When you’re first getting your blog or business up and running there are many factors that you will need to take into consideration; one of them being purchasing a domain name and hosting. I touched on this subject last week by discussing the important factors you need to take into consideration before choosing your host provider and by sharing some of the frequently asked questions I get asked, so to continue, today I’m going to be reviewing what some of South Africa’s top host providers offer and their prices.
There are two main reasons why I’m only going to be reviewing South African host providers, the first is because of the ever fluctuating Rand to US Dollar exchange rate and the second is because having a support team that’s in your own country just makes life that much easier!
The host providers I am going to be reviewing today are Afrihost, Hetzner, GoDaddy, Gridhost and Web Africa. Note: There are so many more out there to choose from these are just the select few that I’ve had the experience of working with and that a few others in my industry would also recommend. *You can find the full comparison here*
AFRIHOST
If you’ve been following me for a while or if you’ve worked with me you’ll know I highly rate Afrihost, mainly because of their efficient and friendly customer support team and of course their nifty online chat function. Their Gold Home Package is perfect for newbie bloggers or startup businesses as it offers the following…
Gold Home Package
| Storage Space: | 2GB |
| Number of Databases: | 1 |
| Email Addresses: | 75 |
| Web Traffic: | Unlimited |
| Console: | cPanel |
| Bonus: | free .co.za domain name for the first year |
| Price: | R39/month |
Domain Prices
| .co.za: | R97/year |
| .com: | R127/year |
HETZNER
On the one occasion that I’ve worked with Hetzner I was completely bowled over by their prompt customer service team! Their Basic Business Package offers a bit more than what you’d really need as a newbie blogger but if you’re a web designer or bigger business the additional databases will come in handy when creating sub-domains and testing sites.
Basic Business Package
| Storage Space: | 5GB |
| Number of Databases: | 5 |
| Email Addresses: | 100 |
| Web Traffic: | Unlimited |
| Console: | KonsoleH Control Panel |
| Bonus: | No free domain name |
| Price: | R99/month |
Domain Prices
| .co.za: | R89/year |
| .com: | R129/year |
GODADDY
This host provider has been known internationally for some time now but only recently joined the list of South African host providers. Their Basic WordPress Hosting package is a tailored WordPress package suited for both bloggers or small business owners as it offers several bonus features such as access to over 1000 free WordPress themes and plugins, free daily backups and a 1 click restore function, WordPress training videos and so much more!
Basic WordPress Hosting
| Storage Space: | 10GB SSD |
| Number of Databases: | 1 |
| Email Addresses: | 1 – Office 365 Account |
| Web Traffic: | 25000 monthly visitors |
| Console: | None, you’re taken directly into the WordPress admin area once setup |
| Bonus: | Free domain with annual plan |
| Price: | R50.99/month |
Domain Prices
| .co.za: | R99.99/year |
| .com: | 1st year price R 32,99 Additional years R 187,99 |
GRIDHOST
I’ve worked with Gridhost on several occasions and although they are competitive on their price and product offering I found their console rather difficult to navigate and their customer service rather slow.
Blogger
| Storage Space: | 3GB |
| Number of Databases: | 3 |
| Email Addresses: | 30 |
| Web Traffic: | Unlimited |
| Console: | cPanel |
| Bonus: | No Free domain with annual plan |
| Price: | R39/month |
Domain Prices
| .co.za: | R99.95/year |
| .com: | R149.95/year |
WEB AFRICA
I haven’t had the pleasure of working with Web Africa but a fellow web designer recommended them for service, price and offering so I thought I’d add them into the mix – if you’ve had experience working with them the please do let me know your thoughts in the comments below.
Linux Standard
| Storage Space: | 2GB |
| Number of Databases: | 1 |
| Email Addresses: | 15 |
| Web Traffic: | Unlimited |
| Console: | cPanel |
| Bonus: | No Free domain with annual plan |
| Price: | R39/month |
Domain Prices
| .co.za: | R99/year |
| .com: | R149/year |
I hope you’ve enjoyed my mini domain name and hosting series. If you’ve got any further questions you can refer to my Frequently Asked questions blog post or leave them in the comments below so that I can help you out.
*If you do decide to use Afrihost then be sure to use this link to get 50% off your first bill*
Nice friend – that GoDaddy WP one sounds interesting!
Yes agree the perks are awesome and the backups are a bonus!
WebAfrica – mmhmpf we have given them two different tries and have had clients that use them… nothing but hassles, unfortunately. From setting us up on windows instead of linux to running such an outdated version of php that many wp plugins simply won’t work. Customer service wasn’t fun either. I hope no one else has had this or similar experiences, but I won’t recommend them I am afraid
Oh no Veronica that doesn’t sound good, outdated Versions of PHP are a complete no, no! Customer Service is a huge factor for me especially as I’m often in contact with my clients host providers.