Omnis Network offers a full array of web services that will appeal to small businesses, personal users and hobbyists alike.
They offer well defined hosting plans but you’ll need to get used to the custom Omnis control panel.
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Omnis was pretty popular back in the day.
Here is how they’ve trended over the years:
Features
Omnis Network offers some cool features that separate them from their competition (see: HostDime, KnownHost, or iPage).
Here are some of them:
1) Clearance Overstock: Omnis offers what they call Clearance Overstock. They offer previous generation servers at a discounted price. It’s similar to buying a slightly used car. It still functions well but you just pay less for it. All servers feature 24/7/365 technical support, 6 TB data transfer, custom-built premium server hardware, IPv4/29 range, control panel that’s easy to use, real-time bandwidth graphs, power manager (reboot, power on, power off), and web-based reverse DNS manager.
Depending on the options – CPU, memory, HDD – the price of Clearance Overstock servers range from $56 to $132 per month. Compare this to their current servers that they named In-Stock Servers that cost $72 to $156 per month. If you’d like to save a little bit of money by using previous generation servers, Omnis Network gives you that option.
2) Single Plan for Linux or Windows: Omnis places more emphasis on dedicated servers and VPS, but they do offer shared cloud web-hosting plans. There is no haphazard selection of multi-tier plans though. There is only a single plan for each platform: Linux Cloud and Windows Cloud. Linux Cloud is $5.95 per month with unmetered disk space, unmetered bandwidth, and unlimited email.
Windows Cloud is a little bit higher at $7.95 per month with the same features as Linux Cloud. There is no indication that these are introductory prices, which means you’ll pay the same price when the renewal comes up. Both plans include a free domain for a year, 30-day money-back guarantee, free site builder, shared SSL, and more. You have the option of purchasing a premium site builder, dedicated IP, or private SSL.
3) Omnis Network Script Installer: One-click installers of popular applications are not new or unique, but Omnis has their proprietary installers called Omnis Network Script Installer. You can access them through the account manager.
Omnis has handpicked the best software for every purpose – blogging, content management systems, forums, image galleries, ecommerce, and additional scripts. This means you won’t get every app under the sun but only the ones Omnis thought were worthwhile, but the list of available packages is still exhaustive. It is perfect for your personal or business site to get going fast while helping the site look and run at its best.
Customer Service
The customer support team offered by Omnis has a pretty good reputation for being prompt and helpful.
Available via email, live chat, and phone, you shouldn’t have any problems getting ahold of someone and getting your problems resolved.
Reviews
We checked online review sites looking for honest opinions about Omnis Network. We found customers had good things to say about their reliability and customer support.
One customer writes: “Tech support is always reachable and easy to communicate with. And I don’t have to talk to several different support employees to get an answer.”
Another reviewer writes: “Omnis network has been for me very reliable, up to date, efficient, and extremely helpful. In the two years that I have been with them, I can honestly say I don’t recall them ever being down.”
Not all reviews were positive however. We found some customers were upset with resource limitations and server performance.
One frustrated reviewer warns: “Even though they tout that you have access to unlimited bandwidth, storage, emails, etc, when you start increasing your use, they start limiting your resources.”
Another customer complains: “Its almost as if they have servers that need replacement or a lot of maintenance. I’ve also found that they often perform maintenance during business hours (US) instead of in the middle of the night which is dreadful.”
Pros
1) Uptime Guarantee: For shared cloud hosting plans (Linux and Windows), Omnis has a published uptime guarantee of 99.9% on their website.
2) Unlimited Resources: For shared cloud hosting, you get unlimited bandwidth, disk space, and email.
3) Money-Back Guarantee: For shared cloud hosting, there’s a 30-day money-back guarantee with the usual fine print – no refunds on domain names or any extras purchased.
4) Free Domain Name: Free domain name is included up to a year.
5) Support: Omnis Network’s support is pretty standard with email, phone support, and live chat. There’s also a usable knowledgebase. There doesn’t seem to be any option to upgrade to VIP or premium support.
Cons
1) Limited Site Builder: The “free” site builder that comes with shared cloud hosting plans is limited to 3 pages, which is paltry. If you want more robust options, you’d have to upgrade to a premium site builder for $7.95 per month for the pro version or $11.95 per month for the ecommerce version.
2) No cPanel or Plesk: There is no mention of the popular cPanel or Plesk, which means you’d have to learn to use Omnis Network’s proprietary control panel.
3) No Extras: There doesn’t seem to be any extras, such as credits towards Google AdWords or Yahoo ads.
Summary
It’s pretty clear Omnis Network’s main target audience is those looking for dedicated servers or VPS. They offer a wide range of options for dedicated servers, including Clearance Overstock for previous generations of servers.
They do have shared web hosting plans (Linux Cloud and Windows Cloud) that are simple but robust in what they offer. No cPanel or Plesk could be troublesome for those who like using these popular control panels. The prices are reasonable for being non-introductory. The site builder is very limited and upgrading to the pro version or ecommerce version can be cost-prohibitive. Their website claims that the host focuses on premier customer service and affordability.