Webfusion Review – Reasons You Might Want To Reconsider

Webfusion has been a web hosting service provider and registering domain names since 1997. They are a pioneering web hosting company servicing the UK market and relatively new to US-based clients.  They have partnered with HEG which is the leading privately owned hosting group in Europe. If you talk of the Internet, Webfusion has been existence longer than the most popular search engines. Webfusion prides itself of having an energy efficient data center with high data theft security and protection against fire. They run on a thrust to keep their clients online no matter what the situation.

Whenever I review a web hosting company I am looking at a number of key things.  What does their uptime, performance, customer support, features, and price tag look like.  I like to spend 3-4 hours analizing each company I review so bare with me if they are a bit long winded.  If you’re are in the United Kingdom or United states I will show you why there are better options out there.  I am not stating that Webfusion is a horrible host, because they are not, but I don’t recommend them either.

Webfusion Features

Webfusion is a hosting company that supports mostly clients in the United Kingdom.  However, they do business all around the world.  You’re servers will be located in the UK though, so their main appeal is to clients located in the United Kingdom.  They offer shared, VPS, and dedicated hosting. Webfusion does offer managed solutions and a number of additional extra service, as well.  You have the option to choose between Windows or Linux OS with each plan.  In this Webfusion review I am going to go into the full details of their plans.

Shared Plan

Webfusion does offer one shared plan.  It does come with a free .co.uk domain name.  It comes with unlimited web space, traffic, email accounts, FTP accounts, and does support multiple domain names.

VPS Plans

They do offer 5 different VPS hosting plans.  I have posted a screenshot of their VPS plans.  These show the disk space, RAM, bandwidth, control panel (Plesk), and price tag (in pounds).

I should note that their VPS servers are “self managed”.  This means that you are responsible for managing your own VPS.  You will have access to your root, can install applications, and customize your server to your needs.  However, Webfusion does have managed services, but keep in mind you’re going to have to pay extra for this.

Dedicated Plan

They do also offer 5 different dedicated plans.  Just like their VPS plans I have posed a screenshot of their dedicated plans offered.  It shows the CPU, RAM, HDD, and price tag (in pounds).

I should note that their dedicated plans come with unmetered bandwidth, 100 Mbps connections, etc.

Managed Web Hosting

Webfusion does offer managed web hosting services, too.  So if you’re completely scared to run your own server you can hire a tech to managed it.  These plans are fully customizable, flexible, scalable, and professional.  With over 15 years in the industry they can do as much as you want or a little as you would like when managing your server.

Control Panel

For all their plans both Linux and Windows Plesk 11 is the control panel.  I do prefer cPanel for my control panel.  I have toyed around with Plesk and really don’t have any issues with it.  There are number of add-ons you can install with Plesk.  It’s pretty easy to add WP Presence Builder, Kaspersky anti-virus, spam utilities, etc.  Overall, the control panel is good; no issues there.  It’s pretty easy to use.

Optionally, you can use cPanel for dedicated plans only.  It does cost 40 pounds extra a month (+ VAT @ 20% per month).

Extras

You’re never limited to just one thing with Webfusion.  In fact, they offer upgrades for just about anything you need.  Here a some of the extras they offer.

SSD

Since a lot of the web hosting industry is moving towards SSD hard drives it makes sense that Webfusion offers SSD to their clients.  These drives are not only faster but much more reliable than HDD (magnetic disc).  These drives are offered at a monthly fee and there is a set-up fee, as well.

Backups

With their plans they offer data backups for a fee.  There are 4 plans for backups and you can even choose from 3 plans to backup your FTP storage.

Firewalls

If your website does a lot of business online and you process payments you might want to purchase a firewall.  These are all powered by Cisco.  This can protect your server from malicious snooping, port-scanning, DDoS attacts, etc.

SSL Certificates

Webfusion offers a number of SSL certificates that you can purchase for your website.  They offer a Domain SSL, Organisational SSL, and Extrended SSL.  Each SSL has a different price.

Email

If you need email hosting you can get it with Webfusion.  They have 3 different plans for email.  They are mobile compatible, come with free Outlook 2010, and have advanced security.

