Should You Host with GreenGeeks? Review of Features, Pricing & Performance

in Web Hosting

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GreenGeeks is a leading eco-friendly web hosting provider known for its commitment to sustainability and top-notch hosting services. In this GreenGeeks review, we’ll dive into the features and performance of this hosting provider to help you understand whether it’s the right choice for your website. From its green energy initiatives to its reliable uptime and fast loading speeds, you will learn everything there is to know about GreenGeeks.

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GreenGeeks Review Summary (TL;DR)
Rating
Price from
From $2.95 per month
Hosting Types
Shared, WordPress, VPS, Reseller
Speed & Performance
LiteSpeed, LSCache caching, MariaDB, HTTP/2, PHP8
WordPress
Managed WordPress hosting. Easy WordPress 1-click installation
Servers
Solid state RAID-10 storage (SSD)
Security
Free SSL (Let’s Encrypt). Customized firewall against DDoS attacks
Control Panel
cPanel
Extras
Free domain name for 1 year. Free website migration service
Refund Policy
30-day money-back guarantee
Owner
Privately-owned (Los Angeles, California)
Current Deal
Get 70% OFF on all GreenGeeks plans

But with all the options available, complete with different features and price points, picking the right & great web host for your needs can be difficult, to say the least.

GreenGeeks hosting has a lot of excellent things going for them, in terms of speed, features, and affordable pricing. This GreenGeeks review gives you a detailed look at this environmentally responsible company.

If you don’t have time to read this review, just watch this short video I put together for you:

GreenGeeks is one of the most unique hosting providers out there. It’s the #1 green web host offering sustainable web hosting including domain registration (for free) and site migration, as well as all the must-have features when it comes to speed, security, customer support, and reliability.

Pros and Cons

GreenGeeks Pros

  • 30-day money-back guarantee
  • A free domain name, and unlimited disk space & data transfer
  • Free site migration service
  • Nightly automatic data backups
  • LiteSpeed servers using LSCache caching
  • Fast servers (using SSD, HTTP3 / QUIC, PHP 8, built-in caching + more)
  • Free SSL certificate & Cloudflare CDN

GreenGeeks Cons

  • Setup cost and domain fees aren’t refundable
  • No 24/7 phone online support
  • It lacks advanced features, and team management options, and the backend could also be more user-friendly

About GreenGeeks

  • GreenGeeks was founded in 2008 by Trey Gardner, and its headquarters is in Agoura Hills, California.
  • It is the world’s leading eco-friendly web hosting provider.
  • They offer a range of hosting types; shared hosting, WordPress hosting, VPS hosting, and reseller hosting.
  • All plans come with a free domain name for one year.
  • Free website transfer, specialists will migrate your website completely free of charge.
  • Free SSD drives with unlimited space come included on all shared hosting plans.
  • Servers are powered by LiteSpeed and MariaDB, PHP8, HTTP3 / QUIC and PowerCacher built-in caching technology
  • All packages come with free Let’s Encrypt SSL certificate and Cloudflare CDN.
  • They offer a 30-day money-back guarantee on all of heir web hosting deals.
  • Official website: www.greengeeks.com

Founded in 2008 by Trey Gardner (who happens to have experience working with several hosting companies like iPage, Lunarpages, and Hostpapa), GreenGeeks aims to not only provide stellar hosting services to website business owners like yourself but do it in an environmentally friendly way too.

But we’ll get into that soon enough.

Right now, all you need to know is that we’re going to take a look at everything GreenGeeks has to offer (the good and the not-so-good), so that when it comes time for you to make a decision about hosting, you have all the facts.

So, let’s dive into this GreenGeeks review (2024 updated).

Features (The Good)

They have a solid reputation for providing exceptional web hosting service to website owners of all kinds.

1. Solid Speed, Performance & Reliability

In this section, you will find out..

  • Why site speed matters… a lot!
  • How fast a site hosted on GreenGeeks loads. We will test their speed and server response time against Google’s Core Web Vitals metrics.
  • How a site hosted on GreenGeeks performs with traffic spikes. We will test how GreenGeeks performs when faced with increased site traffic.

The most important performance metric that you should look for in a web host is speed. Visitors to your site expect it to load fast instant. Site speed not only affects user experience on your site, but it also affects your SEO, Google rankings, and conversion rates.

But, testing site speed against Google’s Core Web Vitals metrics isn’t enough on its own, as our testing site does not have substantial traffic volume. To evaluate the efficiency (or inefficiency) of the web host’s servers when faced with increased site traffic, we use a testing tool called K6 (formerly called LoadImpact) to send virtual users (VU) to our test site.

