Kinsta Web Hosting Review 2023
Kinsta is a fully-managed WordPress hosting solution. It uses Google Cloud Platform to provide a cloud-based infrastructure for your website. 24×7 monitoring and daily backups ensure that your website remains secure and uninterrupted. Kinsta’s developers work round-the-clock to identify any errors and resolve them on-the-go. If you have a resource-intensive website, Kinsta is the right hosting solution for you.
Effectiveness
When it comes to delivering on its promise, Kinsta exceeds all expectations. The cloud-based architecture reduces website loading time and facilitates automatic scalability. The ability to easily create staging sites also makes it easier to test updates and new features before implementing them. Overall, it is highly recommended if your website is prone to regular changes and unpredictable traffic surges.
Price
Kinsta offers various flexible membership plans starting at $30 per month and going up to $1500 per month. You can opt for a monthly or yearly subscription model; the yearly plan levies the charges of two months. Kinsta’s pricing plans are more expensive than those offered by other web hosting solutions. However, the feature-rich dashboard and marvelous tech support justify the cost.
User-friendliness
The MyKinsta dashboard is replete with smart website management tools. It provides you with a simple and intuitive interface to carry out complex tasks such as website creation, migration, backup, etc. Additionally, you also get access to various analytics tools that help you monitor website performance. The dashboard is easy to use, and most tasks can be carried out in just a few clicks.
Service
If there is one thing that distinguishes Kinsta from other premium hosting solutions, it has to be impeccable technical support. Unlike other services, Kinsta handpicks its technicians and ensures that they are fluent in WordPress. Most of Kinsta’s tech support team comprises veteran WordPress developers. The support staff works round the clock to identify any error or potential cyber-attacks. Whenever a glitch is detected, they strive to resolve it in the shortest possible time.
A website is one of the most indispensable marketing assets for any business organization. However, developing and managing a well-designed website is a herculean task. You must ensure that your website loads fast and is capable of handling traffic surges. That is why it is essential to carefully select a reliable hosting provider for your website.
If you are familiar with the world of website development or blogging, you have likely come across Kinsta. Many WordPress bloggers claim to have switched to Kinsta and swear by its performance. In this review of Kinsta, we will analyze various features of this web hosting provider and determine if it is worth the hype.
Before we take a closer look at Kinsta’s benefits and drawbacks, let us understand what it is all about.
What is Kinsta?
Kinsta is a managed WordPress hosting provider that promises lightning-fast website speed and impeccable security. It uses the Google Cloud Platform to provide you with the right infrastructure to build and manage a new-age website. It also provides a plethora of additional features to ensure that your website can handle traffic spikes.
A Brief History
Launched in 2013, Kinsta has been developed by a group of veteran WordPress developers. They were frustrated with the limited capabilities of most web hosting services and decided to create their hosting platform. It has been designed with a special focus on speed, security, and stability to ensure that your website functions properly. Today, Kinsta boasts a reputed clientele, including TripAdvisor, FreshBooks, Drift, and many other reputed brands.
Distinguishing Features
Apart from improving website speed, Kinsta also provides you with various tools to manage your website. You can perform complex tasks such as site migration and enabling website security in a few simple clicks. The platform also takes multiple daily backups of your website that can be restored with a single click. This is what makes Kinsta a fully-managed hosting service that lets you focus on more important tasks, such as making your website user-friendly.
However, what sets Kinsta apart from other managed hosting services is its flawless customer support. Unlike other providers, Kinsta’s customer support team comprises WordPress experts. That is why they are able to provide quick remedies to specific problems rather than offering generic solutions. The customer support team can be contacted round-the-clock using the ticketing system or live chat feature from your MyKinsta Dashboard.
It is also worth mentioning that Kinsta is as suitable for beginners as it is for experienced web developers. While the Kinsta team continuously manages your website in the background, you can access advanced tools to get greater control over your website. Setting up a website using Kinsta is also a cakewalk. All you have to do is create an account and login to your dashboard. You have the choice to build a new website or migrate an existing one.
Pricing
It is essential to point out that Kinsta is a premium hosting provider that is more expensive than other services. You can choose from the various existing plans starting at $30 per month. Alternatively, you can also contact the support team to get a custom plan based on your needs. You can choose to pay on a monthly or yearly basis; the yearly plan gives you two months of free usage.
Image via Kinsta
Additionally, Kinsta offers a 30-day money-back guarantee. This lets you get a glimpse of the platform before you decide to take the plunge and migrate your website. This makes Kinsta even more suitable for new web developers and bloggers.
