Choosing a web host in New Zealand: what to look for

Most hosting plans list the same headline numbers: storage, bandwidth, number of websites. Those matter, but they rarely decide whether you'll be happy with your host. What really counts is how your site performs for your customers, how well it's protected and who picks up the phone when you need help.

Here's a practical checklist to work through, whether you're choosing hosting for the first time or thinking about moving.

1. Where are the servers?

The physical distance between your server and your visitors affects how quickly your pages start loading. If most of your customers are in New Zealand, a server in New Zealand gives them a head start.

Ask where your website, control panel and email will actually be hosted, not just where the company is based. Our shared hosting, control panel and email servers are in Auckland. If you'd like the longer explanation of why location matters, read why local hosting matters.

2. Is the server set up for speed?

Location is only part of it. Ask what web server software the host uses and whether caching is part of the package. Our servers run LiteSpeed, and we can set up a CDN (QUIC.cloud or Cloudflare) if your visitors are spread further afield. If your site already feels sluggish, our guide to why your WordPress site might be slow is a good place to start.

3. Can you reach real people when you need them?

When your website or email stops working, you want to talk to someone who understands the problem and can fix it, not wait for a reply from a different time zone.

Check:

• how you can contact support (phone, email, tickets, or only a chat bot)
• whether the support team is in New Zealand and works NZ business hours
• whether they explain things in plain English

Our support team is here in New Zealand, and you can reach us by phone, email or support ticket. No call centres.

4. Backups: how often, how long, and can you restore?

Every host says they do backups. The useful questions are the details:

• How often? Daily is a sensible minimum for a business site.
• How long are they kept? If a problem goes unnoticed for a couple of weeks, a backup from yesterday won't help.
• Can you restore them yourself, and can the host help?
• Where are they stored? Ideally not on the same server as your site.

All our hosting includes daily backups kept for 30 days, and our backup systems are spread across more than one location.

5. Security that's actually included

Ask what's included as standard rather than sold as an add on. Look for firewalls, a web application firewall to block common attacks, and malware scanning. All of these are included with our hosting, along with 24/7 automated monitoring.

6. Free SSL certificates

Your site should load over https, with the padlock in the browser. These days there's no reason to pay extra for a basic certificate. Ask whether SSL is free and whether it renews automatically. With us, free Let's Encrypt certificates are installed and renewed automatically once you switch them on in the control panel. New to SSL? Read what an SSL certificate is.

7. WordPress know-how

If your site runs on WordPress, you want a host who understands it, not just one that can install it. Can they tell you which PHP version your site can handle? Will they help when a plugin update goes wrong? Do they offer help keeping things updated?

We tune our WP Optimised hosting for WordPress, and we offer an updating service for WordPress and plugins, monthly or quarterly, for $65 + GST per update.

8. Control panel and access

You should be able to manage your own website, email accounts and files without waiting on someone else. Ask what control panel you get and whether you have full access. Developers will also want to know about shell access. Our plans include a full control panel and shell access.

9. Pricing in NZ dollars, with GST clear

Compare prices like for like:

• Are prices in NZ dollars, or in a foreign currency that moves with the exchange rate?
• Is GST included or added on top?
• Is it a monthly or yearly price?
• What's included, and what costs extra (backups, SSL, email, migrations)?

10. Renewal pricing and contracts

A low first year price that jumps at renewal is common in the hosting world. Ask what you'll pay in year two, whether there's a minimum term and what happens if you want to leave. You should always be able to take your website and data with you.

11. Help moving your site

Moving a website, and especially email, can be fiddly. Ask whether the host will do the move for you and whether it costs extra. When you buy a year's hosting with us, we move your WordPress site for free and include a health check: plugins updated, the newest PHP version your site can handle, PHP settings checked, a performance plugin such as WP Rocket set up and recommendations for anything else.

12. Monitoring and a status page

Things occasionally go wrong with any technology. What matters is whether your host spots it quickly and tells you what's happening. Ask whether servers are monitored around the clock and whether there's a public status page you can check. Ours is at status.slightlydifferent.co.nz.

Questions to ask before you sign up

If you only have five minutes, ask these:

1. Where will my website, control panel and email be hosted?
2. How do I contact support, and are they in New Zealand?
3. How often do you back up, how long do you keep backups and how do I restore one?
4. What security and SSL is included in the price?
5. Are prices in NZD, and is GST included?
6. What will I pay when the plan renews?
7. Will you move my site and email for me?
8. Is there a status page I can check if something seems wrong?
9. Can I manage my own domain, or do I need to keep it somewhere else?

On that last point, it's worth understanding how your domain fits in. Our guide to domain names vs web hosting explains the difference.

Talk to us

If you'd like straight answers to any of these questions about our own hosting, give us a call on +64 3 541 9468 or get in touch. You can also browse our NZ web hosting plans, with WP Optimised shared hosting from $295 a year and WP Cloud managed cloud servers from $175 a month.