LeapWebHosting is a small, personalized web host based out of Panama. It was started because of the difficulty arising in finding a web host that’s reliable and provides dedicated support to its customers. That proved to be quite a mission, in turn, LeapWebHosting was founded to fill that void in the hosting industry. They offer every type of hosting service you could want — Shared, Reseller, VPS, as well as Dedicated Servers, all while keeping a down-to-earth approach with their customers.
Uptime & Reliability
Hosting with a reputation for stability
LeapWebHosting offers a 30-day money back guarantee on all plans, to go along with a 99.9% uptime guarantee that’s placed into their terms, as well as price-freeze guarantee that will keep your cost the same regardless if they raise prices after you purchased a plan. Unfortunately they don’t have any public phone number, and a rather sketchy address that includes no Street Number or Postal Code. I feel like a host is much more reliable when they freely show where they’re located, even if it’s out of the country. If Google Maps can’t find it, there might be a problem.
Features
Fairly average features in most areas
All of their shared hosting plans run on Linux machines with cPanel. Disk space is pretty low, ranging from 5GB to 30GB, while bandwidth usage ranges from 30GB to 2 Terabytes depending on the plan. Unfortunately, even though their website advertises that they have Virtual Private Servers and Dedicated Severs, they either don’t have both or use a completely different company to supply them, meaning they aren’t ran in house and any support would not go through them.
Support
Good support staff. Limited options
While they have a good support STAFF, the actual system they use is limited. They virtually direct all questions to their support ticket software. They do have a live chat and an email account, but they are used more for sales than technical support. While they still offer that same personalized support via the ticket system, a phone number or forum would help. Even their FAQ knowledge base is completely empty.
Pricing
Typical hosting prices for most packages
Their cheapest shared plan starts at $3.99 per month and includes the low end features specified above. For the price, it’s definitely not a bad a deal. As competitive as any other company with the support and reliability of a small, local business. Other shared plans are between $5.99 and $19.99.
Meanwhile, they have Reseller Hosting accounts with WHM starting at $17.95 per month and ranging up to $48. With regards to all of their plans, you can get a cheaper monthly cost if you pay for a year or 2 years upfront.
Their VPS packages are not up at this time, which is disappointing as I was looking forward to them, but they say it’ll be coming soon. LeapWeb offers dedicated servers through a partner company called Phoenix NAP. While they have quite a few different types at decent prices, it’s also disappointing that they don’t have any dedi’s themselves.
They do currently have a discount of 20% for all new members, a nifty discount that can make their shared or reseller plans even cheaper.
Summary
Good hosting if you need a server in Panama
It’s rather disappointing that they make VPS and Dedicated servers two of the largest features on their website, but they offer neither. They do have good partners for dedicated servers, but you aren’t getting it through LeapWeb. In terms of shared hosting, they have affordable plans that get the job done. It’s not the best deal out there, but with their money back guarantee, it can’t hurt to give them a try.
Pros:
- Good shared hosting plans
- Great money back guarantee
- 20% discount for new members
Cons:
- Dedicated servers are actually through another company
- FAQ page is blank
- VPS page is blank