SiteCloud Review

SiteCloud Review

Cloud Hosting is all this while a term that seems far away from small, individual websites. It seems only big shots like Amazon, Flickr, Google, Facebook etc can talk about it. But now with SiteCloud, I believe things get shaken a little. They have come out with a cloud-hosting plan that everyone, web veterans or newbie can afford and use easily!

SiteCloud: Who Are They?

SiteCloud is a new venture of GreenGeeks into the Cloud. GreenGeeks is a company that existed for years and they provide green hosting, as green as 300%. For your information, GreenGeeks has been recognized as the official host of Drupal for Dummies.

Both hosting companies are managed and run by the same CEO, Trey Gardner. If you have been webmatering for some years you should hear about him. Trey himself is a web veteran with more than 10 years experience in the industry. He had also held different positions in large hosting companies.

Well the two points above does speak something about SiteCloud.

The Technology Behind The Cloud

The most interesting part of SiteCloud is the technology behind it. Since cloud hosting promise stability and flexibility, the way SiteCloud handle the technology is critical for the hosting performance.

SiteCloud has engaged their proprietary system in delivering the quality. To explain in short, SiteCloud partner with Singlehop – a well known managed hosting provider to build a cloud platform using numerous dedicated servers. By utilizing Singlehop’s servers and network, SiteCloud then further implement their own proprietary load balance system into the servers, forming the scalable cloud hosting.

As a result, SiteCloud manage to deliver 1,000 compute cycles for each hosting account, each month. Whenever your site consumes more than the dedicated cycles, SiteCloud will pull resources from the cloud to support it. Your site will never ever go down for reason heavy-usage. However there is a price for that instant conveniences, a reasonable one I would say. You can either choose to pay the extra compute cycles one time (during that billing period), or choose to subscribe to a higher plan tier with more resources. (More pricing review at the pricing section)

SiteCloud is really a pioneer in engaging such approach. Looking at the way they combine Singlehop servers and their own load balance system, the team has strong technical background. They definitely know their stuff! With the complete system, SiteCloud does promise the scalability and stability.

SiteCloud Hosting Features

On top of the technology, what are the solid features you get?

Unlimited High Performance SAN Disk Space & Bandwidth + 1 FREE Domain!

In term of hosting feature, SiteCloud is up to the standard providing unlimited SAN web space and bandwidth. Subjected to the 1,000 compute cycles limit (equivalent to 10% of CPU usage in shared hosting, believe me that’s really a lot), SiteCloud is giving more than enough resources to users to build a very decent website.

cPanel Control Panel in SiteCloud!

Many thought that switching to cloud hosting will engage in a very steep learning curve due to the difference of technology. However, the fact is SiteCloud has you covered.

SiteCloud is the FIRST cloud hosting to use cPanel as the hosting control panel!

This is one big advantage in SiteCloud as cPanel is really user-friendly and popular. Anyone regardless of expertise level in hosting will be able to use SiteCloud in minutes. Even if you are really new and need help, there are tons of people know about cPanel out there and it’s never difficult to get help, not mentioning the support in SiteCloud!

Softaculous & Fantastico Embedded!

SiteCloud has both Softaculous & Fantastico embedded! This means you will have access to over 150 free website software including WordPress, Joomla and Drupal. You can install any of the software into your website with just 1 mouse click. The installation is quick too as it’s all automated. It takes no more than 5 minutes to have your system set up and running. Also for Softaculous, its quick updates on all its software has proven to avoid websites from being exploited from old buggy code.

Here is the list of popular software available in SiteCloud:-

• Blog: WordPress, b2evolution
• CMS: Drupal, Joomla, Mambo
• E-Commerce: CubeCart, OS Commerce, Zen Cart
• Image Galleries: 4Images Gallery, Coppermine Photo Gallery
• Mailing List: PHPlist
• More: PHP-Nuke, PHP Support Tickets, Advanced Poll and 100+ more!

Unlimited Email Accounts

With SiteCloud you are allowed to have unlimited POP3 and IMAP email accounts. You can have your email address with your own domain name. Also you are able to access your mail through 3 different web based mail clients: Horde, SquirrelMail and Roundcube.

It’s worth noting that the email accounts in SiteCloud are compatible with your mobile devices like iPhone, Android and BlackBerry.

SiteCloud Pricing

The price structure of SiteCloud is similar with any other host where you are charged cheaper with longer contract.

• 36 months – $4.95/month (FREE domain and setup fee)
• 24 months – $6.95/month (FREE domain and setup fee)
• 12 months – $7.95/month (FREE domain and setup fee)

Aside from the monthly fee, you will also be charged if you consume more than 1,000 compute cycle in a month time. It cost $0.10 per extra cycle and the charge is on you-use-you-pay basis. Users will be both alerted and able to track the usage in the compute cycle usage charts. Users will also be able to cap their compute cycle usage by hour, day and month which will temporarily suspend them to protect them from going over the included compute cycles. In shorts, it all about serving your website needs in SiteCloud.

SiteCloud also provide another billing option to those who constantly surpass the given compute cycle. This option is more cost saving to those heavy users. Check out the billing structure here – http://www.sitecloud.com/cloud-hosting/compute-cycles-explained.php

SiteCloud Money Back Guarantee

SiteCloud does provide 30 days full money back guarantee. However, SiteCloud does NOT have anytime money back guarantee. You will not get a pro-rated refund if you cancel the hosting after the first 30 days. Please be aware of this. Therefore if you want to try out SiteCloud, make up your mind before the first 30 days to avoid any losses.

SiteCloud’s Guarantee & Customer support

Speaking of customer support, SiteCloud has 24x7x365 North American Support. They are all native English language speaker. There will be no problem in communication. Try them by dropping them a call at:-

• 1-866-600-9666

Ask them some simple questions like their money back guarantee policy as well as the pricing structure. I believe you can ask for a demo account too to illustrate the actual hosting you are getting.

Also it’s come to my attention that SiteCloud offer FREE Site Migration. You can have SiteCloud transfer all your site, databases, and emails from your old host. This is definitely a service given FREE to win your business. You now have zero excuse not to change to cloud hosting!

Is SiteCloud a Recommended?

I like the concept of cloud hosting. You get resources whenever your websites need it, instantly and automatically. And while I’m doing research on SiteCloud, I’m impressed on how they structure their pricing. SiteCloud has made the price of cloud hosting affordable, yet not losing the power of scalability in cloud. The use of cPanel in SiteCloud too makes them very user-friendly.

If your website focus on Social Media Marketing or you are posting anything on Digg or stumble upon, where your website traffic will suddenly surge as much as 30x or 40x, SiteCloud is definitely for you. Your website will never get suspended for over usage, hence serving your readers better!

While for others, SiteCloud is considered a bit pricy, judging from their 12-month subscriptions at $7.95/month, but looking at what you get, scalability at anytime instantly (you never know when you need it), the price is still within the reasonable range. So my advice is if you are going for them, try getting the 36-months subscriptions for saving of 38%!

Overall, yes SiteCloud is recommended!

SiteCloud: Deal or No Deal?

Is SiteCloud a deal? Check out what others think about it – Vote Results. Remember to cast your vote below too.

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