Domain Names

You can also purchase domain names with Webfusion.  They have individual prices for .co, com, .eu, .me, info, etc.  Pretty much any extension you want you can get.  Compared to a lot of other companies domain names are rather expensive through Webfusion though.

Now that I have shown you all the features that Webfusion offers I’m going to evaluate their uptime, performance, customer support, and then finally give you a summary on them.  I will either recommend that you do business with them or point you elsewhere.

Webfusion Performance & Uptime

Uptime

Uptime is one of the biggest factors when running a website.  You want your website up as close to 100% as possible.  Webfusion does have a 99.9% uptime guarantee, and they do actually live up to these claims.  No it’s not just some meaningless text that they put up!  According to WebHostingStuff.com they have monitored their site and it looks like they are up 99.9% of the time.  See screenshot down below:

It’s pretty much a sure thing that your website will be up nearly all the time.  Furthermore, I have seen WebFusion updating their customers on Facebook and Twitter about uptime issues they have experienced over the years.

Performance

If you’re a US client of theirs your servers are located halfway around the world.  This isn’t good in terms of response times.  For instance, a lot of my readers come from the United States so I want my datacenter located in New York, Los Angeles, or possibly Houston.  But, possibly a good option if you’re looking for a UK based web hosting company.  However, there are a lot better options such as WebHostingBuzz.

When you run a website you want it to load quickly.  Obviously, it hurts the users experience if your website isn’t operating at optimal speed.  From the test that I have run with Webfusion I have found that performance is pretty lacking.  Why?  Because typically, you want a website that responds in under 30 milliseconds.  50-60 is above the norm.  But with them their site actually responds in 154.86 ms which is far to long!  I pulled the stats from isitdownrightnow.com.  Please see the screenshot down below:

Webfusion Customer Service

With Webfusion I really don’t have an issue with their customer support.   They have a knowledge base that should be able to guide you through any technical difficulties that you might be having.  Actually, I spent about 15-20 minutes looking at all their how-tos and they are actually pretty good.  No matter if you have problems with your account billing, domain names, hosting, email, Plesk, cPanel, dedicated servers, VPS, reseller, SSL certificates, etc. they have got you covered.

They even have a toll free number for both sales and support that you can contact them 24/7.  The support is UK based.  Their techs are really good and certainly know what they are doing.  If you have a question and want to email them you can always do so.  The response times are actually insanely fast so there are no bones with me there.

But, there is no live chat to talk with them.  Kind of wish there was, but really it’s not a big deal since their sales team, and techs do answer your questions very quickly.

Webfusion Summary

Am I stating that if you use Webfusion that you’re going to have the most miserable experience ever.  The answer is no.  In fact, they have a lot of happy customers that wouldn’t switch to another host ever.  Their customers are quite loyal.  I do feel that if you’re in the United States that they won’t be a suitable host for your website.  But, lets say you’re in the UK and want to give them a try.  You certainly, won’t be let down, but there are better options out there.

If you’re are seeking a US based company I would certainly check out InMotion.  I personally use their service and have been using them for 5 years now.  But, if you’re a UK based company you might want to check out WebHostingBuzz.  I feel they are better option than Webfusion.  If you are a client of Webfusion and you found this review helpful would you mind leaving a comment and rating them so we can all learn from your experience.  If you found this review helpful would you mind sharing it on any social networking sites you actively use?  You can click the buttons above this review or at the bottom.  Thanks for reading!

I started this special section for Webfusion to show you my research I have done on this company. What I like to do is search the internet and find out what information I can on the company prior to writing them a review. I then post a summary of the content I have found on Webfusion and then post it in this section.

I categorize the content in 1 of 3 categories; positive, negative, or neutral. I am always updating this section whenever I find information on them. Please take a couple minutes to view what I have found on them down below:

I started this special section for Webfusion so I can post the interviews I have conducted about Webfusion. What this does is allows me to get some 1 on 1 understanding of what it’s like to host with Webfusion. I cut and paste the interviews down below so that everyone can read them.

If you have experience with Webfusion I am looking to talk with you. If you want to do an interview please contact me on my contact page. If you would rather reach out to me on Twitter please contact me @tbwhs.