It is now time for us to quickly glance through the pros and cons of Kinsta:
PROS
- Impressive website speed because of Google Cloud Platform
- Daily website backups safeguard you against unexpected crashes
- Easy and quick site migration
- Responsive and experienced customer support team
- Optimized for growing website and e-commerce stores
CONS
- Restricted to WordPress websites and blogs
- Lack of phone support
- Email hosting isn’t included
- Higher price point compared to other hosting services in the market
Things to Consider Before Buying a Web Hosting Service
The choice of hosting provider greatly influences various aspects of your website’s performance. From website speed and response to security and scalability – a web hosting provider shapes the fate of your website. A mediocre hosting service results in a slow website that is prone to downtimes and crashes. Needless to say, a slow-loading website drives your audience away.
If your revenue largely depends on your website (for instance, in the case of an e-commerce business), you may even incur significant losses. Moreover, website speed and security also has an impact on your website’s search engine ranking. That is why it is extremely crucial to scrutinize the different features of a hosting provider before you decide to buy it.
As discussed earlier, Kinsta is pricier than other alternatives available in the market. However, the higher price point comes with added benefits such as 24×7 support from a team of WordPress experts. Additionally, you are handheld through every step of setting up your website. This lets you focus on other aspects, such as the layout and navigation of your website.
Moreover, unlike other hosting providers, Kinsta empowers your website to handle sudden traffic spikes. The cloud-based architecture makes it possible for your website’s container to spread across as many CPUs as required when a traffic surge occurs. This makes Kinsta the perfect choice for growing businesses that expect a significant increase in traffic in the near future. It is particularly crucial for businesses that directly earn revenue from their website.
Simply put, you should buy Kinsta if your website receives high traffic or expects to do so in the future. If you want to use your website as a platform to showcase company information, you may not reap all its benefits. On the other hand, if you want to use your website as a source of revenue generation, Kinsta’s cloud-based infrastructure is the right fit for you.
It is now time for us to delve deeper into Kinsta’s features and analyze whether they are any good.
Features & Benefits: A Closer Look
As I’ve mentioned earlier, Kinsta offers many sophisticated features to help manage your website. It delivers on its promise of prioritizing speed, security, and stability in web hosting. Many of these features came in extremely handy when I was doing the initial setup of my website.
Here is a list of the various features offered by Kinsta:
1. Cloud-Based Architecture & Advanced Technology
Kinsta uses Google Cloud Platform and its 20 data centers located across the globe to minimize your website’s loading time. Unlike traditional hosting providers that use shared or dedicated servers, Kinsta uses a virtual server space consisting of a vast network of physical servers. This ensures that websites hosted on Kinsta have high speed, scalability, and flexibility.
Kinsta uses Google Cloud’s premium tier and lets you choose from 20 different server locations. I find this particularly useful because it lets me select a data center that is closer to my audience’s geographic location. This, in turn, minimizes latency and further improves website speed.
Additionally, Kinsta uses the latest technology, including Nginx, LXD software containers, PHP 7.3, and Maria DB. The combination of state-of-the-art hardware and up-to-date software ensures that your website loads fast. The best part is that most of the speed optimization happens in the background, requiring little to no involvement from you.
Moreover, Kinsta users get limited access to KeyCDN, a leading HTTP/2, and IPv6-enabled delivery network. KeyCDN has an extensive global network with 34 strategically-placed server locations. It helps boost website speed even further. What I like even more is that I can easily manage this feature from your MyKinsta dashboard.
All the above features of Kinsta point towards its efforts to improve website speed. It offers all the latest and sophisticated tools to ensure that your website doesn’t take too long to load. It won’t be wrong to say that Kinsta delivers on its promise of offering a “speed-obsessive architecture.”
Image via Kinsta
2. High-Security Network
Having a well-designed website is of no use if it is prone to frequent cyber-attacks. This is particularly crucial when you run an e-commerce business and use your website to collect crucial customer details. Kinsta provides an advanced infrastructure to secure your website and safeguard it against hackers and malware. It does so by monitoring your website 24/7 to check for DDoS attacks, hardware firewalls, and software restrictions.
Additionally, Kinsta lets you use LetsEncrypt to enable SSL security in a few simple steps. It eliminates the need to go through the painful process of obtaining SSL certificate keys and installing them on your website. Being a beginner in web development, I found this extremely useful while setting up my first website. It has strengthened my faith in Kinsta’s endeavor to provide a fully-managed hosting platform.
