Thinking About Canceling Your Hosting Service? What You Need to Know First
Choosing your first hosting provider is a responsible task that can either help your online business reach new heights or see it completely crumble. But if you are a beginner, the sheer number of hosts and their various services can easily confuse you.
So what if your first choice wasn’t ‘the right one’? How easy is it to just drop everything and find a new host?
Our topic today is web hosting cancellations – we will see what can go wrong, whether it is fixable, and what alternatives you have for a better deal.
The Importance of a Reliable Hosting Provider
Any successful business needs to lie on a solid foundation. In the online world, that translates to using a highly reliable server and a knowledgeable host to help you with its smooth operation. Still, the hosting market is quite oversaturated, so there are literally thousands of providers fighting for your attention and approval.
If you are familiar with the game, you will already know some hosts that are a safe bet, but complete beginners might find the choice overwhelming. So, what factors are inherently essential for a great hosting experience?
A few immediately spring to mind:
- Performance and Uptime – arguably the most critical aspect. Stellar page loading speeds and uninterrupted uptime are a must for any reputable website. But even with the best optimizations, a sub-par server will invalidate all your efforts. Aim for a provider that gives enough system resources for your website to thrive. Choosing a scalable solution will ensure you can adjust your server configuration as your project grows.
- Ease of Use – make sure you operate on a platform you find convenient and easy to navigate. An intuitive control panel and multifunctional site-building software are a must from the get-go; other solutions can be tested on a trial-and-error basis.
- Control and Customization – there are loads of cheap web hosting providers, but the majority will heavily limit you on what you can and can’t do on your server. Secure a flexible plan that will allow you to customize your configuration as the need arises. If you have some technical experience – SSH access is a must-have feature.
- Security – cyber crimes are getting increasingly prevalent, so you have to partner up with a host that takes this aspect seriously – secure data centers, firewalls, anti-spam and anti-malware solutions, SSL certificates, and DDoS protection are just some of the basics you need to ensure are part of the deal.
- Level of Support – while it is hard to predict if your support assistance will be on par, there are a couple of ways you can minimize the risks. First, you can initiate chats with their customer care operators with your pressing project questions and see how quick, friendly, and knowledgeable they can be with their responses. Additionally, many hosting providers offer free trials so you can have some time to test your system (and the support that comes with it).
- Pricing and Extra Fees – many users might place Price as a prime factor for their decision-making, but, in the case of web hosting, it’s best to consider cost-effectiveness – what are you actually getting for the money spent? Sometimes, just a few dollars more per month can get you numerous essential features that are otherwise paid extra with the cheaper provider.
Most Common Reasons for Web Hosting Cancellations (+Solutions)
As there are many different factors that drive us when choosing a new host, there are just as many reasons why you might want to discontinue your services. The reasoning is sometimes trivial – ending the business or putting the online project on hold – but quite often, the client is dissatisfied with some aspect of their deal.
What is the best advice when it comes to canceling your web hosting? Always check with your provider first – share your issues and see if it’s something fixable. Even if it’s impossible on your current plan, the host can see if special adjustments are possible or recommend the best option for a seamless upgrade.
Let’s now see some of the common hosting cancellation reasons and what we can do if we find ourselves in such a situation:
Problem: High Pricing
As you can imagine, money is a huge driving factor, both when picking a host and deciding if you are to stick with one. But the issue of high price rates actually takes different shapes and forms:
- Provider X offers lower prices
- Discounts for new clients are better than deals for existing users
- Renewal fees higher than the initial deal
- Higher fees on extra features/services
Whatever the case, no one likes to get the short end of the stick and feel deceived, so thoughts of hosting cancellation may naturally occur.
Solution
Before you jump to rash decisions, spend some time to think and research first. Driven by the lower price tag, we often forget the devil is in the details – Are you getting the same set of features and services (and more)? Does the new provider tick all the boxes in terms of performance, security, and support? Are you sure their renewal policy and discounts for existing clients aren’t even worse?
Checking with your current hosting provider before canceling here might reveal a more suitable option. Many hosts are flexible with their plans, especially in a VPS setup, and there might even be some alternative routes that you haven’t yet considered.
Problem: Technical issues
There are over a billion websites out there fighting for our attention every day. The competition is so fierce that webmasters have to constantly come up with new ways to stay ahead – fancier designs, creative functionalities, lightning-fast pages. Those can all lead to unexpected technical problems, varying from a small element failing to fully load to long service downtimes.
- Website speed/performance – it’s understandable to want to cancel your hosting service if your website doesn’t perform well. Your visitors expect fast-loading pages with smooth navigation, and if you can’t secure that – they’ll move on to the next best thing.
- Blacklisted IP addresses – email services are still the prevalent method of business communication today. Any problems with incoming and outgoing emails can lead to lost opportunities, partnerships, and sales.
- Service downtimes – no hosting provider can guarantee 100% uptime, but you can get as close to that as possible with the right setup. Naturally, your dreams of future success can quickly crumble if your site availability is not up to par. Ecommerce businesses have it the worst as even seconds of downtime can cost thousands of dollars in lost sales.
Solution
When site performance is slow, and pages take forever to load – it’s easy to single out your provider as the cause of these issues. After all, they supply the infrastructure and maintenance for it.
But before you go and altogether cancel your service, make sure to do an extensive website audit first. More often than not, something in the process of site development creates a bottleneck that slows the entire system down – a faulty plugin, bloated code, and lack of caching are some of the main culprits.
