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Flywheel is a leading web hosting service headquartered in Omaha, Nebraska. The company is in a business partnership with WordPress. It provides a web hosting solution specially designed for WordPress websites. In simpler terms, Flywheel takes care of the technical aspects of running a site on WordPress.
So, if you’re a web developer, web designer, or run a creative agency, Flywheel might just be what you’re seeking. Some of the features you can get from Flywheel hosting service include a built-in content delivery network, auto-healing, free SSL certificates, malware removal, and many more.
Keep in mind that hosting isn’t a website. Hosting is the service that provides storage space and access, enabling your website to go live.
So, you ask: IS FLYWHEEL HOSTING SERVICE WORTH BUYING?
- Let’s Cut to the Chase!
- Now, Let’s Detail Things for You.
- What’s the Catch With Flywheel Hosting Service?
- What You Need to Know.
- What Are Flywheel Hosting Service Competitors Offering?
- What Affects Flywheel Hosting Service’s Prices?
- What Affects Prices in the Industry Overall?
- How to Get the Best Deal With Flywheel Hosting Service?
- Can You Afford Flywheel Hosting Service Prices?
- Finally: Should You Buy a Flywheel Hosting Service or Not?
Let’s Cut to the Chase!
Buy It If:
- ✅ You want advanced developer and security tools: When you use Flywheel hosting service, you enjoy a custom dashboard, seamless site migration, free SSL certificates, the malware removal tool, and nightly backups.
- ✅ You’re seeking a fairly cheap hosting service: Prices for Flywheel hosting service begin at $23 per month. The starting plan is ideal for you if you’re just getting started with your blog or website.
- ✅ You desire fast and loading time: Flywheel leverages Google Cloud Platform to optimize user experience by ensuring low latency. With GCP’s scalable computing resources, your site can easily handle traffic spikes.
- ✅ You need 24/7 customer support: Flywheel has a reputation for providing round-the-clock customer support. You can type and send your messages through email, or simply opt for a live chat.
- ✅ You want to test before you buy: Flywheel allows you to run a demo site for 14 days. During this period, you can test the hosting service the Flywheel provides before making any commitments.
- ✅ You seek security for your money: Be aware that Flywheel offers its customers (or buyers) a 60-day guarantee. Within this timeframe, if you’re not satisfied with you need, you can get some level of refund.
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Don’t Buy If:
- ❌ You want FULL access to the backend: Remember that Flywheel doesn’t give you complete access to its backend. That means, whatever you’re doing at the backend has some level of limitation. You can try other hosting services if full access to the backend is what you seek.
- ❌ You need a domain: Flywheel is a hosting company. If you’re seeking a domain, you can check out some domain registrars like Hover, and the like. Flywheel is focused on providing you with top-notch hosting services that leave you craving for more of its service.
- ❌ You want to build a website: Keep in mind that Flywheel doesn’t build websites. In other words, it’s not a website-building company. WordPress is. Flywheel partners with WordPress to help you get that amazing site you dream of. So, if you want to build a website, go to WordPress, instead.
THE BOTTOM LINE
🌐 Choose Flywheel hosting service if you need a premium web hosting solution specifically tailored for WordPress sites. You don’t have to worry about the technical part of your website. Flywheel can do that for you.
However, if you’re on a tight budget, Flywheel may not be the best option. You may have to scout around other options to see what works for you best.
Now, Let’s Detail Things for You.
When it comes to pricing, Flywheel isn’t too expensive. However, what you call ‘expensive’ is subjective. To one, a $50/mo price isn’t a big deal since they can afford it without losing a sweat. While others may see a $10/mo fee as being expensive.
Where do you belong?
If you want to buy a hosting plan from Flywheel, get ready to pay, at least, $13 per month, for the Tiny plan for one WordPress site. This is the least plan you can get from the company, and it’s ideal for startups or small enterprises.
With this plan, you get up to 5,000 monthly visits, 5GB storage space, and 20GB bandwidth.
The Starter plan (the most popular plan the company has) takes $25 per month to offer you 1 WordPress site, 25,000 monthly visits, 10GB storage, and 50GB bandwidth.
Next is the Freelance plan specially curated to help you grow your client list. The plan takes $96 each month and allows up to 10 WordPress websites. You also enjoy 100,000 monthly visits, 20GB storage space, and 200GB bandwidth.
Finally, you have the Agency plan designed for large enterprises. You’re allowed up to 30 site visits, 400,000 monthly visits, 50GB storage space, and 500GB bandwidth.
Remember, you can always get a custom-built plan from Flywheel if you don’t see what you’re looking for. The company promises to support all kinds of WordPress sites and requirements. So, get in touch with their customer support to get started.
What’s the Catch With Flywheel Hosting Service?
When it comes to pricing transparency, Flywheel scores high. So far, there’s nothing dubious about the company’s pricing. The price you see is what you pay. No hidden fees.
However, the company engage in a couple of pricing strategies to lure you into making purchases. Note that one of the pricing methods implored by Flywheel is what is called ‘penetration pricing.’
