StartLogic

StartLogic In-depth Review

Here at Web Hosting Geeks, we consider it our sworn duty to deliver you the best, greatest, and latest information from the world of web hosting. Thankfully, we’re never quite out of stuff to talk about, as the field is ever expanding and new companies are arriving on the scene almost. However, most important of all our duties is handing over detailed reviews of the biggest hosting providers in the business. We make a point to do it regularly, but here lately, we’ve been trying a different bent. You see, we spend so much of our time going over the heavyweight contenders, the big names that everyone has already heard of. So instead, we’re opting to bring to you some of the smaller guys, the companies that deserve (or perhaps don’t deserve) recognition. What’s today’s offering? Good question! Today we’re slinging a full-sized review of StartLogic your way.

Yes, we’ll be covering all the nitty gritty details, including just who StartLogic is, what the offer, and what sort of gains you stand to benefit from should you decide to signup with them. So, if all of that sounds like a fair ride, then keep reading down below the break, Solider! We’ve got all the information lined up and ready to go, starting with:

Just Who is StartLogic?

If you’ve never heard of StartLogic, we can’t say we entirely blame you. They tend to run slightly outside of the main circles we spend so much of our time haunting—HostGator, Web Hosting Hub, Inmotion Hosting etc. However, that doesn’t mean they shirk on features just because of their smaller stature! And in fact, smaller stature is a debatable term. The company boasts a current network of more than 100.000 customers, which adds up to one heck of a lot of sites! So who are these guys, and what do they do?

Directly from the host’s own mouth: “StartLogic is a leading provider of Web-hosting solutions and services for global business. Across the globe, businesses depend on StartLogic’s easy-to-use, advanced and reliable load-balanced architecture, as well as responsive and knowledgable customer service to power their online presence.” They shoot to provide hosting services for your website and data, eCommerce solutions to power your online business, security measures to protect all of that stuff, and applications that make your site and Internet shop more effective. They also offer tools that take search engine optimization to the masses, a feature we haven’t seen much of anywhere else. But exactly what sort of technology is resting underneath the StartLogic hood?

To be precise, StartLogic uses two massive data centers currently located in Boston, MA. Combined these data centers take up a total of 2400 square feet, and consist of over 800 individual servers, as well as half a Petabyte of storage. Each center is also equipped with: 24×7 security monitoring, an N+1 power system, and the same network architecture and equipment. The company makes use of a new and cool pooled networking table, which allows just about any server in the network to comply with requests when sent. Additionally, their infrastructure contains dual redundant M71 routers, 2 firewalls using IDP technology and cross-connections to the outside world with BGP border gateway protocol. And lastly, all the site data stored with the company is parsed by their dual Big Iron load balancers, which means that all this information is stored effectively and managed with the slickest of ease. All in all, it’s quite an impressive set-up, and if promises alone aren’t enough to win your business, perhaps such a mammoth set of technology is. On the subject of promises, though:

What can StartLogic Guarantee Me?

When it comes to any web hosting provider, we’re always quick to ask what the promises are: What, if anything, is the web host willing to fork your way should you decide to host with them? In the case of StartLogic, you’ll be getting quite the pretty package, or at least on paper, anyway.

To give you some words straight from the provider, here’s their initial customer service guarantee: “Everyone at StartLogic is fully committed to your complete satisfaction. Thousands of businesses, from all over the world, depend on our advanced, easy-to-use and reliable hosting solutions as well as our award-winning customer service, to power their online presence.”

From there, we can add a few things that aren’t otherwise mentioned. You see, StartLogic promises each and every one of its consumers the recommended 99.99% uptime guarantee that we ask you guys to look for so often. Added to this, you’ll also get 24×7 toll-free technical support to help immediately with any problems your website or server space may encounter.

Lastly, though hardly least important, StartLogic also offers what looks to be one of the best 30-day money back guarantees we have ever seen. They promise that no questions will be asked, and that your service will be refunded immediately if you aren not satisfied with your site’s hosting. Granted, such items as reseller accounts, setup fees, domain name registration, etc. are not included, but at least StartLogic was honest about these exemptions. All in all, they look to be a rather sturdy company with an even sturdier setup.

The Marketplace

Like a lot of web host’s these days, StartLogic doesn’t just offer up a basic set of hosting plans and leave the rest to you. They’ve taken to offering all sorts of in-between items to assist you with creating, managing, and otherwise owning a website. We’ve seen a couple of other hosting providers doing the same, most noticeably FatCow. So what exactly will you find in the StartLogic marketplace? We’re glad you asked, as there are quite a lot of features to slog through!

