What is Hosting and Why Do You Need It for a Website?

In essence, website hosting can be understood as renting digital space to house your website’s content. This digital space resides on a specialized computer known as a web server, which acts as a central repository for all your website files. These web servers are not the same as the personal computers we use daily. Instead, they are powerful machines designed for continuous operation and the ability to handle numerous requests simultaneously, ensuring that your website remains available to visitors around the clock.

To make your website easily discoverable, you need a domain name. This is a user-friendly web address, like www.yourwebsite.com. Without a domain name, users would have to remember a complex string of numbers, the server’s IP address, to access your website. The domain name acts as a convenient alias, directing internet traffic to the specific web server where your website is hosted.

The functionality and visual appeal of your website are determined by its website files. These are the digital building blocks of your online presence, including HTML documents that structure your content, CSS stylesheets that dictate the visual design, JavaScript files that add interactivity, and various media files like images and videos. These files are created and organized during the website development process. For your website to be live and accessible on the internet, these essential files must be stored on a web server provided by a hosting company. In essence, without web hosting, your website, no matter how well-designed, remains inaccessible to the global online audience.

Here is Why Choosing the Right Hosting Company is Important

Your hosting provider directly impacts your website’s success. Here’s what a good host delivers:

Website Speed and Performance: The speed at which your website loads is a crucial element of user experience and search engine optimization. Look for NVME-powered servers for top-tier performance to ensure faster loading times. This not only leads to improved user satisfaction and reduced bounce rates but also positively influences your website’s search engine rankings on sites like Google.

Website Security: A trustworthy hosting company implements stringent security measures to safeguard your website against a multitude of threats, including cyberattacks, malware infections, and data breaches. Prioritizing website security is essential for protecting sensitive customer information, maintaining your brand’s reputation, and fostering trust among your audience. The consequences of security breaches can be severe, leading to significant financial losses and irreparable damage to your online credibility.

Website Uptime and Reliability: Consistent website availability is fundamental for any online business or presence to maintain a high level of website uptime. Downtime can lead to lost sales, damage your reputation, and negatively impact your search engine rankings. Statistics reveal the substantial financial impact of website downtime, underscoring the importance of choosing a hosting company with a strong uptime guarantee.

Quality of Technical Support: Access to responsive and knowledgeable technical support is invaluable, especially when dealing with unexpected website issues or server-related problems 19. For a website development company like ours, reliable support from our hosting partners is crucial. It acts as an extension of our team, enabling us to resolve technical challenges quickly and efficiently for our clients.

Scalability: A good hosting company offers scalability, allowing you to easily upgrade your hosting plan and resources to accommodate increasing demands. Choosing a hosting provider that can seamlessly handle your website’s growth is essential for long-term online success and avoids potential limitations or the need for complex migrations in the future.

Price Comparisons

WordPress Hosting Company in Malaysia Comparison
Category Shinjiru Exabytes iWHOST Yeahhost Serverfreak
Plan Name WP Startup WP 16 AI Beginner Wordpress Standard Plan Starter WP1 WP Starter
Subscription Fee (Triennially) RM 572.40 RM 744.15 RM 1,134.32 RM 742.91 RM 1,015.20
Storage Space (SSD) 30GB SSD 35GB SSD 30GB SSD 50GB Ultra-Fast Cloud Storage (faster than SSD) 10GB SSD RAID10
Bandwidth Unmetered Not specified 100 GB/month 100 GB/month 25GB/month
Websites Allowed 30 Websites 30 Websites 3 (1 main domain + 2 addon domains) Unlimited 1 Domain Allowed
Free Domain FREE Not Included FREE Not mentioned NO
Email Accounts Unlimited Unlimited Unlimited 10 Unlimited
Free SSL Certificate FREE FREE FREE FREE FREE
Backup Frequency Not specified Weekly Not specified Schedule Not specified
Control Panel cPanel Plesk cPanel cPanel cPanel
Speed Features 84X Faster LiteSpeed LiteSpeed Webserver, LiteSpeed Cache (LSCache) LiteSpeed Enterprise Web Server, HTTP/2 & HTTP/3, QUIC, Brotli, Memcached, Redis Ultra-Fast Web Server (Boost Speed up to 84x Faster) LiteSpeed Web Server & LS Cache, RAID10, 1 CPU Core, 1GB RAM
WordPress Acceleration LSCWP (LiteSpeed Cache for WordPress) LSCWP (LiteSpeed Cache for WordPress) Pre-Uploaded WordPress with LiteSpeed Plugin One-Click Install WordPress, WP-Optimized with LiteSpeed & LSCache, Cloning, Staging, Latest PHP LS Cache & LiteSpeed
Support Cloudflare YES YES Not specified Not specified Not specified
Money-Back Guarantee 90-Day Money-Back Guarantee Not Eligible 30-day Money Back Guarantee 30-day Money Back Guarantee Not specified

