Last Update | May 2022

Monthly Update – May 2022

During May 2022, 20i Hosting:

• Announced a 50% discount on the first six months for its Reseller Hosting plans.
• Announced its offers for Web and WordPress Hosting for the first month.
• Didn’t report server issues.
• Announced its sponsorship of the Nottingham Digital Summit.
• Announced new services and upgrades for its Resellers.

20i is a hosting provider that specializes in reseller hosting, and promises fast cloud hosting, with WordPress integration, VPS, and domains. You can easily migrate your website here, and it promises to have top-of-the-line customer support.

After hearing so many good things about it, I simply had to test it out and see if it genuinely lives up to this reputation.

The main selling factor of 20i hosting is its speed, the My20i control panel, the in-house development, and UK-based support team.

Without much delay, let’s take a deep dive into 20i hosting and actually see what makes them special.

Getting Started with 20i

Setting up an account at 20i is actually quite a straightforward process.

All you really have to do is visit the website, and click on “View Plans”.

Now, here you can select between reseller hosting, web hosting, and WordPress hosting.

These are followed by the more expensive Unmanaged VPS hosting, Managed VPS Hosting, and Domain Names sections.

I’m currently interested in Web Hosting, so I’ll just start with that.

Here I’ll pick the Startup package, as this is the cheapest package available.

No matter what you choose, it’s just £1 for the first month, which is convenient.

Here you need to create an account. Keep in mind that all packages have a 30-day money-back guarantee.

Then you’ll need to send additional information.

This additional information includes:

• Individual or business
• Full Name
• Country
• Telephone
• Postcode
• Address Line 1
• Address Line 2
• Address Line 3
• City
• Country/State/Province

After entering all of the information required here, including payment information, you’ll receive a confirmation email.

You’ll also be prompted to enter additional information on your account.

After that, you can simply log in, where you will be greeted by the welcome screen.

Now, you need to buy a hosting package, and for this, I simply clicked on Web Hosting.

After which I entered my credit card info and clicked on “Checkout”.

They will need additional information, and you can provide it through a support ticket or live chat.

That took a minute.

And that’s all of the information you’ll ever have to send.

That’s all there is to it, I just sent the information they required and everything got unlocked instantly.

Setting Things Up at 20i

Okay so once you purchase a hosting package here’s how things will end up looking like on your home screen.

You have order services, including:

• Order Hosting
• Search for a Domain
• Transfer a Domain
• Order VPS
• Order Managed VPS
• Order SSL Certificates
• Order Domain Privacy

Followed by manage services, where you get:

• Manage Hosting
• Manage Domains
• Manage VPS
• Bulk Domain Management
• Pending Domain Transfers
• Domain Contact Validation

Support and Customer Services, including:

• 20i Support Database
• Contact Customer Services
• View Tickets
• Give Feedback
• System Status
• Getting Started

Marketing Resources and Guides, including:

• Product Guides
• Data Sheets
• White Label Marketing Copy

Reporting, including:

• Mailbox Usage
• Bandwidth Usage
• Disk Usage
• MySQL Database Sizes

Account Settings, including:

• Renewals
• Security Details
• Contact Details
• Payment Methods
• Account Credit
• Invoices
• Account Preferences
• Notifications
• Sub Users

Now, on the top left corner of the screen, click on Manage Services.

Then click on Manage Hosting or Order Hosting.

Here you’ll see your hosting options.

Since I purchased Startup Hosting, and I only purchased a single package of it, it’s showcased as “Startup Hosting (1/1)”.

Click on options followed by manage.

This is what is known as the My20i control panel.

It even has one-click installs on the bottom.

So, this is a lot to take in, and it can be a bit overwhelming at first, so let’s take an in-depth look at each and every one of these options individually.

CDN

Here you’ll have access to Edge Caching.

This is quite a unique feature, as it allows you to control how your content is delivered across the globe. The more content that is cached, the faster your website will be, regardless of the location of the visitors.

Followed by Web Optimization.

Web optimization allows you to automatically apply web performance best practices in order to optimize your website and in turn, improve the speed of your page.

Additionally, you have Block Visitors.

You can even block visitors by country, or by IP addresses, which is a neat feature to have.

Followed by Statistics.

The statistics tab allows you to monitor traffic to your site across the content delivery network, which showcases the bandwidth, hits, SSL hits, errors, and geographic distribution.

Now since I just set up my website, this table is empty. However, I’m sure that over time it will grow as my website grows.

Web Files

In the web files tab, you get a wide assortment of features, let’s go through them one by one.

File Manager

The file management tab lets you browse throughout all of your folders and files, allows you to upload files, scans for malware, and showcases disk usage reports.

FTP Accounts

As the name might imply, this lets you create and edit FTP accounts for your hosting packages.

Backup/Restore

Here you can create backups, restore backups, and even review previous restores.

