Looking to boost your business and find new customers? One of the best ways to do this is by maximising your online presence. To do this, you’ll need a professional website.
Choosing which web hosting provider is right for you is one of the biggest decisions you’ll have to make in terms of hosting your website. It’s important to get it right, as a poorly hosted site can end up costing you in terms of customers.
There are tons of different web hosting companies out there to choose from. While this is handy, as it keeps the market competitive, it can also be highly confusing. Knowing which web hosting provider to choose can seem almost impossible.
Luckily, Create Your Start is here to help. We’ve reviewed many of the biggest web hosting services out there in order to help you make the most informed choice. One such hosting provider? Fatcow. We’ve looked at all the commonly asked questions customers have about the service, plus looked at many verified customer reviews to help get a well-rounded picture of the company. If you’re considering hosting your site through Fatcow, we’ve got all the information you need to know.
Table of Contents
Is Fatcow Good: The Bottom Line Up Front
No hosting provider is perfect, so it’s important to know exactly what you value, and what matters less to you. That way, you can choose a web host which aligns most closely with what your specific website or business needs. We’ve looked at the common themes in terms of benefits and drawbacks to Fatcow in order to help you decide whether it’s a good fit for you.
Fatcow was founded back in 1998 by Jackie Fewell but was purchased by web hosting giant EIG in 2004. EIG also own Hostgator, Bluehost and many more. But is this company actually any good? Read on to find out.
Pros
Excellent Customer Support
Fatcow has both a live web chat and a telephone option for customers in need of some help. Many report the support staff to have a quick response time, and be helpful and informed.
On top of this, Fatcow has an excellent user help system. There’s aa ton to be found through the support pages of their website, and you can even search for exactly what it is you need. The variety of different ways you can solve different problems makes Fatcow stand out from the rest.
Transparent Pricing
Many web hosting providers tempt you in with an initial low-priced offer, then raise their rates after a grace period. This can be super annoying, particularly if you end up feeling tricked! Fatcow’s pricing structure is refreshingly honest and upfront, with no hidden fees or random jumps in rates for you to worry about.
Tempting Freebies
Fatcow offers a free transfer service, which is super handy for those wishing to migrate from a different web hosting platform. If you’re just starting out, Fatcow also offers a free domain name, which is a nice touch.
Environmentally Conscious
While this isn’t typically a concern when looking at web hosts, it’s something Fatcow actually take surprisingly seriously. The company is an EPA Green Power Partner, and have Renewable Energy Certificates. If you’re concerned with minimizing your business’s carbon footprint, Fatcow may be the way to go in terms of web hosting solution.
Money Back Guarantee
If you’re unsatisfied with the service you receive in the first thirty days, Fatcow guarantees your money back. This shows they stand behind their product – plus gives you an extra bit of security.
Cons & Problems
Issues & Uptime Guarantee
Always pay attention to this: your web host is aimed to host your website. Keeping your site live as much as possible is absolutely essential – particularly if you’re a business looking for new customers. Fatcow has had some issues with this in the past, with an uptime well below the average industry standard. Not only this, but the uptime seems to vary wildly from month to month, which is weird, and doesn’t exactly fill you with confidence in the company.
Lack Of Speed
As the name (may) suggest, Fatcow does not seem to value speed as a priority. The sites they host continually have issues with load time, which is a massive problem – particularly in today’s impatient society. A slow loading page can cause customers to just give up and go elsewhere – often to a competitors site. If your site’s speed is important to you, it seems Fatcow may not be the way to go.
Excessive Upselling
While Fatcow’s price structure is transparent, there are a lot of extras that can end up costing you money – and those bills can really add up. Cancellations outside of the thirty-day window
Real Customer Reviews: What People are Actually Saying
Fatcow has a pretty mixed reception online. That is to say, it has some very clear benefits, alongside some very obvious drawbacks. For certain customers, this can make it an excellent choice – but for others, the issues outweigh the company’s positive aspects. We’ve looked at many verified customer reviews to help find a balanced view of the company overall.
