Hivelocity vs Hostwinds (2026): which should you pick?
As of Nov 13, 2026, Hivelocity and Hostwinds share a 1.8 GPA, neither has a free plan, and Hostwinds starts cheaper, at $4.99 a month against $10 a month.
Checked Nov 12, 2026 and Nov 13, 2026 · graded Nov 13, 2026 by ToolGPA
Hivelocity grades higher on platforms. Hostwinds grades higher on ease of use. They get the same grade on value for money, the free plan and features.
Price, platforms and features side by side. The table says where each price was read and when.
Hivelocity
Bare-metal dedicated servers, VPS and colocation in 40+ data centers
Hostwinds
Shared, business, VPS and cloud hosting with managed support
Which one is for you
Pick Hivelocity if
- Fits if you want your own server with a choice of locations
- Works for teams that automate infrastructure with Terraform
Look elsewhere if
- Skip it if you want managed hosting, as server management and firewall are separate services
- Tight if you want a fixed price, since dedicated and GPU prices vary by configuration
- Watch out: the 35% lifetime savings banner covers eligible dedicated servers only
- Watch out: some listed VPS prices show a higher crossed-out figure beside them
Pick Hostwinds if
- Fits if you want shared hosting now and room to move to a VPS later
- Makes sense if you want cPanel and a dedicated IP
Look elsewhere if
- Skip it if you want a trial, as none is listed
- Tight if you have several sites, since Basic is 1 domain and Advanced is 4
- Pricey if you want monthly billing, because shared plans are shown only annually
- Watch out: the page meta says from $3.29 a month, which the page itself does not show
How we grade them
| 1.8GPAHivelocityWeak | 1.8GPAHostwindsWeak | |
|---|---|---|
| Value for money | CThe smallest listed VPS is $10 a month for 2 vCPUs and 4 GB, below the $10.99 middle for web hosting. A dedicated E-2236 server is $97 and GPU servers start far higher. | CShared Basic is $6.99 a month billed yearly, above the $5.28 cheaper-quarter line for web hosts. |
| Free plan and trial | FNothing is free: no free plan and no trial are listed. | FNo free plan or trial is listed on the pages read. |
| Features | BVPS, dedicated VDS, bare metal and colocation across 40-plus data centres, with an API, Terraform and a choice of OS and apps. Management is a separate service. | BShared, business, VPS, cloud servers and dedicated, with free migration, nightly backups, monitoring and a cloud API. |
| Ease of use | DNo store rating on record. You get a server and run it yourself, usually over SSH. | CNo store rating on record. cPanel and server setup are yours, and VPS plans are unmanaged at the entry level. |
| Platforms and integrations | BWeb only, but it has an API and Terraform and installs CloudPanel, Coolify, Nextcloud, Portainer, GitLab and Tailscale. | CWeb only, with cPanel, Softaculous and WordPress installs. |
| Best for | rented VPS, dedicated servers and colocation | cPanel shared hosting with VPS and cloud next to it |
The GPA is the average of the five grades: an A is 4 points, an F is none. The full reasons are on each tool's page: Hivelocity and Hostwinds. How we grade
Price against what you get
Hivelocity starts at $10 a month and scores 2.3 out of 4 on features, ease of use and platforms. Hostwinds starts at $4.99 a month and scores 2.3.
They score the same, and Hostwinds starts $5.01 a month lower. Of the other web hosts on the chart, 3 score higher than Hivelocity for less, and 1 scores higher than Hostwinds for less.
Features, ease of use and platforms, averaged
What paid plans start at, a month (each step along is roughly double) →
- The best score at each price
- Has a free plan
- No free plan
Where they differ
- Hivelocity also covers workflow automation.
- Hostwinds also covers no-code.
At a glance
| Hivelocity | Hostwinds | |
|---|---|---|
| Pricing | Paid | Paid |
| Starts at | $10 per month (pro.sm.amd VPS) | $4.99 per month (unmanaged Linux VPS); shared from $6.99 per month, annual |
| Free plan | None | None |
| Free trial | None listed | None listed |
| Web | ||
| Made by | Hivelocity | Hostwinds |
| Price read from | hivelocity.net | hostwinds.com |
| Checked | Nov 13, 2026 | Nov 12, 2026 |
Worth knowing
Hivelocity
- These are rented servers, not managed web hosting; server management and firewall are separate listed services.
- The homepage banner offers 35% lifetime savings on eligible dedicated servers, so many dedicated prices differ from the examples shown.
- Prices above are monthly list prices for example plans; the catalog and custom quotes hold many more configurations.
- Dedicated GPU servers are priced much higher, with a sample L4 server at $999 a month.
Hostwinds
- The shared-hosting page shows the annual plan price; the page's own meta description still says plans start from $3.29 a month, which is not shown on the page.
- Shared and business plans are listed only with annual billing on the pages read.
- Shared plans are capped by number of domains: 1 on Basic, 4 on Advanced.
- Cloud servers are billed per hour, starting at $0.006931 an hour for 1 CPU and 1 GB RAM.
Key features
Hivelocity
- Dedicated servers
- Single-tenant bare-metal machines, from entry Xeon models to a GPU server, either from a catalog of instant servers or configured to order.
