| Plans | Price Per Month |
|---|---|
| Coolhandle Hosting | $3.95/month |
| VPS Hostingsting | $29.95/month |
| Dedicated Servers | $59.95/month |
| Features | Specifications |
|---|---|
| Min disk space allowed | Unlimited |
| Min Bandwidth Allowed | Unlimited |
| Addon domains | Unlimited |
| Free Domain | yes |
| Free site builder | yes |
| CGI/BIG Access | yes |
| SSI Access | yes |
| FTP Access | yes |
| HTTPS Support | yes |
CoolHandle Review
Website: http://www.coolhandle.com
CoolHandle is a California-based hosting company with a large self-managed data center, a “green” energy policy, and over a decade of hosting experience under a money-back guarantee. They have a record of responsive customer service and a truly diverse variety of distinct hosting options.
CoolHandle Review Highlights
Like the vast majority of quality web hosts, CoolHandle offers unlimited disk space and bandwidth, as well as support for popular software such as Joomla, WordPress, phpMyAdmin and many others. They also have some more unusual qualities that distinguish them from their competition.
Perfectly-Sized Product Variety – While some hosts offer a single one-size-fits-all plan, and others offer an overwhelming list of similar services, CoolHandle has refined three carefully-crafted hosting plans. They are spread very evenly in terms of price points and capabilities, and they allow a customer to scale their hosting up or down without being baffled by a huge array of choices.
A Powerful Partner Program – For customers who don’t fit perfectly into any of the three standard service plans, Coolhandle promises to fine-tune their services to meet special needs within their partner program. They have several case studies available online showcasing their ability to meet the unique needs of special customers.
125% Green Hosting – CoolHandle’s eco-friendly policy pledges that they purchase 125% of their energy use in Renewable Energy Credits. They do more than just offset their carbon footprint; they also use energy-efficient hardware and electronic invoices exclusively.
Speed and Reliability – CoolHandle’s partnership with CloudFlare enhances all of their hosting services, making them 30% faster, and nearly crashproof. CloudFlare’s redundant safety measures and “distributed content” mean that server shutdowns or information traffic jams won’t negatively impact your website.
Free Domain Privacy – To properly register a domain, it’s mandatory to list a name, physical address, email address and phone number in a public database. Site owners are often reluctant to hand out this information for a number of reasons. Domain privacy allows proper domain registration while preserving the owner’s privacy, and it usually comes at an annual cost. But, with CoolHandle, it’s free with even their cheapest hosting plan.
Free Search Engine Optimization – CoolHandle boasts an included “SEO Optimization Package” with every hosting plan. While there aren’t many details on what this package includes, SEO is rarely free and often exorbitantly expensive. Even if it’s just an SEO consultant skimming through the website and picking the proverbial “low-hanging SEO fruit,” it’s still a valuable service, especially for someone who doesn’t know their keywords from their keister.
E-Commerce Friendly – CoolHandle offers several popular shopping carts (ZEN, CUBE and OSCommerce). They also include a free (shared) SSL security certificate, and they accept PayPal transactions. These all combine to make a powerful, secure shopping site on a shoestring budget.
CoolHandle Weaknesses
While CoolHandle has high-quality hosting, they do have a few unusual weaknesses that any shopper should be aware of.
Constraining Terms of Service – CoolHandle’s “Terms of Service” has a few surprising limitations. According to the terms, you cannot employ any kind of chatroom or Internet Relay Chat (IRC) functionality on their systems. Additionally, background processes, cron jobs and software distribution are all allowed or prohibited on a case-by-case basis. Lastly, they require that 80% of your website’s images, video and audio are hosted or hyperlinked from websites other than your CoolHandle website. The last point is the most concerning; it all but rules CoolHandle out as a hosting option for media-rich websites. Despite imposing such strict limitations on media use, they offer “multimedia support” for “Flash, Shockwave, Midi and more” as one of the selling points of their plans! I’m not sure whether to believe the legal or sales department, and I doubt I’m the only one who’s getting mixed messages.
Limited Domains on Low-End Plan – CoolHandle’s most affordable hosting plan has a limit of only 5 domains. While the next tier up expands that limitation to 100, the vast majority of competing hosts offer unlimited domains on even their cheapest service packages. While 5 domains sounds perfectly reasonable for their “Starter Plan,” the bottom line is that the competition is offering something irrefutably better. If you’ve collected more than 5 domains and want affordable hosting for all of them, almost any other web host will accommodate your 6+ domains on their low-end hosting plan.
CoolHandle Uptime and Reliability
CoolHandle’s webhosting has been up 99.84% of the time since April of 2006 (over the last 2000+ days). Unlike many other hosting companies, there are no horror stories or patters of server slowness, downtime or hacked accounts as is so often the case with hosting companies at this price point. Farhan sums up most customers experience very well when he says – “ I have used coolhandle webhosting service since last year and it has been very good experience. The price is cheap and customer service is good. I never had any major issues and whatever small issues occurred were dealt with very efficiently.”
Conclusion
CoolHandle strikes a solid balance between simple features and a modest variety of hosting plans. They also have a few carefully-chosen add-ons, but not an overwhelming list of diluted options. If you’re looking for a middle-ground between a Spartan, ultra-basic web host and one with way too many bells and whistles, CoolHandle is a very good option that customers frequently rave about. “I have been a client of coolhandle.com for more than 5 years. These are great people to deal with. Friendly, prompt service and great uptime.”
But, there is some confusion between CoolHandle’s selling points and their legal terms. Media-rich websites could supposedly benefit from CoolHandle’s speedy servers and media-optimized systems, but their terms of service require that 80% of your media must be hosted (and hyperlinked from) elsewhere. I guess that’s why their systems are so fast!
Like all hosts, CoolHandle has advantages and shortfalls. If the advantages line up well with your e-commerce plans, proceed with confidence. If their shortfalls spell doom for your media-rich website, I’d look elsewhere for hosts with less limitations.
Click here to sign-up for CoolHandle
CoolHandle Hosting Reviews
“I chose CoolHandle to host my personal domain after a friend recommended it to me. I’ve never had any problems with anything.”
“I was most impressed with the opening of my account process – CoolHandle expertly guided me through their hosting account set-up process and enabled me to obtain a SEO friendly domain name, too.”
“The service here is great. I was looking for a low cost web hosting site that met my needs and didn’t leave me without the essentials that I needed.”
“Been using their service for about a year now. Never had any problems. They have always answered support tickets immediately. Uptime has been 100%. Would recommend very highly.”
“CoolHandle provides awesome service with great customer service and the best of all, great prices! There’s no need to look anywhere.”
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