HostUpon Review

Introduction

HostUpon is based in Ontario, Canada, with data centres and headquarters in Toronto. They offer various hosting options that include shared hosting, dedicated servers and VPS hosting. Many of you must have noticed they advertise WordPress hosting as well. However, I have not included it in this review and will let you know its reason shortly.

We will have an in-depth discussion on our experience as we spent many months testing its performance, features, and technical support team. I had a positive and pleasant experience with HostUpon. However, there are a couple of concerns that we would like to discuss to help you make an informed decision.

The biggest disadvantage that they face is having one data centre, unlike most Canadian hosts that have multiple data centres across the country and the globe at large. If the data centres are closer to your target visitors, they will experience a faster loading speed. Our test proves that HostUpon has optimized and powerful servers, thus overcoming this disadvantage.

The entire review is completely based upon our experience, and the test was conducted utilizing a live website.

Features

Our Rating 4.5 out of 5

HostUpon has some impressive features – but not perfect.

Essentials & Bonuses – Budget plans have no SSL

I worry when I hear a hosting company boasts of offering unlimited features because, most likely, there is always a catch. That is exactly the situation with HostUpon. Let us look at what’s missing;

The Premium Plan, one of the most expensive plans, has no SSL certificate. This can be particularly frustrating as I don’t see a reason why any host can’t offer an SSL certificate for free. It doesn’t cost them a cent.

Comodo SSL certificate and Let’s Encrypt (Free)- HostUpon has decided not to support these features even though they are available. I agree you can go ahead and manually install them; however, one should not have to bare all the technical stress of getting it done. Don’t forget, manual renewal has to be done once in ninety days.

This means that you will need to purchase an SSL at checkout; you can also go in for the Premium plan, which costs three times more than the Starter plan. Well, this is just not cool! This contributes to a couple of points deducted from their overall score.

Unlimited Bandwidth and Storage

We have noticed that they are very generous with bandwidth and storage. However, you need to follow a fair usage of the service’s terms and policy, allowing HostUpon to restrict the account in case of excessive use of storage. Nevertheless, it is better than a few Canadian companies that limit the storage space of an entry-level package to 2 GB.

The bandwidth usage is not restricted to a usage policy; however, they can at anytime constrain the use if it is having a bad impact on the other sites that are sharing a similar server. But, of course, that is going to happen only if suddenly your site goes viral, attracting hundreds of visitors.

Website Transfer for Free

If you have hosted your website with another hosting company, you can now utilize the Free Website Transfer that HostUpon provides. However, the transfer might be an issue if the current host is using a control panel that’s not compatible with cPanel.

However, in the majority of the cases, we have noticed the site is transferred with minimum downtime. To avail of this service, you must fill a form mentioning all the login details of your current host. They will get it done for you as soon as possible.

Premium Plans – Premium Backups

Premium backup is available only with the Premium plan, similar to the SSL. With this feature, your site will be backed up every night, and it is saved for one week. After a week, the backup is overwritten.

So in case, you are tweaking your site, and there is an error, no need to panic. You can go back to a point from the past week and start over. It allows you to restore individual folders and files.

All the backups are saved off-site to keep all your information safe in the event of an unforeseen accident. You can be at peace that all your data can be retrieved from the off-shore site.

Imunify360 Security

HostUpon on all their shared servers use this feature of an advanced system. Imunify360 is a combination of malware scanning, advanced web app firewall, site reputation management and intrusion detection. It offers protection from various malicious traffic around the clock.

So, if a malicious user or bot tries to use your site, Imunify360 will block it.

Beginner-Friendly

We never faced any roadblocks while signing up, and the entire process was straightforward. First, however, I would like to point out a couple of things in this segment.

To begin with, HostUpon claims to have a page for WP hosting and have servers that are optimized for WP plans. We had a look at it, and it is similar to standard hosting packages. You can sign-up from any page – you will end up with the same hosting.

Second of all, HostUpon uses a very common trick of automatically selecting add-ons and hope during check out you will pay for the features you may never use. So if you don’t watch sharp, you will end up paying extra for things you may not want.

