Avalon Hosting Services Review: Is it a good hosting solution?
That’s something I’d like you to decide.
Why should you believe anything I say on this Review?
Well, because, I actually have used not one, but two of their shared servers.
I’m writing this Avalon Hosting Services Review only after personally using, experiencing and testing the servers.
To make things easier, I’ve conducted various tests on the servers and shared the results “transparently”.
Meaning, all the test-results can be “verified” by you independently. Why just trust screenshots, right?
Let’s get started right away then?
Proof of Purchase
The domain on which I’ll be testing the servers is- https://www.updateland-hostingreview.online
Here is my Avalon Hosting Services cPanel.
And, here’s the website:
This intoDNS report will verify the same as well.
The company offers servers from as many as 7 locations in general. However, shared servers offer 2 choices.
I obtained servers from both of those locations (Michigan and Singapore).
This intoDNS report is for my Avalon Hosting Servers Singapore servers.
So, regardless of which location suits you more, you’ll be getting accurate and transparent test-results for both.
It’s settled then?
Let’s get you a closer look.
Avalon Hosting Services Overview
An outline, to understand what is, and isn’t offered:
- Website: https://avalonhosting.services/
- Free domain: No.
- Free SSL: Yes
- Free CDN: Yes
- Free migrations: Yes
- Free daily backups: Yes.
- Free cWatch website protection: Yes.
- Cheapest plan: $2.50/month.
- Payment modes: Traditional currencies (fiat), and Cryptocurrencies.
- Server location choices: Yes.
- Money-back: Within 24 hours.
- Refunds (Credit): 30 days.
- Uptime: Zero downtime guarantee.
- Support: 24X7 Live chat / Phone / E-mail / Tickets.
That pretty much explains it, doesn’t it?
Avalon Hosting Services Pros and Cons
I’d love if you go through the fine-print on this Avalon Hosting Services Review.
However, not everyone may have the luxury of time.
So, here are Avalon Hosting Services’ best and weakest aspects (in my opinion):
Pros:
- Arguably, the longest list of freebies in the industry.
- Multiple server-locations.
- Cheap pricing.
- Impressive server-performance.
- 24X7 support.
Cons:
- No free domains.
I don’t like small-talk either. Let’s get you the details you came here for.
Page Load-time Test
Speed, without doubt is one of the most important factors when choosing your hosting partner, isn’t it?
The page load-time determines just that.
How long does a page take to load on average.
Here are the load-time test results for Avalon Hosting Services from various locations:
(The image is for the U.S.A- Washington D.C test, on the Michigan servers.)
Country Load-time
Washington DC 508 ms (Verify result authenticity.)
San Francisco 792ms
London 1.15s
Brazil 1.60s
Japan 1.71s
Australia 2 seconds.
Washington performed the best with 508ms. But, that may be because this test was on the Michigan servers.
Even the slowest response, from Australia, was only 2 seconds. Still impressive.
I did say earlier in this Avalon Hosting Services Review that I used their Singapore servers as well, didn’t I?
Here are the test results from the Singapore servers:
Country Load-time
Japan 1.04 seconds (verify results).
Germany 1.49 seconds.
Australia 1.56 seconds.
UK 1.63 seconds.
Washington DC 2.15seconds
Brazil 3 seconds.
Japan, being geographically closest to Singapore (my server location) performed the best.
As for the slowest performance, Brazil required 3 seconds.
In my opinion, even that’s impressive.
Overall, nearly all the locations, for both the servers were <2seconds.
That’s exactly what Google officially wants from your sites.
But, the load-time test depends on nearly a dozen factors.
It’s not essentially always the server’s quality which makes a site load faster.
And so, we get to our next test.
Server Response Time Test (SRT)
Is my site loading fast only because it’s new, and nearly blank?
Or does the server actually performs that good?
Well, we’ll test the company’s Server Response Time for that.
It too isn’t the absolute metric.
However, it gets us the speed of the server’s “response time”, after a browser sends the site-load request.
In simpler words, I always aim for a SRT below 300ms.
Anything above 600ms generally isn’t desirable.
Here are the SRT results obtained using Bitcatcha, for the Michigan server: (Verify)
The lowest SRT seems to be 24ms for Canada.
On the other hand, Canada needed 224ms for the response.
As for the Singapore server, here are the results:
Singapore performed the best (big surprise, duh!)
Sao Paulo was the slowest and required 361ms to respond.
I guess we all agree the average SRT is below 200ms.
