To compare the best web hosts, we hosted the same WordPress website on each one and tested performance, customer service, and value for money. Check out the results here.
Founded in 2012, NovaHost is a relatively new website hosting provider located in Bulgaria. They use a Tier III European datacenter, have more than 3000 clients and domains, 10,000 days of uptime, and more than 700 active services. Their Bulgarian website is in the process of being translated officially into English, so currently it’s better to let your web browser do the translation for you.
Features and Ease of Use
NovaHost offers a good selection of website hosting services including shared hosting, WordPress hosting, e-commerce hosting, and cloud hosting. Also dedicated server rental, SSL certificates, and domain registration.
To give you an idea, here are some of the shared hosting features you can look forward to:
- 99.9% uptime guarantee
- Daily backups, retained for seven days
- Domain registration available at additional cost
- From ten to unlimited add-on domains
- Free Let’s Encrypt SSL certificates, except for the base package
- From 12 GB to 70 GB disk space
NovaHost’s website advertises a 99.9% uptime guarantee, but their terms and conditions do not detail any compensation plan or other recourse in the event that this promise is not met. The good news is that, because their servers sit in a Tier III data center, they must meet at least 99.982% uptime or less than 1.6 hours of downtime per year. It’s a third-party data center, though, which could lead to lower page load speeds and slower responses to technical issues than if they owned and operated their own data center. But their ISO27001, ISO9001, ISO 5001, ISO 14001, and OHSAS 18001 certificates also mean (for example) that they “consistently provide products and services that meet customer and regulatory requirements.”
Pricing and Support
NovaHost offers pricing that is competitive with both local and international competitors. Even their base package includes a good set of features such as 12 GB disk space, ten add-on domains, and a free SSL certificate. This should be sufficient to get most small businesses started.
They offer a good selection of contract lengths including monthly, quarterly, semi-annual, annual, bi-annual, and triannual plans. You get a small discount for purchasing longer terms, but they do not offer a free trial or a money-back guarantee.
NovaHost’s 24/7 customer service is excellent. You can contact them via telephone, email, live chat (my favorite), and several social media channels. Support is provided in both Bulgarian and English, and I have always received friendly well-informed answers to my questions. For those of you who like to support yourselves, their website is also home to a comprehensive knowledge base.
