Australian Web Hosting Latest News in 2024

Earlier this year, it seemed to me that the choice of Australian owned and operated web hosting providers was rapidly diminishing. The acquisition of Hostopia Australia by Newfold Digital in March 2022 means that Anchor, Crucial, Digital Pacific, Panthur and Web24 are no longer Australian owned. Nexigen Digital acquired Net Virtue and NetOrigin over the last few years and absorbed these companies into their VentraIP brand. Zuver has been phased out and also absorbed into the VentraIP brand.

It turns out there are quite a few other locally owned and operated web hosting providers and many have been around for just as long or even longer than VentraIP. Many are not necessarily well known but do seem to have plenty of happy customers.

Below is a snapshot of the web hosting providers included on this website in September 2022. Included are the latest review scores from Google, Facebook and ProductReview.com.au where available, the cost of a shared web hosting plan closest to the VentraIP "Starter" cPanel shared web hosting plan (5 GB SSD Disk Space, 200% CPU and 2GB Memory) and the cost of registering a .com.au domain name. Note that comparing the prices of roughly equivalent plans only provides an indicative comparison as some providers are using newer hardware than others. For example, Clickhost and DreamIT Host shared web hosting plans use NVMe drives which are significantly faster than standard or SSD drives.

VentraIP still have fairly good review scores especially taking into account the recent acquisitions and the retirement of the Zuver brand which did not suit some customers. With the recent increase in VentraIP pricing, VentraIP is now positioned as a premium brand with sustainable pricing. The price increase may well be justified given their solid history and their customised hosting control panel which is excellent.

As at September 2022, the best value for money established Australian shared web hosting providers are probably:

• DreamIT Host especially when taking into account the performance from NVMe storage
• ROBTEC Hosting with recently refreshed servers and very affordable DirectAdmin plans which cost a little less than the cPanel plans
• UpTime Web Hosting especially if more storage space is needed

The newest provider below, Clickhost also deserve an honourable mention with excellent value for money and excellent performance with NVMe storage.

	?/5 unavailable	?/5 unavailable	5.0/5 1 review	$120.00/yr "Entry" 5GB/200%/2GB	$9.50/yr .com.au
	4.9/5 90 reviews	4.9/5 270 reviews	4.9/5 57 reviews	$107.40/yr "Startup" 5GB/100%/2GB	$14.95/yr .com.au
	5.0/5 5 reviews	4.9/5 7 reviews	?/5 unavailable	$108.00/yr "Basic" 10GB/200%/2GB	$15.00/yr .com.au
	5.0/5 10 reviews	5.0/5 31 reviews	?/5 unavailable	$69.50/yr "Starter SSD" 5GB/100%/2GB	$19.95/yr .com.au
	4.9/5 52 reviews	5.0/5 31 reviews	?/5 unavailable	$72.00/yr "Budget" 5GB/200%/2GB	$11.00/yr .com.au
	?/5 unavailable	?/5 unavailable	5.0/5 1 review	$144.00/yr "Premium" 5GB/200%/2GB	$16.00/yr .com.au
	?/5 unavailable	5.0/5 1 review	?/5 unavailable	$50.00/yr "Basic" 5GB/?%/?GB	$15.00/yr .com.au
	?/5 unavailable	5.0/5 3 reviews	?/5 unavailable	$96.00/yr "Standard" 5GB/100%/1GB	$15.00/yr .com.au
	5.0/5 3 reviews	5.0/5 44 reviews	5.0/5 24 reviews	$99.00/yr "Standard" 20GB/200%/2GB	$14.00/yr .com.au
	4.6/5 250 reviews	4.7/5 608 reviews	4.8/5 430 reviews	$168.00/yr "Starter" 5GB/200%/2GB	$19.95/yr .com.au

As at 16th September 2022, VentraIP have raised their prices.

VentraIP clients were advised by email but there does not seem to have been any public announcement via their blog or anywhere else.

The standard pricing of the Shared Hosting plans have changed as follows:

• The "Starter" plan has increased from $120 to $168 / year.
• The "Freedom" plan has increased from $240 to $312 / year.
• The "Premier" plan has increased from $360 to $456 / year.

The minimum price of a VentraIP shared web hosting plan was previously $60 / year which could be selected as a custom hosting plan with 1GB Disk Space, 100% CPU and 1 GB Memory. The minimum specifications possible now are 5GB Disk Space, 200% CPU and 2 GB Memory which is the "Starter" plan at $168 / year.

This is a long way from the Zuver "Tiny" shared hosting plan at $40 / year which was available as recently as April 2021 when VentraIP absorbed the Zuver Brand into VentraIP.

Promotional pricing for new clients still seems to be available at this stage.

It will be interesting to see what their competition does after seeing these increases.

Website owners who need less than 5GB Disk Space, 200% CPU and 2 GB Memory should check out the cPanel Mini Plan at UpTime Web Hosting which still costs $36 / year.

The ROBTEC Hosting "Budget" shared web hosting plan at $72 / year might also be worth considering as it has a similar specification to the VentraIP "Starter" plan but at less than half the cost.

The DreamIT "Startup" shared web hosting plan at $107.40 / year is also a great alternative with 5GB of very fast NVMe Disk Space, 100% CPU and 2 GB Memory.

