1and1 Reviews

Advantages

Established in 1988, 1and1.com is one of the best reviewed hosting companies in the world. 1&1 is a sister company to Sedo.com and Fasthosts.com, which are all owned by United Internet. With a customer base of over 10.5 million and handling more than 11 million domain names, 1&1 is one of the world’s largest web hosting companies. To manage its vast customer base, the company operates in 10 separate locations throughout North America and Europe, each with its own site and hosting solutions. This is a truly massive company, but has managed to live up to the expectations of its customers by offering high quality and reliable hosting solutions.

1&1’s services are primarily focused on shared hosting and the registration of domain names, although they still offer a plethora of many other services. The company offers four different shared web hosting plans based on Linux and Windows OS, and each plan allows for unlimited bandwidth. With 1and1.com, customers can enjoy a free domain, daily server backups, site building tools and a 90-day money back guarantee.

Highlights: Their 24/7 heroic email and phone support make this company incredibly appealing.
1&1 Hosting Plans
1&1 Hosting Shared Plans

The 1&1 options for shared hosting include Basic, Unlimited and Performance packages, available on both Linux and Windows operating systems. The Linux basic package includes up to .6GB of RAM and 100GB of webspace, along with a free domain name. The Basic package is not surprisingly, ideal for those interested in setting up and managing a relatively simplistic site. With the 1&1 Basic package from Linux, users will also be able to run 20 MySQL 5 databases of 1GB each. For users in need of unlimited space or who will be managing multiple websites, the 1&1 Unlimited shared hosting package affords unlimited webspace, 1 free domain and an unlimited number of websites. The Performance package also includes unlimited webspace and websites, but also provides a guarantee of 2GB of RAM and the use of the 1&1 content delivery network (CDN) for faster uptimes. The Performance package would probably be the best option for those looking for guaranteed fast and reliable performance on a high traffic website.

If a Windows operating system more closely aligns with your web building needs, 1&1 also features Basic, Unlimited and Performance packages for this operating system as well. The Basic Windows package offers 100GB of webspace, a free domain name, and the opportunity to host one website. The Unlimited package also includes a free domain name, yet users can take advantage of the plan’s unlimited webspace and websites. The Performance Windows package from 1&1 features unlimited webspace and websites. Both the Unlimited and Performance Windows packages also come with 1&1 mobile site builders and use of the 1&1 CDN. In addition, the Performance package will offer the additional benefit of 2GB of RAM.

1&1 also offers options for VPS and Dedicated hosting plans in addition to its numerous options for more basic, shared hosting. 1&1 provides four options for VPS hosting that are categorized by the number of core processing units utilized (1, 2, 4, or 6). RAM allocations range from 1 to 6GB, while website traffic on a VPS server is unlimited. All VPS hosting plans can be configured to either a Linux or Windows operating system, and come with their own IP address along with full root access.

For those interested in a powerful dedicated hosting plan, 1&1 offers Entry Level, Performance, and Business Line servers to cater to the needs of practically any customer seeking a dedicated server.

Prefer cloud hosting? You’ve guessed it, 1&1 offers cloud hosting packages, too. Options for cloud hosting include a Flex and an Advantage plan; while specific resources of the Flex plan are determined by customers themselves, the Advantage plan runs on 1 CPU, 1GB of RAM, and 100GB of hard disc space.

For bloggers interested in creating a professional WordPress website, 1&1 also offers hosting packages that specifically accommodate WordPress sites. The company’s three options for WordPress plans all include:

• Guarantees of easy setup
• Recommended plugins and themes
• Automatic managed updates of WordPress Core
• Enablement of WP-CLI
• The ability to connect with a connect delivery network

The Basic WordPress hosting package from 1&1 will support one WordPress site, 100GB of webspace and a free domain name, while the Unlimited WordPress hosting package can support multiple WordPress sites and afford users unlimited webspace, along with additional speed and security measures. The Performance WordPress package includes all of the same features of the Unlimited package, with the exception of an additional 2GB of RAM and an SSL certificate.