Why Site Speed Matters

Did you know that:

  • Pages that loaded in 2.4 seconds had a 1.9% conversion rate.
  • At 3.3 seconds, the conversion rate was 1.5%.
  • At 4.2 seconds, the conversion rate was less than 1%.
  • At 5.7+ seconds, the conversion rate was 0.6%.
Why Site Speed Matters
Source: Cloudflare

When people leave your website, you lose not only potential revenue but also all the money and time you spent generating traffic to your website.

And if you want to get to the first page of Google and stay there, you need a website that loads up fast.

Google’s algorithms prefer displaying websites that offer a great user experience (and site speed is a huge factor). In Google’s eyes, a website that offers a good user experience generally has a lower bounce rate and loads up fast.

If your website is slow, most visitors will bounce back, resulting in a loss in search engine rankings. Also, your website needs to load up fast if you want to convert more visitors into paying customers.

page speed revenue increase calculator

If you want your website to load up fast and secure the first spot in search engine results, you will need a fast web hosting provider with server infrastructure, CDN and caching technologies that are fully configured and optimized for speed.

The web host you choose to go with will significantly impact how fast your website loads.

How We Perform the Testing

We follow a systematic and identical process for all the web hosts we test.

  • Buy hosting: First, we sign up and pay for the web host’s entry-level plan.
  • Install WordPress: Then, we set up a new, blank WordPress site using the Astra WordPress theme. This is a lightweight multipurpose theme and serves as a good starting point for the speed test.
  • Install plugins: Next, we install the following plugins: Akismet (for spam protection), Jetpack (security and backup plugin), Hello Dolly (for a sample widget), Contact Form 7 (a contact form), Yoast SEO (for SEO), and FakerPress (for generating test content).
  • Generate content: Using the FakerPress plugin, we create ten random WordPress posts and ten random pages, each containing 1,000 words of lorem ipsum “dummy” content. This simulates a typical website with various content types.
  • Add images: With the FakerPress plugin, we upload one unoptimized image from Pexels, a stock photo website, to each post and page. This helps evaluate the website’s performance with image-heavy content.
  • Run the speed test: we run the last published post in Google’s PageSpeed Insights Testing tool.
  • Run the load impact test: we run the last published post in K6’s Cloud Testing tool.

How We Measure Speed & Performance

The first four metrics are Google’s Core Web Vitals, and these are a set of web performance signals that are critical to a user’s web experience on both desktop and mobile devices. The last fifth metric is a load impact stress test.

1. Time to First Byte

TTFB measures the time between the request for a resource and when the first byte of a response begins to arrive. It’s a metric for determining the responsiveness of a web server and helps identify when a web server is too slow to respond to requests. Server speed is basically entirely determined by the web hosting service you use. (source: https://web.dev/ttfb/)

2. First Input Delay

FID measures the time from when a user first interacts with your site (when they click a link, tap a button, or use a custom, JavaScript-powered control) to the time when the browser is actually able to respond to that interaction. (source: https://web.dev/fid/)

3. Largest Contentful Paint

LCP measures the time from when the page starts loading to when the largest text block or image element is rendered on the screen. (source: https://web.dev/lcp/)

4. Cumulative Layout Shift

CLS measures unexpected shifts in the display of content in the loading of a web page due to image resizing, ad displays, animation, browser rendering, or other script elements. Shifting layouts lower the quality of the user experience. This can make visitors confused or require them to wait till the webpage loading is completed, which takes more time. (source: https://web.dev/cls/)

5. Load Impact

Load impact stress testing determines how the web host would handle 50 visitors simultaneously visiting the test site. Speed testing alone isn’t enough to test performance, as this test site doesn’t have any traffic to it.

To be able to evaluate the efficiency (or inefficiency) of a web host’s servers when faced with increased site traffic, we used a testing tool called K6 (formerly called LoadImpact) to send virtual users (VU) to our test site and stress test it.

These are the three load impact metrics we measure:

Average response time

This measures the average duration it takes for a server to process and respond to client requests during a specific test or monitoring period.

The average response time is a useful indicator of the overall performance and efficiency of a website. Lower average response times generally indicate better performance and a more positive user experience, as users receive quicker responses to their requests.

Maximum response time

This refers to the longest duration it takes for a server to respond to a client’s request during a specific test or monitoring period.This metric is crucial for evaluating the performance of a website under heavy traffic or usage.

When multiple users access a website simultaneously, the server must handle and process each request. Under high load, the server may become overwhelmed, leading to an increase in response times. The maximum response time represents the worst-case scenario during the test, where the server took the longest time to respond to a request.

Average request rate

This is a performance metric that measures the average number of requests per unit of time (usually per second) that a server processes.

