Scala Hosting Review 2024: Is It the Best Host for Your Site?

Scala Hosting Review

Product Name: ScalaHosting

4.8

Summary

ScalaHosting is one of the best web hosts for bloggers and digital marketers. Their pricing plans start at just $2.95 per month and offer a plethora of features like free site migrations, free domain, SSL, and unlimited sites. Read our in-depth review to find more.

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When it comes to choosing reliable web hosting, there’s a broad checklist of factors – speed, uptime, security, performance, pricing, customer support and more. 

I’ve reviewed over 30 cloud hosting providers over the last few years and was fairly impressed by Scala hosting.

Scala Hosting not only checks all those boxes but exceeds the criteria for top-notch cloud hosting.

For this Scala hosting review, I analyzed its features, server response, performance, load testing times, and security against the standard hosting providers.

I will also talk about its features, pricing, the good and bad, and customer support. 

So, does Scala hosting do enough to be regarded as the best cloud-managed VPS hosting? 

Scala Hosting: What You Need to Know

Scala Hosting is a Dallas-based company that started back in 2007 and is more widely known for its cloud- and VPS services. According to its homepage, Scala hosts 700k+ websites with its data centers across the US and Europe.

Scala Hosting has already generated a lot of positive buzz around the blogosphere. They have plenty of good ratings on other platforms such as Host Advice, Facebook, and BBB.

They offer various hosting options such as WordPress, Email, Cloud VPS, and shared hosting.

One thing that impressed me most about Scala hosting is its low-priced VPS hosting that comes at the cost of other’s shared hosting pricing. 

They have a team of experts who undertake technical aspects of hosting, such as software updates, security, maintenance, etc. So, you will set up in minutes if you are a technical noob. 

Before we get into Scala, let’s check out the good (pros) and not-so-good things (cons) we found during this review.

Scala Hosting Key Features:

Though shared hosting has nothing ‘WOW’ to boast about, its cloud and managed VPS hosting has top-notch features with access to S-panel and blazing-fast cloud servers.

For me, it is not just the quantity that I would care about but also the quality. 

For my tests, I purchased the Cloud VPS entry plan with a monthly subscription of $49.95 that includes its proprietary S-panel and features like free domain, unmetered bandwidth, SSL certificates, and daily backups.

1.) Proprietary S-Panel: 

Scala hosting has its proprietary sPanel for easier site management. Choose whether you want your web services to be hosted on single or multiple servers, in single or multiple data centers, or in single or multiple regions.

S-panel offers basic cpanel features for website management like files, databases, emails, domains, and DNS settings, but differs in security, resource management, and the freedom to customize.

In my opinion, sPanel does not serve much for the shared hosting users, but it’s a real gem for the cloud and VPS hosting providers. However, Scala has sPanel included with its shared hosting plans.

2.) WordPress Management

Scala hosting goes a step ahead in WordPress management with its exceptional SWordPress manager. 

Users can manage their WordPress sites directly from the S-panel with access to features like 1-click install, automated backups, site cloning, and admin lock that adds a layer of security. 

I had no difficulty accessing & managing multiple WordPress sites, plus I could lock all my directories and files so that no new files could be uploaded.

3.) Automated Daily Backups

Almost every hosting provider offers a backup feature, but what I love about Scala hosting is automated daily backups. So you don’t have to manually backup your data every day. 

Plus, all this data is stored within a remote server to ensure a safe haven for your files and backups. 

One-click restore can recover all your files in one place. Even if your servers are compromised somehow, you can still recover those files. 

4.) Free Website Migration 

Moving your website from one hosting provider does not come for free for many web hosting providers.

Scala hosting stands out for its free website migration for as many sites as you wish. (There’s no limit to the number of sites you want to migrate.) 

I raised a support ticket to request migration from Cloudways to Scala and was assisted by a technician who migrated my database, files and other backups to Scala at no charge.

They’ll also ensure that your website faces minimal downtime. 

5.) Free CDN servers 

A CDN is a network of servers present around different geographical locations. They cache your website content by copying it from one server to other servers worldwide to reduce loading time and improve performance. 

