When it comes to choosing a hosting provider for your business or personal website, there are countless options available online.
One of those options is TinkerHost (opens in new tab), a hosting provider that promises to offer fast and reliable service at 0% fees.
But is TinkerHost worth it? This review will take an in-depth look at TinkerHost and see if it’s the best web hosting (opens in new tab) provider for you.
What is TinkerHost?
TinkerHost is a free web hosting (opens in new tab) service provider that offers cloud hosting services. At its core, TinkerHost offers an innovative cloud-based hosting platform that uses the latest container technology. This technology offers several advantages; it makes it easier to deploy, scale, and manage your website, as well as improve the overall hosting speed and performance.
What features does it offer?
One of the features I was excited to test was TinkerHost’s FTP access. TinkerHost provides free FTP access that is easy to use for both web developers and non-technical users. The FTP access is reliable and fast, making it possible to manage files easily, especially when creating or editing a website. What I love most about FTP access is the flexibility that it offers when uploading multiple files to the server from my local machine.
As someone who loves working with different databases, I was curious about what TinkerHost had to offer. TinkerHost provides excellent tools for managing databases, including MySQL and PHPMyAdmin with user-friendly dashboards. The interface is very intuitive, and I was able to manage my data with ease. I must say that the impressive speed of TinkerHost’s services made it easier for me to access these tools, reducing the time I would have otherwise spent waiting for the pages to load.
The security of a website is of utmost importance, and TinkerHost recognizes this. That is why it offers free SSL certificates to its clients, which provides protection against online threats. The certificates are easy to install and renew and offer HTTPS protection for users’ websites, which is a huge plus. I was impressed to find out that there were auto-installable SSL certificates available, which made the installation process speedy and more convenient.
One of the things I loved about TinkerHost is its convenient, user-friendly subdomains feature. This feature lets you create additional websites with ease, allowing you to access subdomains in the control panel. This feature can be used to create websites on different topics or niches, a feature that I love since it makes it possible for businesses to have distinct websites for different departments, products, or services.
TinkerHost provides a magnificent script installer that has over 300 scripts. The installer is intelligent, making it easy to install and manage website applications that have different requirements including WordPress. The interface is user-friendly, making it easy for anyone to use, even with minimal technical knowledge.
The redirect and IP blocker features of TinkerHost are outstanding. The redirect feature is amazing since it allows you to redirect traffic to a specific URL or page to protect your site against hackers or other web-based attacks. On the other hand, the IP blocker feature protects websites from unwanted traffic, adding an extra layer of security.
TinkerHost provides an exceptional Softaculous (opens in new tab) app installer that provides access to hundreds of applications. What impressed me most about this feature was how you can automatically install WordPress in less than five minutes. Additionally, TinkerHost offers a backup feature that provides daily backups of your websites, and you have access to restore points in case of server failure or hacking attempts. Additionally, I found it useful that the backups are stored on a separate server, making it easier to avoid data loss. On top of that, the restoration process is simple and instant, which is handy if you ever face any issues with your website’s backup.
SSD storage is another feature that TinkerHost offers. SSDs are faster and more reliable than traditional hard drives, which can help improve website performance and speed. Last but not least, TinkerHost also provides a website builder feature, which can help you create a professional-looking website without needing to know how to code. The website builder is designed to be user-friendly and intuitive, so you can create a website quickly and easily.
Performance tested
TinkerHost’s cPanel dashboard is relatively straightforward and easy to navigate. After creating a free account, I received an email with a link to activate my TinkerHost account. On the website’s login window, you are required to enter your password and username. Once you log in, you will find menus like Account > Cert > Ticket. You should click on Account to create a domain name. Once you create an account, the next window will show your cPanel. On your cPanel, you will find options like FTP, PHPMyAdmin, ETC.
During the testing of TinkerHost, my test website performed exceptionally well. Installing themes and plugins via TinkerHost cPanel is fast and straightforward – all I had to do was scroll down and click on the Softaculous app installer. The cPanel interface is beginner-friendly, which is great for beginners who are not familiar with the tech side of running a website.
Another impressive aspect of TinkerHost’s performance is that you can easily edit and modify your site via the cPanel dashboard. You don’t have to be familiar with coding or hire a developer to carry out modifications or customization.
Speed and uptime
First, let’s talk about uptime. TinkerHost claims to offer 99.9% uptime guaranteed, which is impressive. During my testing period, I monitored the uptime using third-party tools and was delighted to see that TinkerHost delivered what it promised. There were no noticeable downtimes or service disruptions during my testing period.