Firstly, StartLogic splits its primary feature sets up into groups: Personal, Business, and eCommerce. Under the personal heading, you’ll find all sorts of additional features that you can use to flesh out your site if your own, personal use is what you’ve got in mind. Among these features and essentials you’ll find items to help you reach out to your visitors, build and manage your site, and secure your information. Specifically, you’ll get eye-catching HTML email newsletters, InstallCentral for the easy installation of blogging utilities and tools, as well as Site Backups and Restores ($12.95 a year) to ensure that you data is not lost should the server crash, or be molested by malicious hackers. All in all, it’s a suave set, and one that will certainly set your personal web hosting experience off in the right direction.

Under the business package, you will of course find items that are more custom-tailored to improving your traffic and sales via your site. These tool sets aim to help you design and market your site, reach out to your consumer base, and (again) secure your information. How is this done? Firstly, it’s managed through the team of graphic designers and professionals StartLogic has on staff to help you get your site in place. Secondly, you’ll receive the same email technology as listed above under the personal heading, though with a more business-oriented focus. And lastly, you can enjoy the same $12.95 a year service of Site Backups and Restoration, ensuring that all of your business data and records will not disappear with a server.

And lastly, the eCommerce section of the marketplace offers the same functionality, but with nothing but web sales in mind. The tools listed here will help you to process credit cards with iPayment, add a shopping cart that’s functional, quick, and easy to use, as well as as Quick SSL Premium Certificate that guarantees your security and safe shopping for your consumers. The latter, however, will run you $59.95 a month, which seems a bit high to us. Either way, it’s easily worth every penny to assuage your consumers’ fears, as well as your own.

All in all, the StartLogic marketplace seems to be the ideal place to flesh out your hosting plan with some additional features more to your liking. However, this is hardly the end of all the doodads and dongles that StartLogic offers. In fact, they’ll help you do just about anything you’re looking to accomplish with your site. Starting with:

1. Website Management: Do you just not feel like running your website on your very own? Do you wish you could pay someone else to handle the dirty work for you? If so, then you’re in tremendous luck! You see, StartLogic will handle all of this for you, as long as you can pay. From the ground up, they offer services that ensure you will never once need to lift a finger. They’ll start by designing your site and optimizing it for marketing. Then, they’ll add credit card processing via either iPayment or PayPal to get your business up and rolling. Then, they’ll add scripting and database support—two vital elements for any successful site. And lastly, they’ll do everything else they can to ensure that the site stays up and running without a fuss: And without you even breaking a sweat!
2. Domain Services: Don’t want to mess with domain registration? No problem! StartLogic will manage your DNS records, protect your domain privacy, register a new domain, or even transfer an old one that you’re still holding on to.
3. Email Services: On a similar note, if you’d rather outsource the creation of your email services, StartLogic is at the ready with Microsoft Exchange Mail support. They’ll get your spam filters in place, your accounts created, and your messages flying before you can even say Bob Saget!
4. eCommerce Solutions: And last, though hardly least, StartLogic will also help you create and maintain your very own eCommerce site. They’ll help you install a shopping cart, add credit card processing, introduce an SSL certificate to the mix, and even include Doba product sourcing. It’s one heck of a bundle, and if you’re looking for a quick way to get your online business up off the ground, it really can’t be beat!

The Hosting Plans Proper

Okay, so up until this point we’ve talked an awful lot about who StartLogic is, what kind of technology they’ve got to run their business on top of, and even what sort of additional services they’re willing to pony up to get your site online and rolling. However, we have yet to talk at all about the most important part of the picture: The hosting plans themselves! If you’ve been itching to take a peek at these plans in their own right, then stick around, Cowboy! We’ve got all the nitty gritty details coming up, starting with:

The Overview: In general, StartLogic looks to offer one of the slickest and most comprehensive tiers of hosting plans we’ve seen just about anywhere. They’ve got two basic shared hosting plans (more on that in a second) as well as Windows hosting and virtual private servers. In other words, no matter what you’re looking for, StartLogic appears to have it. But let’s start with the most basic shared hosting plan, the PersonalLogic bundle:

Personal Logic:

As stated, this is the most basic and the most elementary hosting plan that StartLogic offers. It comes with a lot of features, as well as the lowest price tag out of any plan you’ll find elsewhere with StartLogic: Only $3.95 a month to earn all the features we’re about to hand over to you. It’s worth mentioning, before we dive in though, that the plan is Linux based. If you’re looking for a Windows-oriented hosting plan, you should skip on down to check out what sort of Microsoft-flavored offerings StartLogic has to sell you. In the mean time, here’s what the Personal Logic plan gives you for such a low price tag each month:

You’ll get a whopping 25 gigabytes of storage, as well as 600 gigabytes of data transfer. All in all, it’s a lot of wiggle room. Part of us is happy to see a definite limit listed, but the other half of us wishes these limits were replaced with unmetered accounts. More on that in a second, as we’re not quite done with the features given here.

