Name: KnownHost
Plans: Managed WordPress, VPS, Dedicated.
Website: www.knownhost.com
Summary: KnownHost is a very dependable web hosting company. They are great for managed WordPress, VPS and dedicated servers. I do recommend them. Find out what other webmaster are saying about them in this KnownHost review.
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KnownHost is a host that has been in business since 2005. Their staff has over 15 years of experience online and they are quickly becoming a “known” web hosting company.
They currently maintain hundreds of servers and have three datacenters located in the United States (Dallas, Seattle, and Baltimore). They have onsite and offsite employees and are privately owned. They are experts in managed hosting and have been around as long as GoDaddy, RoseHosting, InterServer, and LiquidWeb.
Whenever, I review a web hosting company I like to look at their features, uptime, performance and customer support. Then at the end of the review, I will write a summary of them. Let’s get started with this KnownHost review so you can decide if they will be a good dependable hosting company for your hosting needs.
KnownHost Features
I should note that KnownHost doesn’t offer any shared plans. They offer managed WordPress plans (like WP Engine and Page.ly). Offer VPS and dedicated plans, too. They are for those webmasters that are not going to need a shared plan. A lot of their clients seek them out because their shared account has gotten suspended. Now, we will look at the plans that KnownHost offers.
Managed WordPress Plans
KnownHost prides itself in providing fast, optimized & secure WordPress Hosting. Their hosting comes with some great features which include 24/7 fully managed support, 99.9% service level agreement, free backups & migrations and their claim to have they best uptime in the industry. These plans range in price from $25 a month to $120 a month. Start with a minimum of 25GB of RAID-10 Disk Space and 3000 GB Premium bandwidth and go as high as 180GB of RAID-10 and 17000 GB premium bandwidth.
These plans also include unlimited domains and 2 IP Addresses. You can enhance your hardware or software with many available add-ons. Resource upgrades are available extra RAM, extra HDD, and additional bandwidth. These upgrades range from $6.40 a month to as high as $34.98 a month. With Software updates users can also add on billing software, Lightspeed and RV Skin and a site builder.
Their prices are a tad bit on the higher end and not as cheap as BlueHost and Doteasy.
Managed VPS Plans
Knownhost’s VPS plans are scalable, fully managed, and optimized. Their managed VPS packages are a cost effective substitute for shared and reseller hosting. These plans come with a host of features which include complementary DDOS protection, instant provisioning, and a 99.9% Service Level Agreement. The plans range in price from $25 a month for the VPS-1 to $120 for the VPS-7 plan. Users can get as much as 180GB of RAID-10 Disk Space with these plans. Knownhost’s VPS plans are scalable on demand, with no downtime and also custom built with enterprise-grade hardware.
Resource upgrades for these services allow you to add on extra HDD(starting at 10GB for $11.66) additional bandwidth(starting at 250 GB for $10) and extra RAM (starting at 256 MB for $6.40 a month). Software upgrades also all for the addition of cPanel/WHM($5.00 a month), DirectAdmin ($5.00 a month), Blesta and WHMCS Billing Software ($5.00 a month) and LiteSpeed(starting at $12.00 a month).
Their prices for their VPS servers are right on par with GreenGeeks and A2 Hosting.
Managed SSD VPS Plans
Knownhost’s SSD VPS plans are fully managed and use cutting edge technology. They use packages that are on cutting edge pure SSD drives. The hardware used is the best so that you get fast performance. Their packages include 24/7 fully managed support, 99.9% Service Level Agreement, and instant setup. The plans range in price from $35 a month for the SSD-1 to $110 for the SSD-5 plan. You get a minimum of 1.5 GB of guaranteed RAM with these plans, and that can go as high as 7GB depending on your choice of plan.
With these SSD VPS plans, they include pure SSD drives for optimal performance along with a 30-day money back guarantee. Resource upgrades for these plans allow you to add on extra SSD(starting at 10GB for $20) additional bandwidth(starting at 250 GB for $10) and extra RAM (starting $6.40 a month). Software Upgrades are also available allowing users to add on cPanel/WHM, DirectAdmin, Billing Software and LiteSpeed.
Their prices are right on par with WebHostingBuzz and are a little bit cheaper than MDDHosting.
