Overview

With over a decade of investment in hosting niche, BigRock is an Indian-based web host that is determined to empower small businesses, professionals, and individuals. It powers over 100,000 websites globally and has so far made sales of over 6000 domains since it came to being. Today, the company offers six different types of hosting as well as web design and domain registration services. A few years back, BigRock was incorporated into the Endurance International Group. EIG is a string of hosting providers with one primary goal in mind – to empower and grow one another. Other notable members of the group include HostGator and BlueHost which we’ve already reviewed in the past.

At this point, it is worth mentioning that BigRock has two websites that are identical. One serves residents of India, while the other is its global face. The .in site markets the hosting packages in Rupees while the .com site has prices in dollars. Therefore, if you land in either of the two sites just keep in mind that only the currencies differ but the values are more or less the same.

BigRock is a fully accredited registrar of domain names and is therefore fit to register, renew, resell, and replace domains names on behalf of its clients. Since going global it has attracted a good share of attention and is currently competing with web hosts established more than two decades ago. With its variety of packages and capacity to offer hosting on both Linux and Windows platforms, it can only indicate a company with a firm determination. But is BigRock really the hosting provider that you need?

To answer that, our BigRock review will dissect its hosting packages, pricing plans, the features it brings forth, strengths and shortcomings, and finalize by answering commonly asked questions. We hope by the end of this, you’ll have judged whether BigRock is worth considering or not.

BigRock Hosting Packages

As earlier tipped, BigRock offers six types of hosting namely:

-          Shared web hosting

-          VPS hosting

-          Cloud hosting

-          CMS Specialized hosting

-          Reseller hosting

-          Email hosting

Its datacenters are located in both US and India and as such it helps to sign your account to use the servers that are closest to your visitors’ location. Besides hosting, BigRock also offers email hosting as well as domain registration services. As such, we consider it an all-round company that has everything in its basket for anyone getting started or already in the hosting business. Astoundingly, it is one of the few companies that has unlimited offers on hosting resources. On some plans, disk space, bandwidth, email accounts, and domains are totally unlimited. This can only mean multiple websites in a single account, a factor that is beneficial to small-sized, non-commercial sites.

Also, almost all BigRock hosting plans come with a 30-day money back guarantee period. This coupled with the 99.9% uptime assurance, translates to working closely with a risk-free hosting partner. Let’s now dig into the BigRock’s hosting types to help you clearly understand the entails of its packages.

Shared Web Hosting

If you’ve been in the hosting industry for a while now, you’ve probably used a shared web server at least once. Ideally, this type of hosting involves creating several web spaces/accounts on a single physical server and then sharing its resources such as CPU, memory, bandwidth, etc. Now, this kind of hosting was BigRock’s initial product before adding newer hosting technologies to its list of packages. Therefore, customers who’ve been using this web host for more than five years most likely hosted their first projects on these shared servers.

Generally, the cost of maintenance of a shared web server is very low. As such, the prices for hosting on the platform are cheaper and most resources have no express limit on them. In fact, BigRock’s shared web hosting promises to offer unmetered bandwidth and disk space. But unmetered in this context doesn’t necessarily mean the resources are infinite. There’s a limit only that it takes abnormal usage to hit it. And when you do, the company either penalizes you or suggests that you upgrade to a hosting package with dedicated resources such as a VPS.

For administration purposes, BigRock offers the demo version of cPanel which is quite handy in management of your account. It gives you access to the list of files which your website has and allows you tune other options within your account that augment its performance. In other words, it is a convenience tool for management purposes of your account. The default web server on the shared platform is powered by Apache while database management is via MySQL.

We had earlier stated that BigRock has both Linux and Windows Hosting. Now, in terms of performance both work efficiently but are different in terms of programming languages and databases that each environment supports. Usually, Linux is a favorite platform for web servers due its light weight and compatibility with lots of programming languages. Nevertheless, Windows is a great alternative and is increasingly becoming a popular platform even with its slightly high cost of maintenance. On this web host, Windows hosting plans are a bit expensive compared to those of Linux hosting. But the features BigRock has for either operating systems are near identical. Windows hosting works best when you’ve built your website in ASP or .NET and are using MS SQL as your database server.

