GreenGeeks Review: Green Hosting For Everybody!

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GreenGeeks is an eco-friendly web hosting provider that doesn’t skimp on technology or performance. 

They purchase wind energy credits at a rate of 300% of the energy they consume. And they beat many big name hosts when it comes to server response speeds.

With a variety of hosting plans — including WordPress and Drupal options — domain names, dev tools, and a website builder, this green host is worth checking out. 

What’s their customer support like? Is there a money-back guarantee? How do they test against competitors?

Here are some important things to know before selecting this host.

Screenshot of GreenGeeks Hosting

What Is GreenGeeks?

As a host, GreenGeeks stands out in several ways:

  • Their dedication to being eco-friendly,
  • Their top-of-the-line technology and infrastructure, and
  • Multiple datacenter locations, many of which take advantage of cooler local temperatures to work more efficiently.

In addition, the company boasts around-the-clock support, a 99.9% uptime guarantee, and a 30-day money back guarantee. If you are looking for a solid, affordable hosting option, GreenGeeks is an appealing option you should consider.

Datacenters and Infrastructure

GreenGeeks has datacenters in Chicago, Phoenix, Montreal, and Amsterdam. These locations have a wide geographical spread, which helps customers’ sites load faster.

All datacenters feature a dual-city power grid, battery back up, and onsite diesel generators, which help ensure server uptime. They also provide fire suppression systems and are monitored 24/7.

What Is Eco-Friendly Hosting?

If being green is important to you or your organization, GreenGeeks should be at the top of your list.

But what exactly is green hosting and does GreenGeeks actually live up to their eco-friendly claims? Or is it just another buzzword thrown around by a host desperate to stand out?

GreenGeeks Green Power partnership

Carbon Credits

Green hosting refers to hosting companies who use renewable energy to directly power their datacenters or purchase carbon credits to offset their energy usage.

For customers concerned about the environmental impact of hosting, this can be a critical deciding factor.

GreenGeeks stands out among green hosts because they offset energy usage by 300% — which means they fund renewable energy at three times the rate they use it.

EPA Green Power Partner

According to their website, this makes them the world’s most environmentally responsible hosting company.

They are also recognized by the Environmental Protection Agency as an EPA Green Power Partner.

Video: GreenGeeks explains how their green hosting helps the environment.

Green Tag For Your Website

GreenGeeks customers can share their commitment to being green with site visitors by adding a Green Website Tag to their website.

There are several designs to choose from, so you can choose one that fits your brand image.

Is GreenGeeks Hosting Any Good?

As with any host, whether or not GreenGeeks is a good host is based on your specific needs.

Here are a few pros and cons to help you understand if GreenGeeks is the right fit for your business or organization.

Pros

  • Extremely eco-friendly
  • Speedy technology
  • Easy scaling and plan variety
  • Global datacenter options
  • Unlimited resources

Cons

  • Best rates require long contracts
  • Domain renewals are pricey

Shared Hosting Plans

If you’re looking to get started economically, GreenGeeks offers several shared hosting plans that include everything you need to get started.

Included With All Shared Hosting Plans

Here’s an overview of what you get with all three shared hosting plans from GreenGeeks:

  • Support for an unlimited number of domains, so you can create as many websites as you’d like
  • Unlimited SSD (solid-state drive) storage space and data transfer
  • Free domain name registration (or transfer of your domain, if you already have one)
  • GreenGeeks website builder
  • Free website migration
  • Unlimited secure email inboxes
  • Marketing and SEO tools
  • Let’s Encrypt Wildcard SSL certificate
  • Nightly site back ups
  • Cloudflare CDN (content delivery network)
GreenGeeks website builder theme example
Example of a theme you can use with the GreenGeeks website builder.

Though all shared plans feature “unlimited” disk space and bandwidth, you are limited on the number of emails you can receive per hour.

Higher plans offer features such as PCI compliance, higher speed performance, and a Premium Wildcard SSL.

cPanel Control Panel

All GreenGeeks customers gain access to cPanel, the most popular control panel on the market.

