Features and Ease of Use
Ghana Web Hosting includes cPanel installations in all of their Linux shared hosting packages (or Plesk, if you’re going for their Windows hosting plans) and the Softaculous one-click app installer. They provide support for popular scripting languages and databases, such as:
- PHP 5.2.x to 7.1.x
- Perl
- Python
- RoR
- GD
- CGI
- cURL
- Ruby on Rails
- MySQL 5
All Linux shared hosting plans limit you to a single connected domain and provide ample disk space for that single domain, though to be honest, their entry-level plan seems rather restrictive if you’re anticipating larger amounts of traffic to your website. It’s sufficient if you’re only running a basic and mostly static website, but you may run into problems if you’re hosting a popular blog or e-commerce storefront.
Ghana Web Hosting’s servers run on an Apache 2.2x operating system and are protected by Clam AntiVirus, which seems an odd choice considering its rather poor ability to detect malware on both Linux and Windows platforms. They do offer website backups, but your data will be backed up only once every five days.
On the upside, Ghana Web Hosting offers an above-average 99.99% uptime guarantee, and from their Gold plan onwards, all hosting packages include unlimited email hosting. Their Windows shared hosting packages also include a far more generous allocation of disk space and bandwidth compared to their Linux offerings.
Pricing and Support
Ghana Web Hosting’s pricing plans are limited to shared hosting and reseller hosting. There’s no discount offered for selecting a longer plan term, and their shared hosting plans seem pricier than similar offerings from their competitors. Also, there’s a price markup for their Windows shared hosting plans compared to their Linux shared hosting plans.
If you run an e-commerce site, you’ll need to buy an annual Comodo SSL certificate separately from their shared hosting packages. It comes at an additional cost, which is quite high. However, they do offer other SSL options like Positive SSL, Positive SSL Wildcard, and EV SSL.
There’s no free plan available, but if you’re unsatisfied in any way, you can get a refund when you cancel within 30 days of your initial order. But do note that for international orders, Ghana Web Hosting only seems to accept Skrill (formerly known as Moneybookers) for payment.
If you’d like to change your hosting plan, you can do so directly from your control panel. Do note that if your existing hosting plan has expired, you won’t be able to switch plans until you’ve renewed it. Additionally, if you’re downgrading your plan to a cheaper option, you’ll be given credit, which must be immediately used to extend the duration of the new hosting plan. This upgrading and downgrading functionality is not available for dedicated servers or enterprise email hosting plans.
Ghana Web Hosting offers support mainly through email and a phone line, but they do also have a fairly comprehensive knowledge base. There’s no live chat option available, which was rather disappointing. That said, their existing customer support channels were fairly efficient; when I emailed them, they got back to me within the day.