Here is Our Own Ranking

Based on our extensive experience managing numerous client websites and our thorough research into the Malaysian hosting landscape, we have compiled our own ranking of hosting companies in Malaysia. This ranking reflects our direct interactions, quality of support, reliability of their services, and the overall value they offer, including feedback and reviews from various online sources to provide a comprehensive perspective.

1. Shinjiru

  • Our Direct Experiences: In our experience, Shinjiru stands out for its impressive performance, particularly due to their implementation of the latest NVME technology, which translates to noticeably faster website loading speeds. While not the cheapest option, their pricing reflects the quality of service, combining reliable hardware with exceptional 24/7 customer support via Telegram for instant assistance. Overall, we believe Shinjiru offers excellent value for money, balancing performance with reliable support.
  • Independent reviews highlight Shinjiru’s strengths, including their long industry experience, global data centres, and privacy-focused features like anonymous Bitcoin hosting.
    • On Trustindex, recent customer feedback is overwhelmingly positive, with users consistently praising their excellent and responsive Telegram support.
    • Expert reviews, such as the one on Bitcatcha, acknowledge Shinjiru’s long-standing presence in the market, their global data centre network, and their strong emphasis on privacy, including unique features like Bitcoin hosting. The claimed 99.99% uptime and the use of quality hardware are also noted.
    • HostAdvice users also provide very positive feedback, emphasizing the fantastic support, reliability, and best value compared to other Malaysian providers, with numerous users highly recommending their services. The use of LiteSpeed technology for faster loading is also highlighted on HostAdvice.
    • The majority of feedback from WebsitePlanet mentions their total anonymity, robust data security measures, free migration services, generous resource allocations, and excellent 24/7 customer support. However, some reviews highlight issues like hacked websites and bad tech support, providing a more balanced perspective.

While the overwhelming majority of feedback for Shinjiru is positive, the isolated instances of negative reviews, particularly those concerning website security and general support experiences, indicate that they might have areas for improvement. It is important for potential users to consider this broader spectrum of feedback when making their decision.

Table 1: Shinjiru Review Summary
Hosting Aspect Our Rating Summary of Predominantly Positive External Reviews Summary of Noteworthy Negative External Reviews Key Features Highlighted
Speed Excellent NVME technology praised for fast loading speeds. LiteSpeed technology mentioned for quicker loading. Fast site speed reported by users. Server speed tested as just above average by one expert. NVME Technology, LiteSpeed Technology
Price Average Pricing considered reasonable for the performance. Affordable plans mentioned. Good value for the quality of service. Boosted plans can be a bit expensive. Competitive Pricing
Support Excellent Exceptional and responsive Telegram support praised. Helpful and knowledgeable support staff. 24/7 customer support mentioned. Quick responses and efficient issue resolution. Some negative reviews mention bad tech support. Slow customer support reported by one expert. Telegram Support, 24/7 Support
Migration Excellent Migration services offered. Quick and easy site migration appreciated by users. Free migration mentioned in reviews. Free Migration Services
Value Excellent Good value for money. Best value compared to other Malaysian providers. Generous resource allocations in plans. Overall Excellent Value

