Whether you are new to website building or have experience managing websites, you need good web hosting.
Price, Reliability, Site speed, Customer service support?
Just to name a few.
With more people entering the online world, competition is getting stiffer for bloggers and e-commerce retailers alike.
Everyone wants their information fast.
They want to know how much this magical face whitening product cost now. The faster they can compare how much Sephora is selling it versus the seller in Shopee, the easier it is for them to make the right decision.
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Besides wanting information at lightning speed, consumers need the assurance that the website they are entering is secured. Will you continue entering a website if a risk warning sign appears?
So if you are looking to turn your blog into a website or start an online business, you will require more specific features to make the best out of your business. That is how I started searching for alternative web hosting providers and got to know Exabytes.
Exabytes is located in Malaysia, it has 20 years in providing web hosting services. As we know, Singapore is a digital hub for South East Asia and besides Malaysia, Indonesia, and the U.S.A, Exabytes has a data center right here in Singapore too! You can rest assured that your website can expect a fast loading time. Besides web hosting services, the platform also offers services such as website designing, domain registration, digital marketing services (for eg SEO, Facebook Ads, Google Ads, etc), cloud management, and other related services.
Modern Mom Life and Modern Home Realtor (another of my website that curates content on home designs and lifestyle) have been using Vodien’s WordPress hosting for the past 2 years.
Both websites are built on WordPress and I must say my experience with them has been pleasant.
The reason I started with Vodien was that it was recommended by a good friend of mine. Another reason was that its headquarters is in Singapore. I prefer to work with companies that have localized support or are in the same time zone because it will be easier to contact customer support should a problem arise.
Vodien is a Singapore-based web hosting company founded in 2002 and provides IT services to businesses of many sizes, especially SMEs. They have a wide range of features that appeal to many, but for business owners who do not have a large email subscriber list or large monthly traffic to their websites, they may find Vodien’s web hosting plans over their budget. If you Googled reviews of Vodien, don’t be too surprised to find that nearly all webmaster reviewers say similar things about Vodien’s hosting plans.
However, you pay for what you get, and Vodien does offer value-added features and server speed that justify the price packages. Here is what you can expect from Vodien WordPress Hosting features and price packages:
For this review, I was able to test out Exabytes’s WP 12 Business Hosting Plan to make a proper comparison between Exabytes and Vodien.
I did not have to do any migration because I was about to set up an E-commerce at the point of communication with Exabytes. One thing I had to do was to change my domain’s DNS as I registered it with Vodien. This change in DNS is very simple, and so there were no issues during this process.
First, let us look at the difference between their web hosting plans.
Exabytes’s WordPress Hosting plans come with quite a complete feature that you will need to start a website. In my opinion, for any first-time business owner with a small budget, Exabytes will be a good choice to start with. But of course, like any other platform, there are the good and the not-so-good factors.
Price – My vote goes to Exabytes
WP 12 Business plan comes with a free lifetime domain, something which can help you save at least $60/year depending on your domain TLD (.sg or .com.sg, etc). Another area that you can save your bucks is the free SSL cert. SSL cert is mandatory for all websites for SEO purposes and, security as well.
They provide a rather big disk space as well, especially important if you will be publishing high-resolution videos.
Vodien, on the other hand, does not offer many features on their WordPress Hosting plans. The good thing is that they will auto-update your WordPress theme and plugins, and it is very easy to access directly to the WordPress dashboard from your Vodien account.
The unimpressive thing about Vodien’s WordPress Hosting plans is that they do not come with other features, unlike Exabytes. Their web hosting plans are also rather basic, so you are ‘forced to buy the business web hosting plans that starts from $28/month to get the necessary features to start your business online.
Control Panel – My vote goes to Exabytes
When you sign up with Exabytes’s WP 12 Business Hosting plan, you will have access to a control panel called Plesk.
This control panel is to allow website owners to manage their website’s database, files, email accounts FTP file transfers, SSL certifications, and many more from this browser.
Plesk, I would say, can be complicated at the start. Like a large carnival with many booths, it takes some time for you to explore and play the ‘different games at the booths’ to get to know the panel.
One thing to add, if you are a beginner, don’t be too much of a hero and add new accounts or sub-domains. My advice will be to leave these buttons alone – I speak from experience. The interface of Plesk is very simple, clean, and easy to navigate. You can schedule tasks, check your backlogs, check emails with just a click.
Vodien uses cPanel for its control panel.
Note that if you only sign up for WordPress Hosting, you will not have access to cPanel.
I managed to explore around cPanel before they did an upgrade and it gave me an impression that I’m on the App Store.
You have a dashboard with your emails, databases, SSL cert, etc but there are several features you will need to download from Softaculous aka app store lookalike. Softaculous is integrated into cPanel which you will have access to their 382 apps.
Good for the advanced website owners, but not so good for the beginners.
Customer Service (Technical Knowledge) – My vote goes to Vodien
Both Vodien and Exabytes offer 24/7 customer service and after-sales support.
You can chat with an agent live at any time of the day.
Vodien’s agents have better technical knowledge. For most of the issues I had, they were able to solve them immediately without having to raise them to the specialist department.
Vodien’s support agents are very prompt in their email replies as well, and they will make sure that your issue is fully resolved before they close the case. And trust me, I tried asking them the dumbest questions and the agent who was with me was so patient with me. Kudos to Vodien’s service support agents!
Website Loading Speed – My vote goes to Exabytes
I tested both sites’ speeds and it turned out that Exabytes has a faster loading time like what I experienced.
To be sure if your site can have fast loading time is to check on the web hosting’s page, and so Exabytes got the vote for this category. Vodien indeed takes much longer to load most of the time, I can be replying to text messages while waiting for my account page to load. But, another reason they could be taking this long to load is that I did not clear my cache.
But, based on the speed test, it looks like GTmetrix agrees that Exabytes has a faster loading time.
User Interface – My vote goes to Vodien
Vodien got my vote on the ease of navigating around the website.
The simple interface and large fonts make it very easy to understand what you will be getting. They design the website that is more straight to the point, you don’t have to scroll continuously to be overloaded with information.
Exabytes’s web page can be confusing when you have no idea what you need to start a website. They are very informative but I find that it is too much. Their main services are at the menu bar at the header, but they have subdivided services that lead you to another page.
There are haters and likers for every type of website design and experience. I like websites that are straight to the point, and I don’t get steered off course which ends up with me forgetting what I initially wanted to find. Thus my vote goes to Vodien.
So here are my personal opinions and experience of the web hosting platforms Exabytes and Vodien. Do remember that I am not a full stack web developer so if you are at the advanced level with specific technical knowledge, this review might not be suitable for you.
Hope that these factors can help you decide which platform is more suitable for your needs and requirements!
