Netfirms.com review

First impression

It’s worth noting that Netfirms is a subsidiary of Ipage. The website design looks a bit outdated. It is also not very comfortable to navigate. For instance, to find VPS servers and their pricing, you have scroll down the whole page and click on the link in the footer.

Basically, the company provides only Shared hosting. All packages include unlimited disk space, bandwidth, number of domain names and email accounts. The pricing varies between $4.95/mo to $14.99/mo.

VPS hosting is provided by their sister company called Spry. The servers are small and a bit overpriced: from $33 to $100 per month. The most expensive server includes 2 Gb RAM, 60 Gb of disk space, 2000 Gb bandwidth. Which is not that much.

Trial period

The company does not offer a trial period but it is possible to get a refund for any package within 30 days after the purchase.

Billing cycle

Shared hosting packages have annual, biennial and triennial billing cycles while VPS server have monthly, quarterly and annual.

Control panel

The company provides a custom-built control panel for their Shared hosting package. It is simple and user-friendly. As for VPS server, you can purchase cPanel at an additional cost ($10/mo).

Limits

VPS server limits are indicated in the plan descriptions. As for Shared hosting packages, we recommend to double-check the Terms of Services before purchasing this kind of hosting. For instance, even though it is stated in the plan description that the disk space is not limited, the number of inodes (files and folders) is limited to 200 000. Also, the maximum number of databases is 1000. The database cannot exceed 2 Gb.

Security

The company provides a virus scanner for your email accounts. Additionally, you can purchase SiteLock at $1.66/mo which is an antivirus and malware scanner. Backups are a paid feature (at $1.25/mo). The company does not provide anti-DDoS protection. Security maintenance of a VPS server is under your own responsibility.

OS

Ubuntu runs on Shared hosting servers. It is possible to install CentOS, Debian or Ubuntu on a VPS server.

Support

The company provides 24/7 chat, ticket and phone support. The representatives are quick, proactive but not very accurate. The knowledge base is rather big but some of the articles lead to an error page (meaning that they do not exist).

Conclusion

In general, the company offers average services at a more or less average price. The company does not provide anti-DDoS protection. Backups and antivirus are paid. Basically, this hosting would be suitable either for beginners that are starting to learn how hosting works or for professionals that are capable to maintain the account (or server) security on their own.