is Hostinger?

To give you an idea of just how big Hostinger is, here are some figures: the company currently has over 3.5 million customers in 150+ countries.

And there are no signs of slowing down – according to their data, Hostinger is still expanding at a rate of 1 client every 5 seconds.

Hostinger facts

However, as you might expect, Hostinger hasn’t always been the international giant it is today. When it all started back in 2004, Hostinger grew out of a single idea:

People don’t want to pay for our marketing – just the hosting: simple, reliable, and as cheap as possible.

After many years, this principle still remains at the core of Hostinger, namely high-quality services at the most affordable price.

Let’s take a look at the offer:

Choosing the Right Hostinger Plan

As of 2025, Hostinger offers two main shared hosting options: Premium and Business.

Both include 1-click WordPress installation, free email, and a domain name — but they’re built for different needs.

Here’s a quick guide to help you decide:

  1. Are you launching a personal website or a small business project? Then the Premium plan is your starting point. It supports up to 100 websites, includes 100 GB SSD storage, and delivers excellent value for the price.
  2. Running an online store or expecting higher traffic? In that case, the Business plan is the better choice — it offers more RAM and CPU, WooCommerce-ready support, and comes with daily backups for peace of mind.
  3. Need full control and custom server setups? You’re probably looking for VPS hosting — with dedicated resources and root access for developers or advanced users.
  4. Building something big and want seamless scalability? Check out Cloud hosting – it’s the most powerful option in their lineup, combining guaranteed resources with premium uptime and load balancing.

TL;DR: Choose Premium for regular websites and blogs. Go with Business for e-commerce or heavier traffic. VPS and Cloud are best for custom setups and high-performance projects.

…Wait, but should I be choosing Hostinger at all? Ah, good, you’re still paying attention! In order to answer this question, we’ll need more data:

In the following parts of this review we will analyze Hostinger’s technical characteristics 🤓 as well as our own impressions from using this provider.

Let’s dive in!

Hostinger Uptime and Speed: How Reliable Is This Provider?

Apart from features and pricing, another extremely important criterion for choosing hosting is its stability – in other words, server uptime and speed.

To measure the uptime, or the proportion of time Hostinger’s servers are up and running, we can look at both self-reported and third-party figures.

The former are freely available on their server monitor page. It lists daily, weekly, and monthly statistics for all of Hostinger’s 150+ servers, which looks something like this:

Hostinger uptime

At the bottom of the table you can find the combined figures for all servers, which is what we’re interested in:

Look at the 30-day average to get the idea of how much time your website can be expected to stay offline within any given month.

As of July 2025 this figure is close to 99.9% – which implies that a hosted website should only experience about 42 minutes of downtime per month, which is a fairly normal result for most modern hosting providers.

This is also in line with 99.908% figure independently measured by Hrank, as well as within the bounds of Hostinger’s Service Uptime Guarantee – which is exactly 99.9% according to section 7 of their Hosting Agreement.

***

How about speed? This is a bit trickier, since it might depend on many different factors apart from the hosting provider’s hardware.

A web page’s loading time depends heavily on things such as the total size of images on the page, the number of active WordPress plugins, and other details that are not related to the hosting.

So it makes sense to conside only the response time – which is the average time (in milliseconds) it takes a server to respond to an incoming connection request (i.e. someone trying to access a website on that server).

According to third-party data by Hrank bots which , Hostinger’s average response time hovers around 800 ms:

Hostinger uptime

Hostinger’s average response time as measured by Hrank (lower is better)

In fact, it can be seen that Hostinger’s average response time has been declining (=faster websites) during the recent years, thanks in part to infrastructure upgrades.

Anything below 1000 ms first response time is a good result for a shared hosting provider, and Hostinger fares better than most other large international providers.

Alright, now that we’ve looked at the facts, let’s move from averages to our personal impressions:

Our Impressions from Using Hostinger

As we mentioned earlier, Hostinger has plans for just about any use case — but most users start with shared hosting, so that’s what we’ll focus on here.

After purchasing a plan (see below on who you can get the best deal), you’re taken straight into Hostinger’s custom-built admin panel.

This is where you’ll manage your hosting, domains, websites, and settings:

Hostinger dashboard

Unlike cPanel or Plesk, Hostinger’s dashboard is 100% their own creation — and honestly, that’s a good thing.

It’s clean, well-organized, and beginner-friendly without being dumbed down. Everything is laid out in tiles with intuitive icons, and there’s a top search bar to help you find any setting fast.

You can:

🖱️ launch a WordPress site with one click (literally),
⚙️ manage files and databases without leaving the panel,
📧 set up emails, cron, SSL, and caching in just a few clicks.

For most users, everything “just works” out of the box — which, let’s face it, is exactly what you want from a hosting provider in 2025.

