Netfirms Review
NetFirms
$4.45/month
PROS
- Free domain name
- Free marketing credits
CONS
- Extremely expensive renewals
- No cPanel control panel
- Only shared hosting
Netfirms Review Introduction
Founded in 2008, Netfirms is operated by a team of technology professionals who are passionate about web hosting and helping get websites the attention they deserve. Their core values of doing more with less, treating customers like people and not numbers, and continuing to grow and evolve as a company makes Netfirms a viable option for your website.
Netfirms Review on Service
While Netfirms accounts are a bit pricier than their competition, the services they offer are competitive with other web hosts that offer the same or similar services. Their most basic plan starts at $4.45/month and includes all of the features you would expect. A list of main features is:
- Unlimited Disk Space & Bandwidth
- Free Domain Name
- Free Website Builder
- Unlimited Email Accounts
- Google, Facebook, and Yahoo/Bing Marketing Credits
One drawback with the basic plan is the ability to only have 5 MySQL databases, so if you are looking to host several database driven websites you will have to upgrade to a more expensive package. However, if you are only going to be hosting one website that doesn’t have a lot of database usage then the most basic plan will be more than sufficient for your needs.
Another big drawback is the lack of cPanel control panel. This knocks a few points off of user friendliness due to the fact that their proprietary control panel is clunky and not very intuitive. cPanel is much easier to use and is a breeze to navigate.
Netfirms Review on Support
Netfirms offers 24/7 support through phone, live chat, and email ticket system. Their staff is friendly and helpful. However, with it being such a large company, hold times can be a bit longer than normal depending on the number of support requests they have. When they do get to your problem it is answered quickly and correctly.
Netfirms Review on Reliability & Speed
While Netfirms has high quality equipment, our test account had multiple speed and downtime issues. This can generally be attributed to overcrowded servers on a shared hosting environment. If you’re running a business website this could potentially set you back.
Our Recommendation
Netfirms isn’t necessarily a bad option, but the reality is that they don’t do anything that other hosts do for cheaper. Netfirms is expensive for what they offer, especially when renewal time comes around.