Expert Overview
Well established UK web hosting with many great packages
WebFusion was established n 1998 and has been primarily serving the people of the UK ever sense. They have been acquired by the GX Network of hosting companies, which is also mostly a UK focused set of companies. WebFusion is still operated largely independently of the other companies. They offer shared, VPS and dedicated hosting solutions to all their customers, and work hard to ensure top of the line services.
Overall they have a lot of great services that they offer, and they have done a good job keeping up with the latest advancements in web hosting. In fact, they were recognized as being the first to offer reselling in the UK as well as adopting Microsoft’s .net 2.0 systems.
Uptime & Reliability
Mostly reliable hosting with some reports of long outages
The shared hosting packages come with a 99.99% uptime guarantee and the VPS and dedicated servers get a 99.9% SLA. It is not clear what happens if they don’t meet the SLA, but in most cases it will typically be a set amount of time credited to your bill.
When reviewing social media pages and other resources it does seem that there has been some complaints of slow responses to outages for customers. Given the fact that this is a fairly large hosting company, however, this could just be a case of not being able to please everyone all the time.
Features
Many different hosting options with customizations to meet your needs
Each of the hosting packages that are offered lay out a clear description of what you will get, which makes it easier for people (especially newer webmasters) to make the right decision. Their shared hosting packages can be either Linux or Windows based and while they aren’t unlimited, they do come with high caps that won’t cause issues with most customers.
They VPS packages come with mostly just the standard features that you would expect, and the accesses to install any custom apps or other features that you want. The same can be said of their dedicated server options, which are all plenty strong to handle even larger sites.
They also have an e-commerce focused package available for companies that are looking to focus their site on sales.
Support
No 24/7 phone support and some reports of delayed responses
Overall it seems that WebFusion offers good support in most situations. They encourage users to take advantage of their online ticketing system, which helps to track issues and get them resolved. Their phone system uses a 0845 number and is only open Monday – Saturday.
Some customers have complained that they had trouble with tech support during outages, which caused their sites to stay down longer than they should have. The majority of reviews, however, suggest that this isn’t always the case.
Pricing
Fair pricing at most levels, entry level package higher than normal
Most of their hosting packages come in at fairly standard prices for the features that you’ll get. The entry level shared hosting is more expensive than one might expect, but it is still very affordable. Except for those where price is the absolute most critical factor, there is nothing in the pricing from WebFusion that should dissuade anyone from using this company.
Summary
Great hosting for UK webmasters
Overall this is a great hosting company that will be able to meet the needs of virtually anyone who needs hosting in the UK. Using their data centers that are physically located in the UK helps to ensure fast response times and few issues. They also offer UK based technical support which is able to handle most issues.
Pros:
- Excellent package options to choose from
- Easy setup for new hosting
- Well established company
- Company is part of the Internet Watch Foundation ( a charity)
- Free domain name registration with every package
Cons:
- No toll-free tech support line
- Some history of dissatisfied customers related to extended outages