Linux Hosting

For this subtype of hosting, BigRock powers your operating environment with CloudLinux, MySQL for database, PHP, and Ruby for your programming needs. Then it offers unmetered bandwidth which ensures outgoing and incoming traffic flows smoothly without time or size limit. You get to also choose the server location that you like. For website speed acceleration, they use Varnish caching technology and servers powered by Quad Core Xeon CPUs and 64GB RAM. Installation of apps on your account is made easy by Softaculous which allows a one-tap installation procedure. You can also track performance of your site via AWStats which generates logs, reporting graphs, and tables.

Starter

Ideal for startup websites, this plan allows hosting of only one website. Bandwidth is unmetered, storage space is 10GB, and you can host a maximum of 200 email accounts. The plan costs $1.59 per month on a 10-year subscription. Shorter terms are available but the cost is slightly higher.

Advanced

Although it limits users to a single website, this plan offers unmetered space as well as bandwidth. Also, you can create and host as many email accounts as no limit exists for the same. The plan costs $3.49 per month for a 10-year subscription.

Business

With this plan, you can host up to three websites on your unmetered web space. It also has no restriction on the outgoing and incoming traffic as bandwidth is unlimited. The asking price for the plan is $5.39 per month on a 10-year subscription.

Pro

Considered the best plan on shared server hosting, this plan has no specific limit to the number of websites you can host. All its resources are unlimited including storage space, bandwidth, and email storage. It costs $7.39 per month on a decade subscription.

Windows Hosting

This subtype is not much different from Linux Hosting. The only variation is the server operating system which is Windows 2008 and control panel which is a demo version of Plesk. Traffic goes to the internet via Juniper Networks while Microsoft SQL is the default database server. The application marketplace is powered by II Parallels which supports one click installations of web applications and even CMS such as WordPress and Drupal.

Essential

This plan offers 10GB storage space, capacity to create and host 200 email accounts, and unmetered bandwidth. Its best price is $1.59 per month.

Premium

Supporting one domain, this plan allows you to host a single website. It offers unmetered bandwidth, storage space, and unlimited space to host email accounts. It costs $4.39 per month.

Business

Allowing users to host five websites, this plan has all its resources unlimited from storage space, bandwidth, to email accounts. It charges $8.29 per month.

Pro

This plan unlocks an account with capacity to hold 10 websites. It also has resources such as storage space and bandwidth unlimited. Its cheapest subscription cost is $10.49 per month for a 3-year term.

Cloud Hosting

This type of hosting offers a smooth transition from shared server platforms. It involves use of a cluster of servers which combine their resources to offer a better hosting experience. Under this kind of hosting, websites are able to maintain a high online presence with features such as automatic failover being inherently present. Also, unlike traditional hosting, here you can manually adjust amount of resources available to you to increase performance or lower costs. BigRock offers Cloud Hosting on Linux operating system and maintains an unmetered status over several other resources.

Account management is via cPanel while the default web server on each cloud machine is Apache. The control panel allows you to control your account as well as access Mojo Marketplace that is rich in web applications. To enhance site speed, the cloud servers employ Varnish Caching technology which facilitates storage of frequently used pages in memory. Furthermore, you can view how your website is performing on the inbuilt account dashboard and the resources it has so far consumed. For data security, the cloud system setup is such that files on your website are mirrored across three distinct devices to promote redundancy. BigRock also has a global content delivery network for this package which has websites loading two times faster than on traditional shared servers.

Business

This plan allows you to host unlimited number of websites on the unmetered disk space. Also, it offers 6GB RAM and a CPU with 6 cores for smooth operation. It costs $9.99 per month.

Advanced

Charging $7.99 per month, this plan offers unmetered bandwidth and disk space. It has no limit on number of websites you can host on your account. Your web space has access to a CPU with 4 cores and 4GB RAM.

Linux VPS Hosting

Virtual Private Servers are ideal for websites and applications that have exceeded the resources which shared platforms and cloud servers offer. It serves well websites with high traffic or with elements that are dependent on fast server speeds to operate normally. These can be video streaming sites, gaming hubs, and online app programming/staging platforms. BigRock gives full root access to users of this kind of hosting and serves web files from high-speed Solid State Drives.