1&1 Features

As mentioned, 1&1 hosting plans run on both Linux and Windows operating systems and can accommodate ASP, APS.NET, Cron, MySQL databases, Perl, PHP, Python and Zend server-side scripting with cPanel and Plesk control panels. 1&1’s Basic Linux shared plan offers an unlimited number of MySQL databases, as does its Performance plan. With the company’s Windows Basic shared hosting plan, customers can utilize up to 5 MySQL 2012 databases and 10 MySQL 2012 databases with the Unlimited Plan. The Windows Performance shared hosting plan provides users with 25 MySQL 2012 databases.

The company’s two Business Line by Dell™ packages provide high-end RAID 6 hardware and Intel Xeon E5-2650 V3 processors that can offer up to 10 CPUs and 128GB of RAM.1&1’s cloud hosting Flex and Advantage plans both include full root access to servers, dedicated resources, sleep modes to store data for up to 6 months for free, and redundant storage and processing units.

1&1 Server Location and Acceleration

1&1 makes use of numerous data centers throughout the United States and Europe, all of which are protected with multiple fail-safes, back-up generators, extra hard drives, cooling systems, and redundancy through gel battery power packs. These data centers are monitored around-the-clock video cameras and safety locks. Regarding acceleration, 1&1’s 70,000 servers benefit from 300Gbit/s connectivity for industry-leading transfer times and make use of the company’s own CDN services.

1&1 Security and Installations

1&1 hosting plans are protected by a variety of security measures, which differ depending on the level of hosting package purchased. Customers of any of the 1&1 hosting plans will benefit from maximum security, high performance data centers that offer geo-redundancy and daily backups. Data center networks run with 300 G/bits of connectivity with SSL encrypted data transfer and an external firewall. All websites are also protected with the 1&1 Site Lock system that check for vulnerabilities in a website’s code. However, performance hosting plans will also include the added benefit of a 1&1 SSL certificate with a dedicated IP address.

All hosting packages from 1&1 include free access to popular applications and content management systems. These include Drupal, WordPress, Joomla, Magento and Typo3, and are all easily installed through the 1&1 control panel. Plans also include access to a wide variety of web tools, such as:

• Zend Framework
• Server Side Includes
• Net Objects Fusion design software
• The 1&1 website builder
• A graphic archive
• iStockphoto Image Library
• 1&1 content catalog

For those users interested in marketing a business on their website, 1&1 also includes numerous marketing features with each hosting plan. Take advantage of the 1&1 SEO spotlight, the 1&1 Site Analytics, Google™ Sitemaps, and Spreadshirt merchandising. As with some other hosting companies, 1&1 also offers Facebook credits and Bing and Yahoo search credits for those that purchase their Unlimited or Performance packages. Receive $50 dollars in both Facebook and Bing/Yahoo credits with the Unlimited package, or receive $50 and $100 worth of credits, respectively, with a Performance plan.

1&1 Email

Hosting packages from 1&1 will also include access to the company’s own email services. 1&1 email offers 100 email accounts for customers of its Basic packages and unlimited email accounts to customers of its higher level packages. Every customer will enjoy automatic response capabilities from the 1&1 email service, as well as email forwarding, anti-virus protection, anti-spam and anti-phishing measures, and 2GB of email storage.

Is 1&1 Hosting Right for Me?

1&1 hosting has maintained a strong reputation over the course of its 15-plus years in the business with service to nearly 11 million customers. Like some of its competitors, 1&1 hosting focuses on domain name registration and shared hosting packages, which can be ideal for those just starting out. However, because 1&1 also includes options for VPS and dedicated hosting, those who begin with a shared hosting plan can easily upgrade when necessary without switching hosting companies. The company’s 24/7 live technical support, strong security measures that feature geo-redundancy and its numerous freebies and money-back guarantee make this a hosting company to strongly consider.