TMDHosting Review

While I first sawTMDHosting, one thing stopped me dead in my tracks.

The plans were really affordable.

It must come at the expense of the features, I thought.

But no.

TMD boasts a very feature-rich offer and makes a few bold claims about outperforming other companies.

One thing was clear. It was time to do a thorough TMDHosting review.

I went through the usual steps to test the provider. I checked the performance, the support quality, as well as any outstanding features. I also inspected the legal documentation for sneaky clauses to save you the trouble of deciphering the Terms of Service.

And, I have to say, the platform works pretty well. TMDHosting handles the basics with panache and has quite a few cutting-edge tools to spice up the offer.

If you’re interested in more details, check out the in-depth 2022 TMDHosting review below.

What Is TMDHosting?

TMDHosting is an independent hosting company with 12+ years of experience. It holds various awards and is compliant with a range of standards, like SSAE-16.

In terms of size, you can’t really put TMDHosting vs. GoDaddy, but the former is by no means small. It hosts 300,000+ domains and counting, and it runs seven data centers on four continents.

TMD also has a decent reputation, scoring a 4.9 on TrustPilot and an around 87% satisfaction rate on HostAdvice. Plus, it’s popular on community sites like Reddit.

The provider offers a range of managed website hosting services for both Linux and Windows-based apps. You can go for shared, VPS, cloud, or dedicated plans. 

With such a range of services, there is plenty to review. Here’s what the host can do:

TMDHosting Basics—Uptime, Speed, and Support

There are three things you should watch out for when choosing a hosting service - uptime, speed, and support quality. They are essential for making the platform work as intended. If a provider stumbles here, you can expect the entire service to suffer.

For this TMDHosting review, I tested all three to ensure you won’t run into such problems. Here’s how it performs.

1. Uptime—99.99%

Server availability is vital. If a server continually goes down, visitors won't be able to access your website, and it will drive away lots of potential traffic.

That being said, it’s kind of tough to test uptime without purchasing a plan. That’s why I started monitoring as soon as I got my TMDHosting logins. 

During testing, the service ran without a hitch. The host didn’t have any outages, which is excellent. 

TMD extends a 99.9% uptime guarantee, like most providers. There are a few provisions to the guarantee, though. I’ll go into more detail about the Terms of Service below.

The important thing to remember now is that you can only request a partial refund after the end of your first year of hosting. It’s a bit strange, but it provides some assurance that TMDHosting won’t go below 99.9% uptime. 

Verdict: TMDHosting sports near-perfect uptime.

2. Average Speeds

Server speed is at least as big a deal as uptime. Slow hosting means a slow website, and that can drive away as many visitors as a server outage.

TMDHosting prides itself on its infrastructure and speed optimization tools. Its website is packed with info on all hardware and caching mechanisms. 

I wanted to see for myself. I connected a test website to tools like GTMetrix and Pingdom and checked how fast TMDHosting web hosting really is. 

The servers’ average response time is 557MS. This is not slow, but many providers take way less to deliver the first byte of data. TMDHosting is somewhere in the middle of the pack.

The load times are mediocre as well. The servers take about 1.6 seconds to deliver a basic web page. This puts TMDHosting in a similar speed range as FastComet—decent, but not the fastest. 

Overall, the host performs fine. That said if you put TMDHosting vs. Hostinger or other blazing-fast providers, TMD won’t win.

There are simply faster hosts to choose from.

Verdict: TMDHosting has about average speeds. It’s reasonably fast, but not the fastest.

3. Fast Support

Support is one of the most critical aspects of hosting. Without the support team to hear you out and fix what needs to be fixed, you're pretty much left praying that the platform will keep working smoothly.

Most TMDHosting reviews praise the efficient support team. As you can probably guess, I put this to the test too.

For starters, the support team is very fast. You can reach them 24/7, and you usually get a near-instant response through live chat and after 15 minutes via ticketing.

We’re off to a good start.

The support quality, though, is okay. 

I tried the support multiple times for this TMDHosting review, and the agents I reached were polite and responsive. They answered all my questions, and one agent even got into discussing the details of configuring various caching mechanisms with me. The agents do know their stuff, but, admittedly, some are a bit more knowledgeable than others. 

