StartLogic Review – Below Average Hosting & Here’s Why

StartLogic was established in 2003.  They are owned by EIG who owns a lot of hosting companies.  ApolloHosting, Dotster, HostNine, PowWeb, and JustHost. They’re no newbie when it comes to web hosting. So chances are you have heard of the name before. They offer all solutions for your hosting needs, depending on what you are looking for; this includes eCommerce, SMB (small to medium-sized business), or just a personal site.

In this full comprehensive StartLogic review, I am going to go over some of the features that their service offers.  Along with a complete analysis of what people are reporting about their experience. You’ll soon learn why I do not recommend StartLogic.

StartLogic Features

StartLogic has many plans that they offer.  6 in total.  They offer three different shared plans and 3 VPS plans.  A lot of people are surprised to hear that you can even purchase domain names and lots of other products and services as well.  Below I will go into further details of the plans they offer.

Shared Plans

At a glance, these shared plans look appealing.  But, the value isn’t there for what you get.  For instance, their Express comes with only 100 GB of bandwidth per month.  With WebHostingHub you can use about twice as much for cheaper.  With their Supercharge plan, it seems like your getting shorted, based on what you are paying.

Express

The bottom of the line shared hosting plan you can purchase with StartLogic is called the Express plan.  With this hosting plan, you can use 100 GB of bandwidth, 5 GB of storage, and five email accounts.  With this service, you will also receive Site Expresso Builder which does limit you to a 6-page website.  You can install 1 MySQL database and have access to an FTP manager.  Actually, for $4.50/month you’re getting a barebones plan.

Pro

The next step up from the Express plan is the Pro plan.  On their site, it claims you get unlimited bandwidth and disk space.  I am not too fond of shared hosting plans that tell you can use unlimited bandwidth or disk space.  I like to know exactly how much space and bandwidth I can use per month.  But, with this plan you’re not limited to just one domain name.

They state that you can have an unlimited amount of domain names, but surely there is a limit to some domains you can have on a shared server.  This plan does come with Weebly Drag and Drop Builder and Site Expresso, as well.  Instead of being limited to just one MySQL database your allowed 10.  The price tag for this plan is $5.99/month.

Supercharge

Their highest plan for a shared hosting is called the Supercharge plan.  Just like the Pro plan their site claims that you can use an unlimited amount of bandwidth and disk space.  With this plans it comes with a free site backup and restores, SiteLock acceleration and firewall, and more eCommerce tools.  I am just guessing you’re paying for extra backup and more script support with this plan.  This plan will end up running you $8.99/month.

I should note that with all the above packages you will receive $100 Google Adwords, 50 Facebook Credit, & $50 Yahoo/Bing search marketing credit.  Prices are right on par with other hosts (like GlowHost and AwardSpace).  As you will learn the price does go up with your next billing.

VPS Plans

VPS Logic

Startlogic’s entry VPS plan is called VPS Logic.  It comes with 20 GB of disk space, 1 TB of bandwidth, 1 GB of burstable bandwidth, and you can host up to 10 domains on this server.  The price tag is $29.99/month.

VPS LogicPro

The next step up from the Logic plan is the VPS Logic Pro.  It comes with 40 GB of storage, 1.5 TB of monthly bandwidth, 1.5 GB of burstable bandwidth, and you can host up to 30 domain names.  This server will run you $39.99/month.

VPS LogicPremium

Finally, Startlogic’s highest grade VPS plan is called the LogicPremium.  It allows 60 GB of disk space, 2 TB of bandwidth, 2 GB of burstable RAM, and supports up to 100 domain names.  The price tag is $49.99/month.

I should note that all three VPS plans come with virtualization software and OpenVZ.  They will all support a Linux OS, PHP 4, and MySQL 5.  However, I do like how StartLogic does tell you how much burstable RAM you can use.  Help when there are huge traffic spikes on your websites.

There are no setup fees if you pay for an entire year of service.  If you pay monthly there is a $30 setup fee.  Prices are little more expensive than hosts like InterServer and 1and1.

Prices Do Rise

With StartLogic, the prices do rise.  This something GoDaddy, another popular host has done over the years.

