Midphase Review
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Overall Rating
Cheapest Plan
$2.78/mo
Midphase: A quick summary for people with no time (pretty much all of us)
In a nutshell, we don’t really recommend Midphase (unless you’re on a super small budget), for a few reasons with the main ones being security and loading speed. They’re cheap, which is good, but if you want to run any legitimate business that needs a speedy site, there are a lot of better alternatives out there.
Security: Having an SSL certificate (https, a secure site) is a must these days, definitely with Google favoring https sites, and Chrome actively labeling non-secure sites as “not secure”… Basic SSL certificates are actually free these days, because they’re so important. Most hosts offer this also for free, because it’s easy to integrate. With Midphase though, you’ll need to sign up for a “business” plan to get a free SSL certificate…
Loading speed: Definitely not optimal here, while the majority of user reviews seem to be on the neutral/positive side… what does stand out is the emphasis on slow websites… but that comes with super cheap hosting so you can’t expect much.
So what we’re really saying is… there are better alternatives out there. Have a look at our web hosting comparisons where we researched and analysed the top web hosts for different countries (both from a quality and cost perspective).
MidPhase Hosting Review
An Introduction To MidPhase
MidPhase was founded way back in 1998 by Daniel L. Ushman, Zachary D., and Zak Boca. The company headquarters is located in Salt Lake City, Utah. They have teams in multiple locations around the world such as the USA, UK, Ukraine, and India.
In 2007 MidPhase was acquired by UK2 Group. The latter is a company that provides Internet services and is based in the UK and also owns other hosting companies such as WestHost and VI.net. MidPhase was nominated for the HostReview Readers Choice Award in 2010.
Pricing
MidPhase provides you with three different types of web hosting packages. These are named Personal, Professional, and Business. The said plans can be seen below:
The cheapest plan is called Basic and cost USD 3.48 per month if you opt for a 1-, 2-, or 3-year contract. Although the said price is a promotional price only. The plan will cost you USD 7.95 and USD 6.95 per month if you get the monthly and 3-month contracts, respectively.
One domain is only possible with the Basic plan. Subdomains are only limited to one per hosting account. Though with the said plan, you can have unlimited web space. This is especially useful if you need to place high-resolution images and videos in your website. You are not limited by the amount of space you have thus you can freely place any file you want within your hosting account.
You are also given an unlimited bandwidth. This refers to unlimited data transfer between the server and the device requesting for website content. This means, you can have an unlimited amount of traffic and you don’t have to pay extra if you go beyond the usual amount of traffic you experience.
If you opt for the annual plan, you can get a free domain. This will apply to the primary domain only. Domain registration is also limited to .com, .org, .net, .us, .biz, and .org extensions. You are provided with an all-purpose control panel that allows you to manage hosting accounts, email addresses, and billing info, among others.
Setup of your account is free. This can save you about USD 10.00. Not bad, right? The package comes with Softaculous, an application installer that allows you to install hundreds of applications with just a few clicks.
Email accounts are unlimited. This means, each person responsible for a different department of your website can have his/ her own account. Saves you a few bucks on paying for another email hosting provider. It comes with features such as email alias, email forwarders, and auto responders. It also comes with anti-spam and anti-virus protection for defense against malicious attacks.
You can garner more information about your website through their online statistics features. Webalizer, a web log analysis software, is available with the cheapest package. This tool reports stats such as hits, visits, referrers, and visitor’s country of origin. Another web analytics reporting tool, AWStats, is included as well.
PHP 7, Python, Perl-CGI, and Ruby On Rails are supported by the said plan. ImageMagick 5+ is supported as well. They have a 99.99% uptime guarantee. This means, your website is up most of the time and downtimes would “rarely” occur.
Finally, they have a 30-day money-back guarantee. Although, this excludes domain names and is applicable only if cancellation occurs within 30 days from the day of sale. If you are simply trying out their products and services, you can get a full refund as long as you meet the term and conditions of the said guarantee.
Support Options
There are various options you can use to get the help you need. Included below are these options:
- Service Status Page
- Knowledge Base
- Ticket Submission
- Online Live Chat
- Phone Support
The Service Status page gives you real-time information about the status of their services. These include information on their Main Systems, Control Panels, and Hosting Servers. Past incidents are also included here. Upcoming scheduled maintenance will be posted here as well.
The Knowledge Base contains various topics you can check out in order to set up and manage the products and services you have availed with MidPhase. If you think your problem is simple, you can just check out the Knowledge Base for information. Although, if your problem cannot be solved by the Knowledge Base, you have to opt for their live chat, phone support, and ticket submission features.
Their technical support team is available 24 hours a day, 7 days a week. You can also submit a ticket which is also available 24/7. Their live chat feature is primarily used for sales and is available Monday to Friday, 08am to 5pm, Mountain Time.
Pros
There are some advantages to working with MidPhase. These are included below:
Unlimited Disk Space
You are given an unlimited amount of web space. This can be very useful if you need to place large files within your website. Images and videos can be placed without hesitation. You don’t have to get a more expensive plan just to get extra web space. Every space you need is available.
Free Domain
If you opt for the annual plan, you get a free domain. This saves your wallet a few bucks. Pretty handy if you are just starting out and don’t have a domain name yet. Domain extensions are limited to .com, .org, .net, .us, .biz, and .org. If you’re thinking of another extension, then you can simply get it from another provider.
Cons
Slow Loading Speeds
Website loading speeds of MidPhase are slow compared to the average. It’s actually obvious. They don’t advertise SSDs or caching technologies. They don’t advertise using LiteSpeed servers. Anything related to speed enhancement cannot be seen on their website.
Poor website loading speeds lead to poor user experience. This, in turn, leads to lower conversions. Slow loading speeds also mean lower rankings in search engines. Google favors sites who load faster over those who load slower.
No Free SSL Certificate
You are not given a free SSL certificate with the cheapest plan. An SSL certificate is important in protecting sensitive information (e.g. credit card details) your website contains. Plus, it is a bonus in enhancing your search engine rankings as Google favors sites in HTTPS over sites in HTTP.
A free SSL certificate is only available only if you opt for the annual package of the Business plan. This will cost you USD 4.38 per month. At a one-year contract, you have to shell out USD 52.56 upfront. The said prices are current promotional prices only. Make sure you read their terms and conditions to be aware of what you’re getting into.
Conclusion
As mentioned in the intro, if you’re on a budget and just need to start a blog, Midphase can definitely work for you… but if you need anything more than that like https, fast loading speeds, etc… we highly recommend looking for alternative hosting providers.