Expert Overview
Good company focused primarily on VPS hosting
KnownHost has been in business for a long time providing great services to their customers. While they do offer shared hosting and dedicated services, it is clear that their real focus is on VPS hosting. Specifically, they offer managed VPS packages.
From the appearance of their site, it seems that they only offer shared hosting to try to attract growing sites who will likely want to upgrade to VPS in the future. This is evident by the fact that the shared options aren’t featured on their home page. While dedicated options are clearly available, it is likely that they are only offering these because they don’t want to lose customers who have outgrown their VPS.
Whatever the case, this company does a great job at all levels, though anything other than a VPS may feel somewhat neglected.
Uptime & Reliability
Very stable hosting
KnowHost is a very stable hosting company, and the fact that they own their own data centers and servers allows them to ensure they have virtually no service interruptions. They guarantee 99.995% uptime, which is quite a bit better than most other companies can offer.
It is not immediately clear what happens if your site does have an outage, however, so this guarantee might not be as helpful as you would think. That being said, however, the current and former customers of this company seem to have had a great experience and haven’t made any significant complaints about downtime.
Features
Everythign you need included, extras available
No matter which of their packages you choose you will have everything you need included so you can get your site up and running properly. In addition, they offer some extra add-ons if you are looking for something extra. For example, you can choose to get cPanel, WHM, Plesk, Softaculous or other administrative features added to your account, for a monthly price.
They only have two shared hosting plans, both of which are fairly basic but will meet the needs of most customers. These plans are likely just popular with people who have a larger site and wanted to add another page with its own hosting.
Similarly, dedicated hosting comes with all the benefits you’ll be looking for, but there aren’t too many choices. If you need a high end dedicated server, you may want to opt for another host, but for most customers wanting a little more power and control, these options will be perfect.
Support
No 24/7 live support and some off shore services
KnownHost has great services, but when something does go wrong, you may run into some trouble. They don’t have 24/7 live phone or chat support available, which is unfortunate. While much of their technical staff is located in the US, they also use some offshore technicians, which many people won’t like.
Pricing
Good prices for VPS hosting
The prices for their managed VPS services are at or below what you would expect based on the specs that you’re getting. The fact that this company is so focused on VPS actually makes the deals even better, since you are getting access to experts in this area, without paying a premium.
Summary
Great hosting company focused on VPS services
This is a very good hosting company that is focusing their efforts on the VPS niche. Those who are looking for a high quality virtual private server will definitely find what they are looking for with KnownHost.
Pros:
- Company owns their own data centers
- Exceptional VPS services
- Strong reputation for stable hosting
Cons:
- Limited options outside of VPS hosting
- Technical support leaves a lot to be desired
