ScalaHosting Review (2024)

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ScalaHosting at a Glance

What is ScalaHosting?

ScalaHosting is a web hosting provider offering a range of hosting solutions, with a particular focus on VPS hosting. You won’t find any dedicated server hosting with ScalaHosting, but their flexible VPS plans allow you to configure a powerful VPS with similar specifications. 

ScalaHosting’s ethical approach and transparent pricing address the common pain points of finding reliable and affordable hosting with no hidden costs. ScalaHosting is highly rated on Trustpilot, with an average rating of five stars from 1,454 reviews. Its A+ rating with the Better Business Bureau (BBB) also suggests strong customer satisfaction.

ScalaHosting’s plans cater to everyone, whether you are just starting out with a single website or have a large business looking for robust, managed VPS services.

ScalaHosting features

Web hosting

Shared web hosting plans make getting your website online affordable. You share resources with other users, so there’s a trade-off between cost and performance. 

However, even the cheapest ScalaHosting plans include security scans, daily backups, free SSL certificates, and a free domain. Some competitors charge extra for these as hidden costs, which makes ScalaHosting’s shared plans ideal if you’re on a budget and unsure what extras you might need. 

WordPress hosting

ScalaHosting’s WordPress hosting has identical features to the shared web hosting plans. Each tier has the same pricing and limits as the corresponding shared hosting plan. 

VPS hosting

Hosting your website on a virtual private server (VPS) is more expensive than shared hosting but provides your website with the dedicated access to resources it needs to run smoothly. VPS hosting is a good choice if you have larger, more complex websites or will need to scale up quickly to cater to larger numbers of users.

Reliability and performance

ScalaHosting is a reputable and reliable hosting company with an uptime guarantee of 99.99%. The VPS hosting provides excellent speed and performance.

The shared hosting plans don’t stand out quite so well—their performance is around the average. However, ScalaHosting lets you enable CloudFlare CDN, a content delivery network that improves your site's performance, reducing the time it takes to load. 

Bandwidth and storage

You’ll benefit from unmetered bandwidth with ScalaHosting, which means there are no limits to the amount of data your website can transfer.

Solid state drive (SSD) storage is included as standard and has the benefit of increasing the speed of your website. ScalaHosting uses newer NVMe SSD storage, which it claims can deliver speeds ten times faster than older types of SSDs. However, as this storage is expensive, it also means ScalaHosting is less generous on the lowest-tier hosting plans, with limits of only 10GB.  

Security

ScalaHosting provides its SShield security service with all its plans.  This software monitors your website 24/7 and claims to block 99.998% of malicious attacks aiming to compromise your website.

Daily offsite backups are included as standard, something that is often a premium add-on in competing services. Critically, these backups are held in a different location to your hosting, so if something happens to your server, a backup of your data will be available elsewhere to help you recover your site. 

Infrastructure

Most of ScalaHosting’s plans use the Linux operating system, although Windows VPS servers and managed AWS servers are available. ScalaHosting’s data centers are based in Dallas and New York, with one in Sofia, Bulgaria. If you need a wider choice of locations, you can choose to use AWS data centers located in Canada, the United Kingdom, France, Germany, Ireland, Singapore, India, Japan, South Korea, or Australia.

Control panel 

ScalaHosting has its own custom SPanel, which looks slightly more modern than the CPanel found on most hosting platforms. If you prefer, you can switch to a CPanel account starting from $19.95 per month, depending on how many websites you host. However, I wouldn’t recommend the extra expense and would stick with ScalaHosting’s own SPanel. It’s easy to use, and if you’re familiar with CPanel, you’ll quickly get used to it. 

Is ScalaHosting Safe and Reliable?

ScalaHosting takes security seriously. You’ll find SSL certificates for secure connections, firewall protection, and regular malware and virus scanning to maintain website integrity. Distributed denial of service (DDoS) protection mitigates the risk of service disruption, as do the daily backups that ensure your site can be restored if something goes wrong. Two-factor authentication adds an extra layer of security to your account. 

Like all reputable hosting companies, ScalaHosting has a privacy policy visible in the footer of their website. It is well presented, explaining what information the company collects from you, how it stores it, and what it uses it for. 

How ScalaHosting Works

ScalaHosting provides you with the infrastructure and software necessary to host your website. Its straightforward model lets you select and customize your hosting plan according to your needs. 

With ScalaHosting, you manage your website, domains, email accounts, and other hosting features through the intuitive SPanel control panel. Setting up a website is a streamlined process with easy-to-use tools and one-click installers for popular web applications. 

How To Get Started With ScalaHosting / How To Sign Up for ScalaHosting

Getting started with ScalaHosting is easy. You begin by choosing the hosting plan that suits you best from the website. Next, you’ll be prompted to register a domain or transfer an existing one. You'll create an account as part of the setup process and provide contact and payment information. 

Once your account is active, you can begin uploading your website files, configuring your domains and email accounts, and customizing your hosting environment. You’ll also find one-click installers for software such as WordPress, making building your website even easier. 

