phoenixNAP review

Launched in 2009, phoenixNAP has been part of the global web hosting industry for over a decade. As the name implies, the company’s home town is Phoenix (the USA) as well as the home of their head office. Specialized in high-end hosting-related services, phoenixNAP provides a robust network built on “state-of-the-art” infrastructure capable of delivering an impeccable 100% of uptime with first-class performance, dependability and security.

phoenixNAP offers six prime data center locations across the USA, North America, Europe and Asia, claiming to ensure low latency, high connectivity and high overall speed. Equipped with about 200 skilled technicians, sales experts and members of customer support staff, they claim to have only one goal in mind and that is the success of their customers.

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 phoenixNAP’s official website is wrapped in the shades of space blue and a familiar layout which makes navigating around as uncomplicated as it gets. In addition to English, the site is available in German, Dutch, Italian, Spanish and Portuguese.  

It also contains a blog which seems to be bristling with new content on a pretty regular basis. The articles themselves appear reader-friendly and in-line with the latest trends in theology. They also include some fine tips and tricks aimed at users with at least some amount of technical expertise.  

As for social networking, all who are interested can follow phoenixNAP on Facebook, LinkedIn, Twitter, Instagram and (most notably) YouTube. There you’ll find a few full-length webinars, as well as announcements, briefings and tutorials.

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Plans and pricing

Given that phoenixNAP specializes in providing premium hosting solutions and services, the pricing is adjusted to the value you’ll be getting for the money you’re willing to invest. Although bare metal cloud is their main attraction, phoenixNAP also offers managed and unmanaged VPS packages, hybrid cloud solutions, dedicated server hosting and colocation services.   

Bare metal cloud packages are presented in detail with their main features, available data center locations and pricing information. Although there is no free trial nor a money-back guarantee, the pricing model is pretty flexible allowing you to pay per hour or pay-per-use. You can also choose to commit for a month, a year, two years or three year.

At the moment, you can try out the most budget-friendly bare metal plan for mere $0.96 per hour. However, if you go for a full month it will cost $550.26 and the price decreases if you subscribe for a longer period. To get the pricing for some of phoenixNAP’s services (such as VPS), you’ll be asked to submit a form (with some of your personal data) and wait for their team to reach you. 

It’s also worth noting that phoenixNAP’s packages are often offered at discount prices, so it’s wise to keep track of the sales discounts before making a final purchase.

Ease of use

phoenixNAP provides simple and swift dedicated server deployment, so, instead of waiting for hours (or even days) for your machine to be provisioned, you shouldn’t invest more than a few minutes (they guarantee 60-second deployment). Before getting the ball rolling, we should (again) point out that since phoenixNAP offers premium hosting services, there are no freebies with which more versatile providers have spoiled us with nor some of the simpler services.

For instance, if you don’t already own a domain, you won't get to register one with phoenixNAP, because they presume you are already a veteran webmaster (and an owner of multiple domains) looking for a way to scale-up the game. Despite the lack of some simple features, you’ll be provided with a number of advanced ones such as top-class performance with availability of 100%, flexible RAM, CPU and hybrid SSD storage, full DDoS protection, managed backups, SaaS support and more.

The first step in creating an account with phoenixNAP will require you to provide your email address, create a safe password and read (and accept) the Master Services Agreement. After the verification via email, you’ll have to add additional personal information (including a phone number), company name and billing information. Only after validating your phone number, you’ll be able to proceed to phoenixNAP’s UI and make your purchase. All in all, the whole process is pretty intuitive and straightforward.

With phoenixNAP’s own client portal (called PNCP), all aspects of your dedicated server will be easy to monitor and manage, including DNS, upgrading/downgrading RAM and CPU or other resources. In addition to this, if you would rather use a control panel you’re familiar with (such as cPanel, Plesk or Webmin) you have an option to purchase it for an extra price.

Speed and experience

Premium web hosting services should imply premium speed, generally speaking. When it comes to speed performance, phoenixNAP promises precisely that and delivers on that promise with flying colors. After putting its main website to the test (provided by GTmetrix), we were presented with a perfect performance crowned with an A (100%) as a final grade. The page took mere 756 milliseconds to fully load and 13 requests at the same time, making this possibly the finest speed performance we have witnessed so far.

As for uptime, phoenixNAP boldly guarantees 100% of it, which is backed by SLA. After monitoring the uptime of their official site for two weeks, we managed to register quite a few instances of downtime (six, to be precise). However, most of them lasted for 3 minutes only, which resulted in 100% of uptime overall. While this testing period is relatively short, it is a good sign nonetheless.

Support

phoenixNAP has graced us with the round-the-clock (and 365 days a year) support accessible via telephone, live chat and email. Two telephone numbers are available, with one being toll-free while the other is not. If you want to get in touch with the sales department, make sure to do it during the business hours, Monday to Friday. Another good thing about phoenixNAP’s customer support is that it is backed by an SLA which ensures that all email inquiries will get an answer within 20 minutes to an hour (depending on a hosting package you’ve purchased).  

Those who would rather fend for themselves can rely on phoenixNAP’s knowledgebase, official blog and resources section. The knowledgebase is packed with helpful guides and most of these are complemented by suitable screenshots. In addition to this, you can access a number of easy-to-follow tutorials on their GitHub and YouTube channels.

The competition

Much like phoenixNAP, OVHcloud is a robust web hosting provider aimed at tech-savvy users, with the preference for the ones from France. Both of them offer a similar scope of services, yet, if you want to back these up with superb customer support, you’ll have to opt for phoenixNAP. Although OVHcloud provides some excellent self-help options, there is no live chat, which is one of the most well-liked help channels in general.

Another comparable host specialized in bare metal server solutions, and trusted by notable companies such as IBM, PureVPN and Avast, is HEFICED. They provide a similar line of services as phoenixNAP but at lower cost, which makes them a great pick.

One of the most popular choices for newcomers and veterans alike is HostGator, a resourceful, reliable and pocket-friendly host from the USA. However, while phoenixNAP’s products are aimed at upscale customers, HostGator has something for everyone’s budget.

The same goes for Bluehost, a US-based host supplying everything from shared and (managed and unmanaged) WordPress hosting to VPS and dedicated servers, and all at affordable pricing. Like most hosts of the same kind, Bluehost provides a 30-day money-back guarantee, which means you’ll have enough time to try them out before making an ultimate choice.

Final verdict

If you are in need of a high-end solution for an ever-growing business or an enterprise, phoenixNAP is very likely to fit the bill. Their dedicated and bare metal servers, as well as cloud and colocation services are everything they promise: swift, scalable and reliable. They also come with a splendid 24/7/365 support that will never leave you high and dry.

However, since phoenixNAP doesn’t offer much (or pretty much anything) for those with more modest needs, if you are looking to host a single website or to kick-start a small business, you’re better off with hosts such as HostGator and Bluehost.

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