The average request rate provides insights into how well a server can manage incoming requests under various load conditions. A higher average request rate indicates that the server can handle more requests in a given period, which is generally a positive sign of performance and scalability.

⚡GreenGeeks Speed & Performance Test Results

The table below compares web hosting companies’ performance based on four key performance indicators: average Time to First Byte, First Input Delay, Largest Contentful Paint, and Cumulative Layout Shift. Lower values are better.

CompanyTTFBAvg TTFBFIDLCPCLS
GreenGeeksFrankfurt 352.9 ms
Amsterdam 345.37 ms
London 311.27 ms
New York 97.33 ms
San Francisco 207.06 ms
Singapore 750.37 ms
Sydney 715.15 ms
397.05 ms3 ms2.3 s0.43
BluehostFrankfurt 59.65 ms
Amsterdam 93.09 ms
London 64.35 ms
New York 32.89 ms
San Francisco 39.81 ms
Singapore 68.39 ms
Sydney 156.1 ms
Bangalore 74.24 ms
73.57 ms3 ms2.8 s0.06
HostGatorFrankfurt 66.9 ms
Amsterdam 62.82 ms
London 59.84 ms
New York 74.84 ms
San Francisco 64.91 ms
Singapore 61.33 ms
Sydney 108.08 ms
71.24 ms3 ms2.2 s0.04
HostingerFrankfurt 467.72 ms
Amsterdam 56.32 ms
London 59.29 ms
New York 75.15 ms
San Francisco 104.07 ms
Singapore 54.24 ms
Sydney 195.05 ms
Bangalore 90.59 ms
137.80 ms8 ms2.6 s0.01

The average Time to First Byte (TTFB) for GreenGeeks is 397.05 ms. This is higher than what is generally considered good (200ms). The TTFB varies by location, with the fastest response time in New York (97.33 ms) and the slowest in Singapore (750.37 ms) and Sydney (715.15 ms). These delays are due to factors such as geographical distance and server location.

The First Input Delay (FID) for GreenGeeks is 3 ms, which is very good. This indicates that the site is very responsive to user interactions such as clicks or taps.

The Largest Contentful Paint (LCP) for GreenGeeks is 2.3 s. This is slightly under the 2.5-second threshold recommended by Google, indicating that the site does a good job of quickly loading the largest content element on the page. This helps create a good perceived load speed for the user.

The Cumulative Layout Shift (CLS) for GreenGeeks is 0.43, which is higher than the ideal score of less than 0.1. This suggests that the layout of the pages may shift unexpectedly as they load, potentially leading to a less smooth user experience.

GreenGeeks has solid FID and LCP scores, its average TTFB and especially its CLS could be improved to ensure a faster, smoother user experience across the board. Specifically, the high TTFB in some locations could potentially be addressed with local caching or CDN solutions, and the high CLS might indicate a need to better optimize the layout stability of the website.

⚡GreenGeeks Load Impact Test Results

The table below compares web hosting companies’ performance based on three key performance indicators: Average Response Time, Highest Load Time, and Average Request Time. Lower values are better for Average Response Time and Highest Load Time, while higher values are better for Average Request Time.

CompanyAvg Response TimeHighest Load TimeAvg Request Time
GreenGeeks58 ms258 ms41 req/s
Bluehost17 ms133 ms43 req/s
HostGator14 ms85 ms43 req/s
Hostinger22 ms357 ms42 req/s

Average Response Time is a critical metric that indicates how quickly a server responds to a request on average. For GreenGeeks, this is 58 ms indicating that GreenGeeks’ server is quite responsive to requests.

Highest Load Time signifies the longest time the server took to respond to a request during the test period. A lower value is better as it suggests the server can maintain reasonable response times even under high load. GreenGeeks’ highest load time is 258 ms. This suggests that GreenGeeks can handle high traffic loads fairly well while maintaining decent response times.

Average Request Time represents the average number of requests a server can handle per second. Higher values are better because they indicate a server can handle more requests within a given time. GreenGeeks’ average request time is 41 req/s, meaning it can process 41 requests per second on average indicating GreenGeeks can handle a high volume of requests effectively.

GreenGeeks shows robust performance in load impact tests. It offers good response times, handles high loads effectively, and manages a considerable number of requests per second suggesting it can manage a high volume of traffic efficiently.

2. Environmentally Friendly “Green” Hosting

One of GreenGeeks’ standout features is the fact that they’re an environmentally conscious company. Did you know that by 2020, the hosting industry will surpass the Airline industry in Environmental Pollution?

The moment you land on their website, GreenGeeks jumps right into the fact that your hosting company should be green.

They then go on to explain how they are doing their part to reduce their carbon footprint.

Recognized as an EPA Green Power Partner, they claim to be the most eco-friendly hosting provider in existence today.

