Is Wealthy Affiliate's hosting really that good?

bybthiel

1.6K followers

Updated 5 years ago

Lately I've been seeing more dicussion about the hosting here at WA, sometimes about a website going down for a couple of hours, sometimes about speed, etc. What I haven't seen are comparisons to other hosting companies in terms of value, etc.

So, I'm going to share with you a quick story of hosting my site with a "premium-level" hosting company who charges me $120/mo ($1440/year) for a "Managed VPS" plan. Maybe, after my little story here, you'll see how good WA's hosting is in comparison.

The only reason I host this site elsewhere is because I had to take a hiatus from WA a couple of years ago. I have 2 other sites hosted on WA's servers and I'm in the process of moving the site in question back here as well.

I started hosting with a "premium-level host" in early 2017 as my previous host was shutting down. Since then, I've had nothing but problems and have experienced some of the absolute worst customer service/support that I have EVER encountered. Not to mention abysmally poor server performance.

Unlike WA's servers, this "premium-level host" has servers that are NOT built to withstand even the most basic of DDoS attacks. Every single week, sometimes twice a week, numerous server clusters are taken down by DDoS attacks, which means my site goes down potentially twice a week as well. This is bad as it will not only affect SERP rankings but it will ultimately impact earnings as well.

In comparison, the downtime you'll experience here at WA is basically non-existent. Sure, it'll still happen from time to time, but it won't be anywhere near as common as you might experience elsewhere. Remember, some downtime is unavoidable.

I mean, my site went down on Boxing day because that hosting companies servers were hit by a DDoS (allegedly). I missed out on probably $15,000 in sales that day because of it. Know what their response was? "Sorry" and that's it. Oh, then they spammed my email with "GET FREE iPAD ENTRIES" like they do every other day.

Then in early January came potentially the biggest organized DDoS attack since 2012. Again, my overpriced VPS server went down and was down for an entire day. Meanwhile, WA's servers weathered this attack without so much as a hiccup; I know because I tested both of my websites hosted here as well as asked around. I know WA had some server issues after that, but that's to be expected and again unavoidable sometimes.

It's worth noting that the DDoS attacks are not targeted towards my site specifically, they target entire server clusters in an attempt to either crash it or brute force in and steal information. This is why you really want to host with a company who knows how to effectively mitigate DDoS attacks like WA.

This "premium-level" host also has terrible problems with inconsistent server performance. It's not uncommon for my bounce rate to spike all over the place since I switched to their servers; compared to before where it would maintain a rather consistent percentage. To me, this says that their servers simply aren't capable of handling the small amount of traffic I get and thus delivers extremely inconsistent results. Again, this is bad because it can really mess with SERP rankings and ultimately earnings.

Compare that to WA's servers where performance is very consistent and it's not hard to see who is more consistently reliable. Don't forget, this "premium-level host" costs me $120/mo, compared to less than $50/mo for WA's hosting PLUS everything else you get access to. Or, you could look at it from the viewpoint of

Let's quickly cover support now as this is also very important. Here at WA, you have access to actual "server admins" as the front line support staff - this is not common in the industry. At the "premium-level host" you get access to someone with no knowledge of anything beyond creating a ticket and then sending it down the line. Dealing with the latter is a headache while being helped by the former is much more preferable.

These few points I've brought up are really just the tip of the iceberg

If you missed my points and comparisons, I'll break them down for you:

1.) WA's servers are built specifically to withstand some of the craziest attacks that will easily cripple most "premium-level" hosts.

2.) WA's servers are built in such a way as to provide very consistent levels of performance specifically tailored to WordPress.

3.) Most hosting companies have terrible support staff with zero knowledge of anything beyond creating a ticket and sending it down the line. At WA, you get access to professional server admins who actually know what they're talking about.

4.) Price. This "premium-level host" costs me $1440/year, or more than double the cost of WA. They have ZERO (relevant) training, ZERO tools and utilities, and ultimately ZERO added value outside of their hosting - this is the case with most "premium" hosts. At WA, you get so much added value that it's nothing short of mind-blowing. From all sorts of highly effective training and instruction to keyword research tools and even link tracking, these are all things you really won't get elsewhere.

All-in-all, it's a pretty easy comparison. Compared to the premium level host I've used as an example, WA is leagues ahead. In my opinion, Wealthy Affiliate's hosting is anything but bad, in fact it's the complete and polar opposite; this only becomes more clear once you've had experiences elsewhere.

However, it's worth noting that this is just my experience. Your mileage may vary.

I tried my hardest to be unbiased here; I ultimately get nothing out of this. I've hosted with about half a dozen different companies now over the years, and my word WA has been the best without a doubt.

If you don't believe me then I guess you'll just have to start experimenting!