GreenGeeks Review: Best Green Web Host
In this article, we talk about web hosting services and in particular GreenGeeks. The goal is to find out if GreenGeeks is actually the best green web hosting service.
Trey Gardner founded GreenGeeks in 2008, and they have since grown to host over 600,000 websites (with data centers in the U.S., Canada, and the Netherlands).
Trey's experience with web hosting companies such as iPowerweb, iPage, StartLogic, Dot5Hosting, Globat, Lunarpages, HostPapa, and now GreenGeeks is valuable.
GreenGeeks goes on to make two bold claims on their website:
- 99.9% uptime
- 100% customer satisfaction
To find out for ourselves, we purchased GreenGeeks' 'Shared Plan' and set up a basic WordPress test website to run performance tests for over a year.
Continue reading to find out if GreenGeeks got our recommendation.
General Info & Hosting Overview
Pros of Using GreenGeeks Hosting
GreenGeeks has a lot of positive attributes. This includes consistent uptime, support, and critical mission-driven service. Here are the specifics:
1. Reliable Uptime Performance
One of the most important considerations when selecting a web host is uptime. Solid uptime not only demonstrates a web host's dependability, but it also has a direct impact on your site's visitor experience and bounce rate (which can potentially mean lost profit for your business).
GreenGeeks did not let us down in this regard. During the 6-month testing period, they achieved an average uptime of 99.93%. Throughout the first half of the year, their uptime ranged between 99.96% and 100%, with the exception of August, when it was only 99.66%.
Last 6-month average uptime:
- August 2022: 99.66%
- July 2022: 99.98%
- June 2022: 99.96%
- May 2022: 100%
- April 2022: 99.99%
- March 2022: 99.99%
2. Good Page Loading Time (478 ms)
Another important consideration when selecting a host is server speed.
Why?
If a website takes one to three seconds to load, there is a 32% chance that the bounce rate will increase. In short, the longer it takes for your page to load, the more likely it is that visitors will leave. That is just one example of how speed can affect your website.
GreenGeeks did not disappoint us yet again.
Their speed is greater than the industry average, with a time of around 478 ms.
Overall, GreenGeeks' loading times have been consistently good, leading us to believe that they are a trustworthy host.
3. Good Support with Quick Answers
Another "significant component" of the review is customer service.
We tried GreenGeeks' live chat and were connected to a customer support agent within a minute, who then responded quickly and concisely to our questions.
GreenGeeks also has a large knowledge base where users can look up answers to their questions.
That's a great benefit if you prefer self-help to contacting a customer service representative.
GreenGeeks offers a wide range of article categories and subcategories, including sales questions, general hosting, reseller hosting, VPS hosting, billing questions, video tutorials, and much more.
If you can't find your solution in the above-mentioned categories, you can use the search bar.
As a result, even if GreenGeeks' live chat feature is unavailable for some reason, you will always have access to the assistance you require.
GreenGeeks offers phone support in addition to live chat and a knowledge base.
4. Free Domain Name & Website Migration
GreenGeeks provides free domain registration and transfer services. If you purchase your domain name from them, they will keep it free for as long as you use their services - sort of. Details can be found in the Cons section.
However, it's worth noting that the domain name is only free for the first year. After that, you'll have to pay the renewal fee, which starts at $13.95 per year for.com,.net, and.org domains.
Furthermore, if your website is already hosted elsewhere, they will assist you in transferring it to their servers for free.
5. Environment-Friendly
GreenGeeks asserts that it is, well, green. What exactly does that mean?
Here's how they put it:
GreenGeeks will purchase three times the amount of wind energy credits to compensate for the energy used to power your website by their services.
They replace over 615,000 kWh per year. In comparison, the average American uses 12,000 kWh of electricity per year.
GreenGeeks is also a Green Power Partner with the US Environmental Protection Agency (EPA).
6. 30-Day Money-Back Guarantee
If you're not satisfied with GreenGeeks, they offer a 30-day, no-questions-asked money-back guarantee on most hosting plans.
However, there are a few exceptions. More information can be found in the Cons section.
7. Nightly Backups
Unfortunately, bad things do happen. And by bad, we mean that your site occasionally crashes.
It could be self-inflicted, or it could be the result of someone with malicious intent attempting to hack their way in. In any case, GreenGeeks offers free nightly backups (in addition to SSH access).