Have I seen better results? Definitely.
But, these numbers I’d say are totally some of the best-ever.
All in all, the Michigan servers perform better.
But, the Singapore servers too performed pretty good. Not as good as Michigan, but better than quite a few other companies out there.
SRT with traffic spike
The tests do seem favourable so far, don’t they?
But, what about a traffic-spike?
Naturally, you expect your website to get visited.
This test will verify the servers’ performance when there’s a traffic-surge.
Keeping the tests realistic, I’ll be sending 50 virtual users to the website.
That seems like an achievable, practical number, doesn’t it?
These users will remain on the website for 3 minutes.
And then, we see how does the site react?
Well, here’s how (this test was conducted on the Michigan server):
(In this case, my virtual users were from the U.S as well.)
The avg. Response time seems to be 42.55ms. A rather impressive number. Especially with the traffic-surge.
Sure, the initial bump did hurt me a bit.
But then, the blue line flatlined. This indicates consistency.
Even with 50active VUs, it only required 38ms.
You can verify the above result on an interactive graph here.
As far as server-quality goes, I personally am impressed.
And I’m not wooed easy.
Especially, considering I’ve used quite a few hosting companies so far.
These sure aren’t the best numbers out there.
But, considering the pricing plan and other features, I’d say the company does deliver on its claims.
7 Server location choices
Not many companies offer the choice of server-locations.
At least, not on their cheap shared hosting plans.
With Avalon Hosting Services, you do get the server location-choices. (As is probably established by all the tests we’ve done so far.)
You can choose either one of the two servers for the shared servers:
- Singapore
And, if you’re going for their Cloud hosting services, the following locations are offered:
- USA
- UK
- Canada
- India
- Germany
- Netherlands
- And Singapore.
In my opinion, that’s quite a few options.
Freebies: SSL certificate, CDN, $100 ad-credits, migrations, Daily backups.
Honestly, this probably is the longest list of freebies I’ve seen, ever.
The SSL is a Google-requirement for better rankings now.
Without an SSL certificate, Google will scare your visitors away by displaying a security warning.
The CDN keeps the sites secure (from hacks, bot-spams etc.) and fast.
Furthermore, what makes Avlon Hosting really newbie-friendly is their “free migration” feature.
It’s possible that you only have experience with drag & drop website builders?
Zero server-management or cPanel experience?
In that case, the team migrates your website(s) for you, absolutely free.
Moreover, there’s no limit on the number of pages/websites that can be migrated.
And finally, there’s the free daily backup.
This is truly the rarest of all freebies. Especially, for a shared hosting plan.
Most companies either do not offer automated backups. Or, charge extra.
Avalon Hosting Services offers 100% free daily backups.
There are no strings attached either.
These can be requested any day, for any purpose.
Moreover, on its Singapore server, the process is entirely automated.
As in, you can restore a backup manually at any time.
No support ticket/authentication/permission required. (And that’s extremely rare.)
All in all, as far as freebies go, I’d say Avalon tops the chart.
Free cWatch Complete Website Protection
cWatch is a free security add-on that all hosting plans on Avalon Hosting Services are eligible for.
It’s like an all-encompassing tool as far as security goes.
Additionally, it’s managed.
Meaning, the company handles most problems from its end. Essentially, offering near-managed servers at unmanaged prices.
Some of its features include:
- Malware scans 6 times every single day.
- DDoS protection.
- Automated free, daily, unlimited malware removal.
- Got your site blacklisted? Or hacked? The team fixes it from their end.
- SEO/traffic/performance monitoring.
- Real-time alerts.
- Web application firewalls.
- Protection from bots.
- Trust-seal for better conversions and hopefully returning visitors.
There are a total of 3 plans for cWatch.
While all the plans offer near-identical features, the number and frequency of scans vary depending on the plans.
All the shared servers come with 30 days of free premium cWatch access.
After the 30 day trial-period, the plans are downgraded to the “Basic” plan. Yet, they remain active forever.
Zero downtime
This probably is the most exclusive feature on this entire Avalon Hosting Services Review.
Exclusive?
Well, I sure haven’t seen a lot of companies boasting of “Zero downtime”. Have you?
Even when it comes to scheduled maintenance, the company always notifies us in advance.
As far as my personal experience goes, the zero-downtime policy does seem to be true.
Obviously, alike every single server on the planet, there probably will be downtimes.
It just hasn’t happened so far.
