Hostbreak.com review

First impression

HostBreak is a Pakastani-based web-hosting and domain registration company. It was founded by Naveed Iqbal in the year 2001 with the purpose of providing individuals, companies, and corporations with affordable and scalable web-hosting services to established and maintain their digital footprint. They are located in Lahore, a capital city of Pakistan which serves as the technological and business hub of the country. It provides a web-hosting service including shared web-hosting, Virtual Private Server web-hosting, dedicated web-hosting, web-hosting with the registration of a domain, web-hosting with email services, web development, and internet marketing. 

Trial Period

They provide a free 7-day trial for first-time users to test their services and decide if they are the correct fit prior to subscribing. And if one week isn’t enough time, they provide a money-back guarantee for a full month. This lets the users test their services risk-free and, if they don’t have a good experience, cancel and get a full refund during the first 30 days of service.

Billing Cycle

HostBreak provides flexible billing cycles in order for customers to choose the billing cycle that they are most comfortable with and can afford. Their shared web hosting plans are available in a monthly, quarterly, semi-annual, annual, biennial, or triennial billing cycle, while their VPS plans are available in a monthly, quarterly, semi-annual, or annual billing cycle.

They currently accept all major credit cards, including Visa, MasterCard, and American Express, as well as EasyPaisa (a branchless and mobile wallet system very popular in Pakistan), JazzCash, and bank transfers.

Control Panel

They include cPanel, a top-used control panel well regarded for simplicity and feature abundance as far as managing websites, domains, emails, and databases, among other things, in their Shared Hosting plans. In all their Windows-based plans, they include Plesk, another excellent control panel with similar functionality as cPanel, but is compatible with both Linux and Windows. Both control panels offer clients ease-of-use interfaces as well as advanced tools, thereby enabling them effectively manage their host environments.

Limits

HostBreak offers a wide variety of Shared Hosting plans with differing limitations and features for different users, categorized into two main groups: Budget Hosting and Business Hosting. Their cheapest plan, rather appropriately named the Entry, starts with 1GB SSD space, 1GB RAM, and 2 POP email addresses, but no databases, so you will likely only use this plan to host a very little static web site. If you go for the Basic plan, you get 2GB SSD disc space, 1GB RAM, 150 POP email addresses, and 5 MySQL databases. If you go for the next and more expensive plan, the Standard, you get 3GB SSD storage, 2GB RAM, 800 POP email addresses (a tad too much if you ask me), and 15 MySQL databases. Lastly, they offer the Pro plan, which gives you 5GB SSD space, 2GB RAM, 2500 POP email addresses (at 250MB each, which isn't a lot), and 35 MySQL databases. Only the Entry and Basic allow for one site, while the Standard and the Pro allow 4 and 6 sites, respectively.

The Business plans have 6 variations, ranging from the Biz 5 plan with 5GB SSD space, 4GB RAM, 5 MySQL databases, and 50 POP email addresses with unlimited space, all the way up to the Biz-Infinity plan with 75GB SSD space, 6GB RAM, and unlimited MySQL databases and POP email addresses.

All plans come with cPanel for easy management, free SSL certificates, and 24/7 customer support. What sets them apart is the level of resources and scalability each plan offers, allowing users to choose a plan that best matches their current needs while providing the flexibility to upgrade as their requirements grow. However, users should be aware of the resource limitations inherent in shared hosting, such as potential performance issues during peak traffic times and the shared nature of server resources, which can impact speed and reliability.

Website Builder

HostBreak does not provide a web-site-builder tool with their web-hosting plans but one-click installations with popular Content Management Systems such as WordPress, Joomla, Drupal, osCommerce, and more are included with all web-hosting plans. They are computer programs that assist users in developing, editing, and updating web content without needing special programming knowledge. You can even avail a quotation done by them if you don’t want to create your own site as they provide web developing as well as web designing services.

Security

They have strict security measures in place to guard their infrastructure and the accounts of their customers. Their data centers have redundant power and strict physical security controls with monitoring as well as restricted access for deterring unauthorized access. Their network is guarded by DDoS attack shielding, advanced firewalls, and intrusion detection software against unauthorized access and prospective attacks. Regular security audits and vulnerability scans are often done so that any threats can be identified and removed as early as possible. They also provides free SSL certificates from Let’s Encrypt to encrypt data transmission and protect sensitive information.

For their clients' accounts, HostBreak imposes strict password policies and two-factor authentication for enhanced security, as well as Imunify360's real-time antivirus scanning and automatic removal. Other security add-ons such as CodeGuard, which includes automatic backup of the web site, and SiteLock, which protects against malware, DDoS attacks, phishing attempts, and other vulnerabilities, are offered as an add on. Advanced SSL certificates are also available for purchase. Regular backups are maintained to ensure data can be restored in case of any unforeseen incidents.

OS

All Share Hosting package at HostBreak operates with CentOS (Community Enterprise Operating System), which is a free and open-source offering that utilizes a long-term support cycle, perfect for servers and mission-critical applications. Their VPS packages on the other hand offer users a choice between Ubuntu 16.04/18.04/20.04, CentOS 7/8, CloudLinux, Debian 9/10, FreeBSD, Fedora 32, and Windows Server Standard 2012/2016/2020 for Windows packages.

Support

They provide round-the-clock assistance through multiple channels so that help is always available when you need it. You can communicate with their support staff through live chat, which is perfect for answering urgent questions that require immediate feedback. However, in my case, the replies took several hours, and many times, there was no reply at all. For more complex questions, email support is more appropriate, and their ticketing system makes sure that the more detailed questions are tracked and solved properly. If you would rather talk to someone, you can also call them since they have phone support. Moreover, HostBreak has an extensive knoweldge base and community forums which allow users who like solving problems on their own or learning from other users to do so.

Conclusion

In my view, HostBreak can be a suitable hosting company based on what matters to you. If your main goals are lower prices, a large selection of hosting plans, and standard security features, HostBreak might be suitable. If you need immediate support response at all times and expect the need for scalability at some point, you will probably have to consider other hosting companies with the ability to provide speedier support and more scalable plans.