There’s a “Getting Started” button in the top left of your screen when you first log in and, if you’re used to hosting websites on other providers, you shouldn’t run into any trouble. But if you do get stuck, ScalaHosting provides comprehensive support documentation to help you through the setup process. 

ScalaHosting Customer Service

You can contact the ScalaHosting support team by live chat, email, or a ticketing system. The support hours depend on the type of assistance you need. Pre-sales and billing support is available Monday-Friday, 2:30am-5pm (CT), while you can get help with technical issues or any reports of abuse 24/7. 

Unfortunately, the only support provided by phone is for pre-sales, but even so, I found the customer service to be excellent. I received an email response from ScalaHosting within 20 minutes, and live chat quickly connected me to a support agent. Other ScalaHosting customers also rate the technical support highly.  

Additionally, ScalaHosting provides an extensive knowledge base and a wide selection of “Getting Started” guides. There’s also a blog covering service updates, along with articles on more technical topics like how to optimize databases on your VPS hosting.

How To Cancel or Pause a ScalaHosting Subscription 

To cancel your ScalaHosting subscription, you'll need to log into your account control panel. You can find any hosting plans you have subscribed to in the “My Services” tab. From there, click “Manage” and “Request cancelation.” You’ll then need to choose whether your cancelation should be started immediately or at the end of the billing period. Click the cancelation confirmation button and ScalaHosting will do the rest.

Is There a ScalaHosting App?

ScalaHosting does not have a dedicated mobile app for managing your hosting services. However, its website is fully responsive, and you can access it from any device with an internet connection.

ScalaHosting Pricing

How Much Does ScalaHosting Cost?

ScalaHosting offers a selection of hosting plans to fit different requirements and budgets. These plans range from $2.95 to $14.95 per month for shared hosting when committing to a 36-month plan. ScalaHosting’s VPS plans start at a very reasonable $29.95. Like many hosting companies, billed-monthly plans are available, although they are significantly more expensive.

Shared hosting

VPS hosting

The basic shared hosting plans are suitable for personal websites and smaller businesses. Specific WordPress plans are advertised, but these are essentially rebadged shared hosting plans and are identical in features and price.

If you require more control over your hosting, VPS hosting might be more suitable. At first glance, you might think ScalaHosting sits at just below average in its price point. However, when you factor in the features you’d pay extra for with its competitors, such as daily backups, security scanning, and SSL certificates, you’ll find ScalaHosting much cheaper overall.

ScalaHosting also offers an Entry Cloud plan on its shared hosting page, which bridges the gap between the shared hosting and VPS hosting plans. Unlike regular shared hosting, where your site might be slowed down by sharing a server with other busy websites, this plan gives you a guaranteed level of access to CPU cores and RAM, ensuring your site continues to work well. 

What can you do with ScalaHosting for free? 

Unfortunately, ScalaHosting does not offer a free trial for any of its hosting packages. However, there is a 30-day money-back guarantee.

Optional add-ons

If you don’t already own one, you can purchase domain names through ScalaHosting. Prices vary depending on the type of domain but range between $10.95 and $63.95 per year.

While ScalaHosting provides free SSL certificates via Let’s Encrypt, a non-profit certificate authority, you can also purchase premium SSL certificates from the company. If you need one, it will cost between $30 and $1,199 per year, but in most cases, the free SSL certificates will suffice. 

ScalaHosting provides its own SPanel control panel, but you can replace it with CPanel starting from $19.95 per month. 

ScalaHosting Alternatives

How Does ScalaHosting Compare to Other Hosting Brands?

ScalaHosting vs Bluehost

Bluehost is often recognized for its low-cost shared hosting and strong WordPress integration, whereas ScalaHosting offers a more VPS-centric service. If you’re looking for a budget hosting company with a broad range of features and marketing tools, Bluehost is a strong choice. ScalaHosting's commitment to customer service and ethical practices could be more appealing if you’re looking for personal service.

ScalaHosting vs HostGator

HostGator is another well-known hosting provider with a wide range of hosting services, including budget-friendly shared hosting options. ScalaHosting distinguishes itself with its specialized managed VPS services and robust security features. However, HostGator might be more suitable if you need an extensive array of features or dedicated server hosting.

ScalaHosting vs IONOS

IONOS is a German company that offers a broad spectrum of hosting services, with a strong presence in the European market. For businesses that prioritize budget-friendly VPS options, ScalaHosting may have the edge, while IONOS might appeal to those looking for additional enterprise solutions.

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Bottom Line  

ScalaHosting offers reliable, high-performing hosting solutions with advanced security features and excellent customer support. With features like turbo-fast NVMe SSDs, SShield cybersecurity, and an intuitive control panel, ScalaHosting provides a user-friendly hosting experience that prioritizes speed, security, and ease of use. 

There are some limitations to the service, such as a lack of dedicated server hosting. There are also fewer plans compared to other providers. And given its otherwise exceptional customer service, it's a shame there isn’t phone support. However, customers on Trustpilot have lauded ScalaHosting’s customer service, and I don’t consider the lack of phone support a major drawback.

Overall, I’d recommend ScalaHosting as a solid choice for reliable and affordable hosting, especially if you need VPS hosting.