GreenGeeks EPA Partnership

Not sure what that means?

Take a look at what GreenGeeks is doing to help you become an eco-friendly website owner:

  • They purchase wind energy credits to compensate for the energy their servers use from the power grid. In fact, they buy 3x the amount of energy their data centers use. Want to learn more about renewable energy credits? Look here and have all your questions answered.
  • They use energy-efficient hardware to host site data. Servers are housed in data centers designed to be green energy friendly
  • They replace over 615,000 KWH/year thanks to their eco-conscious, loyal customers
  • They provide green certification badges for webmasters to add to their website, to help spread awareness about their green energy commitment.
green website badges
Green website certification badges

As you can see, being a part of the GreenGeeks team means you too are doing your part to make the world a better place to live in.

Here’s what they have to say about it …

What is Green Hosting, and, why is it so important to you?

It is important to preserve as much of our environment as we can. We have to consider our own well-being and the well-being of future generations. Hosting servers worldwide are powered by fossil fuels. Just one individual web hosting server produces 1,390 pounds of CO2 per year.

GreenGeeks is proud to provide our clients with green hosting powered by renewable energy; up to 300%. They help create three times the amount of energy we consume by working with environmental foundations & purchasing wind energy credits to be put back into the power grid. Every aspect of our hosting platform and business is built to be as energy-efficient as possible.

Mitch Keeler – GreenGeeks Partner Relations

3. Latest Speed Technologies

The faster your website loads for site visitors, the better. After all, most site visitors will abandon your website if it fails to load within 2 seconds or less. And, while there are plenty of things you can do to optimize the speed and performance of your website on your own, knowing that your web host helps is a major bonus.

Sites that load slowly aren’t likely to perform well. A study from Google found that a one-second delay in mobile page load times can impact conversion rates by up to 20%.

Speed is such an important feature so I asked them about it …

Every site owner needs a fast loading site, what’s GreenGeeks’ speed “stack”?

When you sign up with them, you will be provisioned on a hosting server with the latest and most energy efficient setup possible.

Many hosting industry experts have highly rated both our overall hosting performance and speed. In terms of hardware, each server is set up to use SSD hard drives configured in a redundant RAID-10 storage array. We deliver customized in-house caching technology & were one of the first to adopt PHP 7; bringing our clients both web and database servers (LiteSpeed and MariaDB). LiteSpeed and MariaDB allow for quick data read/write access, allowing us to serve up pages up to 50 times faster.
Mitch Keeler – GreenGeeks Partner Relations

GreenGeeks invests in all the latest speed technology to ensure your web pages load at lightning-fast speeds:

  • SSD Hard Drives. Your site’s files and databases are stored on SSD hard drives, which are faster than HDD (Hard Disk Drives).
  • Fast Servers. When a site visitor clicks on your website, the web and database servers deliver content up to 50 times faster.
  • Built-in Caching. They use customized, built-in caching technology.
  • CDN Services. Use the free CDN services, powered by CloudFlare, to cache your content and deliver it fast to site visitors.
  • HTTP/3. For faster page loading in-browser, HTTP/3 is used, which improves client-server communication.
  • PHP 8. As one of the first to provide PHP 8 support, they make sure you are taking advantage of the latest technologies on your website too.

The speed and performance of your website are paramount to the user experience and your ability to establish yourself as an authority in your industry.

account

Not bad .. but wait it gets better.

GreenGeeks already uses built-in caching so there’s no setting to tweak for that, but there is a way to optimize things further by compressing certain MIME file types.

In your cPanel control panel, find the software section.

cpanel control panel software

In the Optimize Website setting, you can optimize the performance of your website by tweaking the way Apache handles requests. Compress the text/html text/plain and text/xml MIME types, and click the update setting.

greengeeks optimize speed

By doing that my test site load times improved considerably, from 0.9 seconds down to 0.6 seconds. That’s an improvement of 0.3 seconds!

To speed things up, even more, I went and installed a free WordPress plugin called Autoptimize and I simply enabled the default settings.

autoptimize plugin

That improved the load times even more, as it reduced the total page size to just 242kb and reduced the number of requests down to 10.

All in all, my opinion is that sites hosted on GreenGeeks load pretty fast, and I’ve shown you two simple techniques on how to speed things up even more.

4. Secure and Reliable Server Infrastructure

When it comes to website hosting, you need power, speed, and security. That’s why GreenGeeks built their entire system using reliable infrastructure powered by 300% clean wind and solar credits, the most popular form of renewable energy.

They have 5 data center locations for you to choose from based in Chicago (US), Phoenix (US), Toronto (CA), Montreal (CA), and Amsterdam (NL).

