HostAfrica Web Hosting Review 2024: Features, Pricing, Pros & Cons
- Updated:22/08/2024
- 2:17 pm
Note: We may get commission from qualifying partner links. However, this doesn’t influence our opinion.
Our Verdict
Selecting the right web hosting platform can be tedious and easy to postpone. HostAfrica web hosting is a popular platform with affordable prices, 24/7 customer support and flexible web hosting plans, including WordPress hosting and accelerated hosting for e-commerce.
If it is your first time building a website, or you need your business to have an online presence, you need a web hosting server. Like most business owners, this essential step may be the last thing on your to-do list. HostAfrica offers one of the most affordable plans on the market, remarkable customer service and a reasonable money-back guarantee period. Read our comprehensive HostAfrica review to establish if it is right for you.
On HostAfrica’s Website
4.6
Editor rating
Plan Costs
As low as $6.15/month or Ksh 420/month
Uptime Guarantee
99.9%
Storage and Bandwidth
Starts at 20GB SSD storage and unlimited traffic
Pros
- Affordable
- Incremental backups
- Free migrations
- 99.9% uptime guarantee
- Free SSL certificate
Cons
- Limited websites per plan
- Relatively small storage
Jump to:
What Is HostAfrica
HostAfrica is a web hosting provider that specializes in serving businesses and individuals across Africa. The company, originally named Cloud to Machine, was established in 2008 in South Africa. In 2017, its parent company Cloud to Machine was renamed to Host Africa (Pty) Ltd, and another local subsidiary brand HOSTAFRICA was created. In December 2022, HostAfrica acquired EAC Directory in Kenya.
Here are a few facts about HostAfrica:
- Ranks among the best web hosting services in Africa for startups and businesses.
- Operates across three countries in Africa - South Africa, Nigeria and Kenya.
- Thanks to its affordable pricing, premium security features and reliable servers, HostRaha is among the best web hosting services in Kenya.
- Customer support is available 24/7/365 via phone, email and chat.
- Every hosting plan has a 30-day money-back guarantee.
- In addition to shared hosting services, HostAfrica also offers VPS, dedicated and reseller hosting.
Featured Partners
1
HostPinnacle
On HostPinnacle’s Website
Starting Price
Ksh 3,500 per year
Storage Limit
Unmetered bandwidth, SSD storage starts at 35GB
Standout Features
Free lifetime domain name and SSL
2
HostAfrica
On HostAfrica’s Website
Starting Price
$6.15 or Ksh 420 per month
Money-back Guarantee
30 days
Standout Features
Free .co.ke domain name and daily backups
3
Truehost
On Truehost’s Website
Starting Price
Ksh 2,500 per year
Website Building
Yes
Standout Features
Unlimited bandwidth and databases
How HostAfrica Web Hosting Works
When building a website, you need a place to house your website and data files. A web hosting service provides the storage and resources you need to ensure your website is visible and accessible online.
A website hosting provider gives storage space on a server or group of servers that explicitly house websites. As a customer, you pay the provider for their storage space. You essentially rent the storage for your website’s needs.
HostAfrica offers all types of hosting services, including shared, VPS and dedicated hosting.
Shared hosting refers to when your website is hosted on the same server as others making this type of hosting ideal for startups and small businesses with limited traffic and modest storage needs. Since you’re sharing resources, hosting fees are considerably lower than you’d pay for virtual private server (VPS) or dedicated hosting services—which are better options for those with more advanced website hosting needs.
We’re focusing on HostAfrica’s shared hosting services in this review. Feel free to check out our list of best VPS hosting services and dedicated hosting providers if your hosting needs are more advanced.
HostAfrica Shared Website Hosting
HostAfrica offers four levels of shared hosting plans, each designed for various levels of resource requirements. You can use the Site builder to create your custom website in a matter of minutes, even if you don’t have any technical or coding skills.
You can build and host a website with WordPress and other platforms such Joomla via HostAfrica. In fact, we rank HostAfrica among the best overall providers in our list of top WordPress hosting services.
HostAfrica offers four WordPress hosting plans that are ideal for those with technical backgrounds and who want more customization and greater control over their sites. Although HostAfrica does not have a managed plan for less tech-savvy users, our website design and development package takes all the hassle from you by setting up and performing routine updates and management.
