We may earn affiliate commissions for the recommended products. Learn more.

HostPapa review: a hosting option for small business?


In this HostPapa review, with the help of the Cybernews research team, I test out this little-known web hosting service to see whether its price, performance, usability, security, and customer support can meet the growing needs of small businesses.

While HostPapa has improved its performance and overall hosting experience, its test results have disappointed us in the past. If you’re looking for a hosting provider with more reliable performance, I recommend Hostinger as a better option.

Best HostPapa alternative
Hostinger is a perfect alternative to HostPapa due to its seamless WordPress integration and better performance. With helpful tools and customer support, it caters to both beginners and advanced users.
cybernews® score
4.9 /5

Below, I explore HostPapa’s offerings in more detail. Keep reading to find out more about our latest HostPapa test results and whether it’s the right web host for you.

⭐ Rating:
4
💵 Price:From $2.36/month
📑 Uptime guarantee:99.9%
⚙️ Hosting types:Shared, managed WordPress, VPS, and reseller
🌎 Server locations:The US, Canada, and Europe
👨‍💻 24/7 live support:Yes
🔥 Coupons:HostPapa coupon 74% OFF!

Pros and Cons of HostPapa

Akvile Tamasiuniene Ieva Jociūtė author sarunas karbauskas vincentas
Why You Can Trust Cybernews

Our in-house research team and expert writers work hand in hand to regularly test hosting services and provide accurate and fact-checked information. Discover the ins and outs of how we test and evaluate website hosting providers.

58
Web hosts tested
1
Month uptime monitoring period
1748
Hours of extensive testing
Recent update
In the February 2025 update, I fact-checked the whole review to ensure that all information provided on features, plans, and prices is up-to-date and accurate.

HostPapa pricing

What my research for this HostPapa review uncovered is that its prices are quite average, with shared hosting ranging from $2.36/month to $11.96/month. Additionally, it also offers hosting options like managed WordPress, VPS, and reseller hosting.

Type of hostingBest for
Shared hostingSmall-to-medium websites. No technical knowledge is needed. Get HostPapa, now 74% OFF.
Managed WordPress hostingMid-sized WordPress sites. No technical knowledge is needed.
VPS hostingOnline stores and popular websites. Some technical skills are needed.
Reseller hostingAgencies and designers or to manage multiple websites.

Based on the hosting plan choices, it's clear that HostPapa is focusing on small businesses. Shared hosting allows you to start on an affordable option, while VPS is meant for those with popular sites or online stores. Meanwhile, relatively affordable reseller hosting plans can be your kick-starter to launch your own web hosting brand or design and develop websites for clients.

But shared hosting is where the majority of people start, so it's my main point of focus. The provider offers 4 shared hosting plans that all come with free SSL certificates, at least 2 websites, and numerous free email accounts.

PlanFeaturesPrice
EssentialsAllows you to connect 2 websites and gives you 50GB storage, alongside 10 email accounts.$2.36/month
GrowthAllows you to connect 10 websites and gives you 100GB storage, alongside 100 email accounts. Plus, you get staging and a free 30-minute training session.
$5.56/month
PremiumUnlimited number of websites and email accounts, as well as 200GB storage. Additionally, on top of Growth plan offerings, you get GlobalSign Single SSL certificates and automated server backups, and your site is hosted on servers with fewer accounts.$5.56/month
EliteEverything from the Premium plan plus larger server resources and enhanced-security Protection Power Pro package.$11.96/month

Needless to say, the plans are packed with features and resources. The prices are pretty average, yet you get generous storage and many additional features.

Unsurprisingly, these promoted prices are only for the initial billing period, and after renewal, they will get back to the original price.

What's good to know is that HostPapa has a standard 30-day money-back guarantee. Just keep in mind that you won't be refunded for everything you have purchased. SSL certificates, domain names, domain privacy, and email services are not eligible for a refund.

Lastly, for added convenience, HostPapa offers completely free website migration services. If you want to transfer your website to HostPapa, its experts will take care of everything for you.

All in all, HostPapa prices are pretty average, but the plans are quite inclusive in resources, and you get good value for the price you pay.

Hosting management – is it easy to use?

One thing I found to be true while preparing this HostPapa review is that it’s definitely easy to use, as it uses the original cPanel for hosting management. This tool helps you to easily manage every aspect of your website – from adding a domain and an email address to installing WordPress and configuring security settings. It took less than 3 minutes for me to add a domain and install WordPress once I had purchased a plan.

