How do we stand up against Hostinger?
Compare our main features at a glance
| Krystal | |
|---|---|
| Headquarters | London, UK |
| Infrastructure Provider | Katapult by Krystal |
| Ownership | Family Owned |
| Number of hosting brands |
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| Environmental Credentials |
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| Introductory Pricing Structure | No |
| Trustpilot Rating | 4.8 |
Switch to Krystal today without losing any of the money you've already paid Hostinger
With our free Switch Credits, we will credit the remaining value of your existing plan and term, so you’re no longer locked in. Not with Hostinger? Switch Credits are also available to clients of 35 other large hosting companies.
Hostinger - a quick history
Originally founded in Kaunas, Lithuania in 2004 as Hosting Media, Hostinger is the parent company of 000webhost, Hosting24, Zyro, and Niagahoster and has over 1,000 employees across 54 countries.
Over the years Hostinger has experienced massive growth, becoming one of the largest hosting providers. In 2019 it suffered a major data breach resulting in the theft of around 13 million customers’ information.
In April 2021, a German private equity company named ConHostinger bought out a large proportion of Hostinger with the intention of further accelerating its growth.
Why choose Krystal over Hostinger?
Ethics
We have many issues with the way Hostinger operates but our two top picks would be:
- “Dark patterns” - this is a term psychologists use for "Tricks used in websites and apps that make you do things that you didn't mean to” or potentially wouldn’t if you had all the facts to hand. We believe this behaviour isn’t fair to consumers and we’d like to see Hostinger stop the practice. Learn more about dark patterns and then try using Hostinger’s website to see how many you can spot!
- “Astroturfing” - or the swamping of review sites and forums with fake positive reviews by reviewers who are actually 'brand ambassadors' paid by Hostinger to manipulate communities. In 2018, the independent review site Review Signal felt compelled to write a scathing review of Hostinger, decrying its complete lack of ethics regarding ‘astroturfing’, or the posting of fake reviews, as well as the behaviour of its CEO.
Hostinger also uses what some might call underhand pricing to lock people in - they advertise very low prices, but to get the best deals you have to sign up for four years of hosting, and pay for it all upfront. Which might not seem bad if the performance and support was solid gold. But, as it turns out, a quick dig through reviews (excluding those done by Hostinger’s own ‘brand ambassadors’) shows that’s not always the case.
Performance
There have also been reports of not-so-great uptime on Shared and WordPress Hosting - reviewers have found Hostinger plans haven’t performed too well compared to other hosts, with downtime in the region of one to two hours per month (or a full day per year of your website being unavailable to visitors!).
Features
Who was it that said ‘it’s good to talk’? Rather bizarrely, it seems that Hostinger likes to keep a modicum of personal distance between itself and its clients, as it refuses to provide a contact telephone number.
It also offers no dedicated server hosting and only one email account on its single shared hosting plan. (as opposed to Krystal’s unlimited email addresses as standard).
Transparency over trickery
We’ll never use low introductory pricing that might go up as much as 256% on renewal (here’s looking at you GoDaddy). Avoid a painful renewal with our Switch Credits initiative.
Brands
As mentioned above, a large proportion of Hostinger was bought out by a German private equity firm with the sole intention of maximising growth and profits (which may explain the underhand sales tactics and fake reviews!).
In contrast, Krystal has no investors, is family run and has never paid a dividend, so we reinvest profits into the service.
Krystal Brands
Information correct as of
02 Oct 2023
Looking for more reasons to pick Krystal?
Check out 3 Good Reasons or our Reviews page, and if you're currently with Hostinger and would like to leave our Switch Credits will compensate you for any unused time so you're not out of pocket. We'll even help you move over.
Choose the right plan for you
They all include award-winning UK support, flexibility to upgrade or downgrade, and our 60-day, no-quibble money-back guarantee.
Not sure which plan is right for you?
We’re happy to help you find the perfect hosting plan. Compare our plans or get in touch for honest advice without sales tactics or upsells.
Green energy
We use Ecotricity for our power, the first company in the UK to offer true 100% renewable energy.
Green data centres
All power consumed at our data centres comes from 100% renewable sources. All centres have achieved a PUE (Power Usage Effectiveness) rating of at least 1.2.
Green purpose
We work with key partners including Ecologi, veritree and 1t.org to create a path to a cleaner future. We balance profit with purpose and are a Certified B Corp.
Green leadership
We work as a beacon for positive change, so we help our staff go green by offsetting their lifetime carbon footprint, and encourage our industry to adopt a planet-first approach.
Join 36,453 happy clients running on our premium, planet-first B Corp web hosting
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