Here it can be for the domain name privacy, which should be provided for free with every .ca domain name that is registered by users that are Canadian, as it isn’t issued in the WHOIS directories.

It isn’t very reassuring to learn that HostUpon is just like the others that automatically select add-ons for their users at checkout.

They have plenty of add-ons made available; however, before you can purchase one, be sure that you need it. Also, check if getting the Premium plan would be cost-effective as they have two add-ons from a total of five.

HostUpon provides multiple paid add-ons; decide wisely.

Using cPanel and Managing the Account

To help you manage your account with things like support, billing, domains and services, HostUpon utilizes the very user-friendly and popular WHMCS dashboards. Unfortunately, HostUpon has disabled a couple of WHMCS features, so you would notice certain features are not available if you used to use this dashboard.

I have no clue why they would disable certain features like cancellation requests.

If your want to manage the webspace, set up an email address and install apps, HostUpon offers cPanel to help you with it.

As soon as you log in, you will notice the multiple icons that could get overwhelming for some, but it is simple to use. If you’re a beginner, you may need to refer to the knowledge base. The panel has various icons that would take you to tools that we have never had to use in the twelve years of hosting sites, so don’t get nervous about it.

Installing WordPress and Connecting Domain

Your WordPress site will be set up and live in a few minutes, all thanks to Softaculous. If you choose to sign-up with HostUpon, the primary domain is linked to the webspace. Now, the installer has a domain; you need to select it in order to install WordPress.

HostUpon provides the Softaculous Install Now icon for a quick WordPress installation. Your installation can be configured with advanced options; however, many have found the default setting to be alright.

Performance

Our Rating 4.9 out of 5

Excellent Load Times and Almost Perfect Uptime

Excellent performance from a web host is arguably a very vital aspect while selecting a web host to meet your requirements. Therefore, we have invested plenty of time to test HostUpon in terms of uptime and load times.

Slow loading speeds will keep your visitors away from your site. This can have a negative effect on the SEO ranking of your site. Using various tools, we ran multiple tests, multiple times in a day and on multiple days to get accurate results.

HostUpon secures the second place in terms of speed on our list; they delivered 1.4 seconds load speed. To put this to context, the loading time recommended by Google has to be within three seconds. Therefore, HostUpon is well within the range. Furthermore, you can consider them very reliable as they delivered 99.99% uptime during the monitoring period.

Let’s take a look at the technical details, but before we do that, let me explain how we tested the web host. Here’s a quick summary;

The process remains similar for every host, the only difference being the plan we sign-up for.

We bought the Starter (basic) plan and installed WP. We have a SimpleShift customized one-page site theme. We utilize it to get exact performance results. Most reviewers use almost blank WP installation; this is not going to get you accurate results. It is created to replicate a landing page of an ecommerce site or more like a demo site.

It has HD images that are non-optimized, forms, buttons, and texts, very similar to a site you may have. We wanted to see if technical support would advise on the non-optimized images.

The website was available online for more than three months as we continued to perform tests. The test site looked more like a usual site with all the required elements to get useful results.

GTmetrix

This testing tool is one of our favourites as it offers abundant information that includes performance scores and loading speeds.

As mentioned earlier, they achieved a decent 1.4 seconds loading time, and on multiple occasions, they have achieved 0.9 seconds loading times. 1.9 seconds was the longest time the website took to load. There were a few times when they got a full-load time that was within a second.

When we look at performance, PageSpeed is essential because it is a metric created by Google that helps measure site optimization. The PageSpeed score has to be within 75-76%. HostUpon did well by exceeding over 13%.

Sucuri Tester – Load times

The results were a clear sign of outstanding performance, as the Sucuri screen was all lit with green. In addition, we used the Sucuri Tester to check Loading Time and to measure the performance of HostUpon within Canada and multiple locations worldwide. So far, I can say these were excellent results we have seen in present-day Sucuri testing.

The grade A performance and sub-second load time is a clear indication that your target users can be based anywhere on the globe; your site will load quickly.