But cPanel is not the first interface you’ll encounter. HostPapa greets you with its native account management dashboard, which is slightly primitive.

HostPapa main dashboard
HostPapa native account management dashboard

Right in the middle, there’s a huge ad urging you to buy a domain name while important things hide in the menu bar at the top, which I don’t appreciate.

Thankfully, cPanel is one click away – just click on the My cPanel button to reach it. Other things that this interface is good for are contacting the support (notice the green Chat Now bar at the bottom), managing services, and checking if the network of HostPapa’s servers is working nicely. Other than that, you won’t see this interface often.

HostPapa cPanel – what does it look like?

HostPapa’s hosting management is based on cPanel, and it uses a custom version of it. It’s immediately intuitive for new users and familiar to those who have more experience with web hosting services.

HostPapa cPanel
HostPapa’s cPanel interface

You’ll use cPanel for a bunch of different stuff like WordPress installation, backups, adding a domain name, email account, and so on.

Whenever I purchase web hosting services, I always:

  • Add a domain name using Addon Domains. I don't really like using the domains I get for free because it’s easier to have a dedicated domain registrar when you have dozens of web hosting accounts. But you should definitely take advantage of free domains.
  • Install SSL using Auto SSL or another tool available in the cPanel. With HostPapa, you're lucky, as it takes care of this for you. Once I added a domain, an SSL was automatically activated for me.
  • Install WordPress using the Softaculous installer library that the provider has available.
  • Create an email account. With the cheapest plan, you can create 10 mailboxes.

Based on this, I can tell how easy and functional a provider is. If it takes just a couple of minutes to do all the tasks, I know that everything works well, and it’s easy to navigate. If I take more than 5 minutes, something is not right.

So HostPapa nailed it, and it didn't even take 3 full minutes to complete all the tasks.

Is it easy to install WordPress with HostPapa?

Installing WordPress with HostPapa is very straightforward. You’ll just have to find the Softaculous App Installer section at the bottom of cPanel and click on the WordPress icon.

Softaculous app installer in HostPapa cPanel
Installing WordPress with HostPapa

This will automatically redirect you to the Softaculous installation page. Then, simply click Install Now.

Installing WordPress on HostPapa with Softaculous
Softaculous installation page

And now, fill in all the information fields for your website to be fully ready. I find it more accurate if I do it manually, rather than choosing the Quick install option, which fills out the fields for you.

Installing WordPress with HostPapa
Information needed for WordPress installation

Now your website is live and ready for the customization of your liking.

HostPapa email hosting – can I set up a professional email?

Ease of use is definitely HostPapa's strong point. Just like with WordPress installation, setting up an email account will take you only a minute. In the cPanel, you will find the Email section. There, simply choose Email Accounts to add a new email account.

HostPapa's email section in the cPanel
HostPapa Tools

You’ll see the Email Accounts page once you do that.

Creating business email account with HostPapa
HostPapa Email Accounts

Now you have a professional email account. Just keep in mind that, as these email accounts are stored on your server, they are not fit for massive marketing campaigns or frequent mailing.

The bottom line is that HostPapa is very easy and intuitive to use. Everything is functioning flawlessly, and you won’t have any trouble navigating cPanel. All the necessary tools, like your domain, email, database management, and many others, can be found there.

Performance – is HostPapa fast?

For this HostPapa review, our research team and I put the provider through 3 reliability and speed-oriented tests. While the provider kept a perfect 100% in two weeks of examination, its response time wasn’t the best. However, the provider presented very good speed.

Let’s take a closer look at the reliability, speed, and stability test results of this provider.

HostPapa uptime and response time

The first thing we tested for this HostPapa review was the host's reliability. For that, we monitored the provider for around 2 weeks.

In that time, it kept an impressive record of 0 outages. This resulted in the perfect 100% uptime. Simply put, this is an amazing result, especially when HostPapa officially gives you a 99.9% uptime guarantee.

HostPapa's uptime and response time monitoring
HostPapa uptime and response results

Its response time, however, is a slightly different story. The average response time came up to 1.19s. And while it’s not the worst out there, it could be much better. As an example, the market’s average response time is around 600ms.

So while it’s nothing your visitors will complain about, it’s almost double the market’s average.

Overall, HostPapa showed impressive reliability by maintaining 100% uptime. Talking about response time, it’s not great but nothing to worry about just yet either.

HostPapa speed

The second test is all about the website’s speed and what your visitors can expect. First, we tested a blank site’s loading speed from the US, the UK, and India.

