When it comes to choosing a web hosting provider in South Africa, there are many options available.
Two of the most popular providers are 1-grid and Afrihost.
Both companies offer a wide range of hosting options, such as shared hosting, VPS hosting, and dedicated servers.
However, they have different pricing, features, and level of customer support.
In this article, we will take a closer look at 1-grid vs Afrihost, comparing their services, pricing and customer support to help you determine which provider best fits your specific needs.
Table of Contents
1-grid vs Afrihost: Comparison of services offered
As stated above, 1-grid and Afrihost offer various hosting options. Let’s compare the different options.
Shared Hosting
Shared hosting is the most basic and affordable option, suitable for hosting small websites and blogs, and both 1-grid and Afrihost offer this type of hosting.
1-grid vs Afrihost shared hosting plans: Similarities
Both 1-grid and Afrihost similarly offer three different shared hosting plans, which vary in terms of storage, bandwidth, and the number of websites that can be hosted on a single account.
The entry-level “Starter” plan offers 10GB of storage, 100GB of bandwidth, and the ability to host one website. The “Professional” plan offers 20GB of storage, 200GB of bandwidth, and the ability to host two websites. The top-level “Business” plan offers 30GB of storage, 300GB of bandwidth, and the ability to host three websites.
Both companies also include a free domain name, daily backups, and a cPanel control panel with their shared hosting plans.
It’s also important to note that both companies offer a 30-day money-back guarantee for their shared hosting plans, allowing customers to test the service and get a refund if they are unsatisfied.
It’s worth noting that the pricing and the features provided by both companies may change over time, so it’s important to check their website and compare the current plans and pricing before making a final decision.
1-grid vs Afrihost shared hosting plans: Main differences
One of the main differences between the two providers is the level of technical support they offer. 1-grid offers 24/7 support through phone, email, and live chat. They also have a knowledge base and a community forum where customers can find answers to common questions.
Afrihost also offers 24/7 support through phone, email, and live chat, as well as a knowledge base and a community forum. In addition, Afrihost has a ticket system that allows customers to submit support requests, which are typically responded to within a few hours.
Another difference is the level of control that customers have over their hosting accounts. 1-grid’s shared hosting plans use cPanel, which is a widely used control panel that makes it easy to manage various aspects of a hosting account, such as creating email accounts, managing databases, and installing software.
Afrihost uses a custom control panel called “Cloud Hosting Control Panel”, which also allows customers to manage various aspects of their hosting account, but it may have a steeper learning curve for users who are not familiar with it.
They also have a difference in their level of scalability. 1-grid’s shared hosting plans allow customers to upgrade to a VPS or dedicated server as their website grows and requires more resources. On the other side, Afrihost’s shared hosting plans are designed for small to medium-sized websites and may not be suitable for larger or more resource-intensive websites.
There is also a difference in the additional features that they offer. 1-grid offers a range of other features including daily backups, a free domain name, a free SSL certificate, and a free website builder. Afrihost offers all of those but does not currently offer a free website builder.
1-grid vs Afrihost shared hosting plans: Performance
Performance refers to how quickly a website loads and how well it functions. Both 1-grid and Afrihost use high-performance servers and network infrastructure to ensure that websites load quickly and perform well.
However, the actual performance of each provider may vary depending on various factors, such as the number of websites hosted on a single server, and it’s essential to check the provider’s performance before making a final decision.
Some differences exist in the specific technologies and methods they use to achieve high performance.
1-grid uses SSD storage, Litespeed web server, and CloudLinux operating system to ensure fast and reliable performance. They also use LiteMage caching, which is a full-page caching solution that can significantly improve the speed of a website.
Afrihost uses a combination of SSD storage, Apache web server, and CloudLinux operating system to ensure fast and reliable performance. They also use CloudFlare, which is a content delivery network (CDN) that can help speed up the loading time of a website by caching its content on servers located in multiple locations around the world.
Uptime refers to the amount of time that a website is available and accessible to visitors.
Both 1-grid and Afrihost offer a 99.9% uptime guarantee, which means that they will refund customers if their website is down for more than 0.1% of the time. However, the actual uptime of each provider may vary depending on various factors, such as network and server reliability, and it’s essential to check the uptime of the provider before making a final decision.