With the Personal Logic plan, you’ll also get a free site builder, free setup—no fees here!—a photo gallery, loads of WordPress themes to work with, a fully integrated Google Webmaster Toolkit, and unlimited email boxes. Overall, this plan appears to be perfect for the beginner who wants a robust experience but without all the complications of a slightly more intense hosting plan. On the subject of slightly more intense hosting plans, however:

Pro Logic

This is the next step up in the StartLogic hosting tier, and it also arrives to us on a UNIX base. So again, keep diving to find out what Windows software you’ll be able to swing with StartLogic. In the mean time, here’s what you’ll get for the $5.95 a month that StartLogic’s Pro Logic plan costs you:

Firstly, all those limitations we griped about earlier have been replaced with unlimited options: This is something we’re quite tickled pink about, though we still feel it should have existed in the first tier, as well. In addition, though, you’ll also get a free domain name registration and no setup fees to worry about. You’ll get unlimited hosted domains, as well as a point and click website builder to get your designs out of your head and on the page. Add to this your choice of shopping cart softwares, the same fully integrated Google toolkit, $100 in Google AdWords credit, $25 in Yahoo!/Bing credit, and $50 in Facebook Marketing credit, and you’ve got yourself one jam-packed deal! And, of course, you’ll get all the same support for modern and popular softwares like WordPress, Joomla, Drupal, PHP5, etc. Essentially, if you want it installed, you can find it in the marketplace just waiting to happen.

It’s a robust package, and in the host’s own words, it’s meant for the small to medium-sized business looking to establish themselves online. But, what if you’re a business that wants something different, something that uses Windows?

Windows Logic

As with almost every other host we’ve ever seen to offer a Windows-flavored hosting package, you’re going to have to pay a little bit extra to use the Microsoft side of the coin. How much exactly? How does $8.95 a month sound? It’s actually not terrible, and for the features you’ll get, it’s not that terrible of a bargain. What are those features? Good question:

You’ll get 100 gigabytes of storage, as well as a solid 1000 gigabytes of data transfer. Again, we would like to see these uncapped, especially with the price, but it’s not a deal breaker. You’ll also get free domain registration and setup fees nixed. Add to this ASP.NET 2.0/3.0 with AJAX, CGI-BIN support, unlimited hosted domains, and a fully-integrated Google Toolkit and you’re looking at one seriously super business machine. You’ll also get the same marketing credits we talked about earlier, if you’re interested.

All in all, it’s not a bad way to get your website on a Windows host. Is it the cheapest or most robust we’ve ever seen? No, but it’s still a bargain, and it will still get the job done!

Virtual Private Servers

Last, though hardly least, StartLogic will also host your site using a virtual private server if you would like them to do so. Like most other hosts we’ve seen on the market, StartLogic’s VPS plans come in three distinct tiers, all of which offer a lot of bang for your buck. So what exactly will you get? To find out, let’s run the gamut!

The lowest possible tier will cost you $29.95 a month, and is called the VPSLogic plan. You’ll get unlimited domains, as well as 20 gigabytes in disk space. Not to mention one terabyte of data transfer, 128 megabytes in memory and an IP address.

At the top of the line, you’ll have to pay $49.95 a month for the VPSLogic Premium package. However, out of this you’ll get a whopping 60 gigabytes of disk space, a whole 2 terabytes of data transfer, and 512 megabytes of RAM with burstable memory going up to 2 gigabytes. It’s one heck of a package to be sure. In-between the top and bottom, you’ll also find the $39.95 a month VPSLogic Pro tier.

All in all, it’s not the cheapest rates we’ve seen, but in some respects it is one of the more powerful VPS tiers we’ve looked at. In other words, StartLogic looks to be a solid way to make use of the technology, should you need it.

Support Contacts

So, we’ve talked an awful lot about StartLogic, but we have yet to fork over any contact links. If you’d like to give them a ring yourself, here’s how to go about it:

Live Chat: Click here

Telephone: 1-800-725-8064

Terms of Service: Click here

Wrap-Up and Results

All in all, StartLogic looks to be a smooth, competent, and simple way to get your website hosted on the Internet. Their customization is to be applauded, and the level of service they’re offering their consumers is equally as impressive. However, don’t take our word for it! Go look at the reader reviews before committing, and as always, look into our favorite hosts (Web Hosting Hub and InMotion Hosting) before signing to a smaller company like StartLogic. To end this, we’ll throw in a few, host-supplied testimonials for you to chew on:

“Stephanie, in the StartLogic Sales Group, had a deeper understanding of Web-hosting issues and solutions than all the Tech Support people at my previous Web-hosting vendor.”

“I have been using a competitor for three years now and decided I have had enough. I have been paying them three times as much as your service costs and never talk with real people. Your control panel is the best I have ever seen. I had my site transferred and configured in three days.”