As our website is hosted in the US, the best results were also in the US – the Largest Contentful Paint (LCP) was at 434ms.

While the UK and India showed significantly higher LCP, they can still be considered as good results.

HostPapa's loading speed test from different locations
HostPapa speed test results with an empty site

LCP is one of the many measures Google considers when ranking websites on its result page. As long as this measure does not surpass 2.5s, the site has more chances to rank higher.

So, knowing that, you can tell that HostPapa is doing very well so far.

To test a fully built site, we installed an Astra theme with a Startup template and its content and ran the test again. This time around, its LCP was 1.2s.

HostPapa's fully built website loading speed test
HostPapa speed test results with a fully built site

An increase in LCP is very expected, as the heavier the site, the longer it takes to load. Yet, it fits within the recommended 2.5s.

However, it’s not the only measure you should look at. Your visitors are also concerned about the site's load time and when they can start interacting with it. For this, we looked at the Fully Loaded Time, which is only 1.5s. For the best visitor experience, this time should be no longer than 3s, and HostPapa nails it.

All in all, HostPapa showed very good speed. It was quick and loaded smoothly. However, I’m curious to see if the provider can handle increased traffic without slowing down.

HostPapa stress testing

The last test for this HostPapa review examined how well HostPapa can handle increased pressure on the server. For that, we sent 50 virtual users (VUs) onto our site to roam around for 5 minutes.

That many users can seriously slow down the server or even crash it entirely. Continuous traffic as such could easily result in ~50,000 monthly visits.

And it seems that HostPapa couldn’t handle this many visitors. The first test with 50 VUs was a fail.

HostPapa stress test failed
HostPapa stress testing with 50 VUs

Without any jumps in the response time (blue line), HostPapa failed 6617 requests out of 8905. That’s 74% of all requests, which is a very poor result.

It must be noted that it’s not uncommon for a shared hosting provider to fail the first test.

The first passed test was with 15 VUs.

HostPapa stress test passed
HostPapa stress testing with 15 VUs

This time around, the response time (blue line) was much more dependent on the increasing number of visitors (gray line). This means that the server did slow down quite a bit when more visitors joined in.

Yet, 15 VUs is still a pretty good result. 15 continuous visitors on your site every 5 min could result in ~15,000 unique monthly visits. And that's on the cheapest plan.

Even though HostPapa did pass this test, it still failed 8 requests. Far from the first test results, but it still suggests that this might be the most this provider's plan can manage.

In sum, HostPapa was very reliable with 100% uptime. And while the average response time could be better, the provider was very fast to load. However, it slightly lacked the power to handle a significant increase in traffic to the site.

Security – is HostPapa secure?

While writing this HostPapa review, I found the provider's security to be good but not perfect. It offers all essentials such as an SSL certificate, server-level firewall, and DDoS protection for free with cheaper plans while more advanced features are paid, or you need to buy the most expensive plan.

To be a little more specific, here is what you get by default:

  • SSL certificates. They’re critical for all websites. They make sure that the connection between your site and an external client is kept secure.
  • Server firewall and monitoring. A firewall filters the data entering your network, and if it detects anything suspicious, that data is prevented from entering the network. There isn’t much information about it on HostPapa’s website, but it’s enough to know that it’s there.
  • ModSecurity. It is a web application firewall that filters the traffic. Simply put, it's brute force detection that prevents common malicious attacks on your website.
  • DDoS attack prevention. This one protects the server from being taken down by third parties. HostPapa has multiple layers of protection, and you can add one yourself by enabling the Cloudflare CDN that’s included in more expensive plans.

More advanced features are available with the Premium and Elite plans or for an extra charge:

  • Automated website backups are vital, as they are a safety guarantee that if anything goes sideways, your website can be restored to the last good version. If you want automatic backups, HostPapa charges you $47.99 per year. Not exactly cheap. Alternatively, you can set them up for free via WordPress plugins or take manual cPanel backups.
  • Protection Power security software costs from $2.99 for the first year and from $35.88/year on renewal. It’s meant to protect your website as well as your visitors. Here’s what this feature ensures:
    • Automatic daily malware scans
    • Automatic malware removal
    • 24/7 support for manual malware removal assistance
    • DDoS (distributed denials of service) protection
  • Domain privacy is an additional security service that you can buy to protect your personal data that is stored in a publicly accessible database when you register your domain. This service costs $9.99 a year.

