KnownHost Review: Know Everything Before You Host (2024)

Ease of Use

I would rate the overall ease of use of KnownHost at 4.2/5.

Here's why:

• The account creation is straightforward.
•  WordPress installation is also easy and has detailed documentation.
• KnownHost utilizes the industry-standard cPanel control panel, known for its simplicity and versatility. With its intuitive interface, users can easily manage their hosting accounts, websites, domains, email accounts, databases, and more, all from a centralized dashboard.

Registration

It’s easy to create a hosting account with KnownHost. First, choose a suitable hosting plan for your website.

On the signup page, you'll see the plan details and options for configuring the domain name and other addons and services if you need them.

To finalize your purchase and create your account, you need to provide your account details and billing information.

Control Panel

KnownHost provides a user-friendly cPanel that is perfect for beginners who are just starting out. Additionally, it offers Softaculous and WHM for more experienced users and developers.

With Softaculous, you can effortlessly install any application with just a single click. On the other hand, WHM grants advanced users root access, allowing them to have more control over their hosting environment.

Install WordPress on KnownHost

Log in to the cPanel dashboard and scroll to the Softaculous Apps Installer section, under the subsection Scripts, you'll see the WordPress option. Click on it to start the process.

Then click the Install Now button.

It will take you to the website configure page. Here, you need to fill up your basic website information such as site name and description. You need to set the domain and determine the URL of the main page www, http, or https.

You also need to configure your website admin account details and select site language. You see the options for selecting your website theme and plugins which are optional.

⚠️ Note: It’s good to use a strong password so you can secure your account.

After adding all the information, you need to click the Install button. The system will take a couple of minutes to complete the WordPress installation.

After that, you’ll be redirected to a new page with a success message that ‘WordPress has been installed successfully’.

On this page, you’ll also get the URL for your live website and the administration so you can log in to your WordPress website dashboard area.

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Features

I would rate the overall features at 4.2/5.

Here's why:

• KnownHost runs on strong and high-performing infrastructure, which includes top-notch data centers and state-of-the-art hardware, guaranteeing dependable uptime and performance for hosted websites and applications.
• For VPS and dedicated server hosting, KnownHost offers managed services, taking care of server maintenance, updates, security, and more, allowing customers to focus on their core business activities.
• KnownHost provides simple website migration services, ensuring an easy transition to their hosting platform with minimal downtime and disruption.

Here are the core features of KnownHost:

1. cPanel Control Panel

KnownHost understands the importance of a user-friendly control panel, so they offer the industry-leading cPanel control panel.

With its intuitive interface, managing your hosting account has never been easier. From handling website files to managing email accounts and domains, cPanel puts everything at your service.

It's designed to be simple yet versatile, allowing you to customize your hosting environment without needing advanced technical skills.

Whether you're installing applications or analyzing website data, cPanel streamlines the management of your hosting resources, ensuring a seamless experience for individuals and businesses alike.

2. Free SSL Certificates

Security is a top priority in today's digital world, and KnownHost takes it seriously. That's why they provide free SSL certificates with all their hosting plans.

These certificates encrypt the data exchanged between your website and its visitors, safeguarding sensitive information from potential cyber threats.

By getting free SSL certificates, you can enhance their website security and establish trust with your visitors.

To install a free SSL certificate, you need to log in to your WHM account. Then navigate to SSL/TLS > Install SSL Certificate on a Domain area.

Here, you need to enter the domain name, paste the certificate, and the private key of the SSL. After that, hit the Install button.

Whether you run an online store or a blog having an SSL certificate not only boosts user confidence but also improves your search engine rankings. It's an essential feature for any online presence hosted with KnownHost.

3. Multiple Hosting Options 

KnownHost offers a variety of hosting options to meet the unique needs of different websites. Whether you're a blogger, small business owner, or enterprise, KnownHost has the perfect hosting solution for you.

From shared hosting to VPS hosting and dedicated server hosting, KnownHost has a range of options to fit various budgets and performance requirements.

With scalable solutions and reliable performance, KnownHost ensures that every customer can find the ideal hosting plan to support their online goals and ambitions.

4. Multiple Data Centers

KnownHost has multiple data centers strategically located across different regions to ensure optimal performance, reliability, and redundancy for hosted websites and applications.

By utilizing a global network of data centers, KnownHost minimizes latency and maximizes uptime by efficiently distributing traffic and resources.

This geographical diversity also enhances disaster recovery capabilities, allowing for seamless failover in case of hardware failures or network disruptions.

KnownHost's multiple data centers provide the infrastructure needed to deliver fast and reliable access to your website or application from anywhere in the world, ensuring a superior user experience for visitors and customers.

5. Website Migration

Transferring your website to KnownHost is a breeze, thanks to their top-notch website migration service.

Whether you're coming from another hosting provider or simply upgrading your hosting plan within KnownHost, their skilled team of migration specialists will take care of everything for you.

From moving files and databases to setting up DNS configurations and ensuring minimal downtime, KnownHost's migration service guarantees a seamless transition to its hosting platform.