On to speed testing. Site speed is crucial to the user experience and also a significant SEO ranking factor. TinkerHost promises fast loading speeds, and after running several speed tests on my website, I can confirm that it delivers on its word. The website load times were impressive, and I didn’t experience any slow-loading pages. Furthermore, TinkerHost uses SSD hardware, which contributes to its speedy performance.
Pricing
Creating an account and hosting domains on TinkerHost is free of charge. However, the free version has its limitations, such as limited storage space and bandwidth, and limited customizations. The free version also does not allow you to use .com, .org, .net domain extensions. So if you want to unlock the full potential of TinkerHost, then it’s worth considering the premium plans.
TinkerHost offers three premium packages – Super Premium, Ultimate Premium, and VPS Server. The first premium package available on TinkerHost is the Super Premium package, which costs $4.99 every month. In this package, you get super-fast SSD servers, 250GB of bandwidth per month, latest vendor cPanel, and unlimited hits. This package is perfect for small or medium-sized businesses that have high-traffic websites and need more resources and customization than the free version offers.
The Ultimate Premium package costs $7.99 every month and is best suited for larger businesses or individuals who require even more resources. It includes super-fast SSD servers, unlimited bandwidth, the latest vendor cPanel, and unlimited hits. With this package, you can create a fully customized website to meet your specific needs, and you don’t have to worry about bandwidth restrictions or slow page loading speeds.
The third option available on TinkerHost is the VPS Server, which costs $9.99 every month. This package is the best choice for people who want root access to their server and more control over their website’s resources. With this package, you get 30GB of RAID-protected storage, 125GB of bandwidth per month, accelerated Apache server, and full root access. The VPS Server package is ideal for those with large or complex websites that require dedicated server resources and customized features.
Security
Distributed Denial of Service (DDoS) attacks are one of the biggest threats to website security, mainly if your website is handling sensitive and personal data on a large scale. TinkerHost’s web hosting service is equipped with cutting-edge DDoS protection. It ensures that its users are always protected even when facing a malicious attack from multiple compromised computer systems. With DDoS protection, TinkerHost makes sure its servers stay up and running even in the event of an attack.
SSL (Secure Sockets Layer) is a standard security protocol for encrypting information sent between a web server and a user’s browser. It keeps sensitive information like credit card numbers, login credentials, and other confidential information secure from hackers. TinkerHost provides a private SSL, which guarantees that all information transmitted between your website and the web server is exceptionally safe and secure. With a Private SSL, you’re assured of the encryption of all data transmission, including payments and login credentials. Also, TinkerHost uses the latest SSL/TSL certificates to ensure website security.
SSL/TSL (Transport Layer Security) provides encryption protocols for online transactions such as credit card payments, sensitive login information, and personal user data. TLS technology is more advanced than SSL and provides reliable security protection for your website data. With SSL/TSL, TinkerHost offers better protection against potential data breaches, resulting in total peace of mind for its users.
This web hosting service offers an IP blocker that provides an additional layer of protection from potential cyber-attacks. An IP blocker helps you block malicious IP addresses and restrict access to your website. It is a handy tool that allows you to control access to your server’s resources and protects your website from cyber-attacks. TinkerHost offers a comprehensive backup system that automatically backs up your data to an alternative location.
A backup system is critical to protecting your website’s data in the event of a security breach or system failure. It ensures that your website’s data is retained and secured with a regularly scheduled backup process so that you can access and retrieve your data at any time.
Customer support
When it comes to customer support, TinkerHost does not offer the traditional channels such as live chat or phone support. However, this doesn’t mean that support is non-existent. You can access its community forums, which are open to everyone, even if you use the free version of their service. The community forums are populated by TinkerHost users and active staff members. By using these forums, you can ask for help, get advice, and learn from other users’ experiences.
It includes detailed tutorials, FAQs, and guides to help you learn how to use the service. The forum is a vibrant community of users, and you can learn about TinkerHost from the collective experience of the community.
The TinkerHost Community Forum is also an excellent place to learn about new features that are being rolled out. The community forums are a place where TinkerHost users can share feedback, feature requests, and get help from the community.
Final verdict
TinkerHost is an excellent web hosting solution for businesses of all sizes. It offers affordable pricing, flexible plans, easy website management, and reliable uptime and page load speeds. With TinkerHost, you can focus on growing your business and leave the technical stuff to the experts.
- We’ve explained all the web hosting jargon (opens in new tab) to help you understand the features on offer