If you have used this dashboard before, you will feel right at home. If you are new to cPanel, you will find it intuitive and easy to use.

GreenGeeks' implementation of cPanel
GreenGeeks’ implementation of cPanel

From here, you can access your domains, email accounts, check users, add software to your server, and much more.

GreenGeeks’ version of cPanel offers customer several additional features, in addition to standard cPanel. These include:

  • Additional SEO tools
  • Additional spam protections
  • Easy to use search function
  • Site builder
  • Sofaculous app installer

Softaculous Apps

If you’re using a content management system (CMS), such as WordPress, Joomla, or Drupal, you can take advantage of GreenGeeks’ 1-click installation feature called Softaculous.

Softaculous on the cPanel dashboard
Softaculous on the cPanel dashboard

One-Click Installs

Softaculous has over 400 web apps and downloads you can use extend the functionality and feature set of your website. These are organized by categories including:

  • Forums
  • Microblogs
  • Portals and CMSs (content management systems) such as Joomla or Drupal
  • Wikis
  • Image galleries
  • Social networking
  • Ad management
  • Gaming
  • Calendars
  • E-Commerce
  • Polling and Analytics

Easy Access to Dev Tools

You will also have the ability to download developer frameworks, script libraries, and database tools right from your cPanel, including:

  • phpMyAdmin
  • PHP frameworks like Laravel, CodeIgniter, Yii, CakePHP, Zend, Symfony, Kohana, Smarty, FuelPHP, PHPDevShell
  • Bootstrap
  • HTML Purifier
  • Modernizr
  • JQuery
  • AngularJS
  • Vue.js

Here’s a look at how the shared hosting plans differ.

Ecosite StarterEcosite ProEcosite Premium
Cost / month$2.95$5.95$11.95
SSL CertificateLet’s Encrypt WildcardLet’s Encrypt WildcardPremium Wildcard
Speed PerformanceStandard2 X4 X
CachingnonePowerCacherPowerCacher
Emails / hour100300500
PCI ComplianceNoNoYes

WordPress Hosting

For those on the WordPress platform, you can opt for a dedicated WordPress plan instead.

These plans are nearly identical to the shared hosting plans — including price — but it comes pre-configured for WordPress sites, with WordPress pre-installed.

You’ll also get built-in version control, automatic WordPress core updates, and automatic daily backups.

VPS Hosting Plans

For those who want the benefits of a dedicated server without the cost, VPS (virtual private servers) is a solid option.

Unlike shared plans, where your site may be slowed down if another site has a massive bump in traffic, on a VPS your space on the server is virtually separated from other sites.

In addition to protecting resources, this type of hosting is also more secure.

GreenGeeks offers five different VPS hosting plans that are tiered according to their levels of storage and bandwidth. The lowest tier has

All GreenGeeks VPS hosting plans offer:

  • RAID-10 SSD
  • CSF firewall
  • Built-in PHP/MySQL optimization
  • Free migrations
  • Root Access
  • Seamless upgrade/downgrade services
  • Pre-installed CPanel/WHM
GreenGeeks VPS plans
GreenGeeks VPS hosting prices are differentiated by RAM, storage, and bandwidth.

Dedicated Server Plans

Large sites or those with special security needs may consider using one of GreenGeeks’ dedicated server plans.

Unlike shared hosting, where you share server resources with dozens of other websites, with a dedicated server your site is the only one hosted on your server.

GreenGeeks offers four different dedicated server plans, based on the storage and specs you need.

GreenGeeks speed technology
How GreenGeeks makes your website fast.

Reseller Plans

If you’re planning to get into the reseller web hosting business, GreekGeeks has five plans.

All offer unlimited cPanel accounts with datacenters located in the US or Canada, so when deciding which option is best for you, you’ll be comparing differences in SSD storage space and bandwidth maximums.

Regardless of which option you choose, you can:

  • Offer your customers the same perks users of GreekGeek’s shared hosting plans get
  • Brand your hosting products as you see fit
  • Offer free migration services
  • Use GreenGeeks’ web hosting billing system, and much more.

