Cba.pl review

First impression

The flagship website for ABC Hosting Ltd group is CBA.pl, a seasoned hosting provider founded in Warsaw, Poland, and specializing in an assortment of services for beginners as well as advanced users. The company's services range from a free and paid Shared Hosting, VPS Hosting, Dedicated Server Hosting, to Domain Registrations and Site Building, and its services target small businesses and single users that require reliable and low-cost services.

Trial Period

They have a short 7-day trial for their Pro plan should you want to try out their web hosting without paying anything upfront. You can mess with features such as the speed of hosting, domain management, and customer support during the trial to determine if it's something for you. It's a great opportunity to try out the service without paying anything upfront, making it easier to determine if CBA.pl is the perfect choice for hosting your website. On top of that, they also have a paid and a free plan. I'm not particularly fond of free plans because they always have a lot of limitations, but at least it will give you an idea about what they have to offer.

Billing Cycle

CBA.pl has flexible sign-up terms for customers. Shared Hosting customers can choose between quarterly, annual, biennial, or triennial payment terms, and VPS clients have the option between monthly, quarterly, semi-annual, or yearly sign-ups.

They also support Przelewy24, one of Poland's largest online payment providers, by which you can send instantaneous wire transfers, Blik codes, or PaySafe card payments. They also support PayPal and mintMe, a form of payment by cryptocurrency, as payment options.

Control Panel

They include their very own, specially created and user-friendly control panel, or as referred to by them, "User Panel" with their hosting plans, to make website management easy, even for beginners. The control panel has an intuitive interface where you can add and manage domain names, install applications, monitor your site's statistics, and manage email addresses with a click. It is filled with handy tools that will make file and database management easier, so you will have them all at your fingertips to keep running a smoothly running website.

Limits

Their Shared Hosting plans are available in 3 scalable options, namely the Free plan, the Pro plan, and the VIP plan.

The Free plan comes with 5GB disc space, 128MB RAM, 1x MySQL/MariaDB database, and 1x 1GB POP/IMAP email account. although this plan is suited for not much more than a personal blog maybe, one can't really complain as it is free after all. Next up is the Pro plan that features 10GB storage, 256MB RAM, 1x MySQL/MariaDB database, and 2x POP/IMAP email accounts with a total space of 3GB combined, while the VIP, their top-tier Shared Hosting plan comes with unlimited disc space, MySQL/MariaDB databases, and POP/IMAP email accounts. It is worth noting though that only the VIP plan includes a free SSL certificate.

VPS plans also offer 3 options starting with the VPS 1024 plan, which has 1x Intel Xeon E5620 @ 2.40GHz CPU, 10GB SSD disc space, and 1024MB RAM. The VPS 2048 plan includes 2x Intel Xeon E5620 @ 2.40GHz CPUs, 20GB SSD storage, and 2048MB RAM. Lastly, there's the VPS 4096 plan that boasts 3x Intel Xeon E5620 @ 2.40GHz CPUs, 40GB SSD storage, and 4096MB RAM.

As one would expect, all plans come standard with full root access.

Website Builder

While they don't include a dedicated website builder in their plans, they more than make up for it by including easy installations for popular Content Management Systems (CMS) like WordPress, Joomla, and more. These CMS options give you the flexibility to create a website that's perfectly tailored to your needs, with a wide range of themes and plugins at your disposal. Plus, if you'd rather leave the design work to the pros, CBA.pl also offers a website design and development service, making it easier than ever to bring your vision to life without having to dive into the technical details yourself.

Security

They have implemented a line of protection measures in their hosting plans and infrastructure to secure your website. These include DDoS protection, to safeguard your website against harmful attacks, with uninterrupted services even during high traffic spikes. There are routine backups (not offered on the free plan though) that will protect your data, with an added facility to recover instantly in case something does go wrong. For VIP plan users, there is an added complimentary SSL certificate by Let's Encrypt absolutely free, encrypting information to secure shared sensitive data on your website. Moreover, their servers are supervised on an ongoing basis, with proactive security updates and patches to get rid of vulnerabilities.

OS

Their Shared Hosting plans come with the Debian OS (Operating System), a popular open-source system known for its stability, security, and versatility, making it a favorite among developers and tech enthusiasts alike. Their VPS plans, on the other hand, come with a wide selection of operating systems. Users can choose between AlmaLinux 8/9, Alpine Linux 3.16/3.17/3.18, Arch Linux, CentOS 7, Debian 10 (Buster)/11 (Bullseye)/12 (Bookworm), Devuan 3.0/4.0/5.0 (an operating system rarely offered), Kali Linux, or Ubuntu 20.04/22.04/24.04.

Support

They offer round-the-clock support via Email, Online Chat, Facebook, as well as by Phone for VIP plan customers. Their support agents are friendly and knowledgable and generally quick to respond, although I have noticed that response times tend to take slightly longer after hours.

Conclusion

CBA.pl is a decent hosting option, especially for those seeking a budget-friendly solution with reliable performance. Their range of hosting plans, from free to VIP, offers flexibility for different needs, whether you're running a personal blog or a business website. However, I feel their target market is more aimed at beginners. The lack of a dedicated website builder might be a drawback for newbies, although their design and development services help fill that gap. If you’re looking for a new provider, I would suggest shopping around first.