In case an unplanned downtime does happen, and if Avalon Hosting Services is at fault, credit refunds are issued. Considering, the downtime lasts for 30+ minutes.
Pricing Plans
Who can, and can’t afford Avalon Hosting Services?
That’s a pretty subjective answer, isn’t it? Everyone has a different budget.
As for Avalon Hosting Services, it offers 3 plans.
Starter- $2.50/month
- Domains: 2
- Subdomains: 2X 10
- Database: 1
- Email accounts: Unlimited.
- Storage: 50 GB SSD.
Premium- $3.50/month
- Domains: 10
- Subdomains: Unlimited.
- Databases: 5
- Email accounts: Unlimited.
- Storage: 200 GB SSD.
- Free daily malware scanner.
Business- $7.00/month
- Domains: Unlimited
- Subdomains: Unlimited.
- Databases: Unlimited
- Email accounts: Unlimited.
- Storage: Unlimited.
- G suit access: 1 domain.
- Free daily malware scanner.
Note that the company offers Cloud servers, Dedicated servers, domains, SSL and many other services.
However, we’ve just limited this Avalon Hosting Services review to its Shared servers. Simply because, that’s the server I personally I have experience with.
Payment Modes
Payment modes matter, period. They determine anonymity, transaction fee, and many other aspects of a transaction.
The company not only accepts traditional currencies and payment methods, but also Cryptocurrencies.
Payments on Avalon Hosting Services can be made using:
- Bitcoin
- PayPal
- Credit/Debit cards
- And even Apple Pay.
Additionally, you can even make payments in your local currency to banks in the following countries:
- USA
- UK
- Mexico
- Singapore
- Australia
- and Bangladesh
Refund policy
Avalon Hosting Services uses a very unique, non-traditional moneyback-policy.
If you request a refund within 24 hours, you get 100% refund on your payment.
If not, an additional the refund can also be requested within 30 days.
But, in this case (if 24 hours have passed since the purchase)¸ the refunds are in the form of “credits”.
These credits can be used to purchase any other service on Avalon Hosting Services.
Acceptable Use Policy (AUP)
The AUP is a list of content which is, or isn’t allowed on a hosting server.
Furthermore, the AUP restricts the following types of content (including, but not limited to):
- Any illegal content/product service.
- Defamatory content.
- Containing/promoting violence.
- Sexually explicit material*.
- Copyright infringement etc.
This is a pretty broad list so far as the restrictions go. But, I’m sure you’re getting the idea?
*Legal porn, for which you do own the copyright/distributing rights, may be allowed. You need to contact the support team and pitch them the content and requirements.
As for the servers, they’re located in many different countries.
Does that make Avalon Hosting Services an offshore hosting company?
No, it doesn’t.
Primarily because, Avalon Hosting Services is bound by “global laws”.
Meaning, regardless of which server you’re using, you ought to follow laws from your own country/region, as well as the laws of the server-country.
In a nutshell, as long as you’re using Avalon Hosting Services for legal, ethical and morally-correct reasons and purposes, there’s no trouble whatsoever.
Support
How is the support provided? And, how good is it in general?
It’s primarily provided via live-chat, and I’ll say it’s one of the best.
These praise-songs aren’t without reason though.
For starters, it’s available 24X7.
Then, the response time never exceeds 60 seconds, at best.
What impressed me was that, the team doesn’t just “answer” your questions.
They actually make an effort to “solve” problems. You’re never left high and dry. They’ll keep suggesting different solutions, till one of them works for you. (Based on my personal experience.)
In worse-case scenarios, they even fix the issue from their end, for free.
Tickets, contact forms, or phone-support is offered as well.
Android and iOS apps
This isn’t exactly a “feature”.
Yet, not something that most other hosting providers offer, and hence, worth a mention.
Avalon Hosting Services has its own Android, as well as iOS apps.
Both of which can be used to purchase and manage services from mobile devices.
Avalon Hosting Services Review- Final Verdict
Let’s not stretch this Avalon Hosting Services review any further than we need to.
Based on my personal experience, I’d say it’s pretty impressive.
The pricing plans are rational.
The server-performance is pretty good as we’ve already seen.
Then, there’s the zero-downtime guarantee.
The support team doesn’t leave any room for complaints either.
Free cWatch website protection is another reason I’d go with them.
And, the freebies further tip the scale in its favour.
All in all, my final verdict for this Avalon Hosting Services is that if nothing else, it’s definitely worth a try at the least.