With Netorigin, Zuver and Net Virtue all absorbed into VentraIP over the last few years and with several brands such as Anchor, Crucial, Digital Pacific and Panthur acquired by Newfold Digital in March 2022, the choice of Australian owned and operated web hosting companies was starting to look a bit thin.

I have been researching what else is available and have added LEOPARD.host, ROBTEC Hosting, Sitefoundry and Stealth Internet plans to the Web Hosting Down Under website this month.

ROBTEC has been in the web hosting business since 2009 and their web hosting plans certainly give VentraIP a run for the money especially since VentraIP have increased their prices.

Website owners looking for enterprise grade fault tolerant web hosting should check out LEOPARD.host who is an Australian owned and operated family business which started in 2010.

Sitefoundry is independently owned and operated in Australia and started as a sister business to a design agency established in 2016.

Stealth Internet (owned by Obble) started as a rural internet service provider in 1997 and have some very affordable shared web hosting and reseller web hosting plans.

19/09/2022 Update:

DreamIT Host shared web hosting and reseller hosting plans have now been added.

There is a choice of DirectAdmin or cPanel plans (the DirectAdmin plans are more affordable) and a choice of Sydney, Melbourne or Auckland data centers.

Note that only the cPanel plans have been added to this website as this provides a better comparison with the other hosting plans.

DreamIT Host was launched in 2016 and offers affordable, high-performance web, email and reseller hosting to Australian businesses.

These plans are great value for money especially considering the NVMe storage which boosts performance considerably.

22/09/2022 Update:

Clickhost business, managed WordPress, premium and reseller web hosting plans have now been added.

Clickhost was started in 2021 by some of the Netvirtue staff after Nexigen Digital acquired NetVirtue.

These plans are good value for money considering the NVMe storage which boosts performance considerably.

Let me know who else you think I should check out and who else you think should be listed here.

Remember I only consider hosting companies for this website that are 100% Australian owned and operated.

Newfold Digital has acquired Hostopia Australia which includes the following brands:

• Anchor
• Crucial
• Digital Pacific
• Panthur
• Web24

Newfold Digital now includes EIG, Web.com, Dreamscape and Hostopia brands. All Newfold Digital brands are best avoided.

For a full list of Newfold Digital / EIG brands and why they should be avoided, see: https://researchasahobby.com/full-list-eig-hosting-companies-brands

The Crucial and Digital Pacific plans which were on this website have now been removed.

As at 2nd August 2021, Nexigen Digital, the parent company of VentraIP and Synergy Wholesale, has acquired the customers and assets of Net Virtue.

Net Virtue clients will be transitioned to the VentraIP platform over the coming weeks.

It is good to see that Net Virtue customers will still be looked after by a local service provider.

For more details, see the Press Release on the Nexigen Digital website and the acquision FAQ page on the VentraIP website.

The Net Virtue plans have now been removed from this website.

VentraIP announced today that they will retire their budget "Zuver Brand" and Zuver is no longer accepting any new business.

Existing customers can still log in to the regular hosting control panel in the meantime and they will apparently be able to lock in their current pricing for 12 months at some stage but after that it looks like they'll need to pay VentraIP prices.

The minimum Zuver plan was $40 / year although some clients are on legacy $36 / year plans. The minimum VentraIP cPanel hosting plan costs $60 / year at the moment which hopefully won't be too much of a stretch for Zuver clients.

Assuming they don't immediately update their prices also, a possible Zuver alternative for some website owners might be https://uptimewebhosting.com.au who have been a reliable host for one of my clients for the last couple of years and their minimum cost plan is $36 / year. You can pay in advance to lock in this pricing for up to three years.

Let me know if you have any other recommendations for a Zuver alternative.

Thanks Zuver for the very affordable hosting you have provided over the years and I am sad to see you go!

VentraIP has acquired Netorigin.

Netorigin clients will be transitioned to one of the VentraIP brands and the Netorigin brand will be retired.

It is good to see that Netorigin customers will still be looked after by a local company but it is a little concerning that the pool of locally owned hosting companies seems to be shrinking.

You can find out more about the acquision on the VentraIP blog.

The Netorigin plans have now been removed from this website.

As at January 2019, Zuver have revamped their website with all new hosting plans which include SSD hard drives and LiteSpeed Cache.

You have a choice of Plesk WordPress Shared Web Hosting plans or cPanel Custom Shared Web Hosting plans.

The cPanel Custom Shared Web Hosting plans have a new interface where clients can select the specific Storage, CPU and Memory resources needed. There are also some preset options, "Tiny", "Growth" and "Domination" as suggested configurations.

Phone Support and Acronis Backup are unbundled with a separate cost.

Previously, the minimum cost for 12 months hosting was AU$36 / year. The minimum "Tiny" Plan with 1GB Storage, 100% CPU, 1GB Memory and AutoSSL now costs AU$40 / year.

Feedback on the new Zuver web hosting plans is quite favourable especially since SSL certificates are now being included with all web hosting plans.

With SSD hard drives and LiteSpeed Cache, the new plans are probably the best value web hosting plans in Australia.