Uptime Robot

HostUpon offers Uptime that is almost perfect. However, speed is not the only factor that contributes to good Uptime, the host must also be reliable.

Many-a-times hosts deliver amazing load times but not great Uptime and vice-versa. So along with loading times, HostUpon has provided good uptimes too. We monitored HostUpon Uptime using UptimeRobot.

Let’s put the results into perspective; the minimum Uptime we expect from a good host is 99.99%. So in a month, you can expect downtime of 43 minutes.

Support

Our Rating 4.9 out of 5

Good support

HostUpon has an incredible response time, and their team is available around the clock. Unfortunately, we have seen many hosts that keep their customers waiting for long periods. However, HostUpon had a response time of a few minutes.

You can reach out to them through live chat, ticket and phone. On three occasions, we connected with the technical team. The experience wasn’t alike with all three reps. However, we had a good experience every time.

There was one instance when we reached out for help with installing WordPress. We never got a detailed response, but they gave us the information we needed. It took under four minutes to receive the response.

We also came across issues while installing themes because, in the PHP setting, the size of the file exceeded the upload limit. This issue was resolved by HostUpon within an hour. The agent I was in touch with went the extra mile and told me how to handle the issue if it ever occurs in the future.

Finally, I encountered the team when I wanted to learn how can I optimize my WP site. The executive who helped me began accessing the WP dashboard to install and then set up the caching plugin – LiteSpeed; we were totally impressed with the service.

Of the many hosts that we have encountered, the executives barely give you a couple of points to jot down and sometimes they were of no help. It was very refreshing to have changes implemented.

Even though the fix just involved making a few changes to the site, it did take one hour for the executive to complete it. The executive not only advised but also set up things for us.

For all pre-sales queries, we used live chat, and we had an amazing response time. In addition, I checked at various hours of the day and night and found the live chat always available.

Pricing

Our Rating 4.5 out of 5

Starter Plans are Budget-friendly

The starter plan of HostUpon is the cheapest hosting plan out of most of the Canadian companies we have tested. But, as discussed earlier, you may have to pay an extra fee for site backups and SSL certificates.

If you take a closer look at the cost of both the add-ons, it is 3x more than the starter package by itself for twelve months. So if you sum it up, I think it is a better idea to go in for the Premium plan because it seems to be cost-effective. In addition, it has the backup service and SSL included, and it offers a four-times performance boost.

So, all in all, it isn’t as cheap as it may first seem, it’s disappointing as it really does well with other things.

HostUpon manages to provide added value over many Canadian competitors. The major reasons are the bandwidth allowances, generous storage, and site migration service. You don’t mind paying the extra for the excellent performance.

They accept all credit cards and PayPal; they also have a 30-days refund policy. The domain fee will be charged to the refund amount if cancelled within the initial 30 days. Domain registration is not covered under the refund policy.

Cancellation of Account

As stated earlier, the WHMCS dashboards have certain functions disabled by HostUpon, and a cancellation request is one of the few. Unfortunately, we have used this request many times in the past for other hosts, so it means that cancellation with HostUpon is going to be a lengthy process.

You must raise a support ticket mentioning the reason for cancellation. Ensure you turn off the auto-renewal for the domain name because it is not set to expire upon cancellation automatically. You will get a confirmation for the same in a couple of minutes.

HostUpon – Things we like

HostUpon has been hosting thousands of sites around the world but especially to Canadians. They have managed to maintain great customer service, excellent performance and a support team that’s available 24×7. Over the years, they have been able to give their customers cost-effective service.

Data Centre Locations

They may not have data centres across the globe, but they do have them in key locations like Texas and Seattle in the US and Toronto in Canada to give their users good loading time. As we have discussed in the segment earlier, no matter where the customers are based, HostUpon delivers great speeds.

Free Domain Transfer/Registration

We are glad to see they value their customers and offer them a free Domain Transfer and Registration. Although I must say, it has become a norm in the business that you get a free domain name on purchase of the hosting account.

Site Migration

It is a grand gesture for a company to offer a helping hand with migrating the site and that too at no additional charge. If you are looking at switching host, you can be sure to get good service from HostUpon.

