Web Hosting Buzz Review: Is The Buzz Better Than Reality?
Founded in 2002 with an eye toward affordable full-service hosting, WebHostingBuzz offers “Hosting to Get Excited About.”
Originally a small reseller, WebHostingBuzz has expanded its offerings and its scope, and now focuses on bringing its service-oriented approach to customers in the U.S. and the U.K.
Contents
Features
WebHostingBuzz has four levels of hosting: Shared, Reseller, Virtual Private Server (VPS), and Dedicated. All of their service plans rely on Linux-based servers except the Dedicated level, which also offers Windows servers for an additional monthly fee.
WebHostingBuzz splits its shared hosting into three plans: Buzz Light, Buzz Power, and Buzz Premier.
- Free domain name
- Unlimited* domains and sub-domains (single additional domain with Buzz Light plan)
- Unlimited* drive space (400 GB with Buzz Light plan)
- Unlimited* data transfer/bandwidth
- Unlimited* MySQL databases
- 99.95% uptime guarantee
- Support for Unlimited* email addresses and webmail. (IMAP And POP3)
- Free 24/7 customer support via email/phone/chat
- Dedicated IP address (included with Buzz Premier, optional with Buzz Light and Buzz Power; additional fees apply)
- Automatic daily server backups
- Softaculous one-click installer for adding applications and scripts
- cPanel user control panel
- Full support for:
- eCommerce (CubeCart, osCommerce, Zen Cart, Agora Cart)
- Secure Sockets Layer (SSL) certificate (requires dedicated IP and certificate purchase; additional fees apply)
- Integration with Gmail, Google Apps and Google Analytics
- PHP 5
- Ruby on Rails
- Secure Shell (SSH)
- Python
- Server-Side Includes (SSI)
- Perl
- Multimedia streaming
Shared hosting is covered by the WebHostingBuzz 45-day money-back guarantee and “price freeze” guarantee.
Reseller Hosting Features
Ready to host sites for your own customers? WebHostingBuzz offers four reseller plans (Reseller Light, Reseller Power, Reseller Premier, and Reseller Ultimate). These plans build on the offerings of the shared tier, expanded to support reseller capabilities.
- Free domain name
- Unlimited* domains and sub-domains
- Up to 150 GB of drive space
- Up to 15 TB of monthly data transfer/bandwidth
- All the other features of shared hosting plans
- A free domain reseller account
- Private name servers
- Blesta client-management software
- WHMCS licensing available (additional fees apply)
- Unlimited* cPanels for your customers (50 accounts with Reseller Light plan)
- A free billing system
- Bonus SEO tools to help boost your site’s ranking from the start
- Access to WHM as well as cPanel (for managing both your customer accounts/content and your site, respectively)
- Automatic and regular backups
- Custom error pages
- Ruby on Rails support (Reseller Premier and Ultimate only)
- Softaculous one-click installer for your customers
*As a rule, “unlimited” in the context of shared hosting generally denotes “limitless until you negatively impact server performance, at which point you may be billed or transferred to a more costly service tier.”
Reseller hosting is covered by the same 45-day money-back guarantee and price freeze as WebHostingBuzz’ other plans.
Virtual Private Server (VPS) Hosting Features
If you’ve outgrown shared hosting or simply need more direct control over your Web server, WebHostingBuzz has seven levels of VPS support ready to help. These plans are much more flexible and configurable than shared plans, but many services included in shared hosting are a la carte at this level.
- Your own virtual Linux server (six varieties of Linux are available), with:
- Full root access to your server for application installation/customization
- Up to 4 dedicated processor cores
- Up to 3.5 GB of dedicated RAM
- Up to 140 GB of storage space
- Up to 1750 GB monthly bandwidth
- Up to four dedicated IP addresses
- File Transfer Protocol (FTP) access for your server
- Secure Sockets Layer (SSL) certificate (requires dedicated IP; additional fees apply)
- Managed hosting is available (including consultation and server optimization) for an additional fee
- cPanel and Softaculous are available (additional monthly fees apply)
As with shared and reseller hosting, these plans offer upgrades for additional services. VPS hosting is covered by the 45-day money-back guarantee and price freeze as well.
Dedicated Hosting Features
If you’re ready for absolute control over, and total customizability for, your Web server, a dedicated hosting plan may be the perfect fit. WebHostingBuzz offers six dedicated plans (simply named Options 1, 2, and 3), split into two tiers by single and dual processors.
- Your own physical Linux server (Windows available for an additional monthly fee), with:
- All of the features and perks of the lower tiers
- Total root access for your server
- Four dedicated IP addresses
- Single or dual Intel® processors (Xeon™ E3 for single-processor plans; Xeon E5 for dual)
- Up to 64 GB of RAM
- Up to 4 TB of storage space, with a choice of software or hardware RAID
- Up to 10 TB of monthly traffic
- Managed hosting available (additional monthly fees apply)
- cPanel, WHMCS, Softaculous and other applications are available (additional monthly fees apply)
WebHostingBuzz covers its dedicated hosting plans with the same 45-day money-back guarantee and price freeze as its other hosting tiers. Service, application and resource upgrades (including additional bandwidth) can be added to your plan for an extra monthly fee.
Benefits Breakdown
The Good
With a very robust offering at the shared level and highly customizable options at the shared, reseller, and dedicated hosting levels, WebHostingBuzz is an affordable option for just about anyone looking for Web hosting.
The company’s outspoken dedication to outstanding customer service is well-supported by its 24/7/365 support via phone, email and Web (even for shared hosting), its 45-day money-back guarantee, and its price freeze (a nice, rarely-seen feature that will no doubt prove helpful when planning your hosting budget).
The shared hosting plans are stuffed with features that are add-on “perks” with other hosting providers, and are priced very favorably when stacked up against “bargain” providers. The VPS, reseller and dedicated levels are also priced competitively (although some a la carte features like managed hosting and additional application support may push some of the high-end plans toward the upper price limit).
Dedicated hosting plans have plenty of power, RAM and bandwidth, and the option to purchase improvements and extra resources gives you room to grow.
The Not-So-Good
With a strong focus on Linux servers, WebHostingBuzz charges a premium to configure your server for Windows support. If your site requires support for Windows applications, or you’re using application development tools like ASP.NET, be prepared to pay a bit more.
WebHostingBuzz offers a truly “exciting” value at the shared level, with support for cPanel, Softaculous and the usual “unlimited” resource allotment. But at the higher end, customers expecting managed hosting or included installations of these same applications may be surprised to find they’ll be paying just a bit more to add them to their plan.