- VPS and VDS
- VPS plans share CPU cores with guaranteed minimums, while VDS plans give unshared CPU cores and RAM.
- Global data centers
- The vendor lists 40+ data centers on six continents and a network it describes as 2+ Tbps with a 99.99% uptime SLA.
- API and Terraform
- Servers can be purchased, deployed and managed through an API, and a Terraform provider for Hivelocity is published.
- Colocation and add-on services
- Customers can house their own hardware, and the services list covers server management, firewall, backups and cloud object storage.
- Choice of operating systems and apps
- VPS options include Ubuntu, Windows, AlmaLinux, Debian and Rocky, with app images such as CloudPanel, WordPress, Coolify and Nextcloud.
Hostwinds
- Shared and business hosting on cPanel
- Plans come with cPanel, the Softaculous app installer, unlimited subdomains, FTP accounts, databases and email accounts, and free SSL certificates.
- Free migration
- The support team moves an existing site to Hostwinds and sends a preview link so it can be checked before the switch.
- Weebly site builder
- Shared plans include Weebly's drag-and-drop builder for people who do not want to install WordPress or code a site.
- VPS and cloud servers
- Linux and Windows VPS come managed or unmanaged. Cloud servers are billed by the hour and can be paired with load balancers, block storage and object storage.
- Cloud portal and API
- The cloud portal manages IP addresses, load balancers and object storage containers, and Hostwinds describes an API for cloud servers.
- Nightly backups and monitoring
- Shared hosting pages describe nightly backups and 24/7 website monitoring that opens a support ticket if the site has a problem.
Plans
Hivelocity
VPS pro.sm.amd$10
per month
2 vCPUs, 4 GB memory, 40 GB NVMe SSD and 10 TB bandwidth on a 1 Gbps port.
VPS pro.md.amd$15
per month
4 vCPUs, 8 GB memory, 80 GB NVMe SSD, 10 TB / 1 Gbps. The page shows $20 crossed out beside the $15.
VDS vds.sm.intel$21
per month
Dedicated, unshared 2 vCPUs, 4 GB memory, 80 GB storage and 10 TB bandwidth on a 1 Gbps port.
VDS vds.md.intel$37
per month
Dedicated 4 vCPUs, 8 GB memory and 160 GB storage. The page shows $42 crossed out beside the $37.
Dedicated E-2236$97
per month
A whole server: 6 cores and 12 threads, 16 GB memory, 480 GB SSD, 20 TB bandwidth on a 1 Gbps port.
Hostwinds
Unmanaged Linux VPS (entry)$4.99
per month for 1 CPU, 1 GB RAM, billed monthly
30 GB storage and 1 TB bandwidth; you run the server yourself. Larger sizes go up to $38.99 a month for 4 CPUs, 8 GB RAM and 150 GB storage, and beyond.
Shared Basic$6.99
per month for 1 domain, billed annually ($83.88 a year)
Unlimited bandwidth and disk space, free SSL, cPanel, Softaculous installer, a dedicated IP and the Weebly site builder.
Shared Advanced$8.99
per month for 4 domains, billed annually ($107.88 a year)
The Basic features with room for 4 domains.
Shared Ultimate$10.99
per month for unlimited domains, billed annually
The Basic features with no limit on the number of domains.
Business Basic$11.99
per month for 1 domain, billed annually ($143.88 a year)
Hosted on servers with fewer sites per server than shared hosting. Advanced is $13.99 for 4 domains and Ultimate is $16.99 for unlimited domains.
Managed Linux VPS (entry)$10.99
per month for 1 CPU
The page shows $7.14 a month beside it as the current price; Hostwinds staff manage the server. Larger sizes run to $79.99 a month and beyond.
Ways to pay less
Hivelocity
- Other savings
35% lifetime savings on eligible servers
A banner on the homepage advertises 35% lifetime savings on eligible dedicated servers; which servers qualify is not listed there.
Hostwinds
No public discounts listed.
Common questions
Which is cheaper, Hivelocity or Hostwinds?
As of Nov 13, 2026, Hostwinds is cheaper to start with: $4.99 a month, against $10 a month for Hivelocity. Hivelocity starts at $10 per month (pro.sm.amd VPS), and Hostwinds starts at $4.99 per month (unmanaged Linux VPS); shared from $6.99 per month, annual.
Which has a free plan, Hivelocity or Hostwinds?
As of Nov 13, 2026, neither Hivelocity nor Hostwinds has a free plan.
More comparisons
How this page was made
- The verdict at the top follows a fixed rule. When both tools are in the same category and either is in our top three for it, the verdict follows that ranking: the higher-placed tool is our pick. The top three weigh who each tool suits as well as its grades, so a pick can go against the GPA. Otherwise the page does not pick one and says which grades higher: the higher GPA first; on a tie, the one with a free plan, then the one that starts cheaper in dollars a month, counted the same way for both; if they are still level, what the choice depends on.
- The grades are our own, from each tool’s review or report card. The GPA is their average.
- Prices, plans and platforms come from each tool’s listing. The table above says where each price was read and when.
- The differences and the answers to the questions are worked out from those listings.