The internet has been a pivotal part of our society in the last few decades and with every day it is spreading its web in every nook and corner of the known world. This vast spread allowed us to have seamless connectivity and have brought the world in our computer screens.
But along with this expansion came the need for power, not small but a huge amount of it.
And that’s where green web hosting comes into play as now more and companies are putting there focus on reducing their carbon footprint.
Read along as we find out the best green web hosting options available right now for your business.
What is green web hosting?
For those who are new to the concept of green web hosting let us find out what it is and why it is so relevant today. Nowadays, most of the websites are not only limited to plain text but consists of tons of bulky media, uncountable number of scripts. This requires a lot of data and these data are stored in servers of the company who hosts the website. Not only the servers need to be capable of storing huge amount of data but they need to be fast as well to make web pages load smoothly.
Such complex computing requires a lot of power and high-end cooling system to be operational. So, every website consumes a huge amount of energy indirectly. But as with passing days, people are getting more and more conscious about saving the environment and even companies are shifting towards a more sustainable operation.
Green web companies use renewable sources to power their servers and to keep the system temperature under control. In this way, every consumer who uses their service uses significantly less energy.
Best green web hosting services
Below we have listed some of the very best green web hosting services available out there. Please note that the order in which the services are listed does not indicate best to worst or worst to best. It is rather a comprehensive analysis of each service in a random order and what we hope that after reading through the details you should be able to identify the best service according to your own needs.
GreenGeeks
GreenGeeks is one of the most popular and critically acclaimed web hosting services on this list. It features among not only the best green web hosting site but also features among the very best web hosting services out there.
Greengeeks basic plan starts at 2.95 USD per month which equals to about Rs. 191 per month. Considering the other options available in the market, GreenGeeks is extremely cheap even for the smallest of businesses.
GreenGeeks have 5 data centres, 4 across the US and one in Amsterdam. You can choose any one of them but for an Indian business they sum up to be approximately same.
The whole data centre runs on Linux so you can be assured about your security concerns. GreenGeeks also claim to maintain a whopping 99.9% uptime which in real life turns out to be pretty accurate.
Apart from these, GreenGeeks use state of the art solid-state drives to store your data with unlimited storage and theoretically unlimited bandwidth. You can run up to 2 websites and refunds can be initiated within 30 days of subscription.
GreenGeeks does not actually use a non-renewable source to power their servers. They actually use current from the grid but for each unit used by your website, they invest money 3 times greater than the cost of the unit on wind energy via the Bonneville Environmental Foundation (BEF).
DreamHost
DreamHost is another award-winning entry in this list. Their plans start a little higher at 7.95 USD per month.
Dreamhost has always been the standout performer on the list in terms of privacy and unlike many of its competitors, they don’t charge you a penny to mask your info.
Like GreenGeeks, Dreamhost is also totally committed to the security of the customers. They provide multi-layered authentication systems, automatic sFTP and a top-notch encryption system. As standard in most of the hosts, Dreamhost also stores data in SSDs, provide unlimited storage and unlimited bandwidth.
Dreamhost claim to provide a perfect 100% uptime and many users have confirmed it to be true. The site also features a robust technical support available 24*7 and provide a lot of open source options to customize your experience.
Unlike GreenGeeks, Dreamhost invests in the improvement of the environment in a completely different way. They do not directly invest in the industry but they sponsor movements, campaigns and general awareness improvement programmes. They have also cross-checked every possible carbon footprints of the company and taken some brilliant measures which placed it among a few companies in the world who are carbon neutral.
HostPAPA
HostPAPA is a Canada based web hosting company that has managed to spread across several parts of the world including India and are renowned for their excellent customer services.
With every purchase of a HostPAPA, you can get a 30 minutes video chat session with an expert to help you set up your website. Also, you can avail any kind of support 24*7 from the customer care throughout your subscription.
HostPAPA plans starts from Rs. 199 and has a similar pricing scheme as GreenGeeks. But you need to pay an additional amount if you want to get added security and website backup. You get a free domain name but for top-level domains such as .com or .co, you need to pay extra.
In other aspects, HostPAPA maintains the very best standards. You get super fast SSD drives to store your data, unlimited data speed for a better responsiveness of your website and state of the art security systems based on Linux.
HostPAPA is one of the pioneers of green web hosting and they have a similar operation scheme as GreenGeeks. They buy certificates from green energy providers which equalise their carbon emission and makes them almost carbon neutral.
Fat Cow Hosting
Fat cow offers a very simplistic, intuitive and easy to understand interface and you get a number of additional offers on various partners of Fat Cow.
When you choose to host your website on Fat Cow, you get a 100 dollars Bing ad credit and 100 dollars Google ad credit. There is also a complete integration of WordPress and Joomla which makes it super easy to create and edit your content.
Pricing is pretty steep in Fat Cow with basic plans starting from 4.08 dollars per month and other prices go up steeply as you move towards a more premium plan. As common with many similar services, Fat Cow offers a 30-day money back guarantee.
Fat Cow claims to use 100 percent renewable energies to operate their servers but there have been no updates about it since 2009.
A2 Hosting
Most of the Green web hosts proudly advertise there eco-friendly activities loud and clear. But when you visit A2 hosting’s website you won’t find a lot of information unless you decide to dig all the way in. But don’t let this fool you. A2 hosting is one of the most eco-friendly web host listed here and they put an enormous effort in environmental conservations while staying behind the scene.
Starting out from ‘the tree town’ Ann Arbor, Michigan back in 2003, the company has always prioritized conserving the nature. They paired up with carbonfund.org to reduce their carbon footprints dramatically and reached 100% carbon neutral status. They did not stop here and they are still funding numerous Carbonfund efforts. Apart from that, they use several measures to further cut their carbon footprint and often run promotions to encourage planting trees.
Plans start at USD 3.92 which is pretty fair given there robust performance. There are many free add-ons you get with even the basic plan. Integration of services such as WordPress, PrestaShop are flawless and requires just a click to set up. All in all, you get one of the best value for money web hosting when you use A2 hosting.
And in terms of security, you get free SSL encryption, a highly flexible open VPN and a robust application that can detect any breach in data transfer and also provides you with a firewall. You also get multi-layered authentication via Clef and SSH support to let you work remotely.
Conclusion
If you have read this far, I bet you have a clear picture of some of the best green web hosts out there and what they do to preserve our home. It is a significant effort towards a sustainable future and the greater number of people switch to such hosts the better it gets for the planet. So, if you are still using a host that uses non-renewable sources, please switch to a green host for a better future for not only you or your company but for the future generations to come.
