Z.com review

First impression

Z.com is an Asia-based Web Hosting Provider and Domain registrar that was started way back in 1995 in Tokyo, Japan. They form part of the GMO Internet Group, a multifaceted company that includes internet infrastructure, online advertising, and internet finance.

This thriving company, made up of a global team of hosting experts, offers Shared Hosting, Domain Registrations, and Google Workplace accounts to clients that span over 13 countries. They currently host over 800,000 websites and more than 29 million domains.

Trial Period

Z.com doesn’t have a free trial period on their hosting plans but rather offers a 30-day full money-back guarantee. Should you feel the services you purchased are not suited to your needs, or perform the way you hoped, you can get a complete refund – no questions asked.

One should note though that this refund is only applicable to customers who purchased web hosting Plans of 1 year or longer.

Billing Cycle

With Z.com, customers will have the option of signing up monthly, biannually, annually, or for 24 months at a time, with a modest discount available for longer commitments.

They accept Bank Transfers and DragonPay (an online payment platform that offers various solutions both for individuals and businesses around the Philippines), as well as PayPal as valid payment methods, but the availability of these also depends on your country of residence, and some might not be available for your area. PayPal however is accepted in all countries. 

Control Panel

Z.com makes use of cPanel, an online Linux-based graphical interface (GUI), as the control panel of choice on all their hosting plans. It allows users to easily manage all aspects of their hosting plan, like databases, emails, domains, and more, from one convenient and user-friendly dashboard. 

Limits

Their Shared Hosting plans come in three options namely, Starter, Personal, and Business. The Starter plan limits you to 1GB SSD storage space, 25 POP3/IMAP email addresses, 1 MySQL database, and 1 website, the Personal allows for up to 25 websites and comes with 10GB SSD disc space, 100 POP3/IMAP email accounts and 5 MySQL databases, whilst the Business plan boasts 100GB SSD storage space, 15 MySQL databases, and the ability to host unlimited websites and POP3/IMAP email addresses.

All plans come standard with unmetered bandwidth as well as a free domain (.com, .shop, .info, .online, .site, and .xyz) for the first year.

Website Builder

All Z.com hosting plans include WP Toolkit (WordPress Toolkit) as standard. This is a feature-rich management interface that enables users to easily install and configure their WordPress setup. Although this isn’t a website builder itself, it does include a comprehensive set of tools for creating and managing your website.

Security

Z.com servers are housed within world-class geo redundant data centers, equipped with fire protection and power failure countermeasures. They are also manned and monitored around the clock in a secure environment.

Hosting security comes in the form of advanced Malware protection, Spam Filters, WHOIS domain Privacy Protection, and Imunify360, an all-inclusive security suite for Linux web servers, that includes Antivirus, Firewall, WAF (a web application firewall that protects your web apps by filtering, monitoring, and blocking any malicious HTTP/S traffic), PHP Security Layers, Patch Management, Domain Reputation, advanced automation and more. 

IDS (Intrusion detection systems) and (IDS) intrusion prevention systems, mostly used to identify, stop, prevent, and report incidents to security administrators, as well as 2FA (2 Factor Authentication) are also enabled on all accounts for enhanced protection.

As an added bonus, all Z.com accounts currently come standard with a free TLS (Transport Layer Security) SSL certificate by Let’s Encrypt.

OS

All their hosting plans run on Apache web servers (version 2.4.57) and the Linux OS (Operating System). 

One should also note that they don’t support older versions of PHP, and currently only allow PHP versions 8.0 and 8.1

Support

The support Z.com offers is somewhat limited as all plans are self-managed and self-maintained, but you can reach their support agents via email or Live Chat should you need assistance.
 
It is important to note that the Live Chat option is only available from Monday to Friday, 9 am to 6 pm SGT time, however, if they are online, you can expect almost immediate replies. Email tickets take a bit longer, but you should get an answer within an hour or two.

Conclusion

Z.com offers affordable and reliable Shared Hosting plans and has cemented its place as one of Asia's top web hosting providers with an ever-growing customer base. Their plans however are limited to Shared Hosting only, and their support isn't always available - that for me personally is a big drawback. 

They specialize in WordPress hosting, offer generous amounts of performance-driven and secure web space, and taking all things into account, they should be a good choice for anyone looking for dependable and well-rounded Shared Hosting plans.