In the age of artificial intelligence, Hostinger is not standing still either: there are plenty of AI-powered tools integrated directly into the setup:

  • AI Website Builder: a new AI-integrated WordPress theme that sets up your structure and homepage content automatically. It’s a huge time-saver, especially for beginners.
  • AI Content Assistant: within WordPress, you get access to Hostinger’s plugin that helps write blog posts and landing pages — optimized for SEO, and tailored to your site’s topic. The results can serve as good first drafts to break writer’s block.
  • AI Image Picker: Hostinger’s tools can automatically select relevant stock images based on your content. Not perfect, but again — very handy when launching fast.

If you’re starting from scratch, these tools can easily cut your build time in half ⏊

And if you’re already experienced, they’re still useful for wireframing or generating starter content to refine later.

Bottom line:

Hostinger’s admin interface and toolset strike a balance between beginner ease and pro-level flexibility — now with a dose of AI superpowers on top.

Speaking of AI, we can’t skip the new Horizons:

Hostinger Horizons: Next-Gen Website and App Builder

All major hosting providers offer some sort of AI-powered website builders (not to mention the actual site builders themselves) – but Hostinger is going one step further:

Hostinger Horizons is a new product that lets you create websites or even web apps based on a single prompt – think ChatGPT for web hosting.

We thought getting started with a website couldn’t get easier than what Hosting already offers, but we were wrong:

  1. Describe your idea: Simply tell the AI what you want to build – be it a website, a task manager, fitness tracker, or any other web app.
  2. Refine and edit: You can make live adjustments by chatting with the AI to tweak text, design, or functionality.
  3. Launch instantly: Deploy your site or app with a single click, complete with hosting and a custom domain powered by Hostinger.

“But there’s a multitude of recent startups offering website or app creation from text prompts” – an informed observer might comment…

Sure, but none offers the infrastructure, support, and (most importantly) 20-year track record of Hostinger.

Horizons is free to try for 7 days with 5 daily prompts. After that, you can choose between several plans depending on how many monthly prompts you need – from 50 on Explorer to 500 on Hustler:

Plan Prompts Best For Price
Explorer 50/mo Trying out Horizons, experimenting with ideas occasionally $9.99/mo
Starter

100/mo Students, beginners, or anyone just getting started $19.99/mo
Hobbyist 250/mo Freelancers, solo creators, and weekend project warriors $49.99/mo
Hustler 500/mo Startup teams, product builders, or anyone scaling an idea $99.99/mo

As with every AI powered product these days, the actual output quality may vary widely – and that depends a lot on your prompts :)

But the convenience and speed are hard to ignore –

You can now launch pretty much any kind of website or web service within hours or even minutes ⚡ without expensive developers or even having to know how to code!

Try Horizons for Free ›

This product will surely evolve further as the underlying tech progresses, so stay tuned as we update our review accordingly!

Let’s move on to the human side of things though:

Hostinger Customer Support

One of the most important aspects of any hosting provider is how they help you when things go sideways. So how does Hostinger perform?

Short answer: surprisingly well – especially considering how affordable the service is.

Hostinger offers 24/7 live chat support, available directly from inside your hosting dashboard (called hPanel). No need to send emails or open tickets — it all happens in real time, right where you’re managing your website.

Fun fact: Hostinger has phased out traditional email support in favor of fully focusing on live chat — which has significantly reduced response times.

During our recent tests:

  • We received our first replies in just a few seconds to 2–3 minutes, depending on the time of day.
  • The support agents were friendly, patient, and well-informed — even when we threw some technical curveballs at them.
  • Occasionally, they’ll send you a cheerful image (yep, even cat pics 🐈) while you wait — a nice touch.

In addition, Hostinger also provides a well-structured knowledge base, accessible from the “Help” section inside hPanel or directly from their website. It includes:

  • Step-by-step guides for setting up your site and managing your hosting account
  • Troubleshooting articles for WordPress, email, domains, performance issues, and more
  • Product explanations, service status updates, and feature breakdowns

Not a Hostinger customer yet?

You can still reach out using the contact form on their website — just keep in mind that priority is still given to logged-in users with active plans.

To sum up:

✅ 24/7 live chat directly inside hPanel
✅ Solid and easy-to-search knowledge base
❌ No phone support
❌ No standard email support

Overall, Hostinger exceeded our expectations when it comes to customer service — especially for a provider in this price range.

Refunds and Cancelling Your Hostinger Plan

Hostinger offers a 30-day money-back guarantee on most of their services — including shared hosting, VPS, and domain transfers.

There are a few caveats to be aware of:

  • New domain name registrations are only refundable within 96 hours (and not at all for certain TLDs).
  • Some items like domain renewals, privacy protection, or SEO toolkits are not eligible for refunds.
  • Crypto payments are non-refundable (but that’s pretty standard).

If you want to cancel your current items, go to your dashboard, search for Deactivate Account, and follow the steps. It’s fast and doesn’t require contacting support.

