Editor's opinion
Lorienz Galarpe
I am a website designer and developer for over 7 years now, and I worked with several hosting companies in the past for each website project I handle.
First impression
Louhi is an award-winning Finnish web hosting provider with over 22,000 business and consumer customers, 97% of which are satisfied with its services.
Initially conceived in 2001 as a small side business, Louhi was officially registered as a full-fledged web hosting company in 2005. The Finnish company provides “domains, websites, and business applications for professionals, all at affordable prices.” Well, they say so themselves, so let’s look to see if they’re right.
Analyzing the information on the Louhi website is easy because it can be switched quite simply from Finnish into my native English.
Trial period
Louhi offers free or €0/month on their page builder tool for a test and to create a website without any coding skills, although they don’t offer a free trial on their web hosting services but they do also guaranteed a 14 Day Moneyback terms.
Billing cycle
When it comes to pricing, you get what you pay for, or (in this case) you pay for what you get. Beginner webmasters with simple HTML websites can get started for single-figure dollar prices per month. In contrast, power users on the aptly-named Power plan for what Louhi terms “demanding use” will pay about 20 times as much each month.
Since there are no obvious incentives for signing up for longer periods, I’d suggest signing up for the three-month minimum, at least initially. Note that if you’re registering for the entry-level Mini plan, you’ll have to go for at least a one-year contract. Private customers get 14 days to change their minds, and everyone gets one free domain with any hosting plan.
You can choose to pay Monthly or Yearly plans on their billing cycle.
Control panel
The cPanel control panel familiar from their web hotels can also be found in Sovellushotele. Also available in Finnish!
You can start working as soon as the order is paid. The service will be opened and WordPress will be installed automatically, and you will receive credentials for cPanel management and WordPress within minutes of ordering.
Limits
The standard hosting plans – imaginatively titled “Louhi Hosting” – are Mini, Perus (meaning Basic), Rajaton (meaning Unlimited), and Voima (meaning Power). Resources range from 0.5 GB disk space and 10 GB traffic (on the Mini plan) to 20 GB disk space and unlimited traffic (on the Power plan).
The standard hosting features include:
- Email accounts;
- MySQL databases (except the Mini plan);
- cPanel control panel;
- PHP 7, Perl, and Python;
- SSH access (except the Mini plan);
- Cron jobs;
- Weebly website builder;
- Free AutoSSL (except the Mini plan);
- Installatron installer for WordPress, Joomla, Drupal, and other apps.
Where the specific resources are not unlimited with your chosen plan, you can top them up by purchasing additional disk space, traffic allowance, and email accounts. Note that backup recoveries are an additional charge as well.
Website Builder
Sitejet Builder – uncomplicated and modern website engine
A cost-effective and easy way to create and maintain websites as part of Louhe's domestic Web hotel service. With the help of tools that utilize the service's artificial intelligence and other modern features, you build fast, responsive and SEO-friendly sites.
Setting up and using Sitejet Builder is fast, and no coding skills are required. With the service's intuitive user interface and drag & drop editor, anyone can implement cost-effective and impressive websites.
The solution thus combines a modern website builder program and a reliable location in Finland, at the Louhe Webhotel.
Security
The server environment is completely maintained by Louhe, so they make sure that the server software is also up-to-date and the latest security patches are installed. Data security is supplemented with the Patchman application, which scans WordPress and its plugins for possible vulnerabilities and automatically patches them at the last minute.
Secure Sockets Layer (SSL) is a security protocol that provides privacy, authentication, and integrity to Internet communications. SSL eventually evolved into Transport Layer Security (TLS).
OS
Louhi.fi offers Linux distributions like CentOS, Ubuntu Server, and Debian that are popular choices among web hosting providers because they offer robust server capabilities and extensive support for web server software such as Apache, Nginx, and various database management systems like MySQL and PostgreSQL.
This combination of Linux and web server software forms the backbone of many websites and web applications hosted around the world.
Support
Louhi’s main website includes a set of FAQs and a link to the separate Support Site that contains a link to live chat (which was offline), a large number of articles, and a support ticket submission form.
On a Sunday, I reached out to the sales department by submitting a ticket to inquire about the server locations and uptime guarantees of this vendor. Shortly after, I received an automated email confirming that my query had been received and would be addressed in due course. This response indicated that the vendor’s support system was up and running. The following morning, I received a comprehensive and well-written response to my query in excellent English.
Conclusion
Pros |
Cons |
- A good range of feature-packed plans;
- Optimized WordPress plans;
- High customer satisfaction rate;
- Responsive customer support.
|
- Support is not 24/7;
- Service activation has a two-day delay.
|
Louhi provides a range of appropriately-priced standard and WordPress hosting plans, complemented by additional offerings including G Suite, Office 365, and Hosted Exchange. They’ve got “award-winning customer service,” even if they do say so themselves, but surely their 97% satisfied customer base can’t be wrong.
FAQS:
❔What is a content management system (CMS)?
A CMS is a software used to manage content on a website. Popular CMS include WordPress, Joomla, Squarespace and Wix.
✅Can I transfer my website hosting to Louhi.fi?
Yes, you can transfer your web hosting services to Louhi. It's a quick and easy migration with little to no downtime or service interruption.
❕Is cPanel suitable for beginners?
As mentioned above, cPanel comes with an intuitive dashboard, which makes it easier to use than many other control panels. Plus, because it’s been around since the 1990s, it comes with a library of official how-to guides and user manuals, which you can turn to if you get stuck.