With little disruption to your website's functionality, you can concentrate on expanding your online presence while having peace of mind that experts are handling your website migration.

KnownHost's dedication to customer satisfaction shines through in all aspects of its service, including website migration, making it simple for customers to enjoy the perks of hosting with KnownHost.

Reliability

I would rate overall KnownHost reliability at 3.9/5.

Here's why:

• KnownHost has an impressive uptime performance, achieving a remarkable score of 99.94%. This places KnownHost in a favorable position when compared to other providers.
• KnownHost's page load time, at 1.5 seconds, and a performance score of 77/100, indicate room for improvement.
• One aspect that could be improved upon is KnownHost's lack of tracking updates and maintenance, which is not seen as a positive attribute.

Performance

I had high expectations for KnownHost because of its impressive features. To gauge its performance, I conducted a test using GTMetrix, which revealed satisfactory results.

Here are the results:

The website has an impressive first contentful paint (FCP) of 244 ms. During our testing, the website loaded in just 1.5 seconds, which falls comfortably within the ideal range of 0-2 seconds for page load time.

As for uptime, KnownHost stands out in the web hosting industry with its exceptional uptime guarantee of 99.99%.

Now let’s compare KnownHost’s performance with other well-known web hosting services:

Here are some observations:

• It has an uptime of 99.99%, which is quite reliable   however, it's slightly lower than Kinsta (100%.
• KnownHost's performance score is 77/100, which is higher than Bluehost and Siteground.
• KnownHost's load time is 1.5 seconds, which is faster than Bluehost's 7.01 seconds and Hostinger’s 2.36 seconds making it a more efficient option in this regard.

KnownHost excels over Bluehost in both uptime and load time but falls behind Kinsta in terms of minimum uptime and faster load times.

Updates and Maintenance

So how are KnownHost's updates and maintenance?

I can't find any information on how KnownHost keeps its hosting and domain services up to date.

Support

I would rate overall KnownHost support at 3.8/5.

Here's why:

• KnownHost provides a structured ticketing system for efficient issue tracking and resolution.
• You can also participate in their community forum for additional support.
• They offer detailed documentation and blogs to assist you.
• Support is available through email and phone calls.
• However, their live chat support may not be as effective, as I experienced when they mentioned no availability at the moment.

Customer Service

KnownHost has different support systems.

You can get support from:

• Ticketing system
• Email support
• Phone support 
• Live chat support
• Community forum
• Documentations

KnownHost offers support via live chat, email,  phone, or ticket system, their knowledgeable support team is readily available to address technical issues, provide guidance, and offer solutions to ensure a seamless hosting experience.

KnownHost claims on its website that support is accessible 24/7. However, I did not experience this with the live chat feature.

As for phone support, there are two contact numbers available: one is toll-free and dedicated to individuals in the US and Canada, whereas the other is open to global users at standard call rates.

You can reach out to our email support team for assistance with sales, billing, and technical problems by using the dedicated email addresses provided.

KnownHost also provides a physical mailing address for those who prefer to send physical mail.

Documentation

For documentation, KnownHost offers a comprehensive list of knowledge-based articles. You can use the top search field to find a particular documentation or navigate through different categories.

Here’s what the documentation home page looks like:

I also took a look at their knowledge-based articles and I must say, they are well-written. However, I did notice that some of the images they included in their articles are not very clear.

Community Support

KnownHost comes with a community forum. You have the option to become a member of their forum and share your questions. The forum is efficiently structured.

There are various categories available for you to post your queries or search for solutions that have already been answered by other members.

On the right sidebar, you can easily see the number of online members, as well as access forum statistics and the latest posts.

Pricing

I would rate the pricing at 4/5.

Here's why:

• KnownHost’s shared hosting plans start at $3.47, which is affordable when compared to similar hosting in the market.
• Users benefit from free SSL certificates, website migration, regular backup, DDoS protection, and more.
• A significant drawback of KnownHost pricing is the highly increased renewal rates.

1. Web Hosting

KnownHost's web hosting packages are perfect for individuals and small businesses aiming to establish an online presence.

These plans typically include a user-friendly control panel, unlimited bandwidth, SSD storage, and a free SSL certificate. With various options available, customers can select the plan that best fits their website's needs and budget.

They offer four shared web hosting packages:

• Basic ($3.47/month)
• Standard ($6.47/month)
• Professional ($9.97/month)
• Premium ($19.97/month)

The Basic plan includes a user-friendly control panel, unlimited bandwidth, SSD storage, and a free SSL certificate. This plan is great for personal blogs, small portfolios, or basic informational websites.

The Standard plan provides more resources and features than the Basic plan, including enhanced performance and support. It is suitable for small businesses or websites with moderate traffic.

The Professional plan is suitable for businesses or individuals with higher performance and resource needs. With all the features of the Standard plan, it adds additional resources like more storage space and higher CPU allocations.

The Premium plan is the most advanced shared hosting option available from KnownHost. It includes all the features of the Professional plan, plus perks like priority support and advanced security features.

2. VPS Hosting

KnownHost offers customers dedicated resources in a virtualized environment, providing more flexibility and control compared to shared hosting.