By choosing your data center, you make sure your target audience receives your site’s content as quickly as possible.

In addition, you can expect data center features such as:

  • Dual-city grid power feeds with a battery backup
  • Automated transfer switch and on-site diesel generator
  • Automatic temperature and climate controls throughout the facility
  • 24/7 staff, complete with data center technicians and engineers
  • Biometric and key card security systems
  • FM 200 server-safe fire suppression systems

Not to mention, GreenGeeks has access to most major bandwidth providers and their gear is completely redundant. And of course, the servers are power-efficient.

5. Security and Uptime

Knowing that site data is secure is one of the biggest concerns people have when it comes to choosing a website host. That, and knowing that their website will be up and running at all times.

In response to these concerns, they do their best when it comes to uptime and security.

  • Hardware & Power Redundancy
  • Container-based Technology
  • Hosting Account Isolation
  • Proactive Server Monitoring
  • Real-time Security Scanning
  • Automatic App Updates
  • Enhanced SPAM Protection
  • Nightly Data Backup

To start, they use a container-based approach when it comes to their hosting solutions. In other words, your resources are contained so that no other website owner can negatively impact yours with a spike in traffic, increased demand for resources, or security breaches.

Next, to ensure your site is always up to date, GreenGeeks automatically updates the WordPress, Joomla, or other content management system cores so that your site never becomes vulnerable to security threats. Adding to this, all customers receive nightly backups of their websites.

To fight malware and suspicious activity on your website, GreenGeeks gives each customer their own Secured visualization File System (vFS). That way no other account can access yours and cause security issues. Adding to that, if something suspicious is found, it’s immediately isolated to prevent further damage.

In addition, you have the chance to use the built-in spam protection GreenGeeks provides to reduce the number of spam attempts on your website.

Lastly, they monitor their servers so all problems are identified before they affect customers and their websites. This helps maintain their impressive 99.9% uptime.

6. Service Guarantees and Customer Support

Green Geeks offers a number of guarantees to customers.

Check it out:

  • 99% uptime guarantee
  • 100% satisfaction (and if you’re not, you can activate their 30 days money-back guarantee)
  • 24/7 email tech customer support
  • Phone support and Online Chat support
  • Accepts all major credit cards

In an effort to gather some uptime statistics to show you just how serious they are about their uptime guarantee, I reached out to the Live Chat customer support team and got an instant answer to my initial question.

When the customer service rep could not help me, he immediately directed me to another team member that could, who then answered me via email.

Unfortunately, they do not have the information I requested. So, while they promise websites will have 99.9% uptime, there is no way of actually knowing this to be true without conducting a personal experiment.

While I did receive quick tech support answers, I am a bit disappointed GreenGeeks doesn’t have data to back up its claims. Instead, I am supposed to rely on their written email:

My question: I am wondering if you have your uptime history. I am writing a review and want to mention the 99.9% uptime guarantee. I have found other reviewers that have conducted their own research and tracked GreenGeeks on Pingdom … but I am wondering if you have your own list of monthly uptime percentages.

GreenGeeks answer: GreenGeeks maintains our 99.9% server uptime guarantee each month of the year, by ensuring that we have a dedicated team of server technicians monitoring, updating, and maintaining our systems 24/7, in order to provide such a guarantee. Unfortunately, at this time, we do not have a chart such as the one you have requested available.

I guess you’ll have to be the judge on whether that’s enough for you or not.

I have created a test site hosted on GreenGeeks to monitor uptime and server response time:

speed and uptime monitoring

The above screenshot only shows the past 30 days, you can view historical uptime data and server response time on this uptime monitor page.

Knowledge Base

GreenGeeks also has an extensive Knowledge Base, easy access to email, live chat, and phone support, and specific website tutorials designed to help you with things like setting up email accounts, working with WordPress, and even setting up an eCommerce shop.

7. eCommerce Capabilities

All hosting plans, including shared hosting, come with many eCommerce features, which is great if you run an online shop.

To start, you’ll receive a free Let’s Encrypt Wildcard SSL certificate to reassure customers that their personal and financial information is 100% secure. And if you know anything about SSL certificates, you’ll know that Wildcard ones are great because they can be used for unlimited subdomains of a domain name.

Next, if you need a shopping cart on your eCommerce site, you can install one using the one-click install software.

Lastly, you can rest assured that GreenGeeks servers are PCI compliant, which further secures your site data.

8. Exclusive Free Website Builder

With their shared hosting, you have access to the built-in GreenGeeks Website Builder to make site creation a breeze.

With this tool, you receive the following features:

  • 100’s of pre-designed templates to help you get started
  • Mobile-friendly and responsive themes
  • Drag & drop technology that requires no website coding skills
  • SEO optimization
  • 24/7 dedicated support via phone, email, or live chat

This site builder tool is easily activated once you sign up for GreenGeeks host services.