You can also utilize tools like GTMetrix and Pingdom to get an overall idea of your page speed and where the load comes from. Your hosting provider should be able to help with the audit as well, as this way, they get to keep you as a client.
Problem: Poor Security
As with site performance, your online security is a joint responsibility between you and the web hosting provider. And there are a ton of things to look out for – unauthorized breaches, DDoS attacks, data theft, malicious code injections, the works.
Every 39 seconds, a website out there is getting attacked. The cumulative costs for such breaches are expected to reach $8 trillion (yes, trillion). The scariest thing is that there is no 100% guarantee you can prevent a hack – attackers are getting more inventive by the day, and what works today might be insufficient to keep them away tomorrow.
According to recent statistics from the FBI Internet Crime Report, the most prevalent attack types are:
- Phishing
- Personal data breaches
- Non-payment / Non-delivery
- Credit card fraud
- Spoofing
Solution
When suffering from frequent security issues, it’s best to first find the source of the problem. Are you attacked on a server level or through some third-party software placed on your website? Many times, a hosting cancellation is not needed at all, and tech support can assist in locating the culprit. Some even go the extra mile and offer malware cleanup as an extra service.
When it comes to spam, your hosting support can help get you off email blacklists or offer helpful features like a dedicated IP address or switching to a new server.
Problem: Technical Support Quality
Regardless of whether you are a complete beginner or a seasoned developer, you will end up working with your host’s support to resolve a question or issue sooner or later. When that time comes – you would want swift and efficient actions from trained professionals in a friendly manner.
Fact of the matter is far too many providers neglect the customer care aspect of their business, and that leads to many frustrating moments:
- Cannot find support.
- Support didn’t understand the problem.
- Support cannot find a solution.
- Support is not friendly and caring.
- Support is slow and/or unresponsive.
Even some of the biggest providers out there might suffer from poor support, especially when they grow big enough to be able to afford daily service cancellations.
Solution
The level of support is something you can test before committing to your host long-term. More often than not, there are company representatives available round-the-clock to help both existing customers and potential signups. Make sure to thoroughly test their knowledge and skills, and you can do so with real-time problems if you sign up for a free trial.
If you find your support services deteriorating over time with your current provider, you can try escalating your issues to more experienced operators. If the problems still persist – a move to another hosting provider might be inevitable.
Problem: No longer needed
Not every website has a long lifetime. Projects change, companies pivot, and individuals turn their focus to something else. A great idea and enthusiasm are rarely enough to keep a site afloat for a long time. In such cases, it’s more than natural to consider a hosting cancellation.
Solution
Even though your hosting provider can rarely offer an alternative if you simply don’t need their services, take some time to consider if a cancellation is your only option. If you are getting an affordable deal and are happy with your provider – you might find yourself using their servers for something else. Clients are rarely limited in the types of websites they can create, so you can utilize your account for a completely different project.
Moving Your Services to ScalaHosting
If any of the solutions above don’t work for you and parting ways with your previous host is imminent – the time has come to find a new provider to better fit your needs.
At ScalaHosting, the client always comes first. Client suggestions are at the core of our in-house developments (SPanel, SShield, SWordPress Manager) and play an active part in new feature introductions.
The ScalaHosting VPS packages are built with flexibility in mind, and you can always adjust your system resources according to your current consumption. This makes our hosting plans quite affordable as well, allowing you to better plan your budget and optimize your costs.
VPS solutions with Scala rely on cloud technology for their smooth operation. The vast network of servers helps us allocate as much CPU and RAM as needed, guaranteeing you can survive even unexpected traffic spikes without a hitch. Same goes for security – even if your service is under attack, other servers can distribute the load and keep you online.
But don’t just take our word for it – many existing users have already shared their experience with us on reputable platforms like TrustPilot and HostAdvice.
Should you decide to become a part of the ScalaHosting family, we can further assist with a free website migration. Our technicians only need the login details of your old server, and they will perform the required transfers in no time. Additionally, they will test if your configuration functions properly on your new account with us.
Conclusion
There are many reasons to consider canceling your hosting service. If it’s a minor hitch in an otherwise pleasant experience – just make sure to exhaust all options with your current provider. But if your host is consistently performing poorly and lacks the support to fix things up, moving your website away should happen sooner rather than later.
Whatever the case, the ScalaHosting Team will be glad to check out your project and consult you on the best service possible.
FAQ
Q: What happens when you cancel your hosting service?
A: Canceling your hosting service does not necessarily mean you are losing your content. Many providers give the option to either cancel with immediate effect or upon the expiration date of the account. The latter provides the client with enough time to safely transfer all content away to the new host. Whichever the option – make sure you have all your files, databases, emails, etc., in a safe offsite location when you cancel.
Q: Can I remove domain from hosting?
A: Every hosting account needs a primary domain name to be associated with. For new clients, many hosts give the option to register a free domain upon signup, which is then automatically assigned as primary. You are free to change your primary domain at any later point in case you change projects or have another name for the live website.
Q: Can I cancel my hosting but keep my domain?
A: It is fully possible to discontinue your hosting service and still keep your domain name for later use. Whenever a client registers a domain, they become its owner. Unless they choose to let it expire or transfer the rights to someone else – they will remain the sole owner. As for web hosting, you are practically renting a server and its resources from your provider, so canceling your plan will return these resources to your host.