Additionally, you get to choose the variant of Linux OS that you prefer for hosting environment. The options available include Fedora, CentOS, Ubuntu, and Debian. For management of your account and its entails, BigRock offers Plesk and cPanel which are in demo versions by default. Did you also know you can view the graphic interface of your system without a browser? Well, the virtual private server supports installation of VNC which simulates a desktop interface. In other words, you view your server as if you were physically in its location.

Another interesting bit about BigRock’s VPS hosting is the ease of server management. From your control panel, you can start, rebuild, stop, or restart the virtual unit which is helpful when it becomes non-responsive. Planning to offer reseller hosting? The web host allows you to install and integrate WHMCS into your VPS server. This way, you can manage your clients and control various resources flexibly.

Virtualization of the private servers is made possible by KVM, a cutting edge virtual machine builder. Traffic is relayed via Juniper Networks while Neustar and OpenStack power the infrastructure for more security. As for customer service, VPS users enjoy semi-managed support on network, hardware, firewall, and server optimization related issues. You can also have the IT team assist in reverse DNS setup as well as moving your projects to a server in a different location.

V1 SSD

For this plan, BigRock issues a VPS with 2 CPU cores, 20GB SSD storage, 2GB RAM, and a bandwidth of 1TB. It costs $12 per month for triannual subscription term.

V2 SSD

Going at $20.50 per month, this plan offers a VPS with 4GB RAM, 2 CPU cores, 40GB SSD storage, and 1TB bandwidth.

V3 SSD

This plan costs $26.50 per month for a triannual subscription. It offers 3 CPU cores, 2TB bandwidth, 6GB RAM, and 80GB SSD storage space.

Specialized Hosting

Essentially, this kind of hosting is not any different from shared web hosting. BigRock places it distinctly from the shared package for marketing purposes. It is designed for users running content management systems such as WordPress, Drupal, and Joomla. The websites using this package sit on a single physical server which splits its resources amongst them. The main benefit that the package has is giving sites access to thousands of applications, themes, and scripts. Also, the operating environment offers Mojo Marketplace as well as Softaculous installer for increased convenience.

The cheapest specialized hosting plan goes at $1.59 per month. The rest of the plans are similar to those we outlined on shared server hosting section. The risk-free period still lasts for 30 days while cPanel and Plesk are the main control panels. For ecommerce platforms, you can easily integrate Oscommerce, Cubecart, and Zencart and have the management configure transaction gateways on your behalf.

Lastly, it is worth remembering that content management systems can be migrated to other types of hosting other than the shared platform. For instance, you can move your WordPress website to a virtual private server or host it on cloud servers. The options are endless for an established or fast-growing website.

Reseller Hosting

Are you envisioning to start a hosting company today? Reseller Hosting is the perfect package to get you started. BigRock offers this type of hosting on Linux and Windows platforms. Both hosting environments are powered by cloud technology which allows several servers to contribute to performance. The web host also makes available cPanel and WHM to manage your account and that of your customers.

All reseller accounts sit on Dell Rack servers running on 64GB RAM and Quad Core Intel Xeon processors. They also have access to Varnish to increase the speed of loading pages and Softaculous to make installation of applications a walk in the park.

As for the domain services, you can purchase these too in bulk and resell to customers using your account to host websites.

Premium

This plan costs $49.99 per month. It allocates 200GB storage space, 4000GB bandwidth, capacity to hold unlimited number of websites, and free WHMCS for account management.

Deluxe

Charging $33.99 per month, this plan allots 2000GB bandwidth, 100GB storage space, and free WHMCS.

Economy

This is the cheapest plan and is suitable for starters on the reselling business. It allocates 50GB storage space, 1000GB bandwidth, and free version of WHMCS.

Economy

Designed for small-scale hosting companies, this plan charges $21.49 per month. In turn, it allocates 25GB storage space, 500GB bandwidth, and capacity to host unspecified number of sites.

Essential

Suitable for startup companies, this plan goes at $18.99 per month. It apportions 10GB storage space, 200GB bandwidth, and can host any number of small websites you have.