Features (The Not-So-Good)

There are always downsides to everything, even good things like GreenGeeks services. And, to let you know everything, we have compiled a few disadvantages to using GreenGeeks as your website host.

1. Misleading Price Points

There’s no denying that cheap shared hosting is easy to come across. However, cheap hosting is not always available from high-quality hosting companies. Remember, you get what you pay for.

Upon first glance, it would seem that the reliable GreenGeeks does indeed offer inexpensive website hosting. And, based on the previously mentioned pros of using GreenGeeks, it would seem too good to be true.

And technically, it is.

Upon further investigation, I found out that the only way you can get the seemingly amazing $2.95 per month hosting from GreenGeeks is if you agree to pay for three years of service at that price.

If you want to pay for one year’s worth of service, you’ll pay $5.95 per month.

And, if you’re new to GreenGeeks and want to pay monthly until you’re sure they’re the company for you, you’ll end up paying a whopping $9.95 per month!

GreenGeeks Plans & Pricing

Not to mention, if you want to pay on a month-to-month basis to start, you also the setup fee isn’t waived, which will cost you another $15.

2. Refunds Don’t Include Setup and Domain Fees

Under the GreenGeeks 30 days money-back guarantee policy, you can receive a full refund if you are unhappy, no questions asked.

However, you will not be refunded the setup fee, domain name registration fee (even if when you signed up it was free), or transfer fees.

Though deducting domain name fees may seem reasonable (since you get to keep the domain name when you leave), it doesn’t seem fair to charge people the setup and transfer fees if they were ultimately unhappy with GreenGeeks web hosting services being provided.

Especially if GreenGeeks is going to offer a money-back guarantee with no questions asked.

Plans & Pricing

GreenGeeks offers several hosting plans based on your individual needs. That said, we’ll look at GreenGeek’s pricing for shared and WordPress hosting plans (not their VPS plans and dedicated hosting) so you have a good idea of what to expect when you sign up to use their hosting service.

Shared Hosting Plans

The shared hosting landscape has changed considerably. Many people in the past just wanted website hosting to have impeccable uptime at a cheap rate. You have your small, medium, and large plans, slap cPanel on a server, and you were done. Today customers want seamless workflow, speed, uptime, and scalability all wrapped up in a pretty package.

Over time – GreenGeeks have optimized the Ecosite Starter hosting plan to have all the features that 99.9% of hosting clients want. That is why they provide clients with a direct path to sign up for that from the website.

GreenGeeks Shared Hosting

Rather than an expensive hosting plan with extra features, the average Joe on the street knows nothing about it – they’ve tried to cut the fat and bring customers a more optimized hosting experience.

Their vision as a hosting provider is to allow their customers to focus on deploying, managing, and growing their websites without having to worry about the underlying technology.

The hosting platform should just work.

Their scalable hosting feature was introduced earlier this year and allows clients to easily add computing resources such as CPU, RAM, and I/O in a pay-as-you-go fashion — eliminating the need to upgrade to a Virtual Private Server.

With GreenGeeks plans, you receive features such as:

  • Unlimited MySQL Databases
  • Unlimited sub and parked domains
  • Easy to use cPanel dashboard
  • Softaculous includes one-click installs of 250+ scripts
  • Scalable resources
  • The ability to choose your data center location
  • PowerCacher caching solution
  • Free CDN integration
  • eCommerce features like SSL certificate and shopping cart install
  • Free SSH and secure FTP accounts
  • Perl and Python support

In addition, you’ll receive a domain for free upon setup, free site migration, and access to the exclusive GreenGeeks drag & drop page builder for easy site creation.

The shared pricing plan starts at $2.95 per month (remember, only if you pay for three years in advance). Otherwise, this plan will cost you $9.95 per month.

They also offer Ecosite Pro and Ecosite Premium as upgrade options for hosting clients who need better-performance servers with fewer customers per server, Redis, and increased CPU, memory, and resources.

WordPress Hosting Plans

GreenGeeks also has WordPress hosting, though save for a few features, it seems to be the same as the shared hosting plan.

GreenGeeks WordPress Hosting

In fact, the only difference I can spot is the fact that GreenGeeks offers what they call “FREE WordPress Enhanced Security.” It’s unclear what that enhanced security includes, however, so I am unable to comment on whether it’s a benefit or not.

Everything else, including the one-click WordPress install, comes with the shared hosting plan. In addition, the price points are the same, again making it unclear what the differences really are.

Compare GreenGeeks Competitors

Here, we’ll compare GreenGeeks to SiteGround, Bluehost, Hostinger, HostGator, and A2 Hosting, looking at their standout features and why you might choose one over the other.