Website Domain
You need a domain for your website. HostAfrica offers one free .co.ke or .africa domain with its hosting plans. If you intend to host more than one website, you can register additional domains with HostAfrica.
In case you need multiple domains, you can register a new domain with HostAfrica for as little as $5 or Ksh465 per year.
Is HostAfrica Right for Me?
HostAfrica is an excellent option if you are building a simple website and want an affordable web hosting provider. It may not be the best option if you are building a large, content-heavy site that can support extensive website traffic.
HostAfrica Is Best For:
- Launching a simple website quickly
- WordPress website
- Small e-commerce website
- Startups seeking a budget-friendly hosting provider
HostAfrica Is Not Recommended For:
- Content-heavy website (e.g., site that host large video or image files)
- Highly custom websites
What Sets HostAfrica Web Hosting Apart
While most web hosting platforms have a pricing structure that is difficult to understand, HostAfrica’s is straightforward. With a rate of just $6.15 or Ksh420 per month, HostAfrica beats many web hosting service prices. This sets it apart from other popular hosting providers. Therefore it is a terrific web hosting provider if you want to keep monthly website hosting costs low.
HostAfrica Features
Besides budget-friendly plans, HostAfrica provides fast loading times, unlimited traffic, easy app installation, website security best practices, extensive customer support options, generous storage and business email.
Storage and Bandwidth Limits
HostAfrica’s Starter plan comes with up to 25 email accounts, hosts 2 domains, 20GB of storage, unlimited traffic, 5 subdomains and 1 FTP account.
The HostAfrica Basic plan comes with up to 100 email accounts, hosts 5 domains, 40GB of storage, unlimited traffic, 100 subdomains and 1 FTP account.
HostAfrica’s Power plan comes with up to unlimited email accounts, hosts 10 domains, 100GB of storage, unlimited traffic, 500 subdomains and 5 FTP accounts.
The HostAfrica’s Business plan comes with up to unlimited email accounts, hosts 20 domains, 200GB of storage, unlimited traffic, 1,000 subdomains and 10 FTP accounts.
Ease of Use
HostAfrica makes creating and managing your website easy; you can launch a simple website with HostAfrica in minutes. The platform integratres Softaculous which has its own drag-and-drop website builder with hundreds of customizable design templates besides WordPress. It also has WordPress hosting plans which allow for more custom websites.
HostAfrica offers one-click installation for more than 70 popular third-party applications. While most users find the HostAfrica dashboard intuitive and user-friendly, tech-savvy users report challenges using the HostAfrica interface to customize their websites through advanced customizations.
Each HostAfrica shared hosting plan comes with free business email accounts. Frankly, the 25 email limit is a bit low for the Starter plan. The email protection anti-phishing and anti-spam SpamExpert is included in all plans.
User Dashboard/cPanel
HostAfrica has made several improvements to the user experience over the past few years. Anyone with modest technical skills find the HostAfrica user experience largely positive, but beginners may have a steeper learning curve.
More advanced users used to cPanel will find HostAfrica tools easy to use.
Security
Each HostAfrica website hosting plan comes with a free SSL certificate. HostAfrica server protect your data through incremental automatic backups. Also, the platforms keeps your IP cleam with outgoing spam filtering. HostAfrica also includes malware protection with its hosting services.
HostAfrica Web Hosting Pricing and Plans
| Starter | Basic | Power | Business | |
|---|---|---|---|---|
Starting Price /Month |
Ksh 420 or $6.15 |
Ksh 630 or $8.32 |
Ksh 945 or $14.41 |
Ksh 1,399 or $21.21 |
Renewal Price |
Ksh 420 or $6.15 |
Ksh 630 or $8.32 |
Ksh 945 or $14.41 |
Ksh 1,399 or $21.21 |
Contract Lengths Available |
1 to 36 months |
1 to 36 months |
1 to 36 months |
1 to 36 months |
Storage |
20GB |
40GB |
100GB |
200GB |
Bandwidth |
Unlimited |
Unlimited |
Unlimited |
Unlimited |
Free Domain |
1 Year |
1 Year |
1 Year |
1 Year |
Free SSL Certificate | ||||
Business Email |
25 |
100 |
Unlimited |
Unlimited |
Money-Back Guarantee |
30 Days |
30 Days |
30 Days |
30 Days |
Customer Support |
24/7 online chat, email and phone support |
24/7 online chat, email and phone support |
24/7 online chat, email and phone support |
24/7 online chat, email and phone support |
The HostAfrica Starter Plan
The Starter plan is economical for smaller websites with minimal storage and processing needs. The plan costs $6.15 or Ksh420 per month. The Starter plan comes with 1GB RAM and a 20GB storage limit. The plan also comes with 5 MySQL databases and 25 email accounts.