With penetration pricing, you receive a low initial price offered by the company. The company provides you with such an offer so they can quickly gain market share and grow their customer base.
For instance, when you buy a Tiny plan at Flywheel, you pay $13 per month. But the platform gives you two months to use the platform for free.
The 2-month free period is called ‘penetration pricing.’ This strategy can be used to compel you into buying a plan you never initially planned to get.
What You Need to Know
To elaborate more on the company’s pricing, here are a few things to keep in mind. First is that all of the plan tiers offer a free 2-month utility. That means, for two months, whatever feature the plan provides is given to you for free.
Second, the billing per month isn’t the same with the yearly billing. For instance, if you purchase the Tiny Plan at $13 per month, billed monthly, you’re paying the same amount ($13).
But if you opt-in for the yearly billing, you’re paying $150. That’s a lot of subsidies. Now, do the math. If you’re to pay $13 each month for twelve months, that’s 13 x 12 = $156.
Now, that’s not all. There’s a little variation with other plan tiers.
The Tiny and the Agency plans aren’t the same as the Starter and Freelance. For some reason, Flywheel charges the same fee in the Starter and Freelance plans’ monthly and yearly billings.
You pay $25/mo, and $300/year for the Starter plan, and $96/mo, and $1150/year for the Freelance plan.
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What Are Flywheel Hosting Service Competitors Offering?
Flywheel vs. Kinsta
If you’re seeking a viable alternative to Flywheel, Kinsta is an excellent choice. It offers an efficient mechanism for security. With Kinsta, you can easily get fast, secure, and feature-rich hosting solutions.
Kinsta and Flywheel are both managed WordPress hosting providers. They both offer cloud hosting services, and an affiliate program if you want to earn some money by referring new customers to the platform.
When it comes to pricing, Kinsta is more expensive compared to Flywheel. To access the lowest plan on Kinsta, you need a minimum of $30 per month for the Starter plan. Can you afford that?
Flywheel vs. Cloudways
Similar to Flywheel, Cloudways is a managed hosting platform. It provides autoscaling WordPress hosting solutions. With Cloudways can get 30% off for 4 months when you purchase a plan.
Some of the features you find on Cloudways include free Cloudflare enterprise, free object cache pro, free 1-click staging, and more. The platform comes with a fully managed experience and is built on Google Kubernetes.
Cloudways’ pricing is a bit different compared to Flywheel. While Flywheel offers a 14-day trial, Cloudways gives you only 3 days. After the free trial elapses, Cloudways’ prices begin at $15/month.
With the free trial, you get access to features such as 5 Laas cloud provider, built-in Cloudflare, free object cache pro, free SSL certificates, free migration, and 24/7/365 support.
Flywheel vs. Hostinger
When it comes to features and functionalities, Hostinger and Flywheel are alike. Both offer free website migration, 24/7 customer support, managed by WordPress, and fast site performance.
Hostinger promises a risk-free transaction through its 30-day money-back guarantee. It means that you have no risk making payments for any of its plan. You can get a refund if the plan doesn’t suit you.
While Flywheel’s prices are somewhat affordable, Hostinger offers incredibly low prices. With $2.99/mo, you can access the Premium plan, at the same time, saving 75% from your overall expenses. You can consider Hostinger. Who knows, it might be a good value for your hosting needs.
What Affects Flywheel Hosting Service’s Prices?
Flywheel offers different types of pricing plans to accommodate diverse business needs and budgets. However, some factors can influence Flywheel’s pricing. You must understand these factors so you can position yourself to get better deals.
The Hosting Plan
Keep in mind that Flywheel gives you the privilege to choose from a variety of hosting plans. Each of these plans is uniquely tailored to meet different business needs. Remember, too, that each of these plans is priced differently. The higher the plan, the more money you pay and the more features you get.
Frequency of Billing
Be aware that the longer your hosting plan purchased is, the lesser money you pay. Normally, Flywheel allows you to choose from the monthly and annual billing method. When you pay for 12 months, there’s a discount that comes with it, thereby reducing the overall cost.
Requesting Extra Features
Anytime you request for additional features that are outside the original pricing plan, be prepared to pay extra cash. Flywheel makes provisions for businesses whose requirements exceed the features found in a typical plan. For instance, you may request additional storage, or premium support which can increase your total cost of purchase.
Market Competition
Understand that Flywheel has competitors such as Hostinger, Kinsta, Cloudways, and more. They all are in fierce competition to get your attention. They do that by providing favorable pricing, and rich features to meet your dire needs. To stay competitive, Flywheel may occasionally lower its price, and offer discounts or promotions.
Economic Challenges
The condition of the market economy plays a major role in Flywheel’s pricing strategy. When there are factors like inflation, increase in taxes, or economic growth, they will have an impact on your pocket. One way or the other, you’re going to see its impact on the cost of purchasing a hosting plan.
Global Mishap
Remember the 2019/2020 global pandemic—COVID-19? That was terrible! Businesses were forced to cease operation for some time. It affected sales directly and indirectly. If you recall, during that time, prices or goods and service skyrocketed. That’s what happens when there’s a global mishap.