Regular rates for the Express hosting plan are:

• Monthly term: $8.99 a month (billed monthly)
• 12-month term: $8.99 a month (billed $107.88 for one year)
• 24-month term: $8.99 a month (billed $215.76 for two years)
• 36-month term: $8.99 a month (billed $323.64 for three years)

Regular rates for the Pro and ProLogic hosting plans are:

• Monthly term: $14.95 a month (billed monthly)
• 3-month term: $14.95 a month (billed $44.85 for 3 months)
• 12-month term: $14.95 a month (billed $179.40 for 1 year)
• 24-month term: $13.95 a month (billed $334.80 for two years)
• 36-month term: $12.95 a month (billed $466.20 for three years)

Regular rates for the Supercharge hosting plan are:

• Monthly term: $14.49 a month (billed monthly)
• 12-month term: $14.49 a month (billed $173.88 for 1 year)
• 24-month term: $13.49 a month (billed $323.76 for two years)
• 36-month term: $12.49 a month (billed $449.64 for three years)

Control Panel

For their control panel, they use VDeck (much like FatCow).  Not that I am a huge fan of VDeck, but for the most part, it’s functional.  In case you’re new to vDeck, they do have some helpful articles that show you the ends and outs of the control panel.  The learning curve is probably about 10-30 minutes depending on your level of experience.  You can easily access your: billing information, hosting information, password settings, email accounts, add-on domain names, sub-domains, scripts, PHPMyAdmin, MySQL, etc.

• Billing information.
• Hosting information.
• Password settings.
• Email accounts.
• Add-on domain names.
• Sub-domains, scripts.
• PHPMyAdmin.
• MySQL.
• etc.

Security

StartLogic takes security very seriously. Often when you develop a site and start getting the traffic, you’re going to be wide open to hacks. StartLogic has partnered with a company called SiteLock. What they do is monitor your site for website hacks. If your site is ever hacked, they will get rid of the malware and restore it for you. Does cost you an extra monthly expense, though. I have written about SiteLock here, which shows that I don’t believe their service is worth the extra money.

Now lets check StartLogic’s uptime, performance, and customer support.

StartLogic Performance and Uptime

Uptime

How good is StartLogic’s uptime?

My StartLogic review would not be complete without talking about uptime. No 99.9% uptime guarantee. Lots of other hosts have one. StartLogic does not. Looked through their TOS page couldn’t find anything about uptime policies. Logged on to live chat. Got disconnected once. Waited for 10 minutes.

Shashanka S. told me this.

We do not have an actual uptime guarantee for our services. As this is not a common practice for a shared hosting environment. However, we do track our uptime very closely, and generally speaking, we are often above 99.9%. Overall, our shared hosting platform is designed to be very redundant.  Here is a link.

I asked StartLogic if they have any stats to show their uptime. They told me, “Sorry, we do not have stats.”
Research shows site owners are having issues with uptime. Therefore, if you sign up with StartLogic, you could have issues.

Performance

How good is StartLogic’s performance?

Could be better, and here is why.

First, logged onto live chat to ask a question about the hardware that StartLogic is using. Damesh V. answered a question about SSD hard drives. I wanted to know if they use them. He told me, “ We use SAN technology, no SSD.” Do prefer hosts that use SSD drives.

Next, checked StartLogic’s servers from many locations. Here are the results:

Across all queries that we sent to ns1.startlogic.com, the success rate is 99.89% (uptime).

Also, ran some additional test. Here are the results:

But, research show there are complaints about speed. So, performance could be an issue with StartLogic.

StartLogic Customer Support

Now, my StartLogic review I will discuss their support.

StartLogic has customer support.  For instance, you can contact them through live chat, telephone support, email, or a ticket system.  But, sadly site owners have reported that support is overseas.  I have never really been a fan of offshore support, especially for a technology related business like web hosting.

It might be okay for Playstation 4 or something when you need to contact someone about your gaming console.  But not for my business.   I am sure that if you have been following my reviews, you will clearly see that I want to be able to contact customer service at the wee hours of the night anytime I have issues or problems.  Live chat isn’t always that helpful, and phone support is just overseas help.

True, they do have email support and live help.  But people are also reporting that they don’t do much to get your inquiry answered.  They do have a special section on their site which has a lot of how-tos and articles.   These are pretty helpful. Their motto seems to be “Real people. Real service. Real savings” which doesn’t appear to be the response that webmasters are reporting with them.

My Experience With Customer Support

My experience with support has not been great.  Here is why.  First, took 5 minutes to log into live chat.  Then, had a question about SSD hard drives.  Next, it took another 5 minutes because they needed to put me on hold.  Then, got disconnected.  Had to log in to live chat again and wait five more minutes.  Then, someone finally answered my question.  Lastly, it always seems to be a hassle.

StartLogic’s Support Research

But, research shows StartLogic support is lacking.  The following sites have StartLogic reviews:

• WhoIsHostingThis.com
• WebHostingGeeks.com
• WebHostingJury.com

StartLogic Review Summary

So, StartLogic isn’t going to be your best option when choosing a host.  Do I recommend StartLogic?  No.  For some they might work out, but for others, they won’t.  Prices do double with your next billing cycle, too.

You could also run into some performance issues or uptime problems.  Customer support might not be the most helpful.  My experience with them and the other StartLogic reviews show the same.

Better Option

But why not just save yourself the hassle of having to pack up and move to hosts like InMotion or GreenGeeks, which will treat you right without the hassle.

Research on StartLogic

Interviews with StartLogic customers.