2. Exabytes

  • Our Direct Experiences: Exabytes, being a well-known local brand with a strong presence in Malaysia, is a hosting provider we have encountered frequently. While their support team is generally quick to respond to inquiries, we have noted inconsistencies in the knowledge and expertise among different support members. This variability can sometimes lead to delays in effectively resolving more complex technical issues, as it might require multiple interactions or escalations to find a support agent with the necessary expertise.
  • External reviews for Exabytes present a more mixed picture.
  • Bitcatcha highlights their long history in the industry, their substantial customer base, and the wide array of hosting services they offer, along with a claim of 24/7/365 knowledgeable support. They also mention a 100-day money-back guarantee for specific EBiz plans. However, user feedback on Bitcatcha is mixed, with some praising fast and efficient support, while others report slow and unproductive experiences.
  • A particularly critical review on The Two Percent describes Exabytes as an unreliable host with frequent website downtime (backed by Uptime Robot data), extremely slow server speeds (high Time to First Byte), underpowered servers causing website crashes during updates, and support that is deemed useless, unresponsive, and not available 24/7 as advertised. This review strongly recommends avoiding Exabytes and suggests Server Freak as a better alternative.
  • HostAdvice also reflects this inconsistency in recent reviews. Vincent Pang reported amazing support and quick issue resolution, whereas Robert Ling cited constant downtimes, unreliable support, and lack of communication. Jornes Sim recommended checking Shinjiru for potentially better service quality.
  • While the initial response times might be fast, the varying levels of knowledge and problem-solving capabilities among support staff can lead to frustration and prolonged resolution times, especially when dealing with intricate technical issues. This inconsistency undermines the value of their support service.
  • The increasing price trend we have noticed aligns with some user reviews mentioning higher pricing. This suggests that while Exabytes might have been considered a budget-friendly option in the past, their evolving pricing strategy, coupled with the reported inconsistencies in service quality, might lead potential customers to re-evaluate their value proposition and explore alternative hosting providers.
Table 2: Exabytes Review Summary
Hosting Aspect Our Rating Summary of Predominantly Negative External Reviews Summary of Positive External Reviews Key Features Highlighted
Price Trend Increasing Some reviews mention high pricing, especially for renewals. Affordable starting prices mentioned. Wide range of plans available.
Support Speed Generally Fast Some reviews report slow and unproductive support. Support described as “extremely poor”. Live chat response can be slow. Support is generally fast. Some users report fast response times and speedy resolution. Support was described as “amazing” in one review. 24/7/365 support claimed.
Support Knowledge Inconsistent Support team knowledge and consistency can vary. Support described as slow, not helpful, and lacking technical knowledge. Some users found support knowledgeable and professional. Knowledgeable representatives claimed.
Reliability Mixed Constant downtimes and various issues reported. Unreliable hosting with frequent downtime (96% in one instance). Slow server speeds (high TTFB). Underpowered servers causing crashes. Hosting seems stable according to one source. 99.5% server uptime claimed. Good stable hosting mentioned. 100-day money-back guarantee for some plans.

3. iWHOST

  • Our Direct Experiences: iWHOST primarily appeals to the segment of the market looking for budget-friendly hosting solutions. From our perspective, while their pricing is undeniably cheap, their support has been consistently average, meeting basic requirements in terms of speed or expertise.
  • The external reviews for iWHOST present a stark contrast.
    • Hostings.info indicates a lack of user reviews on their platform. However, a particularly concerning negative review on WHtop from a long-term user paints a very unfavorable picture, describing it as “the worst hosting, the worst company on the planet.”
    • In contrast, iWHOST’s own FAQ page includes testimonials from users who report fast and quick responses, good overall support, constant staff availability, and quick problem resolution.
  • While iWHOST’s pricing might be attractive to individuals or businesses operating on a very tight budget, the substantial reliability and support issues reported in the independent review raise significant red flags. For any website that requires consistent uptime and dependable technical assistance, the potential risks associated with iWHOST’s services is significant, while a more reliable hosting provider would be wiser for ensuring a stable and trustworthy online presence.
Table 3: iWHOST Review Summary
Hosting Aspect Our Rating Summary of Positive External Reviews Summary of Negative External Reviews Key Features Highlighted
Price Cheap Testimonials on iWHOST’s site mention competitive rates. Affordable hosting packages offered. Low Cost
Support Quality Average Testimonials on iWHOST’s site praise fast and quick responses, good overall support, and constant availability. One very negative review describes unhelpful support that blames the customer. Aims to respond to support emails within 12 hours, often faster. Free technical support offered for account issues.
Reliability Low Servers located in Malaysia with good connectivity claimed. Servers monitored 24/7. 30-day money-back period offered. One very negative review reports server down almost every week for multiple domains since 2011, missing databases, and unstable service. Aims to be a low-cost/high-quality web host.