Unlimited Email Accounts and MySQL Databases

Many websites don’t need more than 1 or 2 databases, less than twelve email addresses. However, if you would require more than this, you don’t need to stress; they got your back.

Website Builder

Today many are creating their site using WordPress; for newcomers who want to build something very simple, HostUpon has a website builder.

Refund Policy

If you have read up on other hosts in the market, you must have noticed it is common to get a 30-days refund of all your money, and this is especially in the America. Now Canada has started the same as well. So if you are unhappy with the host, you can request a refund in the initial 30-days of your subscription. After that, you can be sure to get a full refund.

HostUpon has a Local Server – How do we pay?

HostUpon is a decent option for Canadians that want to host their site in the country; however, they don’t have an option to make your purchase in CAD; this is something you must consider. However, overall I can say it is a good host for hosting small business sites or even personal sites if you are based in Canada.

Advantages

HostUpon offers an equal opportunity on the platform to attain success by providing the customer with excellent features and various starting benefits.

• Support hosting products like backup service and SSL certificate.
• Where ever applicable, they offer access to the server root.
• Access to WHM/ cPanel.
• Guaranteed Uptime of 99.9%.
• Softaculous Installer.
• Support for vanity nameservers and Private.
• You can connect with the support team via phone and live chat 24×7, 365 days.

Customer Support – Canadian

Whenever you have an issue and need to get it resolved, they have an in-house team that handles the queries swiftly. This gives HostUpon an edge over their Canadian competitors.

We have come across a couple of hosts that outsource the support service with a goal to pacify their clients instead of solving the issue. HostUpon offers economical solutions without cutting corners.

HostUpon has an extensive knowledge base for their customers, various videos and written tutorials as well. This is very beneficial for clients who prefer to try and fix the issue first instead of flooding the support team with multiple issues.

They have a team of experts that are always happy to help and offer assistance, they are also available around the clock via email ticketing and live chat. If you wish to call them, they are available from 9 am to 5 pm EST.

A Host that Cares

We find it very unique; HostUpon pushes for green and eco-friendly initiatives with their data centres and offices. The office appliances and hardware are all energy-efficient. This is encouraged with the office staff by providing telecommuting options, using recycling services and green-minded practices in the office.

Their eco-friendly practices are quite shocking if you consider the pricing points being so competitive in comparison to other hosting companies in the US that are not eco-friendly at all.

Hosting Products

To match the client’s requirements, HostUpon offers shared Hosting, Cloud Hosting and Dedicated Servers as well. Apart from the hosting assistance, they provide extra support with SSL certificates, backup service and domain name registration.

Shared Hosting

Their shared plans have cheap pricing and remain functional in a competitive market. They are not only competing with the local hosting companies, but they have offered prices that compete with larger American-based hosting firms.

They get an edge over the wandering clients, and the exceptional customer support keeps them in the business. Let’s take a look at the plans;

Starter Unlimited Plan

It begins with a monthly fee of $3.95 and offers many features like add-on domains, email accounts, MYSQL, unlimited bandwidth.

Business Unlimited

It begins with a monthly fee of $7.95 and provides all the features of the Starter Unlimited, but it also allows access to performance boost and SEO features.

Premium Unlimited Plan

This plan begins at a monthly fee of $15.95. It offers all the features from the Business Unlimited Plan and adds access to a premium backup service. This service, as discussed earlier, allows you to control the restoration request.

Reseller Hosting

If you have plans to start your own web hosting company, you might already know of the expenses involved, and trust me; it can get very expensive to start up. However, many hosting companies have realized that providing their shared package infrastructure to the customers so they can resell the service to digital marketers and web designers opens a new avenue for customers.

HostUpon supports the business model by utilizing the Reseller hosting packages.

HostUpon has categorized it in five tiers, beginning from the cheapest plan, RS-100 to top of the line, most expensive, RS-500. In addition, they offer various options, and seamless upgrades as the client’s business begins to grow.