All in all, HostPapa provides more than some providers in terms of security measures, but some important features like automatic backups are paid. Nonetheless, whether you have a personal blog or a small business, the included security features should serve you well against the most common threats.

Customer support – will HostPapa help me?

If you need help, you can contact HostPapa’s customer support via its live chat option or phone, open a ticket, or send a fax. All options are available 24/7. Plus, the provider’s knowledge base contains over 2600 articles and guides.

HostPapa calls their support PapaSquad, and it's available in English, Spanish, and French, which is impressive.

Seemingly, the company takes its support seriously. So I decided to check it out for this HostPapa review and turned to my favorite option – live chat.

I asked how to change my primary domain, and there was absolutely no wait time. The agent was very polite and knowledgeable. He quickly introduced me to what the procedure was like and what I should expect. He also created a ticket to proceed with my request.

What pleasantly surprised me was that I received the ticket while still chatting to the agent.

All that was left for me to do was to confirm that I accepted the risks of changing the primary domain. Once I did that, all the requested changes were made in less than 30 minutes.

So overall, the experience was great. I found that both live chat and ticket support function well.

Just keep in mind that when you talk to a person, there’s a human factor involved. That’s why many other providers’ and HostPapa reviews have such conflicting evaluations of customer support. Some people get connected to experts, while others get trainee-level support. That’s not something to frown upon but good to be aware of.

Apart from a live chat, phone, and ticketing system, HostPapa offers an extensive knowledge base. There are more than 2600 articles, step-by-step guides, and tutorials. They are designed to help you learn everything you need about hosting-related topics. They're available in multiple languages too.

HostPapa knowledge base
HostPapa knowledge base

Everything is well categorized, so you won’t have any issues finding your topic of interest.

I even think that customer support and the knowledge base, in particular, were some of the key selling points of HostPapa some years ago. It’s a brave claim, but it is one of the best knowledge bases I’ve seen.

All in all, HostPapa support is knowledgeable and fast. You have many options to get help by contacting a real person or visiting the knowledge base. Although some agents may be more helpful than others, that’s just the human factor.

One-on-one training session

If you’re purchasing any shared plan except the Essentials, HostPapa gives you a one-on-one training session with a professional. You have to schedule a 30-minute session in which you can ask an expert anything you need to know. Plus, you can request guides and tutorials on topics of interest.

Hostpapa-training-session
One-on-one training session

Since I found this feature unique in the hosting industry, I decided to give it a shot and see how things turn out. And they turned out great. I transformed into an absolute beginner and asked the expert to tell me how to install WordPress and make my website look somewhat professional.

I was given steps to follow, from how to install WordPress to how to customize my theme. The agent was thorough, and I was given all the resources I needed to do exactly what I wanted to do. To say I was impressed would be an understatement.

Of course, if you’re a veteran and need more advanced information, the expert will give you just that. But I think this feature is like a golden key and cannot believe it’s free.

HostPapa review – the final verdict

This HostPapa review proved to me that providers can change. Some years ago, we had an awful experience with HostPapa due to poor server performance. This time around, Papa redeemed itself by showing reliable performance results. Altogether, the plans offer good value, servers are reliable, and it’s easy to use.

Feature
4
Hosting for small business websites
Pricing
The prices aren’t the lowest within the market but still on the lower end, with shared web hosting starting at $2.36/month. What is impressive is that all plans are very well equipped and come with free SSL, generous server space, and free email accounts. Business essentials included.
Ease of use
HostPapa uses the standard cPanel for hosting management that’s the pinnacle of ease of use. However, the native account management panel is slightly outdated.
Performance
HostPapa’s performance was very good overall. The site outperformed the 99.9% guarantee by delivering 100% uptime. The host proved to be fast and trustworthy. However, a bigger traffic surge proved to be a little challenging for the host.
Security
Basics such as an SSL certificate are included in all plans. However, you need to pay extra for malware protection and removal as well as backups. However, all of that is included in the most expensive plan.
Support
HostPapa support is available 24/7 in multiple languages. The agents are very fast and knowledgeable. I had a great experience.

So who do we recommend HostPapa to?

HostPapa reaches its intended goal, and my recommendation to use it goes to small business owners. All HostPapa’s features are intended to help you manage and grow your business website with little to no limitation. Plus, server location choice can help quite a lot if you have a specific target audience in mind. This can speed up the site quite a bit.

HostPapa FAQs

Leave a Reply

Your email address will not be published. Required fields are markedmarked