Scala hosting offers free Cloudflare CDN integration with all its hosting packages. Whenever someone accesses your content, the CDN pulls the key elements from the nearest geographical server.

In my test, Scala with Cloudflare CDN had an average loading time of under 0.6 seconds, which is far better than the average time of 2 seconds. 

You can still switch from free Cloudflare CDN and integrate your servers with other CDN solutions by paying extra – StackPath, KeyCDN, Sucuri and Akamai.

6.) White-Label Hosting

If there’s one thing that makes Scala Hosting unique from other web hosts it is this: “white label hosting”.

If you want to re-sell another hosting company’s servers, bandwidth, and other hosting features as if they were your own company, the white-label hosting feature can be extremely useful for you.

Scala Hosting offers you a white-label hosting option so you can resell the web hosting as part of your service portfolio and make more money from web hosting.

How easy is Scala hosting to use?

Scala hosting is simple to navigate, with only a few initial hiccups. Even with little to no technical expertise, I got hold of the key elements of the Scala dashboard. You will get a quick tour of the dashboard about what each section does.

On the left side, there is a list of options: My Details, My Services, My Domains, Billing and Support. With just a click, you get options for rebooting, shutting down, or destroying your server.  

The services tab gives you the details about your current and active hosting plans, while ‘My Domain’ has all your domains. That said, the interface is okay but some actions are misleading. 

For example, you can’t jump to the sPanel by clicking on the logo displayed on the homepage.

You can register a new domain or transfer an existing one within the client area, but you’ll need sPanel to connect the nameservers with these domains. 

Talking of the sPanel, it lets you install a new WordPress website and perform every action within or install SSL certificates. Here’s the screenshot to give you an idea of what sPanel offers: 

SPanel supports various web servers like Apache, Nginx, LiteSpeed Enterprise, and OpenLiteSpeed, which can help you with faster website loading times.

You also get all the essential hosting features like free site migrations, SSL certificates, unlimited hosting of sites, emails, and databases.

Even if you don’t have any technical skills to manage VPS servers, you can use their VPS hosting option because they offer a fully managed service, so you don’t have to worry about managing your VPS servers.

Quick note: You can see a live demo of their SPanel for free. You just need to get in touch with their support staff, and they will arrange a server for you so you can try their SPanel for free.

Security: Is Scala Hosting secured enough? 

I usually doubt the security of web hosting because some providers don’t deliver on their promises. However, Scala Hosting stands out by ensuring robust security features to protect your website.

To begin with, it has free Let’s Encrypt SSL certificates with its hosting plan. Scala hosting goes the extra mile by offering other features like: 

• SShield Security Guard: This is Scala’s AI-powered custom security solution that monitors websites and notifies if a hack occurs. 
• 2FA: It secures your login by providing a two-factor authentication and generates OTP through the authenticator apps. 
• Spam Assassin:  It filters all your spam emails and clears the junk in your inbox by automatically adding ‘SPAM.’ 
• ClamAV: This open-source antivirus tool protects against malware, viruses, trojans, and other online threats.
• Dedicated IP: Included with every VPS hosting plan, this feature goes a step ahead in enhancing your privacy. It also provides a professional email account that protects your reputation so that your email does not get spammed. 

Scala Hosting Performance Test: How Good is It?

Web hosting servers can impact your site performance and affect your rankings. It could have all the features, but if the performance is subpar, it won’t be worth recommending. 

Hence, my Scalahosting review is incomplete without talking about its performance.

Though I used the entry cloud plan for my test (which indeed is better than other shared hosts), it further outperformed similar cloud hosting providers like Chemicloud, DreamHost, and HostArmada. 

I performed my tests on server monitoring, speed, and stability tests to check for its reliability. 

ScalaHosting has two proprietary data centers in the US and one in Bulgaria. This might seem less, but you can choose from a list of integrated Amazon Web Services (AWS) centers across the globe.

The list of AWS data centers includes 4 locations in North America, 2 in the UK, 2 in the EU, 3 in Asia, 1 in India, and 1 in Australia.