This way, you can rest easy knowing that even if something goes wrong, your data is regularly backed up.
They also provide real-time security scanning, automatic brute force detection, Spam Assassin protection, an SSL secure server, and the ability to password-protect your directories as additional security measures.
8. Multiple High-Quality Server Locations
GreenGeeks offers data centers in three locations:
- Chicago, US
- Montreal, CA
- Amsterdam, NL
GreenGeeks also guarantees that their servers will be kept up to date with the following specifications:
- Never oversold
- Gigabit Connectivity
- The Latest Generation of Energy-efficient Intel Xeon processors
- Minimum of 128 GB DDR3 ECC-Registered Memory
- No desktop hardware whatsoever
- BGP4 Gigabit connectivity to several Fiber GigE Tier 1 Backbones
- Name brand server parts
- RAID-10 SSD Storage Arrays to give you maximum performance & redundancy
- Solid State Drive (SSD) Acceleration
9. Free CDN
Everyone who browses the web on a daily basis interacts with a Content Delivery Network (CDN), whether they are looking at news sites, social media pages, or shopping online.
GreenGeeks provides a CDN to users who use Cloudflare. That's fantastic news for your site optimization, especially if you have a global audience.
What's the best part? It is completely free.
Cloudflare enables users to cache content and deliver it using servers closest to website visitors. As a result, visitors to your website will experience much faster web browsing.
Cons of Using GreenGeeks Hosting
Unfortunately, not everything that glitters is gold.
Despite all of the benefits of GreenGeeks, there are a few things to consider before making a final decision.
1. Industry-Standard Pricing (Higher Renewals)
GreenGeeks follows the tried-and-true industry practice of advertising a very low monthly rate of $2.95 on their website, only to reveal that you must sign up three years in advance to receive it.
Furthermore, the prices rise as the signup period shortens:
- $3.95 Biennially
- $4.95 Annually
- $10.95 Monthly
2. Questionable Refund Policy
Many web hosts will include a free domain name when you open a new account with them.
GreenGeeks also provides you with a free domain name.
But read the small print:
If you request the previously mentioned money-back guarantee and take advantage of the 'free' domain name offer, your refund will be reduced by the amount you paid for domain name registration fees.
This means that the domain name is not truly free, and their money-back guarantee comes with some conditions.
This strategy, however, is used by many other hosts.
GreenGeeks Pricing, Hosting Plans & Quick Facts
Here is a quick rundown of GreenGeeks' shared hosting plans:
WordPress Hosting: Their WordPress hosting is similar to their shared hosting plan, but it appears to be optimized for WordPress. We haven't tested it yet, but we plan to do so soon.
Quick Facts
- Free domain? Yes.
- Ease of Signup: Easy signup process.
- Money-Back: 30-days money-back guarantee.
- Payment Methods: Credit Card, PayPal.
- Hidden Fees and Clauses: Your account must not use more than 100 percent of 1 CPU core and/or 1GB memory, or 20 concurrent connections, or 75,0000 files, or you will risk account suspension. If a due invoice is not paid within four days, your account will be suspended and you will need to pay a reactivation fee of $15 to have your account back online.
- Upsells: No upsells.
- Account Activation: Quick account activation.
- Control Panel and Dashboard Experience: cPanel.
- Installation of Apps and CMSs (WordPress, Joomla, etc.): 1-click install tool to easily install popular apps and CMSs.
Do We Recommend GreenGeeks?
We do, indeed.
GreenGeeks has a larger mission than just providing web hosting, which we appreciate.
They aren't the best we've seen, but they do provide reliable speed, uptime, and customer service.
For these reasons, you should take a look at them.
Just keep in mind that if you want their lowest rate, you must sign up for the long term. And that if you decide to request a refund, your 'free domain' and 'money-back guarantee' may not be so solid.
Do you have any positive or negative experiences with GreenGeeks? If so, please leave a candid and honest review!
Key Takeaways
Our Verdict: 4.5
GreenGeeks Pros
• Reliable Uptime (99.93%)
• Good Load Time (478 ms)
• Good Live Chat Support
• Free Domain & Site Migration
• Environment-Friendly
GreenGeeks Cons
• Higher Renewal Price
• Questionable Refund Policy
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