Good Things People Are Saying
Helpful Support Team
Many draw attention to the customer support they get at Fatcow. Not only is the support fast, but it’s available through a range of different means. Many also point out how friendly and helpful the support staff are.
the most outstanding is their technical support, no matter the day, the time. they are ready to help, any other hosting provider must wait hours to solve problems, FATCOW always try to give the solution to the problem
g2crowd.com
Excellent Features
Fans of the company also point out how well it integrates with other website design features. It works with a ton of different website builders, plus has a wealth of templates and graphics. It also helps with things like Google Adwords and has a free SSL server.
I advise others to use this platform that you put multiple benefits in the hands, it is affordable to anyone in terms of billing ,features ranging from the simplest level to the most complicated for a website especially
g2crowd.com
Easy To Get Started
For beginners, Fatcow may be an excellent choice. It offers many different features to help make starting your online business easier. The website builders are super handy, plus the fact you can get a free domain name makes getting started a more streamlined process. It’s also affordable for a first-time purchaser.
The easy to use website builders are great. It is also nice that they give you no limits on disk space or transfers. Initial set up was very easy as well. Low start up cost makes this a good value for the money if you are just starting out
g2crowd.com
Bad Things People Are Saying
Confusing Billing
The amount of upselling the company partakes in has caused concern for some customers. The way they attach additional extra costs to your package can be seen as sneaky by some. This can hinder the affordability of the web host overall.
I have gotten things snuck onto my bill numerous times. From site security protection to domain protection. These were all things that I did not want and they were near impossible to opt out of.
g2crowd.com
Speed and Uptime Issues
One of the biggest concerns people have with Fatcow is their consistent problems with website speed and uptime. If they cannot keep your sit up for almost 100% of the time, or load it quickly enough that customers will find it usable, then to some it seems like the service fails. We have to say; it does seem pretty hard to make peace with a web host which seems to have such problems with actually hosting websites.
Unfortunately, I have found that they are very slow to run wordpress sites, which is what I normally use, other hosting companies can run them much better and a lot faster. I also found customer service to be lacking. I had issue with one of my wordpress sites and found that they had shut them all down.
g2crowd.com
Website Set Up and Development
Does Fatcow Offer WordPress Hosting Specifically?
Yes, Fatcow offers WordPress hosting, alongside other options including Joomla and Drupal.
Do You Get a Free Domain Name When You Sign Up? (Some Hosting Providers Offer This)
Yes, the company offers one free domain name with any package or plan, as standard.
Do They Have Nameservers or Offer DNS Services?
Yes, the hosting platform offers DNS services and has its own nameservers.
Migrating a Site To Fatcow (and Transferable Installs): How Easy Is It?
Fatcow is dedicated to making sure it’s super easy to migrate your existing site over to their platform. It’s totally free to do, too.
Fatcow Control Panel (Cpanel): Do They Offer One To Manage Your Hosting?
Yes, this service provider utilizes cPanel. This makes it quite intuitive to get the hang of the service, plus is handy if you’ve ever used a different server with cPanel in the past.
FTP & SFTP: How Easy Is It to Connect?
It’s easy to connect FTP and SFTP with Fatcow. They have a full guide to how to do this on their company website.
Do They Offer Staging Environments and Temporary Urls?
No, Fatcow doesn’t offer staging environments or temporary URLs, meaning you’ll have to build you site as you go.
Templates & Blueprints: Do They Offer Site Setup Templates?
Yes, this hosting service offers thousands of free website templates to suit any type of online business. They also offer access to lots of
PHP Versions: Do They Support Legacy and The Latest Versions?
Yes, this company supports all version of PHP.
Do They Support Git or Command Line Tool Integrations?
No, Fatcow does not support Git or command line tool integrations.
SSH Connection: Do They Support It?
Fatcow does not support SSH connection.
Fatcow Speed & Load Time
This hosting platform has shown consistent issues with speed and load time. The primary complains most customers have about this provider is the fact their sites take longer to load than with other hosts. It also has shown poor performance in many speed tests. This can cause small businesses huge problem as if a site is taking too long to load, a potential customer is much more likely to be tempted to look elsewhere.
