GreenGeeks is an environmentally conscious web hosting company that specializes in shared hosting options for small businesses.
They also offer reseller and VPS hosting options as well, making them a popular choice for all around green enthusiast web masters.
Click here to see the #1 rated web hosting
GreenGeeks has only been around since 2008.
Here is how they’ve trended over the years:
Features
There are a few features that separate GreenGeeks from their competition (see: Site5, AwardSpace, or ServInt).
Here are a few of them:
1) 100% Green: You can figure out by their name that GreenGeeks is out to be the most environmentally friendly web host available online. The company was started by experienced industry pros who care about emissions. They claim that by 2020 web hosting will be responsible for more pollution than all of the jet fuel traffic on the planet. This has caused them to purchase enough wind energy credits to offset the energy they use by 300%. That math adds up to the equivalent of planting over 300 acres with trees for every KWH of energy they use hosting websites.
GreenGeeks has also been recognized by the EPA as a green power partner, and users can put a badge up on their sites proudly showing that you are conservative with your resources by using them as your host. In addition to being earth-friendly, GreenGeeks also helps other causes including providing clean water to impoverished nations.
2) Easy Pricing: GreenGeeks is one of the only hosting companies that only has one shared server plan. While they did have reseller, VPS and dedicated hosting, Eco site pro is the only available shared plan for $3.96/mo. This comes with all of the typical features associated with a shared plan; as a free domain, site migration, and unlimited domains. It also comes with some extras that aren’t as normal; like free SEO tools, a marketing package, and Google App integration with one click.
All of their shared hosting extras for one affordable price. While they have more than one plan for other hosting services, the pricing is still simplified throughout. Each service is laid out plainly with exactly what you’ll get and how much it will be per month. This simplified pricing makes it an ideal option for new site owners and seasoned multiple property web managers alike.
3) Valuable Tutorials: Most hosting companies have tutorials, knowledge centers, and a few even have video tutorials, but GreenGeeks has created an amazing video database to help you along. Not only are they organized by category they are also easy to find and watch. The tutorials had very high video and sound quality as well as being paced well for you to follow along.
With over 100 videos, you should be able to find almost anything you need. Some of the categories are for the CMS platforms like WordPress, Joomla, and Drupal. Other videos help explain reseller features, cPanel, and their RV Site Builder. Along with their videos, GreenGeeks has an extensive knowledge base that has 31 categories full of helpful articles. If you still can’t find what you need the support team is located in the U.S. and claims a 15-20 minute resolution time.
Customer Support
GreenGeeks offers a support team that is available 24/7 via live chat and email.
They also offer a support telephone number, but the phone team is only available during certain business hours.
Reviews
We’ve looked at several reviews from all over the Internet and customers seem to be generally happy with GreenGeeks:
This customer states their intent to be a long-term user: “I am at my 2nd year going to 3rd and I will be with them for more years to come.”
Multiple sites and reseller accounts are not a problem for GreenGeeks. Here are what a few of their customers are saying:
One review states: “I am using the shared hosting plan and the sites are fast, even with many things going on.” Additionally, this customer is pleased with their hosting: “I have a reseller account and have a number of clients using them. No complaints from my clients makes me happy.”
A few of the negative comments come from the fine print on their money back guarantee and site speeds:
This customer is disappointed due to: “their terms on the 100% money back guarantee aren’t as simple as they state… there’s actually a setup fee that they don’t return.”
Another expressed their frustration by saying: “their servers are often slow, and although rarely down, I would regularly get up to 1-minute load times before a connection would be made.”
Pros
1) Not Just Green: In addition to it’s green efforts, GreenGeeks also supports several humaritarian and non profit organizations.
2) Nightly Backups: There are nightly backups of all customer data stored in the event of hardware and software issues.
3) Uptime Guarantee: GreenGeeks does offer an uptime guarantee to reimburse users for any down time that is the fault of the host.
4) Generous Affiliate: The company offers a very generous tiered payout structure to affiliates.
5) CEO Promise: The CEO, Trey Gardner, personally offers to help you with any issues that can’t be solved by the support team.
6) Socially Active: GreenGeeks is a forward thinking brand that is very active on social media for support and interaction.
Cons
1) No Phone Support: At this time, GreenGeeks doesn’t offer telephone support, but they do offer both chat and email options.
2) No Uptime Tracking: While they do offer an uptime guarantee, the host doesn’t release any information about server performance.
3) Linux Only: GreenGeeks only supports linux/unix and doesn’t offer Windows hosting.
Summary
GreenGeeks strikes a cord with environmentally conscious web masters as well as small business owners looking to align themselves with other green companies. The geeks offer great shared hosting options for smaller sites and VPS/Dedicated options for web developers and larger sites. If you are looking to do your part in saving the planet while receiving a great hosting service, you’ve found what you want with GreenGeeks.
If you need a Windows based server, phone support, or a focus on uptime you can find a host that is still great for the environment that offer these features somewhere else.