Premium

Allocating 100GB space, 2000GB bandwidth, and free WHMCS, this plan goes at $38.59 per month. It is the best reseller hosting plan that BigRock has.

Email Hosting

BigRock Features

On this section, we review various features put forth by BigRock in the hosting business. We shall analyze its security measures, control panels, performance & speed features, refund policy, and customer service.

Performance and Speed

BigRock is a quite a force to reckon when it comes to performance and speed. It has in place various measures, technologies, and infrastructures that strongly boost its position. Let’s explore some of these:

Cloud Hosting technology

Besides being offered as a package, cloud hosting technology is one of the popular performance and speed booster in modern times. It involves merging resources of various powerful servers to synergize their capacities. BigRock charges quite fairly for using this type of hosting with various plans for any-size website.

Varnish Caching

This cutting edge technology allows frequently accessed pages to be retained in memory. The end gain is a boosted performance from eliminating the hassle by servers to load content from storage devices.

Instant scaling

This feature is available on VPS and cloud hosting packages. It allows you to adjust server resources relative to your usage. You can increase or decrease amount of resources to save on costs as well as to achieve a decent performance.

Content Delivery Network

BigRock offers this infrastructure on the cloud hosting package. Basically, it involves transferring data to the servers closest to your visitors’ location. As such, they can access content quicker and in more personalized form.

Unmetered bandwidth

Most plans for this web host have no limit on bandwidth which translates to faster server speeds.  Visitors can send or receive content on your site at fair speeds.

Security

Anyone who’s been in hosting business long enough will admit to threats and risks associated with the industry. Therefore, a good web host must have sufficient measures to stay ahead of possible security threats. BigRock is not perfect but it at least has various express measures guarding web data hosted on its servers. Here are some of them:

DDOS protection

If hosting a project on BigRock’s virtual private servers, you’re automatically protected against denial of service attacks. The server-level firewall strictly monitors all the traffic that goes in and out of the operating environment where your website sits.

Juniper Network

The infrastructure provided by this company is authentic and safe for use for networking purposes. BigRock uses devices and software that Juniper offers for its hosting platforms.

SSL certificates

Although no SSL certificate preexists on any package, BigRock recommends getting one upon deploying your website. They offer to install it for you and charge no fee for the same.

Redundant system

BigRock’s Ceph-based storage mirrors site data on three separate devices on the network. This function ensures that in case a server crashes or fails, your data will be safe on the other backup systems.

Managed hosting

The web host takes care of server maintenance routines including operating system installations, provision of updates, and recommendation of safe marketplace to grab your applications. With this, the risk of internal attacks or failures are minimized.

Control Panels

BigRock features three control panels in all its hosting packages. For Linux environments, they offer cPanel, for Windows Plesk, and on Reseller accounts WHMCS. Each control panel has its own share of functions and features. CPanel and Plesk are handy in managing accounts with fewer websites while WHMCS can handle bulk functions in an account.

All the control panels are offered for free since they are demo versions. Therefore, their features are limited initially but you can always upgrade to unlock additional functions. So, what sections of your account can you control or view with the tools?

File managers

The control panels allow you to view the file system of your website on the server. You can add, edit, or delete files as often as you want to control the elements that you visitors view.

Billing status

From your control panel you can find out when your hosting plan or domain name subscription expires. Also, if you’re a reseller you can formulate custom prices for the packages that your company offers.

Scaling of Resources

The control panels allow you to view the amount of resources that your website consumes. Also, it features resource scalers that help you adjust CPU cores, memory size, and storage space.

Access to stats analyzers

BigRock allows you to reach AWStats that periodically keeps a log of how your site is performing. This is important when you want to find out how your website is faring against its competition.

Customer Support

At BigRock, you can communicate with the customer service either via a phone call, social media chat, or email. Calling is only possible for India residents or people whose telephone service providers allow international calls. For quick and easy communication, the company’s social media accounts are most preferable. They have a presence on Facebook, YouTube, Twitter, and Google Plus. Additionally, they have a medium subdomain that puts all communication channels in a single place.

