eApps is a cloud hosting provider that offers a powerful way for you to host your applications. They have been around since 1996 and through evolution, they have managed to expand over the years focusing their attention primarily on Java Application Servers, but also covering PHP , Ruby on Rails and the Zend Framework. They offer a selection of plans and bundles, that are all flexible so you can easily scale up or down if necessary and the prices are fairly responsible for such as specialised service. They aren’t for everyone, so let’s get that straight first, so if you are looking for a standard shared hosting platform then its best to turn your attention elsewhere.
Reliability
Powerful, Secure and Reliable
In terms of reliability the eApps website has a page dedicated to the measurements that they have in place to provide a consistent and smooth uptime. The cloud server is completely locked down with an encryption wrapper around all data transmissions but also flexible for users to share SSL certificates. IPsec compatible VPN can also be added at an additional cost. Although they don’t give any specific uptime percentage they do provide plenty of information on the reliability, backups, and redundancy power/failsafe technology hat they offer customers. Over all the backbone and foundations are solid.
Features
Features and Additional Services on Offer
Depending on how much you need, different features are allocated to different plans at eApps. You basic plans start with 512mb of RAM with 1 core and 8GB of disk space, whilst your larger plans can offer as much as 4GB of RAM, 4 cores and a massive 75GB of disk space. As many hosting providers tend to do these days they also offer a selection of other services which include SSL certificates, backups, domain registration and also the Zimbra Enterprise Email solutions which offers plenty of features in itself.
Support
Solid Support Channels
As with any cloud hosting like this, support is excellent. Even if you aren’t a customer you can clearly see USA and UK telephone numbers, a direct email address, Skype, a Support Desk, and a useful live chat popup that appears in the bottom right of the screen. A ticket system, knowledge base, downloads and videos are also available for signed up customers so there really isn’t much they miss here. Pros
- Telephone Numbers for UK and USA
- Discounts For Longer Periods
- Skype
- Social Media Channels
Cons
- Only phone support for UK and USA
Pricing
Can be Expensive For Tight Budgets
eApps appeals to small, medium and large businesses because the pricing structure is so varied in nature. You can pay $21 for the basic entry level plan or $86 per month for the largest of the main plans. Depending on your commitment terms you can also save quite a bit of money if you have the budget available to pay for longer periods. Each plan also comes with a 30-day money back guarantee should you not be happy with the level of service you have been offered.
User Friendly
A Very Well Thought Out Design
Setting up a cloud server couldn’t be any easier as eApps do a great job of guiding you in the right direction, letting you be as flexible as you need to be with what you want from your high availability hosting. When we turn our attention to the website we can also see that the same principles follow through, as everything is clearly laid out and well presented. You can see where all the services and plans are, and purchasing a plan you like it straight-forward.
Summary
An Amazing Hosting Solution for Apps
If you are looking for application based hosting then eApps is the perfect solution as they direct all focus on this type of hosting. There isn’t really much they get wrong here, as everything from price, support and features are all top-notch. Perhaps the only issue we could spot was that any company with a restricted budget would find it hard to keep on top of payments for the larger plans eApps has to offer. Pros
- Brilliant for those looking for app hosting
- Secure cloud servers, with redundancy power backups
- Good prices, with discounts on longer terms
- Reliable support channels
Cons
- Can be expensive for some customers
- No mention of uptime stats