Specializing in domain name registration, shared and VPS web hosting solutions, Apollo hosting makes its promise to offer satisfying services for webmasters ranging from individuals to small-to-medium-sized businesses. Plus, this web host commits to offering customers more than 200 do-it-yourself tools and services which include everything needed to put blog, business and hobby online.
Holding the principle that customer comes first, Apollo Hosting takes pride in providing affordable and trustworthy hosting solution. However, according to our investigation and customer experiences, it seems that this provider’s behaviour doesn’t conform to its words. In the following, we would like to disclose the secrets behind Apollo Hosting from pricing, features, performance and support points.
At the very beginning, there are some editorial ratings on the Linux hosting service from Apollo hosting.
Pricing & Plans – Not Cost-Effective
To render a simple and easy service to clients, Apollo Hosting has released only two shared packages – Starter Plan and Prime Plan differently. As for price, this hosting provider sets the plans at $4.99/mo and $7.95/mo. In regards to special offer, there is a 20% discount and 12% discount for the 24-month registration of Starter Plan and Prime Plan respectively. That means, the prices for 24-month hosting service are reduced to $3.99/mo and $6.95/mo.
However, in the Starter plan, there are additional $10 setup fees and $16.99/yr domain name fees, not to mention applicable taxes. In this way, people who intend to purchase this company’s service have to pay $103.86 at least. In terms of payment gateways, Apollo Hosting accepts payment by Credit Card and PayPal. And this web host applies 30-day money back guarantee, which should be made through its support team and is only valid for credit-card payment.
Features – Common and Limited
To target different audiences, Apollo Hosting distributes different resources in each plan. For instance, the entry-level Starter plan consists of those core features including unlimited data transfer, disk space, one MySQL database, one domain hosting and one POP3/IMAP email account. In addition, it also includes shared SSL certificate, custom error pages, FTP manager and Perl support.
In terms of the Prime plan, it supports unlimited bandwidth, disk space, domains, POP3/IMAP email accounts and 50 MySQL databases. And this plan has more advanced features than the entry-level plan, such as one free domain name, file MIME types, ShopSite, osCommerce, AgoraCart shopping carts.
Each plan supports one-click SimpleScript installer, which has many pre-installed applications, including forum software, photo galleries and content management systems. Note that the plans neither include some popular programming languages including PHP, Python, Ruby on Rails, etc. And the built-in custom control panel is attested to be not user-friendly.
Performance – Not Satisfying
Apollo Hosting locates its two data centers in Boston, MA section and declares to occupy no less than 2400 square feet of space which is encompassed by advanced servers and facilities. In the further, this web host makes its front-end network be equipped with redundant routers which are connecting to ISPs using BGP technology.
However, there is a saying going that practice is the sole criterion for testing truth. According to some regular customers’ comments, Apollo Hosting delivers slow website access speed and even sometimes their pages will time out before loading. In the meantime, some people point out that their control panel and phpMyAdmin are extremely slow to navigate. In this case, Apollo Hosting is apparent to lie to all.
Technical Support – Needs Improvement
To advertise its service, Apollo Hosting endows the three most effective contact ways – phone call, live chat and email ticket – and hires a team of knowledgeable and friendly staffs who are willing to hear from webmasters. And more, this company prepares some common solutions in its knowledgebase and user guides areas.
However, there are still some different voices over the Internet. Some people state that they are deeply hurt by this company’s disrespectful customer service, because once they are consulting hosting related issues through phone call, they will be required to submit an email ticket. Other clients point out that they have endured an annoying procedure in online chat and they have been intolerable with those repeated “security questions” before chatting. At this point, it seems that Apollo Hosting still lacks flexibility and efficiency.
Conclusion – Apollo Hosting Is not Recommended
To sum up, Apollo Hosting is not recommended for people who are wishing for an affordable, powerful, helpful and high-performance Linux hosting company. Instead, we have the following better choices for you.