Timeline Backups

This is a menu through which you can restore timeline backup snapshots.

Web Builder

20i hosting uses the StackCP Website Builder in order to start building your website.

Simply select the domain or website you want, and click on install.

Here you can select a template.

You’ll see this message.

And that’s about it. I prefer WordPress.

File Permissions Checker

As the name implies, you can scan permissions through this menu.

That’s about it.

Email

Now in the email tabs, you aren’t compromised in any way by not using cPanel, as it has a large assortment of all of the features you’d find there as well.

These include email accounts, email forwarders, catch-all forwarders, autoresponders, send-only addresses, receive-only addresses, junk mail filters, webmail, email summary, email migration, and DomainKeys (DKIM).

Web Tools

This menu gives you access to a lot of useful web tools, and it honestly left me surprised, in a good way.

phpMyAdmin

This lets you manage your databases through phpMyAdmin. 

MySQL Databases

You can create additional MySQL users that can access your databases here.

Remote MySQL Access

Here you can allow for remote MySQL access, as it is blocked by default for security reasons.

Change PHP Version

This is a simple menu that allows you to change the PHP versions.

PHP Configuration

Here you can manage your PHP configuration.

Scheduled Tasks

As the name implies, you can schedule tasks here.

Redirects

You can create website redirects.

Sitemap Generator

Here, a bot can crawl your website and generate an XML sitemap of pages that are accessible. It will obey all robots.txt restrictions.

Custom Errors

This will allow you to create custom errors.

Domain Names

Here you can create domains, subdomains and manage the DNS.

Security

Here you have access to a lot of security options.

SSH Access

This menu lets you manage SSH access to your workspace. You can use key-based authentication or a password with two-factor authentication.

Hotlink Protection

Hotlink protection can prevent another websites from directly linking to your files.

SSL/TLS

Through this menu, you can manage and install all of your SSL/TLS certificates.

Password Protection

Here you can protect any directory on your website with basic HTTP authentication. When you visit a password-protected directory, your browser will prompt you for a username as well as password.

Directory Indexing

Directory indexing controls what happens when a request is made to a directory without a default index file.

Malware Scan

Your website is automatically scanned every day, and any previous scans that have found signatures are shown here.

Logs and Stats

Here you have access to a wide array of stats.

AWStats

This is managed by StackCP.

Webalizer

The same can be said about this feature as well, as yet again you’ll need to Sign in to StackCP.

Access/Error Logs

When it comes to the access and error logs, they can be seen here.

Bandwidth Usage

In this menu, you’ll be fully able to review your bandwidth graphs.

One-Click Installs

You can install a wide range of apps through scrips, by using this feature.

As a test, let’s install WordPress.

Once you click on it, you’ll be able to select a domain and directory.

Click on “Install WordPress” and get yourself a coffee, as this will take a few minutes.

That’s all there is to their custom in-house built panel.

Uptime and Speed

An important thing to note here is that most of their servers are located in the UK.

Obviously, testing it from a UK-based server, I saw excellent results with under 200ms loading, however, When we move to the US for example, can go up to 800ms. Google recommends 400ms, so it’s extremely decent. The page would load from 0.7 seconds up to 2.8 seconds depending on where it was loaded from. This could vary due to the differences in content though.

Pricing of 20i

Pricing is consistent and easy to understand, and this is one of my favorite aspects of 20i hosting.

One thing that’s consistent throughout almost all packages is the fact that the first month is only £1.

Reseller Hosting

This starts at £1 a month, and then it’s just £34.99 per month.

Web Hosting

In terms of web hosting, you have three packages.

• Startup starts at £4.99 per month.
• Premium starts at £8.99 per month.
• Business starts at £12.99 per month.

WordPress Hosting

When it comes to WordPress hosting, you also have three packages.

• Personal starting at £5.99 per month.
• Professional starting at £14.99 per month.
• Unlimited starting at £34.99 per month.

Unmanaged VPS

These plans can get tricky, as you can customize everything. You have both the usual price and reseller price, depending on what you need.

• 1 core, 1 GB of ram, 25 GB of memory, and 100Mbps – £9.99 per month.
• 2 cores, 2 GB of ram, 50 GB of memory, and 100Mbps – £14.99 per month.
• 4 core, 4 GB of ram, 75 GB of memory, and 250Mbps – £24.99 per month.
• 6 core, 8 GB of ram, 100 GB of memory, and 500Mbps – £49.99 per month.
• 8 core, 16 GB of ram, 200 GB of memory, and 1000Mbps – £79.99 per month.
• 10 core, 32 GB of ram, 400 GB of memory, and 1000Mbps – £199/99 per month.

Managed VPS

Here you get three main packages in the standard spec.

• 2 Core starts at £17.49 per month.
• 4 core starts at £24.99 per month.
• 6 core starts at £44.99 per month.

As well as two more packages in the higher spec.