Customer Support

GreenGeeks offers several methods for contacting their support team, including 24/7 live chat support and phone support from Monday – Friday from 9 am to 12 am EST and Saturday and Sunday from 9 am to 8 pm EST.

Many other hosts only offer support during local regular business hours, so the expanded time helps GreenGeeks stand out.

They also offer support through their email ticket system. They report average resolution time for support tickets is 15-20 minutes.

GreenGeeks support portal

Guarantees

You also get a 99.9% uptime guarantee, and if you’re not satisfied, a full refund if you cancel within 30 days of your purchase.

GreenGeeks vs Bluehost

Overall, GreenGeeks does offer better hosting features over Bluehost, such as green hosting, the option to choose your datacenter, and better security features. But, as with all hosts, it truly depends on your needs.

Bluehost is a popular hosting option and there are a few areas where they stand out. For example, Bluehost offers hosting for both Windows and Linux.

Bluehost is also a WordPress recommended host, so if your site is running on WordPress, it may be a better option.

Server response speeds: In our testing GreenGeeks comes out ahead with faster server response speeds. In this chart, speed is measured in milliseconds on the vertical axis, for January – April 2019. GreenGeeks also beat SiteGround, HostGator, InMotion, and GoDaddy in our testing.

Price-wise, the two hosts are pretty close. Their shared hosting plans start out at similar price points for the first year, though GreenGeeks’ renewal prices are slightly higher.

For VPS and Dedicated Servers, Bluehost wins on price, though their features vary drastically.

Comparison Table: GreenGeeks vs Bluehost

Here’s the difference between GreenGeeks and Bluehost on their cheapest shared hosting plan.

GreenGeeksBluehost
Cost / month$2.95$2.75
Websites you can hostUnlimited1
StorageUnlimited50 GB SSD
Email limit100 per hourNot limited
App InstallerSoftaculousNone

Other GreenGeeks Alternatives

Not sure if GreenGeeks is right for you? Here are two more of our favorite hosts you might want to consider.

GreenGeeks vs Dreamhost

DreamHost is another carbon-neutral host for customers concerned about their carbon footprint. They also offer specific plans for WordPress and WooCommerce customers.

Price-wise, they are pretty comparable to GreenGeeks, though email is an add-on cost.

GreenGeeks vs InMotion Hosting

InMotion Hosting is a US-based hosting provider. While they don’t offer green hosting, they do offer a few developer features GreenGeeks does not like support for PostgreSQL and Ruby on Rails.

(Note: GreenGeeks offers limited RoR support on their shared and reseller plans. They advise RoR users to consider VPS or dedicated hosting to get advanced options and full RoR support.)

InMotion also provides fully managed WordPress hosting plans.

Get Our Discount

Ready to get started with GreenGeeks? Use any of the GreenGeeks links on this page to get our embedded discount. You’ll get the best price automatically — no code needed.

Please note, if you make a purchase through one of our links, we may receive a small commission. Thank you for supporting HTML.com. Visit GreenGeeks now.

Our Conclusion

GreenGeeks is a solid, affordable hosting option for most brands and organizations. If reducing your carbon footprint is important, and you don’t want to skimp on performance, GreenGeeks is a good fit for you.

Their 24/7 support and high-tech servers, and fast speeds are a plus no matter how large or how small your site is.

However, if you are highly reliant on your host for help with WordPress, you may be better suited with a more-WordPress specific host. While GreenGeeks can support WordPress, it is not their main focus.

Otherwise, GreenGeeks is well worth looking into. If it seems right for you, visit GreenGeeks now.

Your Review of GreenGeeks Hosting

Are you current or past customer of GreenGeeks Hosting? Would you recommend them? Please leave your comments below and let our visitors know what you think of GreenGeeks Hosting’s speed, features and customer service.

Visit GreenGeeks Now!


Contributing writer: Danielle Antosz; Contributing editor: Natalie Mootz.

Katie began her tech career as a C# developer before turning her hand to technical writing. She still codes regularly but these days she can be found writing about web development, coding and technology for HTML.com and our sister websites.

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