Let’s get into the details of its performance:

1.) Uptime and Server Response Time 

During my test for 30 days, Scala hosting provided me a testament to its reliability with its 100% uptime. It is challenging to find a web host that could provide 100% uptime during a month. 

But Scala hosting stood true to its claim of a 99.99% uptime guarantee. To reiterate, Scala provides compensation in the form of credits for every traffic drop below the uptime guarantee. 

I used Uptime Robot to monitor my website performance constantly for 30 days.

For the region near the US and Europe, the servers obtained impressive results for me! For instance, the SRT for the US is 11 ms and 75 ms for London.

As we move towards the Asian region, the response time increases – 170ms for Japan and 250ms for Singapore. 

2.) Scala Hosting Speed 

In testing ScalaHosting’s speed, I started with a minimal and basic WordPress site. Hosting my site in Europe’s data centre in London, the LCP was around 1.3 seconds. 

Comparatively, loading times were slower elsewhere: 1.9 seconds for visitors in the US and 2.3 seconds for those in India.

However, the loading time increased slightly to 1.5 seconds, which is still acceptable.

The Time To First Byte (TTFB), which indicates how long it takes for the server to respond to a request to open the page, was found to be 705ms, which is a bit lengthy.

3.) Stress Testing 

It is crucial to test if your web host can handle the immense amount of traffic at the same time. I sent over 50 virtual bot users to my site to test for its load-handling capacity. 

I performed the stress testing by using two different servers:

• Default Apache servers
• Litespeed Servers

With the Apache servers, the average response time stood at 7426 ms with sudden spikes. As the server got loaded with more users, the system load displayed a ‘critical’ warning.

The new requests were rejected, and the given users were limited. 

However, the Litespeed servers reduced the response time to around 1300 ms with no failures and rejections for the existing users.

For the new users, there were some limitations, but it was quite satisfactory! 

As per my tests, the Apache servers couldn’t handle several requests and performed poorly in load handling. Contrastingly, Litespeed servers performed really well with fine-tuning and optimizations. These optimizations come at a cost. 

Evaluating ScalaHosting Pricing

Pricing is an important consideration when choosing a web host. Scala hosting doesn’t disappoint me with its pricing plans either! 

First, it offers a monthly, yearly, and triennial subscription option. Next, it gives me various hosting plans to choose from.

Their shared hosting starts at as low as $9.95 per month if you choose the monthly subscription. I guess the monthly subscription isn’t apt if you are looking for a long-term commitment with your hosting provider. 

Scala hosting offers four pricing options.

1. Mini: This plan costs you just $2.95 per month. You can install only 1 website with 10 GB of storage.

2. Start: It costs you just $5.95 per month and offers you 50 GB of storage. You’ll also get access to “SShield Cyber-security” in this plan.

3. Advanced: This plan costs you $9.95 per month and allows you to install multiple websites with 100 GB storage and unlimited bandwidth.  

4. Entry Cloud: This plan costs you $14.95 per month, and you can install unlimited websites with 50 GB (upgradable) storage.

VPS hosting is the best option to choose from and is power-packed with incredible features –  free domain, unmetered bandwidth, SSL certificates, daily backups, and a control panel (SPanel). 

Slightly pricey, Scala VPS hosting defies its worth for money since it’s easier for beginners and provides incredible results in the tests. 

Once you select a plan, choose one of three data centres ( Dallas, New York or Europe). 

Good part? You get to customize backup storage, RAM, CPU cores, and whether you want extra disk space for additional cost. Select whether you want to go ahead with proprietary sPanel or cPanel licenses. (which comes at an additional price!

You can also switch from Scala server to AWS or Digital Ocean for more optimized performance. (At an extra cost!)

Have a look at the pricing options:

Scala hosting also offers unmanaged VPS hosting, but that’s not what I recommend to small or medium businesses.

Or until you have an IT team to manage your servers. Their self-managed hosting plan starts at $20/month and is billed yearly. 