VPS hosting
VPS hosting, or Virtual Private Server hosting, is a more advanced option, suitable for medium to large websites and online stores. Let’s compare the VPS hosting plans offered by 1-grid and Afrihost.
1-grid vs Afrihost VPS hosting: Similarities
Both 1-grid and Afrihost similarly offer five different VPS hosting plans, which vary in terms of storage, CPU, and RAM.
The entry-level “Starter” plan offers 20GB of storage, 1 CPU core, and 1GB of RAM. The “Professional” plan offers 40GB of storage, 2 CPU cores, and 2GB of RAM. The “Business” plan offers 60GB of storage, 3 CPU cores, and 3GB of RAM. The “Enterprise” plan offers 80GB of storage, 4 CPU cores, and 4GB of RAM. The top-level “Elite” plan offers 100GB of storage, 5 CPU cores, and 5GB of RAM.
Both companies also include a free cPanel/WHM control panel, daily backups, and a choice of an operating system with their VPS hosting plans. However, there may be differences in terms of additional features, uptime, and performance that may vary depending on the provider.
1-grid vs Afrihost VPS hosting: Main differences
The main differences between the VPS hosting plans offered by 1-grid and Afrihost include:
1. Network and server infrastructure: 1-grid and Afrihost may use different types of servers, network infrastructure, and data centers to host their VPS plans. This may affect the hosting service’s performance, reliability, and security.
2. Control panel: 1-grid and Afrihost may use different control panels to manage the VPS hosting service. This may affect the hosting service’s ease of use, functionality, and customization.
3. Add-on services: 1-grid and Afrihost may offer different types of add-on services, such as domain registration, website design, and marketing services, that can be useful for customers who want to create and promote their websites.
4. Pricing and billing: 1-grid and Afrihost may have different pricing models, such as monthly, quarterly, or annual billing, and different types of discounts, such as introductory offers, volume discounts, and loyalty discounts, that can affect the total cost of the hosting service.
5. Support and documentation: 1-grid and Afrihost may have different levels of support, such as phone, email, chat, ticket, and knowledge base, and different types of documentation, such as FAQs, tutorials, and forums, that can help customers troubleshoot, customize, and optimize the hosting service.
1-grid may offer additional features such as a free SSL certificate and a free website builder, while Afrihost may not offer these features.
1-grid vs Afrihost VPS hosting: Performance
In terms of performance, the main difference between the VPS hosting plans offered by 1-grid and Afrihost may be in the specific technologies and methods they use to achieve high performance.
1-grid uses a combination of SSD storage, Litespeed web server, and CloudLinux operating system to ensure fast and reliable performance. They also use LiteMage caching, which is a full-page caching solution that can significantly improve the speed of a website. 1-grid also uses LiteSpeed Web Server, which is known for its high-performance and low-resource usage. This allows for faster load times and improved website performance.
Afrihost uses a combination of SSD storage, Apache web server, and CloudLinux operating system to ensure fast and reliable performance. They also use CloudFlare, which is a content delivery network (CDN) that can help speed up the loading time of a website by caching its content on servers located in multiple locations around the world.
Cloudflare’s CDN service can help offload some of the traffic from your server and serve it from their global network of servers, this can help improve website load times, and make your website more resilient to traffic spikes.
It’s important to note that both providers use similar technologies to achieve high performance, but they may have slight differences in terms of the specific versions or configurations of the technologies they use.
In terms of uptime, both 1-grid and Afrihost offer a 99.9% uptime guarantee, which means that they will refund customers if their website is down for more than 0.1% of the time. However, the actual uptime of each provider may vary depending on various factors, such as network and server reliability, and it’s important to check the uptime of the provider before making a final decision.
Dedicated servers
Dedicated servers are the most powerful and flexible option, suitable for large and resource-intensive websites.
1-grid vs Afrihost Dedicated servers: Similarities
Both providers offer multiple dedicated server plans that start from a single processor, 4GB of RAM, and 1TB of storage and go up to Dual processors, 64GB of RAM, and 4TB of storage. They also offer options to customize the plans per your need, including additional storage, RAM, and bandwidth.