The HostAfrica Basic Plan
The Basic plan is perfect for businesses or individual users with up to 5 websites or projects that need hosting. The plan costs $8.32 or Ksh630 per month. The Basic plan includes 2GB RAM and 40GB storage. The plan also comes with 50 MySQL databases and 100 email accounts.
The HostAfrica Power Plan
The Power plan costs just $14.41 or Ksh945 per month. It is a budget-friendly option for small to medium-sized websites with modest storage and processing needs.
The Power plan comes with 3GB RAM and 100GB storage. The plan also comes with 10 domains, unlimited databases and unlimited email accounts.
The HostAfrica Business Plan
If you need more computing power, you will need to go with HostAfrica’s Business plan, which is ideal for those with multiple or larger web projects. The Ultimate plan costs $21.21 or Ksh1,399 per month. It comes with 20 domains, 200GB storage and unlimited databases, plus unlimited email accounts. The Business plan also has 4GB RAM.
Customer Service and Support
If you’re struggling, HostAfrica offers support 24/7, 365 days a year. HostAfrica has an online chat widget on the home page for questions. For customers, you can access both support chat and email through your HostAfrica control panel. Also, you can submit a ticket to support about your queries.
There is a customer support phone number 254 70 939 9000 if you prefer speaking directly to someone. As well, HostAfrica has a comprehensive knowledge base should you get stuck launching your website.
Featured Partners
1
HostPinnacle
On HostPinnacle’s Website
Starting Price
Ksh 3,500 per year
Storage Limit
Unmetered bandwidth, SSD storage starts at 35GB
Standout Features
Free lifetime domain name and SSL
2
HostAfrica
On HostAfrica’s Website
Starting Price
$6.15 or Ksh 420 per month
Money-back Guarantee
30 days
Standout Features
Free .co.ke domain name and daily backups
3
Truehost
On Truehost’s Website
Starting Price
Ksh 2,500 per year
Website Building
Yes
Standout Features
Unlimited bandwidth and databases
Additional Features Worth Noting
HostAfrica offers LiteSpeed web hosting solutions to those who want to enjoy the speediest web server technology available today. It is perfect for almost every CMS, including WordPress, Joomla, Drupal and Magneto. You can choose from four plans costing as little as Ksh560 to as high as Ksh1,960 per month.
The HostAfrica Starter plan is perfect for individuals or businesses that require a relatively small website and anticipate minimal changes. This plan includes 1 domain, 20GB storage, 100 subdomains, 25 email accounts and 5 MySQL databases. The fee is Ksh560 per month.
The HostAfrica Basic plan is ideal for medium-size websites with frequent updates. This plan includes a website with 2 domains, 40GB storage and 50 MySQL databases. The fee is Ksh840 per month.
Those with more significant website needs may want to go with HostAfrica’s Power plan. For Ksh1,190 per month, you’ll receive 3 domains, 100GB storage, 500 subdomains and unlimited MySQL databases.
HostAfrica offers a Shop plan for businesses with demanding storage and processing needs. For Ksh1,960 per month, the plan supports 200GB storage, 5 domains, unlimited email accounts, 1,000 subdomains and unlimited MySQL databases.
All the plans support monthly contracts and billing, a free .co.le domain for the first year if registered as the primary domain and unlimited web traffic. Each plan is optimized for speed.
