KnownHost Introduction

Based near Washington, DC in the USA, KnownHost is a privately-owned web hosting company. It claims to have 15 years’ experience in the industry and its CEO, Justin Sauers, oversees several related companies.

As a hosting provider, KnownHost focuses almost totally on managed VPS and managed dedicated hosting. Sister company RocketVPS provides unmanaged VPS hosting, and recently-acquired Uberhost focuses on its shared hosting packages. The three brands therefore cover all of the hosting services you’d normally expect one brand to offer.

Although KnownHost is an American company, its support staff are spread around the globe.

KnownHost Hosting Plans

KnownHost promotes two types of hosting plans, managed VPS and managed dedicated. All are Linux-only.

● Managed VPS hosting is aimed at users who are outgrowing shared hosting and may be looking to upgrade to the next level of power and performance. There are seven different managed VPS hosting plans on offer and these can be customised with a range of upgrades and add-ons. For example, users can purchase additional RAM or disk space, order extra bandwidth or purchase additional IP addresses. Note: software such as cPanel, WHM, DirectAdmin, Plesk and Softaculous is optional and offered only as a paid upgrade.

● KnownHost’s dedicated servers are located in its Texas data centre and are provided on a fully managed basis, so they’re ideal for newcomers and less technical users. There are currently three different servers on the site, and these can be upgraded with extra RAM, extra bandwidth or additional drive space. On these plans, cPanel is included in the price.

● Additionally, KnownHost offers shared hosting packages, but you’ll have to scour the site to actually get to the fine print. There are two plans, WebOne and WebTwo, and they seem to exist mainly as a stopgap for clients who are looking to move to a VPS. Shared hosting clearly isn’t a priority for KnownHost, so it’s not worth focusing on these in any detail.

KnownHost Uptime/Downtime

KnownHost offers a 99.995% uptime guarantee; this is quite difficult to quantify at-a-glance, but it represents about half an hour of downtime every year. The company doesn’t keep its own stats, but it does provide a link to the HyperSpin website where its uptime is tracked and rated across 16 of its servers. (In total, the company has 200 servers, so this uptime figure can only really be used as a guide).

The main KnownHost data centre appears to be Colo4Dallas. It also uses a facility in Los Angeles, California and rents space at the Net2EZ data center in New Jersey. Test downloads are provided for all three data centres so that customers can decide which one is right for them; it’s worth doing this if you’re outside the US. All facilities are equipped with backup power, 24/7 security and CCTV.

I couldn’t find any up-to-date information about backups, although the website says backups are included on VPS hosting plans. It doesn’t specify anything about the backup service, though. An old help topic suggests that VPS accounts may be backed up every other night, but this post dated back to 2006, so it may be wise to check with KnownHost if you’re looking for a provider that will automatically back up your account. Manual backups are available providing you have paid for control panel software on your VPS or server.

KnownHost Support

KnownHost customers are provided with a very thorough knowledgebase and a download library full of useful manuals and software. Customers can contact support staff 24/7 through the ticketing system on the website or via email.

There is no telephone or live chat support.

KnownHost’s technical advisors are not necessarily based on-site. The company’s CEO has stated that support staff are located in the USA, Canada, Europe, Australia “and a few other locations”, meaning that customers may be connected to an advisor in a different continent.

KnownHost in the News

I didn’t find any negative press relating to KnownHost, and it appears that the company has not been the victim of any major hacks.

KnownHost Control Panel

At KnownHost, a variety of control panels are available on VPS hosting plans, including cPanel and Plesk. These are not free and must be paid for on a monthly basis.

On dedicated server plans, cPanel is included in the price.

KnownHost Extras

KnownHost doesn’t offer any freebies to tempt new customers to sign up. The Fantastico one-click installer application is included on dedicated server plans, and that includes easy installs of software like WordPress. However, on VPS plans, Fantastico is an optional, paid extra. There’s nothing else on offer to tempt you to sign up.

KnownHost Money Back Guarantee / Cancellation Policy

All VPS hosting customers benefit from a 30-day money-back guarantee, providing they’ve not purchased anything from the company before. Customers who exceed their monthly bandwidth limit within the first 30 days cannot claim anything under this guarantee.

There’s no money-back guarantee for dedicated server customers.

Additionally, there are no refunds for mid-term cancellations on any plan.

KnownHost Summary

KnownHost is a specialised brand that caters for people who want to make the jump from shared hosting to something more robust. As such, it has a narrow focus and a particular type of user in mind.

If you’re ready to sign up for this kind of hosting, KnownHost certainly seem to have the necessary expertise, and the 30-day money-back guarantee offers reassurance too. Bear in mind the location of the support staff, and the lack of a support telephone number, if you’re likely to need help getting started.