Expert Overview
Shared Web Services Company
Insight Hosting is a hosting division of Insight Internet Limited, which is based in Ireland. They offer shared web hosting services as well as a nice website building service and domain name registration. This company is focused on serving Ireland with their services, and really make it a point to say that they are not interested in becoming a global hosting company. Specifically, they talk about having all their tech support and other things locally in Ireland, which many people will really like.
Insight has been in business for more than 10 years now, and they are always working hard at keeping their services up to date so their customers are getting everything they need. Since they only offer shared hosting services this hosting is primarily going to be provided to individuals and small businesses.
Uptime & Reliability
No Uptime Guarantee
I looked around on social media and other places to see if I could find anyone complaining about the downtime with this company and didn't find too much information. A few people did mention that their site loaded slowly during certain times of the day it was not so much that it caused a lot of concern. They may be overselling on some of their hosting servers or something, but there just isn't enough information to go by at this point. Give the fact that they are only a shared hosting platform, the chances are that there won't be any issues with actual downtime because shared hosting is typically quite stable.
Features
Nice Hosting Features
You can choose from four hosting options when you come to this company. They are broken up with clear descriptions on what type of people will benefit from each one. This makes it easy to understand, especially for people who may not have used hosting before. All their packages come with a free .com URL for the first year, which is a nice way to save a little bit of money. You'll also get nice spam filters, one click installation of many apps, password protected databases and a 30 day money back guarantee.
You can choose from either Linux or Windows, which is nice. The disk space starts at 15 gigs and goes up from there, so that should not be a concern for most people looking to get their hosting. You also get 100 gigs of bandwidth at the entry level, and it goes to unlimited from there. They also have website backup options to help protect your information.
Support
Local Support Options
The support with this company is local in Ireland, which is a big point they make since that is where their target customers are. You can get in touch with them through a ticketing system, phone number or email address. They seem to really know what they are doing and can get your issues addressed quickly. They don't seem to have too much by way of self-help utilities though, which is unfortunate. If they added in a FAQ, knowledge base, blog or something else to give extra tools to their customers it could be very helpful.
Prices
Easy to Understand Prices
The prices start at 48 Euro per year for the entry level, 90 for the 'pro' 150 for the business plan and 240 for the business plus ecommerce option. You can pay monthly if you would like, and no matter how you pay you'll find that the prices are right in line with industry averages. Since they do have some very nice features as listed above many people will find that the prices are actually lower than expected. The reality is, however, that this is still shared hosting so their price points are right where they should be.
Summary
Nice Shared hosting Option
If you're in Ireland and looking for shared hosting, this is likely a pretty good option to consider. I'm a proponant of going with hosting companies that are local to you as I've found they are easier to work with. That being said, if you need something more than a shared hosting package, this company obviously is not for you. I'd also recommend keeping an eye on your site response times, at least at first, and making sure everything is in line with your expectations.
Pros:
- Focused on Ireland
- Easy to Understand Features
- Reasonable Prices
- Free .com domain
Cons:
- No uptime guarantee
- No VPS/Dedicated Options