FeatureGreenGeeksSiteGroundBluehostHostingerHostGatorA2 Hosting
PriceModerateHighLowVery LowModerateHigh
PerformanceGoodExcellentGoodGoodGoodExcellent
UptimeExcellentExcellentGoodGoodGoodExcellent
Customer SupportGoodExcellentGoodLimitedSlowAverage
WordPress FeaturesGoodOutstandingGoodLimitedGoodGood
Eco-FriendlyYesYesNoNoNoNo

GreenGeeks: GreenGeeks wins hearts (and the planet) with its renewable energy commitment. They triple-match your energy usage with wind power, making your website green from the ground up. But it’s not just about the environment. GreenGeeks boasts blazing-fast SSD storage, free SSL certificates, and a user-friendly control panel. Plus, their 24/7 chat support is always there to lend a hand (or a line of code).

SiteGround: SiteGround is a WordPress powerhouse, offering built-in caching, automatic updates, and staging environments. Their managed WordPress hosting is a dream for bloggers and businesses, taking the technical mumbo jumbo off your plate. However, SiteGround’s shared hosting plans can be a bit pricier than GreenGeeks, and their non-WordPress features aren’t quite as robust. Read our review of SiteGround.

Bluehost: Bluehost is a household name, offering affordable shared hosting plans that are perfect for beginners. Their cPanel control panel is familiar and easy to use, and their free marketing credits can help you get your site noticed. However, Bluehost’s uptime can be a bit spotty, and their customer support can sometimes feel impersonal. Read our review of Bluehost.

Hostinger: Hostinger is the budget-friendly king, with shared hosting plans starting at a ridiculously low price. They offer unmetered bandwidth and storage, making them ideal for low-traffic websites. However, their customer support is limited, and their performance can be inconsistent. Read our review of Hostinger.

HostGator: HostGator is a jack-of-all-trades, offering a wide range of hosting services, from shared hosting to dedicated servers. They have powerful servers, reliable uptime, and a user-friendly interface. However, their customer support can be slow, and their pricing can be confusing. Read our review of HostGator.

A2 Hosting: A2 Hosting is all about speed. They use proprietary caching technology and SSD storage to deliver lightning-fast loading times. They also offer managed WordPress hosting and a developer-friendly environment. However, A2 Hosting’s prices can be higher than GreenGeeks, and their customer support can be less responsive. Read our review of A2 Hosting.

TL;DR: Choosing the right host is like picking your perfect website superhero. GreenGeeks is the eco-conscious champion, SiteGround is the WordPress whiz, Bluehost is the beginner’s buddy, Hostinger is the budget marvel, HostGator is the scalable swiss army knife, and A2 Hosting is the speed demon.

Common Questions Answered

Our Verdict ⭐

Do we recommend GreenGeeks? Yes we do, because GreeenGeeks is one of the best and cheapest web hosts out there. They offer a variety of features, have great support, and make sure your website and site visitor data are safe and secure.

GreenGeeks: Fast, Secure and Eco-friendly Hosting
From $2.95 per month

GreenGeeks web hosting is recognized for its commitment to eco-friendly hosting, delivering high-speed, secure, and WordPress-optimized services. Their plans include a free domain name, website migrations, SSD storage, and LiteSpeed technology. Users benefit from GreenGeeks' 24/7 expert support and AI-powered performance optimizations, ensuring a smooth and responsive web experience. The platform is known for its environmentally responsible approach, offsetting three times its energy consumption with wind energy credits, and partnering with organizations to plant trees for each new hosting account.

Not to mention, if you are someone that wants to be environmentally conscious, GreenGeeks takes it upon themselves to be a sustainable green web hosting provider. Which is great!

However, there are some things to consider before signing up with them. Be aware that pricing is not what it seems, that their guarantees are hard to validate, and that if you change your mind after signing up, you’ll still lose a fair amount of money.

So, if this sounds like a hosting provider that you want to check out, be sure to check out the GreenGeeks website, and all they have to offer, to make sure they are providing you the hosting services you really need at the price you really want to pay.

Who should you choose GreenGeeks? GreenGeeks is ideal for environmentally conscious individuals and businesses seeking eco-friendly web hosting solutions. It’s a top choice for those who prioritize sustainability, as GreenGeeks uses renewable energy to power its hosting services. Additionally, it offers robust performance, making it suitable for small to medium-sized websites, including blogs, online stores, and business sites. Users who value strong customer support, easy-to-use interfaces, and reliable uptime will also find GreenGeeks appealing.

I hope you found this expert editorial GreenGeeks hosting review helpful!

