Greengeeks Web Hosting Review – Should you go Green?
On average, more than 547,200 new websites are created each day. These sites are hosted on servers, which for the most part, are housed in data centers. These data centers contain rows upon rows of servers handling everything from large eCommerce sites to personal blogs. In order to function properly, these servers need to be kept in cool, controlled environments. As a result, they use a large amount of energy and have a significant carbon dioxide output. They are, therefore, taxing to the environment.
Green web hosting aims to reduce the negative impact of servers on the environment by carrying out eco-friendly initiatives. This is done primarily through renewable energy and carbon offsets.
It would seem that a green web host is an obvious choice for anyone concerned about the environment. However, you have to wonder whether you’ll get the same performance, service, and features from a green web host as you would a regular web host. To answer this question, let’s look at one of the more popular green hosting providers, GreenGeeks.
Green Geeks Performance Statistics
GreenGeeks web hosting boasts an uptime of 99.98%. According to HostingFacts.com, the average uptime of web hosting providers is 99.59%. Therefore this would suggest that GreenGeeks offers an uptime that’s greater than average. This means that users can expect almost no downtime.
According to HRank.com, the average load speed is 400 to 700 ms. GreenGeeks has a server loading speed of 445 ms, putting their speed on the average’s faster end. This suggests that users can expect fast loading speeds for their websites.
GreenGeeks Customer Service
The GreenGeeks website promises 100% customer satisfaction. While we can’t verify this claim, we can attest that they have a responsive 24/7 customer support team that is available through live chat. They also offer an extensive knowledge base that customers can use to find answers to their questions. Their knowledge base includes articles on sales questions, billing questions, general hosting, VPS hosting, and reseller hosting. In addition to articles, their knowledge base also provides video tutorials.
Free Features of GreenGeeks Hosting Plans
All of GreenGeeks’ hosting plans come with a free domain name and website migration. If you purchase your domain name through GreenGeeks, you won’t have to pay for it for as long as you’re using their services. Furthermore, if you host your site elsewhere, they will transfer your site to their servers at no cost.
A CDN or content delivery network is essential for ensuring that your website has a global reach. GreenGeeks provides users with a free CDN that is powered by Cloudflare. Cloudflare makes it possible for users to use the servers closest to their website visitors and cache content. This results in much faster web surfing.
Additional Features of GreenGeeks Hosting
GreenGeeks backs up user data every night. This ensures that no matter what happens, your data is safe. Additionally, they offer real-time security scanning, Spam Assasin protection, automatic brute force detection, an SSL secure server, and password protection for user directories.
Your server location can positively impact your site’s SEO and may also increase your website’s speed. For this reason, GreenGeeks provides customers with a choice of data centers in four locations: Chicago, Illinois, Phoenix, Arizona, Montreal, Quebec, and Amsterdam, Netherlands.
If for some reason you’re not satisfied with your hosting service, GreenGeeks offers a 30-day money-back guarantee. This is a no questions asked service, allowing you to take their hosting plans for a test-drive.
Summary
GreenGeeks is considered a green web hosting company because they replace three times the energy they use with renewable energy. On average, they return 615,000 kWh a year, and they are recognized as a Green Power Partner by the United States Environmental Protection Agency (EPA).
However, their eco-friendly status doesn’t take away from the service, performance, and features they offer. Users will find that their uptime and load speeds are above average. Additionally, they offer features such as free domains, free website migration, and a complimentary CDN. Users will also receive help anytime, thanks to GreenGeek’s 24/7 live chat customer support and extensive knowledge database. Furthermore, user data is protected through nightly backups and a variety of security features. Therefore, if you’re looking for a web hosting provider that offers everything your website needs, why not also choose one that is environmentally friendly?
