Netfirms has been offering hosting services since 1998 and during this time has had a very strong reputation of providing great services. They were bought out by Endurance International Group in 2011. Endurance International Group is the largest hosting corporation in the world. Some people have commented that services have gone downhill since then, but most others seem to think it is still a great hosting company.
They are currently hosting around 1.2 million websites, primarily in North America. They are primarily focused on serving small businesses and individuals. They only have three hosting plans, all of which are shared hosting. They offered VPS services as well in the past, but it seems that this has been phased out.
Like most shared hosting companies, they offer a set of features which starts out pretty basic and goes up as you choose a more advanced package. All of the packages have unlimited disk space and bandwidth, however, so that is good.
Uptime & Reliability
Very reliable hosting
This hosting company has their own Tier 1 data center with over 40,000 servers housed within. They have fully redundant power supplies, cooling systems and much more. While they don’t make a specific claim or guarantee regarding their up-time, they have a good reputation for being very stable.
In addition, since they have a top of the line data center and have kept up on maintaining it well, you won’t likely have any problems with your sites going down.
Features
Fairly basic options but they work well
You aren’t going to be getting any innovative or unique features from this hosting company, but that is not really what they are going for. They offer all the basic features that you’ll get at any hosting company, and they seem to do a good job with them.
In addition to the unlimited disk space and bandwidth, you will also get a limited number of MySQL databases and FTP accounts (the number of them that you can get goes up based on the package you purchase).
One nice feature that you’ll get is a free domain on the cheapest package, three free domains on the middle package and five free domain names on the highest one. You can also get an e-commerce platform for an added price.
Support
Great support with priority to premium members
You will get great technical support from this company. They have a 24 hour per day toll-free number that you can call, or you can use their online services as well. All customers get access to this great support, but they prioritize customers who signed up for the highest tier hosting package first, so that could cause some delays.
When you get to talk to a person they are typically knowledgeable and will be able to help you with any hosting issues you are having right away.
Pricing
Prices are fairly standard for the services they provide
When you sign up for this hosting company you will get a nice package for a fair price. They aren’t setting the world on fire with great deals or anything, but you also don’t have to dig around to find secret codes or anything to get a fair price.
You can pay monthly, or sign up for a 1, 2 or 3 year contract for a lower price. All of this is fairly standard with most hosting companies today.
Summary
A nice hosting company for individuals and small businesses
Overall this is a nice company to work with. They have great support, all the standard features, excellent up time and more. While they aren’t leading the way in any one category, they are providing a good service to their customers, which is really what most people will need.
Pros:
- Well established sine 1998 and backed by Endurance International Group
- Great 24 hour per day technical support
- Unlimited bandwidth and disk space
- Free domain(s) at every package level
- New clients are given $100 AdWords credit, $50 Facebook Ads credit, and $25 to Bing/Yahoo
Cons:
- No VPS or dedicated hosting offered
- Some customers have complained that their service has degraded over the past several years
- Their sales page is not clear about things like the control panel they use