Services and Goodies Offered With Hosting
Uptime, Outages & Down Time
The other main area of concern with Fatcow is their issues with uptime. While they’re consistently at over 99%, this is well below industry standard and is seen by many as simply not good enough. While a lack of speed is something some may be able to forgive, it’s hard to justify poor uptime. If the company’s job is to host a site, and the site isn’t always online, then many think it’s just no good enough.
Do They Offer a CDN With Hosting?
Yes, Fatcow offers a CDN, plus the optional extra of Sitelock for maximum security (although you will have to pay).
Does Fatcow Offer Shared Hosting and Dedicated Servers?
Yes, this company offers both shared hosting plan and dedicated server hosting options.
Https: Do They Offer SSL Certificates or Letsencrypt?
Yes, this web hosting platform offers a free SSL certificate as standard, which includes Letsencrypt.
How Do Site Backups Work?
Fatcow will ensure daily automatic backups of your site – but you will have to pay extra for this feature. With the backups, you also get easy restorations to earlier versions of your site, and peace of mind that you won’t lost any data.
Redirects: Do They Support Server Level Redirects?
Yes, the hosting platform supports server level redirects. They have a full article on the subject to help guide you through the process.
Do They Support Multisite & Subdomains?
Yes, the company supports multiple websites and subdomains, for an additional cost. They have more information in this handy guide.
Does Fatcow Offer Email Hosting?
Yes, there are email accounts services available if you choose this web host, including unlimited email.
Security & Past Hacking Incidents
Security is not one of the areas where Fatcow seems potentially problematic. There have been no past hacking incidents that worry us, and their security seems to be taken seriously.
Fatcow Pricing, Hosting Plans & Money Back
Pricing, Packages & Plans
Fatcow offer just one plan, which you can then add additional features to. This makes it less confusing than other web hosts, plus minimises the initial decision you have to make.
Their Original Fatcow Plan starts at a special introductory price of $4.08 per month. Migration of a domain is free – and if you’re just getting started, they offer a free domain with every plan. After your initial lower rate, the price increases. Should you opt for a monthly billed plan, it’s $14.95 per month. When you sign up for two years, it drops to $13.90 per month. And if you sign up for three years, the price drops again to $12.95 per month.
With this Original Plan, you get unlimited disk space and bandwidth, a free domain, a free website builder, an SSL certificate, and access to their 24/7 customer support team. There’s also no initial sign up fee.
Do They Have a Monthly and Annual Plan Payment Option?
Yes, you can pay for this service both monthly and annually. If you wish to acces their discounts, you will have to pay a lump sum for two or three years up front, rather than be able to pay this lower rate on a month by month basis.
Do They Offer Unmetered or Unlimited Bandwidth Plans for Hosted Websites?
Yes, every plan this company offers comes with unlimited bandwidth as a standard.
How Does Canceling a Plan Work?
If you’re paying on a monthly basis, you can cancel your plan at any time. If you’ve paid the lump sum upfront, you cannot get a refund, though you can still take your website down.
Promo Codes & Discounts: Do They Have Special Offers?
The company has an introductory price which is amazingly low – although it will go up after the initial period. Shop around online to find out if you could save more money with a discount code to ensure you get the very best deal.
Does Fatcow Have a Satisfaction or Money-Back Guarantee?
Yes, there’s a thirty day satisfaction or your money back guarantee with every purchase from this web hosting provider.
Customer Service and Support
Fatcow Phone Number: Do You Get a Real Person?
Yes, you can speak to a dedicated customer support worker by telephone or by live chat – although you only get access to this after signing up for an account.
Fatcow Alternatives: What We Would Recommend Instead
Create Your Start has reviewed tons of different hosting platforms in this same, exhaustive way. Check out our series on different hosting option to help you find the best option for you.
Sign Up
If you think Fatcow sounds like the best option for you, sign up here.
Have you ever used Fatcow? Did you experience the commonly complained-about issues or have an extensive knowledge base? Do you have a different hosting provider you’d recommend instead? Are you looking for e-commerce features or a site builder? Let us know in the comments below!