Modern web hosting companies are generally more reliable than they used to be. Gone are the days when uptime was the only deciding factor in choosing a host. Today it takes something special to stand out.
20i is a UK web hosting company that’s rapidly becoming the go-to choice for those whose business is the web. Its Reseller Hosting product (opens in new tab) is ideal for freelancers and agencies – users can host an unlimited number of websites, which can be a great way to add extra value to the business.
20i was created by Jonathan and Tim Brealey, the original founders of Webfusion, 123-reg and Heart Internet. Their vision is clear: “With 20i we wanted to create a hosting package focused on the web professional; those with a large number of websites to host. They might be designers, developers, agencies or those wishing to start a web hosting company. We understand these people, and it’s our ambition to give them better value than any alternative.”
Using their experience in the industry, Jonathan, Tim and the team are succeeding in that ambition: 10,000 websites move to 20i every month.
What makes 20i so special?
Key to 20i's success is the talent Tim and Jonathan Brealey employ. By developing their own platform instead of relying on off-the-shelf software, they can include features and optimisations you can't find anywhere else.
A good example is 20i's new free CDN (opens in new tab). As you’d expect, it gives you global edge caching that increases loading speeds wherever you are. It also includes a sophisticated web acceleration suite, which optimises all your content, from images to code – a feature you'd need to pay for with many other providers.
My20i is an exclusive, free-forever hosting control panel focused around making bulk site management easy
20i's hosting is managed through My20i – an exclusive, free-forever hosting control panel focused around making bulk site management easy. Resellers’ clients can be given access to a highly customisable control panel, StackCP, through which they can manage their own hosting. By ‘white-labelling’ all its products, 20i gives businesses the freedom to keep their branding consistent across the hosting services they offer.
The 20i team can develop new features quickly, and include them for free. For example, in 2019, they released HostShop (opens in new tab), which automates most of the routine tasks involved in running a web hosting business. Another example is WordPress Tools (opens in new tab), which not only provides one-click WordPress staging, but also enables users to control many WP functions from the hosting control panel.
Lightning-fast reseller hosting
It isn’t just the ‘extra value’ features that are important to 20i. Its core product – lightning fast, super-reliable shared hosting – is where 20i really shines.
Instead of relying on outdated software, 20i offers a unique autoscaling platform (opens in new tab) that means busy websites aren't confined to single servers. This gives busy sites access to 20i's full hardware estate; as many high-spec servers as the site needs. It ensures busy sites stay fast, and don’t affect other sites on the shared platform.
Late last year, 20i developers saw an opportunity to further improve performance for their clients. By writing their own PHP-FPM and OPcache code they were able to improve on existing commercially available options. While other solutions will apply limits on cores, memory, bandwidth and processes, 20i's code achieves this without imposing any such restrictions. It gives further credence to 20i's promise of ‘truly unlimited hosting’.
Making the switch
Switching to 20i is a breeze, thanks to the service's automatic Migration Centre for resellers. Just enter your current hosting credentials, and all your site files, databases and emails are transferred over – no fuss.
“People are always pleasantly surprised by how easy it is to move over to us," says customer services manager Austin Brealey (20i is a family firm!). "While our support team is always there to help with any concerns, it’s a quick, simple automatic migration, without any downtime.”
This support is another way that 20i is different. Instead of going for remote or outsourced options, the whole support team is based at 20i's HQ in Nottinghamshire, where they have direct access to the developers working on the product. "This means that solutions to customer problems can be found quickly, and if necessary, we can apply updates immediately,” adds Austin.
From 20i's reviews, this strategy seems to be working: its Trustpilot score is a perfect 5.0 out of 5.0. You can trial all of 20i’s Reseller Hosting features for just £1 for your first month, at 20i.com (opens in new tab).
