Space.kz review

First impression

Space is a telecommunications company that was founded in 2001 by a team of IT experts. They are owned by Kazakhtelecom JSC, the largest telecommunications provider in the country, with their head office in Almaty, Kazakhstan. They offer a range of services such as Shared Hosting, VDS Hosting, Domain Registrations, Dedicated Servers, Internet Connectivity, VOIP Solutions, as well as Website Development.

Trial Period

Unfortunately, there is no free trial period on offer from them, nor is there a money-back guarantee in place. However, their support support agents mentioned to me that refunds are provided in certain cases. If you're considering their services, it might be a good idea to contact their support team directly for clarification on refund policies on the specific services you are interested in.

Billing Cycle

For their shared hosting plans, subscriptions are only available on an annual cycle, so you will have to commit for a year upfront. If you are looking at their VDS (Virtual Dedicated Server) hosting, you will get have to pay monthly.

They currently accept Bank Transfers, WebMoney, Visa to Visa payments, as well as Yandex Wallet, a payment service and e-wallet solution that allows users to make payments online and in-store.

Control Panel

Space uses the cPanel control panel in their shared hosting plans which makes managing your plan very simple and easy. For those who don’t know, cPanel is famous for its user-friendly interface that helps effortlessly manage domains, emails, and files without needing to understand the technicalities. On the other hand, their VDS (Virtual Dedicated Server) plans come without any control panels. These are provided with full root access which allows complete control of the server environment. As a user, you are expected to install and maintain your preferred control panel or any other server software. It is perfect for advanced users who want to customize their hosting environment to suit their specific needs. 

Limits

Space provides a selection of Shared Hosting plans with storage options ranging from 250MB on their Mini plan up to 15GB on their Max plan. One thing that stand out for me is the fact that these plans come with unlimited domains, subdomains, email accounts, and MySQL databases, as long as everything fits within the allocated storage of the plan. Unfortunately, they don’t disclose the specific amount of CPUs or RAM for each plan.

They have three scalable plans for their VDS solutions, starting at VPS-1 all the way up to VPS-4. Their first VPS-1 plan starts out at a very conservative 7GB disk space (which I find to be very low for a VDS), 500MHz guaranteed CPU, and 256MB of RAM. For 12GB of storage capacity, 1000MHz of CPU, and 512MB of RAM, they have their VPS-2 plan. For 35GB of disk capacity, 2000MHz of CPU, and 1GB of RAM, you would use their VPS-3 plan. For 50GB of storage, 2500MHz guaranteed CPU, and 1GB of RAM, their top VPS-4 plan is available. Their Shared Hosting and VDS plans do not use high-speed SSD drives but use regular HDDs.

Website Builder

This provider doesn't have any type of website builder included in their plans, which is a disappointment if you are actually looking to have your site up and running quickly without knowledge of how to create one. But they make up for that by providing professional website design and development services, which can be a very good choice if you are searching for something more professional and custom. To have your website done this way also provides you the ability to deal directly with their staff to design a site to your specifications, but remember that all that will cost you more.

Security

They have ensured a secure host environment by utilizing secure data encryption, firewalls, and around-the-clock monitoring of their facilities. Their servers are housed in Tier III data centers, which are known for their high uptime and security. While they are not similar to many modern host services and do not offer additional steps such as DDoS protection, or pre-emptive malware screening. If you require these, you may need to seek out another host for security add-ons or services.

OS

Space utilizes the CloudLinux OS for their shared hosting plans, which is an extremely popular Linux distribution that is also known for its stability and efficient usage of resources, particularly so for the shared hosting environment. For their Virtual Dedicated Server (VDS), they have various options for Linux operating system distributions, including CentOS, Ubuntu, and Debian, to give the user the choice to use the OS that best fits their technical and project needs.

Support

Space provides technical support through a few different channels, including Phone, Email, and Skype, so you can reach out in whichever way is most convenient for you. However, from my experience, their response times aren't the fastest. While they do get back to you eventually, it's not always as quick as you'd hope, especially if you're dealing with urgent issues. If you're looking for immediate help, the best would be to pick up the phone and call them, as the other 2 channels will take much longer.

Conclusion

So, is Space a good hosting option? Well, that really depends on what you're looking for! If you're after a no-frills, basic hosting service with decent uptime and you’re fine with handling some of the technical stuff yourself, then Space could be worth considering. Their shared hosting is simple, and VDS plans give you that sweet root access for customization. But if you're looking for super speedy response times, you might want to look elsewhere. Also, if you need high-performance SSD storage or fancy extras like a website builder, they aren't exactly going to blow your mind. In my personal opinion, I would shop around a bit more.