HostAfrica Shared Hosting Alternatives and How They Compare
| HostAfrica | HostPinnacle | HostRaha | Truehost | |
|---|---|---|---|---|
Editor’s Rating | ||||
Starting Price |
Ksh 420 |
Ksh 3,500 |
Ksh 1,875 |
Ksh 480 |
Contract Lengths Available |
1 to 36 months |
1 year |
1 year |
1 to 36 months |
Storage |
20GB |
35GB |
35GB |
30GB |
Bandwidth |
Unlimited |
Unlimited |
Unlimited |
Unlimited |
Free Domain |
Yes |
Lifetime |
No |
No |
Free SSL Certificate | ||||
Daily Backup |
__ |
No | ||
Email Accounts |
25 |
Unlimited |
Unlimited |
Unlimited |
Money-Back Guarantee |
30 Days |
30 Days |
No |
No |
Customer Support |
Live Chat, Email & Phone call |
Live Chat, Email & Phone call |
Live Chat, Email, ticket & Phone call |
Live Chat, WhatsApp, Email & Phone call |
Uptime Guarantee |
99.99% |
99.99% |
__ |
99.999% |
Learn More | ||||
Read Reviews |
___ |
HostAfrica compares favourably to other shared web hosting service providers. With a score of 4.6, HostAfrica ranks among the highest on KE Offers’ list of best hosting service providers in Kenya.
At only Ksh420 per month, HostAfrica has some of the best introductory prices we’ve seen. With HostAfrica, you can lock into Ksh385 per month deal for 1 to 3 years, which is a benefit. On the one hand, you don’t have to pay much upfront.
HostAfrica vs HostPinnacle
In the contest between HostAfrica vs. HostPinnacle, HostPinnacle offers a lower starting price that’s approximately 30% less that of HostAfrica — Ksh3,500 vs. Ksh5,040. HostAfrica requires a one-year commitment to get a discount inclusive of tax, while you commit to a year with HostPinnacle the price is exclusive of tax.
Along with HostAfrica, HostPinnacle offers a free domain, but HostAfrica provides up to twenty five business emails while HostPinnacle gives unlimited. HostPinnacle comes with a generous 35GB of storage, compared to HostAfrica’s 20GB. Both hosting providers provide multiple customer support channels, including chat, phone and a knowledge base.
View more on HostAfrica’s and HostPinnacle’s website.
HostAfrica vs HostRaha
HostRaha has several features in common with HostAfrica, including a one-year commitment and customer support in the form of chat, phone and a knowledge base.
A look at HostRaha vs. HostAfrica on other features highlights some differences. HostAfrica offers month-to-month plans and unlimited business emails. HostRaha only offers annual plans. HostRaha’s lowest-priced plan starts at just Ksh1,875, while HostAfrica’s equivalent charges Ksh4,620 per year for its basic package.
There are more differences between these hosting providers. HostAfrica offers daily backups, it is unclear if it is available on HostRaha. For the basic package, HostAfrica offers a free .co.ke domain in the first year; HostRaha does not.
Find out more on HostAfrica’s and HostRaha’s website.
HostAfrica vs Truehost
The comparison between HostAfrica vs. Truehost is relatively neck and neck, with HostAfrica receiving a 4.6 rating out of five stars and Truehost earning 4.5 stars. HostAfrica’s starting price is Ksh420 per month while Truehost charges Ksh480. Both providers require a one-year commitment to receive the lowest price.
Learn more on HostAfrica’s and Truehost’s website.
Our Opinion
Overall, because HostAfrica offers a variety of plans, it fits a lot of needs. Small businesses finding their footing will appreciate the low-entry cost of HostAfrica’s shared and LiteSpeed hosting plans. You don’t have to be a professional designer to launch a website that is stunning and personal.
Meanwhile, businesses with high traffic and a bigger online presence will love the VPS and dedicated hosting plans. Entrepreneurs in web design and development and who want to craft a unique offering will highly value HostAfrica’s reseller hosting packages.
Frequently Asked Questions (FAQs)
HostAfrica is an excellent choice for web hosting because of its robust plans and affordable prices. It made our list of the top web hosting services for small business in Kenya.
HostAfrica starts at Ksh420 a month for shared hosting and goes as high as Ksh26,000 a month for dedicated server hosting. They are the regular monthly rates, which means you may find cheaper promotional annual rates for a limited period. If price is a concern, check out our list of the best cheap web hosting services.
Services, such as HostPinnacle, Truehost and HostRaha, could all be good alternatives, based on what you want. TrueHost is known for its easy site setup, HostPinnacle offers great perks and HostRaha is good for launching a website. Here is our guide on how to host your own website in Kenya with details on the features to look out for your site.
HostAfrica’s headquarters are located in South Africa. Its Kenya-based offices are in Even Business Park, Block 3C Airport North Road, Off Mombasa Road – Nairobi, Kenya.
