GreenGeeks Performance Review

Trey Gardner founded GreenGeeks in 2008. They currently host over 300,000 websites and have data centers in the U.S., Canada, and the Netherlands.

GreenGeeks is unique in that they aim to provide environmentally friendly web hosting services. GreenGeeks purchases wind energy credits to make up for the energy their servers use. They also employ energy-efficient hardware to host their site data. Furthermore, their servers are kept in data centers that have been specially designed to be environmentally friendly.

In total, GreenGeeks replaces over 615,000 kWh per year.

That being said, what really matters is performance. Let’s examine the components of GreenGeeks’ service to determine whether their performance measures up.

General Information about GreenGeek’s Hosting

• Average Speed = 445ms
• Average uptime = 99.98%
• Compatible applications: WordPress, Joomla, PrestaShop, WHMCS
• Types of hosting plans: Shared, WordPress, Reseller
• Features: Unlimited storage, bandwidth, and email accounts. Free domain for the first year.
• Ability to transfer sites: One free site transfer
• Support: 24/7 Live Chat
• Pricing: Starts at $2.95 per month (renews at $9.95 per month).

Performance Review of GreenGeek’s Hosting

1. Load Times

It’s common knowledge that most web users will abandon a website if it doesn’t load within 2 seconds or less. GreenGeeks provides servers that use SSD hard drives that are configured in a redundant RAID-10 storage array.

They offer customized in-house caching technology and were one of the first to adopt PHP 7, giving clients access to the web and database servers LiteSpeed and MariaDB. These servers provide quick data read/write access, which allows GreenGeeks to serve up pages up to 50 times faster.

Additionally, they offer free CDN services, powered by Cloudflare, which enables you to cache your content and deliver it quickly to your site visitors. They also use HTTP/2 for faster in-browser page loading and improved client to server communication.

2. Uptime

GreenGeeks employs a container-based approach for their hosting services. This means that your resources are enclosed in such a way that other sites won’t be able to impact your website negatively.

If another website on the server experiences a spike in traffic, increased demand for resources, or a security breach, your site’s performance won’t be affected. Furthermore, they continuously monitor their servers to be able to identify problems before customers or their websites are affected. As a result, they can maintain uptime of 99.98%

3. Security

The container method keeps your site secure in addition to protecting clients from being affected by other sites.

GreenGeeks further protects your website by backing it up nightly. Additionally, they automatically update content management system cores, preventing your site from becoming vulnerable to security threats.

GreenGeeks also gives their clients their own Secured vFS (visualization File System). This prevents other accounts from being able to access your account. Furthermore, if something suspicious is discovered, it can be immediately isolated to avoid further damage. Lastly, they provide built-in spam protection that works to curtail the number of spam attempts on your site.

4. Data Centers

Your choice of server location can have a positive impact on your site’s SEO; additionally, if you pick a server closer to you, you’ll have faster speeds.

GreenGeeks clients can choose from four different data center locations: Chicago, Phoenix, Montreal, and Amsterdam. These data centers are SAS 70 Type 1 certified, and an audit report is available on request. They are powered by dual-city gird power-feeds, in addition to a battery backup with an automated transfer switch and an on-site diesel generator.

5. Customer Support and Service Guarantees

GreenGeeks offers 24/7 email, live chat, and phone support. They also provide a support center for help on a wide variety of issues and a selection of tutorials for DIY education.

GreenGeek also offers a guarantee of 99% uptime and 100% satisfaction. If a client isn’t satisfied within 30 days, they’ll get their money back. Additionally, clients will retain ownership of their domain after cancellation.

6. eCommerce Capabilities

All of GreenGeeks hosting plans come with eCommerce features. Customers receive a free Let’s Encrypt Wildcard SSL certificate for securing eCommerce clients’ personal and financial information. Also included is a one-click install software for shopping carts.

7. Website Builder

GreenGeeks’ web hosting includes a website builder, which makes site creation quick and easy. This tool gives you a variety of pre-designed templates, themes that are mobile-friendly and responsive, SEO optimization, drag & drop capability so you can create a site with no coding required, and 24/7 dedicated support.