FatCow Review: Provides you with the Essentials
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Owned by the Endurance International Group, FatCow has its blacks and its whites when hosting your website. But it gives you all the essentials you need to host your website without getting a headache.
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Cons
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Quick Stats
FatCow. Sounds weird? I know. Cows are friendly, peaceful creatures that provide us with some essentials. Yet, we’re here to talk about FatCow, the hosting service. So, what is it all about?
Since 1998, FatCow has been providing simple hosting services for those in need. Twenty-three years later, it’s still running its services but owned by Endurance International Group (EIG), a company that runs some of the best hosting services like HostGator and Bluehost.
Making it all the way till today, FatCow is doing something right, don’t you think? So, let’s explain to you all you need to know about FatCow.
Types of Hosting
While we’re here to talk about FatCow’s shared hosting plans, it’s not the only thing they offer. Let’s take a look at the type of hosting offered by FatCow:
- WordPress Hosting: Starting from $3.75/month, you can host your WordPress blog with FatCow.
- VPS Hosting: Move to a less crowded field than shared hosting and choose your VPS hosting plan. Prices range between $19.99-$79.99/month.
- Dedicated Hosting: Get your own dedicated server with FatCow with a 20% discount for $119.99/month.
FatCows Shared Hosting Plans
FatCow’s shared hosting plan or the original plan, as they call it. The plan has plenty of features and starts for only $4.08/month, which is cheaper than most hosting services offered by other companies. Don’t get too excited though, the price increases upon renewal.
Let’s take a look at the plan in detail:
| Plans | Original FatCow Plan |
|---|---|
| Domain Name | Free for the first year |
| Disk Space | Unlimited |
| Bandwidth | Unlimited |
| Unlimited | |
| SSL Certificate | Included |
| Website Builder | Included |
| Google Ads | $100 |
| Bing Ads | $100 |
| Starting Price | $4.08/month |
| Renewal Price | $8.99/month |
The plan comes with a 30-day money-back guarantee.
Payment Methods
If FatCow is your choice, you can pay using PayPal, credit cards, checks, or money orders. However, it’s important to note that if you’re paying using a credit card in any currency other than US dollars, then you’ll have to pay using Visa or Mastercard only.
Ease of Use
Right from the start using FatCow is a piece of cake. You can start by choosing the hosting plan offered, choose a domain of your choice, and then enter some of your personal information (name, email, phone number, etc.) and, finally, your billing information.
Afterward, you’ll be introduced to the usual hosting cPanel. It’s easy to navigate, so you don’t have to be a programmer to host your website; you’ll get the hang of it within a few minutes.
Customer Support
You can contact FatCow’s customer support team or the Moo Crew support team; they’re available 24/7 via live chat, phone, or if you prefer to check their extensive knowledge base or watch their tutorials.
The good news is the Moo Crew answers within minutes, and they’re actually helpful. If you decide to take a look at their knowledge base, you’ll find articles about your account, advanced hosting, domains, and pretty much anything you need. In addition, they’re organized into categories, so it’s easy to find what you need.
FatCow Security
Free SSL certificate
Your shared hosting plan comes with a free SSL certificate that will mark your website as secure. How? It’ll simply encrypt the connection between the browser and the server, which means third parties won't be able to get hold of the information.
This security feature will get you a better ranking on search engines and help you earn your customers' trust. It is also a requirement for e-commerce websites, as online payment requires SSL certification of websites.
SpamAssassin protection
Since the plan comes with unlimited emails, it’s only logical to get SpamAssassin protection. This security feature helps mark any email as spam to avoid getting your email or website hacked by phishing emails.
Hotlink protection
To prevent other websites from linking to yours and using your resources, you can enable hotlink protection for your FatCow websites cPanel. If you’re interested in this feature, you can refer to their knowledge base; there’s an article that will guide you through the setup process.
24/7 Network Monitoring
Your website is safe and monitored by the FatCow team, just to make sure your website is up and running. This means you can sleep at night knowing your website is in safe hands.
Site Backup
FatCows shared hosting plan has a daily server backup and a backup generator system so you can restore different versions of your websites when you need it.
Load Times, Reliability, & Features
When checking the general features FatCow provides, how does it fare against the other hosting competitors, and what do they provide? Let’s take a look:
Uptime & Speed
In terms of speed, FatCow is not so fast. There are other faster and more reliable web hosts out there. The truth is, having a slow website can lead to customer loss. No one wants to wait for a website to load; instead, they’ll look for something else.
Of course, everyone wants their website always to be accessible to users. That’s why finding a web host with excellent uptime is essential. FatCow has an average uptime of 99.94%. There are better web hosts out there, but it’s still a good uptime.
Features
If you want to know what the plan includes, we’re here to tell you. The plan includes the following:
- Unlimited bandwidth & storage
- Unlimited emails
- Unlimited domains
- Free domain for the first year
- Free website builder
- Web analytics tools
- Google and Bing Ads bonus of $100 each
- Free backup
- Online store & selling tools
- Application installation wizard
There are some developer-friendly features and much more, so keep reading to know everything about FatCow’s plan.
For Advanced Users
Advanced users will be happy to know FatCow supports multiple coding languages and has some developer-friendly tools. These include:
- Different PHP versions
- CGI Directory
- MySQL Databases
- Python
- Script Library
- FTP Access
Try it out and decide if it’s the one for you.
Custom Error Page
Make your website look more professional in case it’s not accessible. Customize an error page to explain to customers what to do and make it unique to match your company's brand.
Server Location
FatCow only has two data centers near Boston, Massachusetts. While they’re secure, you should consider choosing a web host with a data center that’s close to your target audience. Some web hosts have multiple data centers worldwide, like HostGator & Hostinger.
Website Builder
Not all web hosts include a website builder, but FatCow has one. If you need a website right now, you’ll get it up and running in no time. You don’t need to be tech-savvy to build a website; there’s a drag-and-drop editor and over 100 templates to choose from.
The site builder even includes SEO tools that’ll get you a better ranking on search engines. You don’t get that with any web host.
E-Commerce Features
FatCow has plenty of e-commerce features. I’m not only talking about creating an online store with their website builder but rather tools that you can integrate to create the perfect one. I mean, we already mentioned the SSL certificate. What else is there?
For e-commerce, you get:
- ShopSite Online Store
- Accept Credit Cards
- PayPal Shopping Cart Integration
- PowerPay
Not all websites have these features, but luckily FatCow does.
Bottom Line
All in all, FatCow has plenty of excellent features to get your website up and running in no time. However, it cannot compare to other companies owned by the Endurance International Group like HostGator or Bluehost. Still, it’s a beginner-friendly web host with all the essentials to host your website. If you want to give it a try, there’s a 30-day money-back guarantee.