With customizable configurations, strong security measures, and SSD storage, VPS hosting is ideal for websites with moderate to high traffic or specific software requirements.

They offer four managed VPS hosting packages:

• Basic ($43.25/month)
• Standard ($63.25/month)
• Professional ($83.25/month)
• Premium ($103.25/month)

The Basic plan includes managed support, SSD storage, a choice of control panel, and enough CPU and RAM allocations to handle moderate traffic.

The Standard plan enhances the Basic package by providing additional resources and capabilities. It offers increased CPU and RAM allocations, as well as more storage space for growing websites or applications.

The Professional plan offers even higher CPU and RAM allocations, expanded storage capacity, and extra features like enhanced security measures and priority support.

The Premium plan is the top-tier option in KnownHost's managed VPS hosting lineup. It delivers the highest level of resources, security features, performance, and priority support.

KnownHost also comes with Unmanaged VPS Hosting and NVME VPS Hosting.

3. Cloud Hosting

KnownHost's cloud hosting solutions utilize cloud infrastructure to deliver scalability, reliability, and performance.

Cloud hosting plans provide on-demand resources, automatic scalability, and redundancy for maximum uptime and seamless performance of websites and applications.

With pay-as-you-go pricing, customers can adjust resources as needed without paying for unused capacity.

They offer four managed Cloud hosting packages:

• Basic ($53.25/month)
• Standard ($73.25/month)
• Professional ($93.25/month)
• Premium ($123.25/month)

The Basic plan includes 4 GB guaranteed RAM, 60 GB NVMe storage, and 2 TB premium bandwidth, along with the DirectAdmin/cPanel.

The Standard plan gives you 6 GB guaranteed RAM, 120 GB NVMe storage, and 3 TB premium bandwidth. You can also get free backup and migration.

The Professional plan is the extended version of the Standard plan that offers more RAM and NVMe storage.

The Premium plan includes all the features of the Professional plan and extends the CPU Core, RAM, NVMe storage, and bandwidth.

4. Dedicated Hosting

KnownHost's Dedicated Hosting plans provide a wide array of choices to meet the unique requirements of businesses, ranging from small companies to large corporations.

These plans prioritize performance, dependability, and scalability, guaranteeing seamless and efficient online operations.

With KnownHost's Dedicated Hosting plans, you gain the necessary power, control, and adaptability to support your mission-critical applications and websites.

They offer three different plans.

• Unmanaged ($49)
• Managed ($161.25)
• High-performance

Ranging from Intel Xeon to AMD Ryzen and EPYC processors, customers have a variety of options to choose from based on their performance requirements.

The number of cores and threads varies across plans, providing flexibility to handle different workloads effectively.

KnownHost offers a range of memory options for both Unmanaged and Managed plans which start from 32GB to 128GB (Unmanaged) and  16GB to 128GB (Managed).

5. WordPress Hosting

KnownHost's WordPress hosting plans are optimized for speed, security, and user-friendliness. These plans typically include one-click WordPress installation, automatic updates, staging environments, and specialized caching solutions.

With dedicated WordPress support and strong security measures, customers can focus on content creation and expanding their online presence without worrying about technical issues.

They offer three WordPress hosting packages:

• Entry ($5.98/month)
• Business ($9.98/month)
• Corporate ($19.98/month)

This Entry plan offers 1 WordPress website, 50 GB NVMe Storage, and support for up to 100k monthly visits.

You’ll get unlimited email accounts, premium bandwidth, Litespeed/LSCache support, free site migration, scheduled backups, Jetbackup access, and staging/cloning tools.

The Business plan includes features such as 1 WordPress website, 100 GB NVMe Storage, and support for up to 200k visits per month, along with other features of the Entry plan.

This plan includes support for 5 WordPress websites, 150 GB NVMe Storage, and up to 500k visits per month, including other features such as unlimited email accounts, unlimited premium bandwidth, and Litespeed/LSCache support.

Money Back Guarantee/Refund

The refund policy and money-back guarantee of KnownHost are straightforward. They applied different terms to get a refund for hosting, domain registration, and SSL certificate.

Here, you can check their terms of service:

New KnownHost customers can request a 30-day money-back guarantee on all hosting packages, except for Dedicated Servers, Domain Name Registrations, and SSL Certificates.

You have the option to cancel any domain registration (excluding domains registered via drop-catching) within three (3) days of purchase to receive a full refund (minus any applicable transaction fees).

If you cancel after three days, no refund will be provided. SSL Certificates can be canceled within 5 days of purchase for a full refund or account credit.

However, after the five-day grace period, canceling your SSL certificate will not result in a refund.

Final Thoughts

KnownHost stands out as a trustworthy web hosting provider that offers reliable services, strong security features, and outstanding customer assistance.

Catering to the needs of individuals, businesses, and corporations, KnownHost offers several hosting options including shared, VPS, dedicated server, and WordPress hosting.

If you are seeking a quality hosting solution, KnownHost is the way to go. However, it's important to be mindful of potential higher renewal pricing that could impact your budget.

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