4. IP Server one

  • Our Direct Experiences: Our direct interactions with IP Server one have been marked by slow response times from their support team. Additionally, we have found their support to be limited to standard office hours, which can be problematic when critical server issues arise outside of this timeframe.
  • The external reviews for IP Server one present a somewhat contradictory picture, particularly regarding their support.
    • On HostAdvice, a more recent review from H CHIN in 2019 details a negative experience with bad and slow support, a non-functional ticket system, and the absence of after-hours phone or live chat support. This contrasts with older positive reviews from Muhammad Khairul and Zhe Lee, both from 2016, who praised their reliable hosting and terrific support.
    • The expert review on WebsitePlanet highlights their focus on cloud and dedicated server packages and mentions a 99.9% uptime guarantee, but also notes slow support responses as a significant drawback.
    • The discernible shift in customer feedback regarding IP Server one’s support, from positive experiences reported in older reviews to more recent accounts of slow and inadequate support is concerning for potential users who rely heavily on timely and effective support.
  • The limitation of IP Server one’s direct support to office hours, based on our own experience, poses a considerable challenge for websites that require continuous, 24/7 availability. When critical server issues occur outside of these standard business hours, the resulting delays can lead to prolonged website downtime, which can have significant negative consequences for businesses and their customers.
Table 4: IP ServerOne Review Summary
Hosting Aspect Our Rating Summary of Older Positive External Reviews Summary of More Recent Negative External Reviews Key Features Highlighted
Support Speed Slow Older reviews from 2016 mention fast and reliable support. Testimonials praise excellent and prompt service. More recent reviews from 2019 highlight bad and slow support. Expert review notes slow support responses. Offers 24/7/365 email support with timely responses claimed.
Support Availability Limited (Office Hours) 24/7 email support claimed. Lack of after-hours phone or live chat support reported. Direct support limited to office hours based on our experience.
Reliability Mixed Reliable hosting mentioned in older reviews. 99.9% uptime guarantee for cloud and dedicated servers. One user reported service that is “NOT READY!”. Focus on cloud and dedicated server packages. Robust infrastructure with Tier 3 data centres.

As Web Developers, We Don’t Specialise in Network and Security, So Having a Reliable Hosting Company to Support Us is Very Crucial

While we specialize in building websites, network infrastructure and server security require expertise beyond our core focus. Therefore, we rely heavily on our hosting providers to ensure the underlying infrastructure supporting our clients’ websites is robust, secure, and consistently available. The ability to depend on a hosting company for their expertise in these areas is absolutely critical to our operations and the satisfaction of our clientele.

Given that many of our clients require their websites to be operational 24 hours a day, seven days a week, server reliability and uptime are of paramount importance. Any significant downtime can directly impact our clients’ businesses, leading to potential loss of revenue and damage to their online reputation. This, in turn, reflects on our ability to provide dependable services. Consequently, we prioritize providers with proven stability and quick resolution capabilities.

Beyond basic uptime, the features and support offered by a hosting company significantly impact our efficiency as developers. We often look for developer-friendly features such as support for various programming languages like PHP and Python, compatibility with popular databases, and easy access to tools and libraries. Support for multiple programming languages, databases, and tools helps us work efficiently while minimizing risks during deployments.

Perhaps the most vital aspect for us is the quality and responsiveness of technical support. When issues arise, we need knowledgeable teams that understand developer needs and can resolve problems promptly. The positive experiences we’ve had with Shinjiru’s Telegram support, in contrast to the frustrations encountered with other providers, underscore the importance of accessible and effective support channels.

Ultimately, our role as web developers often involves acting as an intermediary between our clients and their hosting providers. Therefore, it is in our best interest to recommend and partner with hosting companies that offer reliable services and efficient support, minimizing our own troubleshooting workload and ensuring our clients receive the best possible online experience.

Conclusion

Based on our comprehensive review, which incorporates our direct experiences and extensive research into the Malaysian web hosting market, we have arrived at the following ranking:

  1. Shinjiru: Consistently demonstrates strong performance, particularly in speed, and boasts exceptional customer support through their responsive Telegram channel. While not the cheapest, they offer excellent value for the features and reliability provided.
  2. Exabytes: A well-known local brand with a wide range of services. However, our analysis reveals concerns regarding increasing prices and inconsistent support quality, along with reports of reliability issues.
  3. iWHOST: Primarily attractive due to its low cost. However, significant negative feedback regarding reliability and support raises serious concerns, making it a potentially risky choice for businesses requiring a stable online presence.
  4. IP Server One: While offering a focus on cloud and dedicated server solutions, our experience and recent reviews indicate slow and limited support availability, which is a critical factor for website development and management.

When selecting a hosting company in Malaysia, businesses should prioritize several key factors:

  • Website speed and performance
  • Robust security measures
  • A high website uptime and reliability
  • Responsive and knowledgeable technical support
  • Finally, the scalability of the hosting solution

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