Recent Improvements & Updates

GreenGeeks, a leader in eco-friendly web hosting, is actively updating and improving its services. These updates are designed to enhance performance, security, and user experience. Here’s a summary of the key updates (last checked October 2024):

  • Launch of Global Anycast DNS Service:
    • Introduction of a new globally-based Anycast DNS platform, promising faster page load times and increased reliability.
  • Expansion with Singapore Data Center:
    • Opening of a new data center in Singapore, enhancing service for Asia-Pacific customers.
  • MariaDB Upgrade:
    • Upgrading MariaDB from version 10.3 to 10.5 on Shared and Reseller platforms for improved database performance.
  • VPS Platform Update:
    • Deployment of AlmaLinux 8 on the Managed VPS platform, enhancing server performance and stability.
  • Dashboard Enhancements:
    • Updates to the GreenGeeks dashboard, including improved WordPress and developer tools, for an enhanced user experience.
  • Redis Available on Ecosite Premium Plans:
    • Offering Redis on EcoSite Premium hosting plans, enhancing caching and database performance.
  • Environmental Initiatives with One Tree Planted:
    • Partnership with One Tree Planted, reinforcing GreenGeeks’ commitment to environmental sustainability.
  • Support for PHP 8:
    • Introduction of PHP 8 support, including improvements and JIT Compiler, for better performance.
  • VPS Hosting Expansion to Canada & Europe:
    • Launch of VPS hosting services in Canadian and European data centers.
  • New Free Website Builder:
    • Launch of a new, user-friendly website builder compatible with various CMS platforms.

Reviewing GreenGeeks: Our Methodology

When we review web hosts, our evaluation is based on these criteria:

  1. Value for Money: What types of web hosting plans are on offer, and are they good value for money?
  2. User Friendliness: How user-friendly is the signup process, the onboarding, the dashboard? and so on.
  3. Customer Support: When we need help, how quickly can we get it, and is the support effective and helpful?
  4. Hosting Features: What unique features does the web host provide, and how do they stack up against competitors?
  5. Security: Are essential security measures like SSL certificates, DDoS protection, backup services, and malware/virus scans included?
  6. Speed and Uptime: Is the hosting service fast and reliable? What types of servers do they use, and how do they perform in tests?

For more details on our review process, click here.

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What

GreenGeeks

Customers Think

Disappointing Experience with GreenGeeks

April 28, 2023

I signed up for GreenGeeks hosting but unfortunately, my experience has been disappointing. The website setup process was not as smooth as I had hoped, and there were several technical issues that took a while to resolve. Additionally, I have experienced frequent downtime, and the website speed is slower than I expected. The customer support team has been responsive, but the overall experience has been frustrating. I am considering switching to a different hosting provider.

Avatar for Jennifer Smith
Jennifer Smith

Good Experience, but Some Room for Improvement

March 28, 2023

I have been using GreenGeeks for several months now and overall I am happy with their services. The website builder tools are easy to use, and the customer support team is helpful. However, there have been a few times when my website has experienced downtime, and the response from the support team was not as quick as I would have liked. Additionally, I wish there were more customization options available for the website builder. Nonetheless, I would still recommend GreenGeeks to others.

Avatar for David Kim
David Kim

Great Hosting Experience with GreenGeeks

February 28, 2023

I have been a customer of GreenGeeks for over a year now and I am extremely satisfied with their services. The website setup process was easy and their customer support team was quick to assist me with any questions I had. The website speed and uptime have been consistently high, and I appreciate that GreenGeeks is an environmentally conscious hosting provider. Overall, I highly recommend GreenGeeks to anyone looking for a reliable and eco-friendly web hosting solution.

Avatar for Sarah Johnson
Sarah Johnson

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About Author

Matt Ahlgren

Mathias Ahlgren is the CEO and founder of Website Rating, steering a global team of editors and writers. He holds a master's in information science and management. His career pivoted to SEO after early web development experiences during university. With over 15 years in SEO, digital marketing, and web developmens. His focus also includes website security, evidenced by a certificate in Cyber Security. This diverse expertise underpins his leadership at Website Rating.

WSR Team

The "WSR Team" is the collective group of expert editors and writers specializing in technology, internet security, digital marketing, and web development. Passionate about the digital realm, they produce well-researched, insightful, and accessible content. Their commitment to accuracy and clarity makes Website Rating a trusted resource for staying informed in the dynamic digital world.

Ibad Rehman

Ibad is a writer at Website Rating who specializes in the realm of web hosting and has previously worked at Cloudways and Convesio. His articles focus on educating readers about WordPress hosting and VPS, offering in-depth insights and analysis in these technical areas. His work is aimed at guiding users through the complexities of web hosting solutions.

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