Moreover, your website is continuously monitored, and the uptime is checked every two minutes. This ensures that any errors are taken care of before they affect your website visitors. If that’s not enough, Kinsta credits your account when its team fails to rectify an error within 30 minutes of detection.
Kinsta’s server is regularly updated so that any suspicious activity or potential threat to your website can be immediately detected. I find this extremely useful as it lets me focus on improving my website and publishing insightful content without worrying about hackers. That task is efficiently handled by Kinsta’s team of experienced technicians.
Image via Kinsta
3. Daily Backups
There is nothing more painful than designing an awesome website only to lose all your hard work in the event of an unexpected crash. Fortunately, Kinsta saves daily backups of your website that can be easily restored with a click. The backup is stored in your MyKinsta dashboard and is available for up to 14 days. This feature is available for life as well as staging sites to ensure that your website is safe at every stage of development.
Moreover, Kinsta also offers to increase the backup frequency to once every six hours or once an hour for an additional fee. If you have a dynamic website that changes frequently, it is highly recommended that you activate this feature. At Hustlr, we find this especially useful because we tend to add blog posts frequently. Additionally, you can take up to five manual backups of your website every week.
Image via Kinsta
4. Hassle-Free Migration
Are you worried about migrating your existing website from your current host to Kinsta? Luckily, every Kinsta membership plan includes one free migration and eliminates the need for you to manually handle this complex task. Instead, you can just request for migration from your MyKinsta dashboard and let the team of experts take care of it. You will only be notified once the migration process is over.
Image via Kinsta
5. Automatic Scalability
Imagine putting in months of hard work to optimize your website and make it search-engine friendly. When your website’s search engine ranking finally improves, it is unable to handle the sudden increase in traffic. Could there be anything more disappointing than this? Apart from driving website visitors away, a site-crash can also cause you to miss out on new business.
Here is the thing – your website can experience sudden traffic spikes in various scenarios. A branded infographic could have become viral on social media, or an influencer may have recommended your brand on their social media profiles. Kinsta’s cloud-based architecture ensures that your website doesn’t malfunction during such unpredictable traffic surges.
This also makes Kinsta the right choice for businesses that expect their website traffic to steadily grow in the future. As your traffic increases, your website’s container scales to as many CPUs as needed. This is unlike traditional hosting providers that keep a cap of 2 to 6 CPUs per Virtual Private Server. It is one of the reasons we swear by Kinsta’s reliability after having dabbled with various hosting providers for the Hustlr website.
It is essential to mention here that you will be charged an overage fee if you exceed your monthly visits cap. However, your website will continue to function without any interruptions. This is one of the reasons I consider Kinsta to be an extremely reliable hosting provider. Additionally, you will be notified when you exhaust 80% and 100% of your usage.
Image via Kinsta
6. Simplified Dashboard
My Kinsta review would be incomplete without talking about the user-friendly and intuitive MyKinsta dashboard. It is one of the factors that make Kinsta a beginner-friendly web hosting service. When I started using Kinsta, I was smitten by how every complex task could be executed with a few simple clicks.
From requesting for site migration to creating a staging site – your dashboard provides you with all the necessary tools to control your websites. You can even clone an existing WordPress site and get access to detailed website analytics. The best part is that you can contact the support team anytime to handhold you through the dashboard.
Another thing I find useful is the ability to easily build a website in a few steps. When you sign-up on Kinsta and login to your dashboard, you will get the option to create a new website. If you select this option, you will be redirected to a WordPress editor. Thereafter, you can follow the same steps that you would use to create any regular WordPress website.
Image via Bitcatcha
7. One-Click Staging
Kinsta lets you create separate staging environments for every WordPress website. All you have to do is create a staging site from your dashboard. It is a great way to test new plugins, features, and software updates before implementing them on your website. When the changes are ready, you can make them live in just one click.
Image via Kinsta
8. Technical Support
As I’ve already mentioned, Kinsta stands out for its impeccable customer support. What sets Kinsta’s support team apart from others is that it exclusively comprises experienced WordPress developers and Linux hosting engineers. This eliminates the need for you to interact with novice customer service reps or chatbots. Instead, your issue is directly addressed by an expert, thereby leading to a quicker and more efficient resolution.
This is one of the main reasons we have been using Kinsta for the Hustlr blog. You can contact the tech support team using the live chat feature and ticketing system. The best part is that the team is available round-the-clock and diligently works to resolve your queries as soon as possible.