Domain Names

• 8 Core starting at £59.99 per month.
• 10 core starting at £124/99 per month.

In terms of domain names, the pricing goes as followed:

• For .co.uk domains, it’s £5.99 per year.
• For .com domains, it’s £9.99 per year.
• For .net domains, it’s £9.99 per year.

Level of Support at 20i

On the support tab, you’ll see the most commonly asked questions, as well as customer services, system status, and feedback.

Let’s click on customer services.

Here you can contact customer services.

To test out their customer support, I’ll cancel my account and ask for a refund. Sure, it’s not a large amount, but someone might jump in with a high amount from the very start, so I need to ensure that everything works as advertised.

Click on hosting packages, select the domain, and select your reason.

You can also click on create a new custom support ticket.

Here you can describe everything.

Click on Create Ticket and that’s about it.

Overall, this was a simple and straightforward experience.

Security and Backups

20i provides users with SSH Access, Hotlink Protection, SSL/TLS, Password Protection, Directory Indexing, and Malware Scan when it comes to security. But that’s not where it ends. You can also benefit from WordPress security plugins, SSL certificates, and DDoS protection.

As a user, you can protect your WordPress Admin login using security questions, two-factor authentication, strong password generators, and Limit Login attempts with StackProtect.

To protect your database, you can also use backups. 20i provides automated backups for its WordPress hosting users. Furthermore, customers can create backups on demand quickly and easily through the control panel in the 20i account. As for 20i Reseller users, they can set up timeline backups.

Monthly Updates

During April 2022, 20i Hosting:

• Announced the winners from the 20i FOSS Awards.
• Announced that Timeline Backups Pro is now available to its Resellers.
• Updated PHP to versions 8.0.17 and 8.1.4, and Python to versions 3.9.11 and 3.10.3.
• Didn’t report server issues.
• Added a new library of technology company logos for Resellers.
• Announced that its WordPress hosting was classed as “Top Tier” by Review Signal.
• Announced that a new domain “.loan” is available, with a 20% discount for Resellers.

During March 2022, 20i Hosting:

• Didn’t report server issues.
• Announced that it now runs on 100% renewable energy.

During February 2022, 20i Hosting:

• Announced that it updated PHP to its latest versions 8.0.15 and 8.1.2.
• Didn’t report server issues.

During January 2022, 20i Hosting:

• Fixed issues with its Control Panel access.
• Announced that 20i Resellers using WHMCS can now choose their data center locations.
• Announced that it won one of HostingSeekers’ “Top 10 Web Hosting Companies 2021” awards.

During December 2021, 20i Hosting:

• Performed a scheduled maintenance.
• Announced that the new WordPress 5.9 is due in January, 2022.
• Announced their latest customisable Christmas cards for their resellers.

During November 2021, 20i Hosting:

• Performed a schedule maintenance
• Introduced two new domains
• Were nominated for the Hosting Services category in the WP Weekly awards
• Introduced four new OS for its VPS

During October 2021, 20i Hosting:

• Didn’t report server issues

During September 2021, 20i Hosting:

• Opened its first data center in the USA

During August 2021, 20i Hosting:

• Introduced Multi-Site Hosting for StackCP Users, the Platform Transfer tool, easier bulk hosting management, created a UI to control security headers, made ‘boilerplate replies’ and email sub addressing available, split multi-domain packages, UI refreshes, and new domains
• Didn’t report server issues

During July 2021, 20i Hosting:

• Added Monster VPS in both Managed and Unmanaged varieties; introduced new one-click Maintenance Mode; expanded its free global CDN; set junk filters for individual email accounts; upgraded the website builder; introduced a new domain, one-clicks, and PHP; reseller exclusives; updated and expanded their white-label marketing copy; etc.
• File Manager was not loading

During June 2021, 20i Hosting:

• Introduced a default PHP version for all new packages
• Added the latest versions of Ubuntu and Fedora
• Made their ‘Manage Domains’ page in My20i easier to use (manage contacts, nameservers, renewals, and labels all in one place and bulk)
• Introduced a brand new cloning feature
• Received the title ‘Top Tier’ WordPress host in Review Signal tests

During May 2021, 20i Hosting:

• Didn’t issue any new features or updates
• Didn’t report server issues
  

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Summary

Overall, this is an excellent reselling hosting provider, and it shows that that is their main priority. As mentioned, you get discounts on just about everything if you decide to opt-in for the reseller plan, which is excellent. They incentivize you to become a reseller through competitive pricing, and that’s always a plus.

When it comes to the main hosting services themselves, as a user of this hosting provider you’re still getting quite a lot and can host your websites with ease. They offer competitive packages, hardware, and pricing, and it’s an excellent experience throughout. The Custom My20i Panel is a joy to use as well, and it shows that love and care went into its development.

Overall, I would recommend this specifically for people looking for reselling hosting providers, as well as newcomers just getting into the world of hosting that want to host their first blog.