Emailing is also another communication medium that you can use. The good thing with it is that you can resolve recurring problems as conversation with the support staff is in a single thread. In our experience, the average response time on their social media accounts was in under five minutes while emails took about 10 minutes to be responded to.

Money Back Guarantee

BigRock’s money back guarantee period lasts for 30 days. The condition for a refund is that your account must have used resources within reasonable limits. Also, there should be no history of violation or abuse of the hosting platforms. Put otherwise, your account must have been operated within legal limits without violating terms, conditions, or stipulations guiding BigRock as a web host.

If you cancel your subscription within 30 days after registering, you are eligible for a full refund. Also, if you downgrade your plan and you cancel your hosting contract, you’ll receive the in between difference in plan prices.  

Extras

Domain Services

Besides hosting, BigRock is a domain registrar with support of name spaces such as .com, .net, .co, .in, and .biz. It protects your domain name against theft or accidental transfers by notifying other registrars that it’s already booked. You can also renew your domain name, replace it, or sell it as easily as you purchased it.

DIY Site Builders

BigRock offers do-it-yourself site builders to new users for free and sometimes at a fee. The builders support drag and drop functions and are connected to stores with numerous themes and unique images.

BigRock Pros and Cons

This section points out the shortcomings and strengths that BigRock has as a web host.

Pros

Variety of hosting options

Whether you have a startup or an already established website, BigRock has a vast array of options for you.

Reliable storage

The host uses solid state drives for storage of web files and further stores them in other devices for increased redundancy. The drives are up to 5x faster than traditional SATA disks.

Unlimited resources

Some plans offer unmetered disk space, bandwidth, and CPU cores. Your web projects can only load faster under such setups.

Free virus protection

Some hosting platforms feature antiviruses which secure your hosting platform against unwarranted intrusion.

100% uptime guarantee

BigRock assures its clients 100% uptime and even includes multiple backup solutions in its infrastructure to foresee this.

Robust servers

As part of its infrastructure, BigRock has powerful Dell Rack servers that boast big memory and potent processing power.

Free site migration

The IT team assists you in migration of your website from another web host for free.

No setup fees

All plans have no setup fees as is common in other hosting platforms.

Multiple payment channels

You can pay via bank wire transfer, PayPal, and using major credit cards. The options are truly open.

All hosting solutions in one place

You can build a website, buy a domain name, and host it all without involving another service provider.

Open to global subscriptions

Anyone in any country can create an account on BigRock’s servers and host any nature of a website. The only requirement is being able to pay outstanding dues and compliance with company’s terms of service.

Long risk-free period

You have thirty days to change your mind once you subscribe to the hosting contract.

Cons

No free SSL certificate

Hosting providers are encouraging website owners to secure data by providing free SSL certificate. BigRock supports installation of an SSL cert but doesn’t offer any for free.

Bare bone plans

Most plans have only basic features with advanced essentials unavailable or too pricey.

Outdated software

During the writing of this review, the PHP version they offered was 5.5 while the latest is 7.x.

BigRock Frequently Asked Questions

For anyone who might still be puzzled with how BigRock works, here are answers to the commonly asked questions about the web host.

What size of a website is suitable to host on BigRock?

BigRock has the resources for a small, private website as well as a huge website with high traffic. The best way to assess whether the website you wish to host will work on its platform is to give specific details such as purpose, number of images, estimated traffic, etc.

Can I move from another hosting provider to BigRock without losing files?

Sure. The best way to migrate from another hosting provider to BigRock is to have the support team take care of the process. Also, you can back up the files in a separate location just in case some files are damaged during migration.

Which SSL certificate providers would you recommend to use on BigRock?

The best SSL certificates to use on any web host including BigRock are from Comodo, RapidSSL, DigiCert, GeoTrust, and GlobalSign. All these are accredited providers with pocket-friendly rates.

Can I use a domain name I registered elsewhere on BigRock’s hosting platform?

Yes. BigRock permits use of domain names that you registered with other providers to point to a website you host on their platform.

Which BigRock’s alternative web hosts are suitable?

Similar hosting providers to BigRock include SiteGround, InMotion, HostGator, and BlueHost. Their rates and hosting packages are almost similar.

Can I upgrade or downgrade a plan?