Moreover, Kinsta uses intercom technology to facilitate internal communication. It ensures that the support staff on every shift is aware of the issue you are facing. This, in turn, eliminates the need for you to explain your query every time you interact with a new tech support staff. Additionally, the team monitors your website every two minutes and rectifies any errors before they reach your audience.
Image via Kinsta
9. Pricing
It won’t be fair to label this as a Kinsta review without elaborating on its pricing plans. I’ve already pointed out that Kinsta offers various flexible pricing plans with a 30-day money-back guarantee. The membership plans start at $30 per month and can go up to $1500 per month. You can select one of the existing schemes or request for a tailor-made plan based on your needs.
Image via Kinsta
It is essential to note that the starting price for Kinsta is higher compared to other hosting providers. While its meticulous features justify the higher price point, you should consider if you are willing to make the investment. Additionally, you should also analyze your website needs all these advanced features.
For instance, if someone owns a local hardware store, their website is expected to showcase some information about the store. This can include business address, company history, pictures, etc. However, none of this information will likely change frequently. Moreover, the website won’t experience sudden traffic surges. Such a website may not be ideal for utilizing Kinsta to its fullest potential.
On the contrary, if you are a blogger who earns through website traffic and affiliate links, you need a fast and secure website. Your website is prone to experience traffic spikes if a blog post goes viral or ranks well in search engine results. In such a scenario, it is recommended that you use Kinsta for an uninterrupted, fast, and reliable website.
So far, we have discussed Kinsta’s offerings and deliverables in detail. We have also analyzed how useful these features are and if they live up to the hype. Let us now quickly see what real-life users have to say about Kinsta.
Is Kinsta Worth The Hype?
This Kinsta review would be incomplete without peeking into the experience of real-life users. It is important to understand if Kinsta’s claims are any good and whether it delivers on its promise. I did some digging around on Google to find reviews of real-life Kinsta users. Many users have particularly praised its responsive tech support and hassle-free migration.
Here is Kinsta’s overall rating on Trustpilot:
Image via Trustpilot
Here are some reliable Kinsta reviews from actual users:
Image via Trustpilot
It is safe to say that Kinsta is a premium and feature-rich web hosting service that provides impeccable speed, scalability, and flexibility. Now that you are convinced about the benefits of Kinsta, you must be eager to switch your hosting provider. However, it is crucial to consider various factors before you take the plunge and purchase Kinsta’s membership plan. In the following section, we will attempt to elaborate on whether you should choose Kinsta over other web hosting services.
Is Kinsta Right For You?
We have now come to the most crucial question of our Kinsta review. Should you migrate your website from the existing hosting provider to Kinsta? While there is no straightforward way to answer this question, we can weigh Kinsta’s pros and cons to reach a conclusion.
Advantages of Kinsta
The biggest benefit of using Kinsta is that it gives you access to cutting-edge technology, including cloud-based architecture, LXR containers, KeyCDN, etc. This ensures that your website loads at a lightning-fast speed. The ability to choose from Google Cloud’s 20 data centers lets you minimize latency and improve speed even further. Kinsta’s quest to provide a speed-obsessed infrastructure for your website sets it apart from other hosting providers.
Moreover, Kinsta’s hassle-free setup and migration process are commendable. All you have to do is select your membership plan and create your account. Thereafter, building a new website on Kinsta is just like creating any other WordPress website. You can choose from a plethora of up-to-date themes and plugins for your website. If you have an existing website on another server, you can easily migrate it to Kinsta.
Place a request from your dashboard and let Kinsta’s skilled technicians handle everything for you. It takes as little as 30 minutes to complete, after which you will receive a notification. This is a huge advantage for beginners who aren’t well-versed with website development. It also ensures that the process of migration remains supervised and error-free. The simple and straightforward MyKinsta dashboard makes it easy to get the hang of the platform.
Kinsta also provides enhanced security for your website, including 24×7 uptime monitoring and threat/attack detection. Most of these actions take place in the background and require minimal involvement from your side. You can easily activate SSL security with LetsEncrypt instead of going through the lengthy process of obtaining the certificate and keys. Additionally, Kinsta takes daily backups of your website that can be restored anytime with one click.
The cloud-based infrastructure also provides a flexible and scalable platform for growing websites. While you will be charged extra if you exceed your quota of monthly visitors, your website will remain online. This is particularly crucial for websites that are prone to unpredictable traffic spikes. The best part is that you can focus on driving increased website traffic without worrying about a potential crash. These features also make Kinsta an ideal choice for resource-intensive e-commerce websites.