⚠️ Want to completely delete your entire account? You’ll need to ask support – and if you’re in the EU, mentioning GDPR will get it done faster.

Hostinger FAQ

Before we go on to summarize the strong and weak points on Hostinger, here’s a collection of the most frequent questions we’ve seen on the web and in our comments:

Is Hostinger really free?

No — Hostinger used to offer free hosting many years ago, but in 2025 all of their plans are paid. The good news is, their prices are still among the lowest in the industry.

Is Hostinger good for WordPress?

Yes. Hostinger offers 1-click WordPress installation, built-in LiteSpeed caching, and optional AI tools for content creation and site structure. It’s a solid pick for both beginners and experienced WP users.

Does Hostinger offer phone support?

No — Hostinger does not provide support via phone. Their support is handled entirely through live chat inside your hosting dashboard, available 24/7.

Is Hostinger reliable?

Yes — based on our monitoring and third-party tests, Hostinger maintains a 99.9% uptime with decent global response times. It’s not the absolute fastest, but it’s impressively reliable for its price.

Can I change my Hostinger plan later?

Sure. You can upgrade/downgrate between Premium to Business or even switch to cloud/VPS hosting anytime through your dashboard. Unused time on your current plan is credited automatically.

Does Hostinger offer email hosting?

Yes — all hosting plans include free email hosting. You can create branded addresses (like you@yourdomain.com) and access them via webmail or connect to Gmail/Outlook.

Can I try Hostinger risk-free?

Yes — there’s a 30-day money-back guarantee on most services. If you’re not satisfied, you can cancel from your dashboard and request a refund. No awkward emails required.

Pros and Cons of Hostinger

Now that we’ve examined Hostinger’s products and services, as well as customer support – let’s summarize the positive and negative sides. We’ll try to be as objective as possible:

  • Great value for money: competitive prices for all hosting packages – as Hostinger puts it, “you only pay for the hosting, not for the marketing”
  • Flexible offers for any kind of client – from individuals and small businesses (shared hosting) to large companies and professional programmers (VPS and cloud)
  • 99.9% uptime guarantee – in essence, Hostinger promises that your website will be available online all the time. The figure translates into a maximum of 44 minutes of downtime per month, which in practice is close to 0 minutes of downtime according to our tests.
  • You get a free domain name with your hosting purchase if you choose at least a 12-month package
  • Plenty of useful AI features such as site builder, content writer, and image picker
  • Fast support from a friendly, fast, and helpful team that are always ready to solve your problems 24/7
  • No phone support – the standard way to get support as a Hostinger client is to use the 24/7 chat
  • Not built for sysadmin-level control – if you’re looking for root access, custom stacks, or full SSH playgrounds — this isn’t Digital Ocean. Hostinger keeps things beginner-friendly by design, which means some advanced tweaks are off-limits on shared plans.

Before we finish this review with a conclusion and a verdict (should you use Hostinger?), here’s a step-by-step guide for getting an additional discount off your Hostinger purchase:

Bonus: Hostinger Promo Code

Now, we’re not arguing that you should necessarily choose Hostinger – but if you do decide to go with this provider, it’s nice to have an option to save even more on your order, right?

Just follow these simple steps:

  1. Visit the official Hostinger website using the button below (the link opens in a new tab):

    Get the best deal at Hostinger ›

  2. Choose any hosting plan you like (see our quick guide above) and proceed to the checkout page.
  3. On the right-hand side, look for the grey text that says “Have a promo code?” Click the link next to it to open the coupon field.

    Hostinger promo code example

  4. Paste the code below into the box:

    special15
  5. Click the “+” button to apply it. If everything went well, you’ll see a confirmation message and the discount will appear in your total.
  6. Congrats! You’ve just unlocked an even better deal on your hosting — now go build something awesome.

In case the promo code mentioned above doesn’t work in your case, let us know in the comments below – we’ll investigate and do our best to make sure you receive a functioning one.

Verdict: Is Hostinger Worth It?

Taking everything into consideration, should you use Hostinger for your next web project?

Based on 10+ years of using Hostinger, we can conclude that this brand is the very embodiment of value for money: you pay a very, very reasonable price for what you get – Hostinger just… works 🧘

It’s far from standing still either – rolling out better experiences and even more powerful tools every month.

Conclusion: Hostinger is one of the best options in 2025 if you want to balance simplicity, speed, reliability, and price.
Try Hostinger Risk-Free ›

For those who do decide to try Hostinger: don’t forget to check out our step-by-step guide on how to save extra on your first order.

***

Still having questions about servers, plans, support, etc? Or maybe you are already using Hostinger and would like to share your experience?

👇 Join the discussion in the comments section below, let’s help each other make informed decisions!

Affiliate disclosure: if you found this review helpful, please consider supporting our blog by using the links in the text to purchase Hostinger services. This does not affect the price you get on your Hostinger offer, but it does help us continue creating high-quality guides!