The reseller’s plans are regular hosting plans with various hosting features that are fairly restricted and helps the reseller control and keep the client’s environment minimalized.

HostUpon has some unique default features that they offer to their customers that you will not commonly find with other hosts. For example, they provide a 100 percent White label platform and allow you to access firewalls systems that include LFD and CSF.

VPS Hosting

VPS is also called a Virtual Private Server; it is not like a shared server. If you go in for a VPS server, the server will be reserved exclusively for you. Multiple users will not share it. The customer and the website will privately use the VPS. This means they will not share any of their resources like Disk, RAM, CPU with anyone else.

When you need more control over the server environment, we suggest VPS as it is a step in the right direction. HostUpon offers excellent support and ensures a smooth transition to their VPS, and the process is handled smoothly.

A WHM/cPanel templates that are pre-installed includes; Mod_security, CSF firewall, Apache, MYSQL and PHP on the CentOS.

All the plans are scalable, you can reach out to the sales team, and the resources will be adjusted according to the requirement. It takes about 30 seconds to get the resources ready, and you will not face downtime. The entire process to upgrade is efficient and seamless.

The VPS package has five tiers that begin with VPS-20 that is available at a monthly fee of $49.95, and the top-level package VPS-150, at a monthly cost of $149.95.

Dedicated Server

The dedicated hosting offers total control on the server and the hardware too. They are not the virtual server but the IBM server set up at one of the data centres.

They offer WHM/cPanel template just like the VPS; it is pre-installed to help the new customer to start off as soon as possible. These servers are scalable. However, you can expect some downtime because these servers have server blades that are dedicated hardware and need a technician to get the upgrades done.

The starter plan is the D-50 that is available at a monthly price of $175. They provide five tiers of Dedicated Server Packages. Every upgrade adds Bandwidth, Disk Space and RAM.

Cloud Hosting

These packages by HostUpon are created with redundancy as the focus. It allows one website to load from various servers. In addition, these packages are designed for the greater availability of websites and web applications.

All the plans are scalable; this allows the user to upgrade or downgrade reactively. Their plans are offered in three tiers; the starter plan is Cloud-25, available at a monthly fee of $24.95; it has maximum restrictions when compared to the other two. We prefer the Cloud-50, which is an upgrade to Cloud-25, offering various unlimited features.

Review Recap

This review has discussed the economical prices and the support service that is based in Canada, these are very popular factors that contribute to the success of HostUpon. We can say this confidently because of the various user experiences and testimonials shared.

From a user’s point of view, the site has a very intuitive navigation. This feature has been very helpful as I never found myself in areas of the website left confused and lost.

The services and products were explained in such a way that a newcomer or a professional web admin could understand them with much ease. This gives you a good understanding of their customer philosophy; such a detailed and straightforward explanation would come from a company that cares about its customers.

We have seen many hosts that don’t bother to explain the fine details presuming their customers are well versed with hosting. This leaves the newcomers lost; that’s quite a shame.

Our Thoughts

I must agree that I’m not a fan of using the Unlimited term for disk space usage in shared hosting, but I understand it’s a competitive claim and many hosts make a similar claim. In addition, I felt it to be strange that Cloud hosting was concealed in the footer of the site.

Apart from a couple of small grievances, HostUpon has managed to demonstrate its capabilities in terms of offering dependable, local assistance to its clients while staying competitive with various hosting companies.        

We know that HostUpon is not perfect; we are still looking for the elusive ideal host. If you happen to find it, do let us know! You can also check our DreamHost review.

First, however, we need to see if their strengths outweigh the few weaknesses that we found. Well, HostUpon’s features, support and performance seem strong to outweigh the absence of backups and SSL certificates on the low-priced packages. They have great page loading speed not only in Canada but also worldwide.

There is one circumstance in which I would recommend you go in for another host, and that is if you are on a limited budget. If you consider the price of SSL and backups, HostUpon cannot be remotely considered as budget-friendly.

You can always consider an alternate host like Hostinger that provides low-pricing packages for simple site hosting. They also deliver very good performance from the servers that are close to Canada.

Do let us know your thoughts on HostUpon.