GreenGeeks Review: is this green host giving back enough? We reveal.
A lot of web hosts are committed to providing quality web hosting, but only a few are driven by a vision larger than that. Founded in 2008 by Trey Gardner, GreenGeeks, which presently hosts more than 500,000 websites, is the leading “green” host in the market. Not only is GreenGeeks’ carbon footprint equal to zero, but its eco-friendly policies nullify the energy use of two similar-sized hosting providers, too.
GreenGeeks is clearly a brand driven by and committed to its mission. So before we look into whether GreenGeeks is worth your time, and money, let’s take a look at green hosting itself.
Green Hosting For A Green Planet
The hosting industry emits carbon as much as the airline industry today. That’s right. Web hosting providers are expanding data centers across the globe to improve server performance and client satisfaction. But data centers, which are powered by fossil fuels, are predicted to produce 14% of the world’s carbon emissions by 2040. Just one server can produce up to 1,390 pounds of carbon in a year.
It’s obvious that we need green hosting; for our planet and for our future.
That said, how has GreenGeeks played its part?
With responsibility. GreenGeeks replaces more than 615,000 kWh every year. It purchases enough wind energy credits to replace “3 times the amount of energy your website will use.” This means that it helps “create three times the amount of energy” it consumes by working with environmental foundations and purchasing wind energy credits. No wonder the brand has been recognized by the US Environmental Protection Agency as a Green Power Partner since 2009.
But GreenGeeks promises much more than just green hosting. They guarantee 99.9% network uptime and 100% client satisfaction. But do they live up to their claims?
Let’s start with the basics in this GreenGeeks Review.
If you choose GreenGeeks, you can select your desired data center no matter what plan you pick. While there is no Asian data center, you still have four prime options: US (Chicago and Phoenix), Canada (Montreal), and the Netherlands (Amsterdam). Of course, make sure you pick the data center closest to your target audiences for fast site loading.
In terms of server performance and client support, GreenGeeks keeps its promises well. With its uptime averaging 99.98% and page loading time of 0.45 seconds, you won’t be disappointed. Research by Portent has shown that “the first 5 seconds of page load time have the highest impact on conversion rates.”
Great server performance isn’t all you’ll get at GreenGeeks. Not only does GreenGeeks have in-house support engineers 24/7 to take care of any hardware issues, but it provides 24/7 live chat, phone, and email-based support, too. We got a reply almost instantaneously on its live chat feature, and our verdict is that the support team is both friendly and informed.
Whether you choose shared or WordPress or VPS hosting, you can avail the following features on GreenGeeks’ plans:
- Broad Knowledgebase with Video-based Tutorials and Hundreds of Articles
- Unlimited Bandwidth, Storage, MySQL Databases, and Email Accounts
- State-of-the-art Servers (powered by LiteSpeed and MariaDB, PHP7, HTTP3 / QUIC)
- Free Site Migration
- Free Domain Name for 1st Year
- Developer Tools like SSH Access, Git, PHP, and WP-CLI
- Free Nightly Backups
- Free Let’s Encrypt Wildcard SSL Certificate to Prove Site Security
- Free Cloudflare CDN to enable Faster Site Content Delivery Worldwide
- Custom, Built-in Caching
- Advanced Security (real-time malware scanning, detection, and removal, SpamAssassin to filter out spam mail, etc.)
- Easy-to-use, User-friendly cPanel to Manage Domains, Databases, Emails, Resource Usage, and Billing
- “Softaculous” for quick one-click installs of 250+ Cloud Apps
- Free GreenGeeks Web Site Builder with 100+ Mobile-friendly Templates
- 30-Day Money-back Guarantee (more on this below)
GreenGeeks is a near-perfect web hosting solution, but what really pulls it down is its pricing and refund policy. The 30-day money-back guarantee, “no-questions-asked,” sounds great at first, but keep in mind that you will not be refunded the set-up fee, transfer fee, and “free” domain registration fee. So the domain name isn’t actually free; you’ll be charged nearly $25 for it from the refund.
That’s not all. GreenGeeks, like a lot of hosts, advertises a very low rate on its website: $2.95/month, but to get this rate, you’ll have to stay with it for three whole years. If you choose the cheapest yearly plan, you’ll be charged $4.95/month. And when you renew it, you’ll be charged higher rates: a whopping $9.95/month.
That said, is GreenGeeks worth your time and money?
Yes! With GreenGeeks, you get what you pay for. Sure, GreenGeeks isn’t the cheapest hosting solution in the market, but where else can you get solid server performance and client support along with green hosting? We’re positive that GreenGeeks won’t just keep you satisfied; knowing that you’re giving back to the environment is a feel-good unlike any other.
GreenGeeks Deal
Get Up to 70% OFF for HostingCrush Users.
Final Score
4.5/5
- #1 Eco-friendly web host in the world
- Unlimited SSD Storage & Email Accounts
- Free SSL, CDN & Site Migration
- Free Nightly Backup
- Support by phone, email, live chat
- Phone support is limited
- No data centers in Asia
Reliability
89%
Features
95%
User Friendly
92%
Customer Support
90%
Price
94%
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