Managed Dedicated Plans
KnownHost has managed dedicated plans that are affordable and professional. Their servers are all custom built, secured, and optimized out of the box. These plans are 24/7 fully managed support, have a 99.9% Service Level Agreement and include free backups & migrations. There are four plans KH-DS1 ($179 + $49 setup fee), KH-DS2 ($239 +$79 setup fee), KH-DS3 ($329 + $99 setup fee) and KH-DS4 ($379 + $129 setup fee).
These plans include a minimum of 16GBDDR3 RAM and 11,000GB of bandwidth. Some of the other features of these managed dedicated plans include order verification, a built dedicated server and a deployed server. Many software upgrades are available. Blesta and WHMCS billing software are both available for $5.00 a month. Blesta (unbranded) is available for $9.00 a month. There are also two LiteSpeed options available: one for $32.00 a month and one for $46.00 a month. Finally, there is KernelCare for $2.95 a month.
Their prices are pretty decent, but still a little bit higher than GlowHost and Hostgator when you add in the setup fee.
KnownHost Performance & Uptime
Performance
So, how good is KnownHost for performance? Since KnownHost specializes in managed VPS servers, they offer a plethora of extras to their clients. For all of their plans, you can purchase more RAM, more disk space, more bandwidth, etc. Their VPS servers are built to be dynamic so you can trust that their servers are not going to bog down with thousands of websites. Furthermore, they don’t use the whole “ unlimited hosting” sales pitch that a lot of other companies use. Instead, you know how much monthly bandwidth you can use with all of their plans. Their customers speak very highly of them, and their performance is fantastic.
Uptime
KnownHost does have a very solid uptime policy. They state that your website will be up 99.996% of the time. You would only have about 30 minutes of downtime each year. They will credit your account if ever you have any downtime. See this graphic taken from KnownHost’s website which shows how much they will credit your account if you have any downtime.
KnownHost does use a third party service (HyperSpin) to track their uptime. Shows the status of each server and you can see how long they have been down. I like this feature because anyone can say anything on the internet, but they actually have the proof to back it up.
Other webmasters can attest to the uptime with KnownHost, too. They get very positive feedback amongst webmasters for their excellent uptime. Therefore, I can say with 100% confidence that you shouldn’t ever have any problems with KnownHost and extended amounts of downtime.
KnownHost Customer Support
So, how good is KnownHost’s customer support? Let me start off by telling you; you can contact them 24/7 anytime (unlike PowWeb and SingleHop). You can contact them through live chat, telephone, ticketing system, and by emailing customer support. They also have a forum where you can contact them (see KnownHost’s forum) and a Wiki knowledgebase https://wiki.knownhost.com/start. KnownHost does have locally based customer support (unlike 1and1 and Dot5Hosting). Means that if your calling from Houston, Texas you are going to be connected with an agent in the United States (not someone overseas). They also have customer support located in Canada, Europe, Australia, etc.
Over the years I have tested out KnownHost’s customer support and have found them to be very helpful. They typically get back with you in hours (through support tickets and emails), live chat is very helpful and usually can solve your issues right away, telephone support is very fast and helpful too. It typically only takes 5 minutes to get your questions resolved on the phone. They do have a nice feature on their site at https://support.knownhost.com/ where it does show the average response time.
With the 15+ years of experience you can trust that they will be able to assist you and they get matters resolved quickly. Other webmasters are also praising KnownHost and their customer support staff. Therefore, I can rate their customer support very highly.
KnownHost Review Summary
Do I recommend that you use KnownHost? Yes, they are a very robust and dependable company for VPS and dedicated servers, and WordPress managed websites. KnownHost comes with a ton of features, and you can customize your server any way you want it with them. You shouldn’t ever have to worry about downtime with KnownHost either. Their techs do an excellent job at maintaining their datacenters. Their customer support is also very reliable. They have 15 years in the industry, and you can contact them whenever you need any assistance. Overall, KnownHost has many happy customers, and I firmly stand behind them.
Is there any reason you might not want to use KnownHost? Yes, for some their prices might be a little higher. For instance, if you just need a shared plan you should consider checking out my WebHostingHub or SiteGround review. Another great option for VPS and dedicated plans would be InMotion Hosting. InMotion is a company that I use on tbwhs.com and has worked with for over eight years now.