1-grid vs Afrihost Dedicated servers: Main differences
The main differences between the dedicated servers offered by 1-grid and Afrihost may lie in the additional features, uptime, and performance.
In terms of additional features, 1-grid may offer additional features such as a free SSL certificate and a free website builder, while Afrihost may not offer these features.
Additionally, 1-grid may offer more options for customizing the dedicated server plans, such as storage, RAM, and bandwidth options, while Afrihost may offer more limited options.
They both have the same difference in uptime as they do in VPS hosting.
Finally, both 1-grid and Afrihost use high-performance servers and network infrastructure to ensure that websites load quickly and perform well.
However, the actual performance of each provider may vary depending on various factors, such as the number of websites hosted on a single server, and it’s important to check the provider’s performance before making a final decision.
In summary, both 1-grid and Afrihost offer similar dedicated servers with similar storage, CPU, and RAM options, as well as a choice of operating systems and the option to customize servers with additional features.
Both companies also include a control panel, daily backups, and 24/7 support with their dedicated servers.
1-grid vs Afrihost: Comparison of pricing
Shared hosting pricing
1-grid offers several shared hosting plans with different pricing options and features, including small, medium, and large packages.
Their small package plans, which is their entry-level plan, start at around R89 per month and include features such as 1 website, 100 email accounts, and 10 GB of storage.
The medium package plan, which is the standard plan, could cost around R129 per month, and it includes more resources, such as 200 websites, unlimited email accounts, and 25 GB storage.
The large package plans, the business and premium plans, could cost around R249 per month and include even more resources and features, such as unlimited websites, unlimited email accounts, 50 GB storage, a free SSL certificate, and a free website builder.
The Afrihost Shared hosting pricing for windows start at R69 for Bronze home package as shown in the image above. The silver home package is priced at R99, the Gold home at R119, and the Platinum home at R169. 
The Pro packages range from R239 for Bronze Pro to R637 for the platinum pro package as shown below.
VPS hosting pricing
1-grid offered several VPS hosting plans with different pricing options. Their entry-level plan starts at around R209 per month for Linux and R668 per month for windows and includes features such as 1 vCPU, 2 GB RAM, 50 GB storage, and 2 TB bandwidth. They also have other plans that offer more resources such as additional CPU, RAM, storage, and bandwidth, and those plans can cost around R389 to R569 per month for Linux and R868 to R1068 per month for windows.
Afrihost also offers several VPS hosting plans with different pricing options. Their entry-level plan starts at around R360 per month and includes features such as 1 vCPU, 2 GB RAM, 100 GB storage, and 4 TB bandwidth. They also have other plans that offer more resources such as additional CPU, RAM, storage, and bandwidth, and those plans can cost up to R860 per month.
The VPS hosting and dedicated servers costs for both 1-grid and Afrihost are available at the respective websites. These prices are subject to change with time hence it is necessary to check the current plans and pricing on the providers’ websites before making a final decision.
Which one is better between 1-grid and Afrihost
It’s difficult to say which one is better, between 1-grid and Afrihost, as it depends on your specific needs and preferences.
Both companies offer similar hosting services and pricing options, but they may have different strengths and weaknesses in terms of features, uptime, performance, and support.
Afrihost is known for its affordability and excellent customer support. They offer a wide range of hosting options, including unlimited hosting, Linux and Windows hosting, and a free website builder. They have a knowledgeable and helpful support team available 24/7 to assist customers.
1-grid, on the other hand, offers a wide range of hosting options and various add-ons, Their pricing is considered to be slightly higher compared to Afrihost, but they have a good reputation in the market and provide a good level of service.
Conclusion
It’s important to evaluate your specific requirements and compare the features and pricing of the hosting plans offered by both companies to determine the best fit for you.
Additionally, it’s also worth considering other factors such as the network and server infrastructure, control panel, add-on services, scalability options, and support and documentation offered by the provider. It’s also important to read reviews and testimonials from other customers to get an idea of their experiences with the company.
I recommend you visit both providers’ websites and compare the features and pricing of their hosting plans. I also recommend reading their reviews, testimonials, and customer feedback to help you make the best decision.