What Affects Prices in the Industry Overall?
Prices can change anytime within the web hosting industry. You can’t predict the next price movement. One moment, prices are high, the next moment, they’re low. There are factors responsible for these spikes. Here are a few you should keep in mind as you consider purchasing a website hosting service.
Changes in Technology
You’d agree that the emergence of AI technology and machine learning is changing business operations almost in all sectors. This also includes web hosting services. Players in the industry are adopting new technology and approaches to providing hosting services, which also impacts how they charge you for their services.
Government Policies
When there’s a new bill passed on, say, taxes, business are forced to adjust their prices to accommodate the new rules. One way or the other, you will experience the effect of those taxes on the pricing strategies of web hosting providers. It is a common practice you find in the industry, and you must get accustomed to it.
Economic Instability
Economic factors can affect prices like a double-edged sword. If the economy is favorable, companies tend to lower prices to a reasonable margin. However, when factors like currency fluctuation, or inflation arise in the market, it impacts business performances, which ultimately affects how prices are placed.
Features and Functionalities
The kind of feature and functionality you need for your web hosting service determines how much you’re paying. For instance, if you’re requesting for a CPU, RAM, bandwidth, or storage for your hosting, the higher the resource allocation, the higher the price you pay.
Promotions and Discounts
Observe that during promotions and discounts, service providers often lower their prices to accommodate customers. During these times, companies either want to lure you to make purchases or appreciate you for the bulky purchases you make.
Type of Billing
Whenever you purchase a plan for a longer term, you often enjoy discounts. Remember that Flywheel offers monthly and annual billing methods. If you purchase a plan at $50/mo, and you choose the monthly billing method, you’re going to pay $50 x 12. But when it’s billed yearly, the company takes off a percentage from the total cost.
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How to Get the Best Deal With Flywheel Hosting Service?
While considering purchasing a Flywheel hosting service, there are factors you must keep in mind if you want to get the best deal. By taking advantage of these factors, you can get features that align with your business needs while staying within budget.
1. Prefer the Annual Billing Method
Don’t go for the monthly billing method if you want to cut cost and get the best deal. Flywheel offers a discount whenever you pay for a 1-year plan. This can be helpful if you’re on a tight budget and are looking for an opportunity to have significant savings over the year.
2. Ask for a Custom Quote
One of the ways to cut down on expenses and save up a little cash is to seek a custom quote. This is particularly useful if you run an agency or business that has specific hosting needs. Speak with the sales representative and negotiate the price. That way, you can secure a better deal with great value.
3. Leverage Flywheel’s Affiliate Marketing Program
Flywheel gives you the privilege to join its affiliate program, especially if you run a blog or website. When you refer new customer, you can earn some commissions which can take care of your hosting cost. If you’re an affiliate with Flywheel, you can earn up to 300% commissions when a customer purchases any of its plans for the first time, up to $500.
4. Keep an Eye on Extended Trial Periods
Flywheel occasionally provides extended trial periods that exceed the typical 14-day timeframe. While this opportunity does not come often, you must stay informed to know when to key into such an opportunity. Always communicate with their sales team to know when offers are available.
5. Subscribe to Flywheel’s Newsletter
Stay updated with current news regarding the company’s changes or modification in prices. Know that it is a common practice among providers to send exclusive discounts, flash sales alerts, and promotional codes to their subscribers. You can also get updates concerning product improvement, or modification.
Can You Afford Flywheel Hosting Service Prices?
Whether you can afford Flywheel hosting service or not depends on some factors. First off, put your finances together. Know how much you can afford to invest in purchasing a hosting service. That means, gauging your business’ current financial strength, and projected future revenue capacity.
Then, evaluate your needs. Be crystal clear about your specific needs and channel your budget towards them. When considering your hosting needs factor in the amount of traffic you’re seeking. Also, consider the storage space you need at the moment, and any other feature that may be crucial to your business operation.
Once you’re clear with your business needs, take advantage of any discounts, or promotional offers that can help cut down on expenses. Besides, the platform offers a free trial. You can use the free trial to your advantage in the time being, until you’ve come to a purchasing decision.
So, can you afford Flywheel hosting service? Yes, and no. Yes, you can afford it if you play your game well. However, it may be a terrible choice if you don’t have adequate information to navigate your way around it. This is why you must not take this article lightly.
Finally: Should You Buy a Flywheel Hosting Service or Not?
Now you know that Flywheel isn’t some impossible hosting service to get. You can afford it if you understand what you’re doing. But that’s not the issue here. The issue is…should you buy Flywheel hosting service?
Consider Flywheel if you:
- Seek a hosting service that has high speed performance by leveraging Google Cloud platform.
- You want robust security for your site such as SSL certificates, nightly backups, and malware removal.
- Crave a hosting service that provides scalable plans that help you grow your business.
Long story short: Flywheel is a great choice for your web hosting needs, but you can always check out competitors like Bluehost, or DreamHost.