Below, we have compared the pricing of Scala hosting with other top web hosts for shared, WordPress and VPS hosting:

As clear, Scala hosting’s shared and WordPress pricing plans are comparable to those of the top web hosts, but their VPS hosting is pricier than the others.

If pricing is your issue, I would suggest you go for a cheaper option like Hostinger, or Bluehost.

Payment Terms and Refund Policy: 

Scala hosting accepts payments through various modes: International Credit and Debit cards, PayPal, and Bank Transfers. 

You can cancel your subscription within 30 days of purchase and claim a 100% refund. However, there is no refund on renewals and software licenses. 

If you’re looking for a longer refund policy, go with providers like ChemiCloud, both of which offer a 45-day guarantee. 

Scala Hosting Customer Support Review 

Scala Hosting considers customers as its priority, which is evident from its multiple customer channels. Customers can be assisted 24/7 via live chat, phone, email, or social media.

Plus, there is a vast knowledge base that covers every topic, from getting started to billing. 

Though I didn’t feel stuck at any point, I still raised a topic to test the quality of each customer support channel.

The live chat option is present at the bottom right corner and says, ‘We’re humans.’ The agent joined within a second and provided a real-human interaction for the assistance. 

I enquired about its SShield security feature, and the response was quite satisfactory. They explained it to me without sending me to another page.

I further sent out the email inquiring about the SShield guard and it took merely 20 minutes to receive the response. The response was more detailed than the live chat and had links to the resource pages. 

My only complaint was its phone support, which went unanswered for my first two calls. However, the third call was answered after a while and the help was limited. 

Is Scala Hosting Legit? 

Considering the price, the features are enormous, and their security features impressed me the most. I even scoured the internet to read the real customer reviews and count in the negatives. 

Surprisingly, there weren’t many negative reviews.

Most customers are happy with their hosting features, such as faster servers and also their customer support assistance. So if you’re someone who is looking for a faster and customer-friendly hosting choice, you should definitely consider Scala Hosting.

Alternatives to Scala Hosting: 

While Scala hosting is one of the best web hosting options, it isn’t for everyone. Considering the drawbacks, I’ve shared the best 3 alternative recommendations to Scala hosting: 

1. Hostinger 

Hostinger is among the best alternatives to Scala hosting because of its blazing-fast servers present globally. It has 10 data centers globally around Europe, Asia, and North and South America, whereas Scala hosting is limited to only 3 data centers. 

Hostinger’s hPanel is similar to the sPanel but offers a cleaner GUI. Hostinger focuses largely on WordPress sites and offers a managed hosting service.

This perk is, however, present in pricier Scala hosting plans. 

Hostinger also wins in terms of its affordable pricing options. It offers an extremely cheap VPS hosting option with access to AI assistant and full snapshots.

So, if you are located in an Asian or Middle East region or looking for dedicated WordPress hosting, Hostinger can be a better option.

Read this detailed Hostinger Review further for a detailed breakdown of this hosting provider.

For more top recommendations, Check out the best web hosting for beginners list.

Pros:

Cons:

2. Liquid Web

Liquid Web is known for its stellar VPS hosting and boasts highly of its powerful VPS servers and enterprise-grade infrastructure. Despite having three data centers (two in the US and one in the Netherlands), it houses more than 25,000 servers. 

What’s more intriguing is the choice of control panels here. Liquid Web provides users with three control panels — cPanel, Plesk and InterWorx.

It further takes the edge for its various VPS hosting types – ranging from Linux to Windows.

Similar to Scala, they have an extensive knowledge base and vast customer support channels, but there have been complaints of slow response.

Pros:

Cons:

FAQs On Scala Hosting

Here’s a list of some of the frequently asked questions around ScalaHosting.

Final Words on Scala Hosting Review

So, is Scala hosting worth it? Absolutely! Scala hosting is fast, secure, and quite affordable. 

What I like more is that it’s not overloaded with useless features and has a clean design. Though I wouldn’t recommend its shared hosting, their managed VPS hosting is certainly worth the price. 

Fair to say, Scala hosting isn’t the best web hosting provider but incredibly good for businesses like online stores, commercial blogs, and businesses. 

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