It is worth noting that unlike other web hosting services, Kinsta stays true to its claim of being a fully-managed platform. All you have to do is enable the right tasks such as backup, migration, staging, etc. The efficient tech team carries out the complicated processes in the background. This makes Kinsta a user-friendly service that is designed to provide optimum handholding to beginners.
Lastly, the biggest benefit that Kinsta offers is its experienced and responsive technical support team. The support staff is available at your beck-and-call and works quickly to resolve any issue you might be facing. Kinsta carefully handpicks its support staff and ensures that they are well-versed with WordPress. This, in turn, ensures that your problem is directly addressed and resolved by WordPress veterans.
While Kinsta doesn’t provide a free trial, all its membership plans come with a 30-day money-back guarantee. This helps you check out the platforms and their features before you can make up your mind. It is especially useful for beginners who might be skeptical about Kinsta’s pricing.
Kinsta’s amazing features might make you think it is too good to be true. However, like all good things, it comes with a few flaws. Let’s take a look.
Drawbacks of Kinsta
The biggest factor that deters many website owners from migrating to Kinsta is its steep price point. At $30 per month, Kinsta’s membership plans are more expensive than most hosting providers. You get access to a bunch of sophisticated features and website management tools. However, you should analyze whether these tools are necessary for your website and its purpose.
Another common complaint is the absence of email hosting. While Kinsta recommends Google’s G Suite, it isn’t integrated with any email hosting provider. It might give more flexibility to experienced developers who like to control every aspect of their website. However, if you are a beginner who is looking for an all-in-one solution, this might disappoint you.
Moreover, the introduction of phone support will also make it easier for users to contact the tech team. Although the chat support and ticketing system are flawless, some users might feel more comfortable conversing on the phone. This is particularly true when you have a minor query about how a specific feature works. You don’t want to engage in lengthy messages or email threads for something that can be resolved on a call.
Lastly, Kinsta is only compatible with WordPress websites and blogs. If you have an existing website that is custom-coded or built on a different platform, you can’t migrate it to Kinsta. In such a scenario, the only option is to build a new website from scratch.
Final Verdict
For the most part, Kinsta’s benefits outweigh its drawbacks. It is a power pack that combines everything you expect from a modern, reliable hosting provider. Thus, instead of analyzing whether Kinsta is the right choice, you should determine if your website needs Kinsta at all.
As mentioned earlier, Kinsta is perfect for websites that undergo frequent changes or are prone to traffic spikes. Additionally, it is suitable for businesses that depend on their websites for revenue generation. This makes Kinsta’s cloud-based infrastructure a great choice for e-commerce websites and growing blogs.
However, if you have a static website that uses limited resources, you might be better off using a dedicated server. The final decision to choose your hosting provider depends on the type of website and volume of traffic. Additionally, the purpose for which your website is built should be considered before you go ahead and buy Kinsta.
Conclusion
Your website’s hosting provider has a massive impact on its performance. It influences various aspects, including speed, scalability, flexibility, and security. That is why it is crucial to select the right hosting provider that provides the best infrastructure to enhance your website’s performance.
Kinsta is a fully-managed cloud-based WordPress hosting provider powered by a team of experienced WordPress developers and Linux hosting engineers. It offers various useful benefits, including increased website speed, enhanced security, easy setup, one-click, migration, etc. However, Kinsta’s biggest strength lies in its efficient and proactive tech support staff.
It is a premium service that starts at $30 per month and comes with a 30-day money-back guarantee. While Kinsta’s pricing is on the higher side, the advanced features justify its cost. It is ideal for growing websites that might experience sudden traffic spikes.
Are you on the lookout for a new hosting provider for your WordPress blog? Click here to register on Kinsta and check it out.
DISCLOSURE: The HUSTLR goal is to help readers navigate around the digital economy by learning digital skills to achieve their life goals. This blog post may contain affiliate link(s) and any purchase(s) made through such links will result in a small commission to HUSTLR (at no cost to you). However, this does not impact our reviews and comparisons. We try our best to keep things fair in order to help you make the best choice.
Richa describes herself as an avid dreamer and a curious soul! She is a certified Content & Search Marketing Specialist from Digital Marketer, USA. With an experience of 5+ years as a content marketer and researcher, she is in love with Digital Breakthroughs, Content Marketing, Startup Strategies and so much more.
