Expert Overview
Low Cost Hosting in India
Host IT Smart is based in India and offers discount hosting solutions. Unlike most discount hosting providers, they offer VPS and dedicated servers in addition to the shared hosting options. Of course, these options aren’t as advanced as many other companies offer, but you can get the higher levels of control and stability at a price that many people can afford. Their site is nice looking and well organized, which makes it even easier to choose exactly what you need.
Another nice option (at least for English speaking people) is that their site is in English by default and they actually did a pretty good job with the writing. It is all easy to understand and you don’t have to worry about poor translations. If you are targeting an audience in India, this company might be the right hosting solution for you.
Uptime & Reliability
Hosting Seems Stable
I wasn’t able to find much infomration about uptime and things like that from actual users, which isn’t uncommon with this type of provider. Most people who write about it would be writing in the Indian language, so it is hard to find in English. That being said, they do operate out of a nice data center and use nice hardware. They also have some other options such as the spam and virus protection and the CloudFlair features that can help to avoid downtime. They don’t seem to have an uptime guarantee though, which many people won’t like. Overall, I don’t think most people will have a problem with the stability of this hosting provider.
Features
Surprisingly Nice Features
Give the fact that they work to keep their prices down, the features they offer are quite nice. You’ll get unlimited disk space and bandwidth no matter which of the hosting options you choose. The only limits are related to the number of sites you can host on each package (for shared hosting). They also have some limits on MySQL databases, but that is not as important since you typically don’t need multiple data bases for one site anyway.
In addition to the typical hosting options you would expect they also offer the easy installation of dozens of apps, spam blocking software, auto responders, virus checking and more. You’ll also get a free domain name with each package you sign up for, which is a nice perk that can make starting a website easier.
Support
24/7 Tech Support
The tech support with this company is quite good. They are there 24/7 and work hard to provide you with everything you need to stay up and working. They have phone support from 9AM-9PM (local) and beyond that you can send a ticket or email to get help. They are also active on the social networks, but that isn’t really for tech related issues. They do have some information in a knowledge base and a blog to help you learn more about their hosting, which can make your overall experience nicer.
Pricing
Low Cost Hosting
The pricing on this hosting company is kept low. They market themselves as a low cost hosting solution, and while they aren’t the lowest I’ve ever seen, they are below average in this area. The prices are listed in the Indian Rupee so if you are used to paying with US dollars or another currency, make sure you do a conversion check before making any final decisions. Most people, however, will be happy with the pricing levels offered by this company.
Summary
Quality Hosting at an Affordable Price
If you’re looking for hosting in India, this company will likely meet or exceed your needs. If you’re looking for hosting for a very advanced or busy site, they might not be ideal, but for the vast majority of people, they can provide a good service at a fair price. There are some worries like the lack of uptime guarantees, but overall they are a good hosting company to consider.
Pros:
- Low Costs
- Free Domain
- No Limits on Disk Space & Bandwidth
Cons:
- No uptime guarantee
