Plenty of hosting plans include cPanel, and on the surface many look the same. The differences show up later, when your site is slow, a restore takes days, or the renewal invoice is much higher than the first one. This guide covers what to check before you buy, and how to read the fine print.
Why choose cPanel hosting
cPanel is the control panel most small businesses and web designers already know. You manage files, databases, email, domains, backups and WordPress from one screen. If you have never used it, read what is cPanel first. It is also easy to move between hosts that use it, which reduces the risk of picking the wrong one.
What to compare
Server location
Choose servers in the country your visitors are in. For an Australian audience, servers in Australia mean less delay for each request. Ask where the servers are, not only where the company is.
Storage and performance
Look at the storage type. Solid state storage is the minimum to expect. Also ask which web server software is used. LiteSpeed with a caching plugin tends to serve WordPress pages faster than a plain Apache setup with no caching. See WordPress hosting in Australia: what to look for for more.
Backups
Ask how often backups are taken, whether they are stored away from the server, and whether you can restore them yourself. Daily backups mean you could lose up to a day of orders or posts. Hourly off-site backups narrow that window during the hours they run.
Security
Check for malware scanning, a firewall and free SSL. These should be part of the plan, not paid add-ons.
Support
Find out how you reach a human, whether it is a ticket, chat or phone call-back, and what the typical response is. Test it with a pre-sales question. The answer tells you what to expect later.
Migration
If you already have a site, ask whether the provider will move it for you, and whether that is free.
Hidden-cost checks
Cheap plans are not always cheap over three years. Before you buy, check:
- Renewal pricing. Is the renewal price the same as the first term? A low introductory price that triples at renewal is a common catch.
- Backup restores. Ask whether you can restore a backup yourself, and what it costs if the provider does it for you.
- SSL certificates. Free SSL should be included.
- Migration fees. Check whether moving your site is charged.
- Email limits. Check how many mailboxes you get and whether there are sending limits.
- Contract length. Look for lock-in contracts that make it costly to leave.
What “low contention” means
Shared hosting puts many accounts on one server. Contention is how much those accounts compete for the same CPU, memory and disk. A low-contention server has fewer accounts on it, or limits on each account, so one busy site is less likely to slow down the others. It is not a number you can read off a price list, so ask the provider how they manage it. Honest answers talk about account limits and monitoring. Vague answers about “unlimited everything” should make you cautious. If your site needs guaranteed resources, a VPS is the better answer. See VPS vs shared hosting: when do you need a VPS.
A checklist
- Servers in Australia, if your visitors are in Australia.
- Solid state storage and a caching-capable web server.
- Hourly or at least daily backups stored off-site.
- Free SSL, malware scanning and a firewall.
- Free migration.
- Renewal price clearly stated.
- No lock-in contract.
- Support through a channel you will actually use.
- A clear upgrade path if you outgrow the plan.
How Skyrack’s cPanel plans fit
Skyrack is Australian owned and operated, with a team operating between Sydney and Adelaide, and has been trading since May 2012. Our cPanel hosting plans run from $4.98 to $25.98 per month. They are hosted on servers in a Sydney data centre, run LiteSpeed, use Enterprise SSD storage, and include free SSL, Imunify malware scanning and a firewall, WP Toolkit and off-site backups that run hourly through the day (4am to 9pm AET). The Skyrack team migrates one existing cPanel account per hosting service for free, generally without downtime, there are no lock-in contracts, and support is by email, online chat and call-back. A 99.9% uptime SLA applies.
If you are running WordPress specifically, look at our WordPress hosting page. If you also need a domain, see Australian domain names.
Before you commit
Write down what you need, put the same questions to each provider, and keep the answers. Choose on the whole picture rather than the lowest monthly price. If you want to talk it through, get in touch.