Features
Although Media Temple provides a good variety of hosting options, their Grid shared hosting service should be more than enough for most small businesses. Just as the name implies, each of the three plans under this service is run on their proprietary Grid hosting architecture. This means that your website taps into a vast, daisy-chained network of server processors for vastly improved performance, so your website stays in top form even during times of intense traffic. And if you add their burstable database resources and scalable bandwidth to the recipe, your website can go beyond what normal shared hosting services can handle – and sometimes even surpass some dedicated server setups.
20th Place7 out of 10Another great thing about Media Temple’s Grid shared hosting plans is the fact that each provides allocation for numerous websites from the get-go. Their lowest plan, for example, allows you to host 100 websites and create 100 databases. Other hosting providers only allow you to host 1 website for their lowest plan, so this is a pretty great move on Media Temple’s part. That said, unlike other web hosts, they do not provide unmetered storage nor data transfer. They do offer large, scalable bandwidth allocation across their plans, which evens things out. Still, if you would rather have unmetered features, then there are tons of other web hosts that offer exactly those.
The Control Panel
Their easy-to-use custom control panel, meanwhile, allows you to manage your websites easily on any screen, thanks to a fully responsive layout. Even better, their Managed App catalog allows you to quickly deploy apps like WordPress, ZenCart, Drupal, and the like, or even deploy custom code. The only downside with their control panel is that it isn’t the industry-standard cPanel so some businesses who are used to that control panel might have to brace themselves for a learning curve. On the bright side, they do provide a rather intuitive on-boarding process that should be able to help ease you in to their platform.
Beyond that, Media Temple’s two premium plans throw in advanced security measures and global CDN into the mix. Security comes in the form of SiteLock, whose SMART technology provides daily scans and automatic malware cleaning. The highest plan also includes SiteLock’s web firewall that protects against vulnerabilities found in applications. SiteLock also provides their global CDN in the form of TrueSpeed. With this, you get a vast network of data centers backed up by smart caching and content optimization, which results in speedy content delivery, wherever your visitors connect from.
Finally, Media Temple’s round-the-clock management also handles all software updates for you, plus they also provide 30 days of automatic daily backups. And if in the event that something goes awry and something in your website breaks, their 1-Click Restore easily sorts things out.
Pricing
As previous mentioned, Media Temple offers 3 Grid shared hosting plans for you to choose from, where features get a significant upgrade the higher you climb. The Pro plan, for example, provides 400 more sites and databases, 80GB more storage, and 1TB more bandwidth than the Personal plan. Prices, meanwhile, are nowhere near affordable as some hosting providers, but are decent enough for the features they offer. The lowest plan will cost you $20 per month, while the highest will cost you a pretty hefty $120 per month (which is a currently discounted price – the original will set you back $150/mo). Here is a brief comparison of their plans:
| Plan | Price | Storage | Bandwidth | Sites | Database | Extras |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Personal | $20/mo | 20GB SSD | 1TB Scalable | 100 | 100 | none |
| Pro | $30/mo | 100GB SSD | 2TB Scalable | 500 | 500 | Global CDN and SiteLock malware protection |
| Agency | $120/mo | 500GB SSD | 5TB Scalable | 2500 | 2500 | Global CDN, SiteLock malware and firewall protection. Annual plans include 1 domain registration and 1 site SSL certificate. |
VPS Hosting
Beyond their Grid hosting plans, Media Temple also provides unmanaged and managed VPS plans. Though VPS are pretty good choices for businesses, the company’s prices are pretty expensive for most small businesses. Their managed plans will set you back $55 per month, and can go as high as $1,500 per month. The prices of their unmanaged plans are a little easier to swallow as they start at $30 per month, but this is more for advanced users and not really a good fit for a good number of startups.
Customer Support
For the most part, Media Temple offers really solid customer support. Self-help options include a comprehensive knowledgebase, which includes numerous tutorials. Topics range from account management to migrations and beyond. They also offer 24/7/365 assistance via ticket submission, live chat and phone. You can also connect with their Twitter account and ask for assistance there. And if you need more help, their CloudTech priority care can assist you with optimizing servers, securing sites and more. Take note that this additional support will cost you, either on an on-demand or subscription basis.
What's the Verdict on Media Temple?
Media Temple SMB Hosting Review 2020 – Conclusion
For the most part, Media Temple is a really strong web host. Their proprietary Grid technology provides improved website stability even during high traffic instances; they allow you to host hundreds of domains from the get-go; and their customer support is excellent. Sadly, the expensive prices and lack of Windows-based hosting and unmetered features means that their services might not be a good fit for a number of small businesses. Then there is the fact that their website builder, though promising, does not come bundled with their hosting plans, which alienates startups who have not yet built a website and are strapped for cash. That said, Media Temple is still a very good choice for those who have budget to spare.
No Comments... Yet!