Although qualified, the team is way too eager to push for sales. One of them even suggested a cloud plan would be perfect for me. This wouldn’t be a problem, except that the agent didn’t know anything about my website or what kind of hosting I wanted.

The knowledge base is fairly poor and outdated. You can find more info on that below.

Overall, the support is above average. The techies do their job, but you can’t really compare the support of TMDHosting vs. that of DreamHost or SiteGround.

Verdict: You can get fast help from TMD’s support team, but the quality of the support kind of depends on the agent.

The Pros of TMDHosting

The features make or break a service. That’s why hosting companies try to pack as many tools as they can into their hosting plans. Here’s what stood out during the making of this TMDHosting review:

1. WordPress-Optimized

Numerous hosting providers like to claim their plans are WordPress-optimized. However, in many cases, this is a ploy to snag more customers without making any WordPress-related improvements. 

I am happy to report this isn’t the case with TMDHosting. Its cloud hosting plans have all sorts of features useful for WordPress.

To start with, the server stack is optimized for WordPress. It runs on LiteSpeed, which gets you a massive performance boost. Various related caching mechanisms are configured by default for even faster content delivery.

The plans come with a custom client control panel. This makes it easier to manage WordPress than the standard cPanel setup. 

The host doesn’t have the usual WordPress auto-updates. Instead, the tech team will install any themes or plugins and can perform updates for you. You can take advantage of the excellent managed website hosting services if you need extra help.

The cloud setup is somewhat higher-end than standard shared hosting. It starts you with 2 CPU cores and 2GB RAM—great if you want something more potent. The plans start at $5.95/month, which is fair for the resources. 

If you need WordPress-ready plans that pack a bit more punch, you can go with TMDHosting’s cloud offer.

2. Windows Hosting

Linux is the industry standard. Of the top 1 million domains on the web, 95% are hosted on a Linux-based server. That’s why, when you say “web hosting,” you’re usually talking about Linux hosting.

That said, many users and server administrators actually prefer Windows Server and technologies like ASP.NET. 

For such cases, TMDHosting offers a range of Windows-based managed web hosting plans, including shared and VPS servers. It even made it to Web Tribunal’s list of the top Windows hosts. 

The plans run on decent hardware, feature Plesk, and have decent tools. To top it off, they are only marginally more expensive than Linux hosting. The smallest plan starts at $3.99/month, which is pretty good for a Windows-based platform. 

3. Free Migrations

Website migrations are a tricky business. Many things can and usually do go wrong, even with a simple WordPress site. That's why, if you aren't a professional, you’d be better off if an expert can take over. 

TMDHosting states it will migrate any website for you. All you need to do is submit a support ticket, and your website will be moved to a TMDHosting cPanel account. The host even claims it will handle the migration within 24h, which is superb. 

With TMDHosting, you will be saved the considerable trouble of transferring your website manually.

4. Lots of Data Centers

A small host can be great if you have a local audience and only need coverage of a single country. However, if you plan on going global, you'll want a provider with a robust infrastructure and data centers that can quickly deliver web pages anywhere in the world. 

TMDHosting offers just that. It has seven facilities located in Phoenix, Chicago, London, Amsterdam, Singapore, Tokyo, and Sydney. You can get coverage and fast content delivery across North America, Europe, Asia, and Australia.

If you need a managed website hosting service with broad geo-redundancy, TMDHosting is an excellent choice.

5. WildCard SSL + GlobalSign Discounts

Having an SSL certificate is pretty much essential for making your website look legitimate. That’s why most providers offer a free SSL certificate you can install.

TMDHosting is no exception. It lets you install a Let’s Encrypt SSL automatically from the control panel.

However, for business websites, a free single-domain SSL might not cut it. And if you need something that adds more credibility and coverage, TMDHosting has just the thing.

For starters, the largest managed shared hosting gets you a WildCard SSL certificate for free. This is excellent for securing sites that have multiple subdomains. It is most often used for ecommerce, but any complex web app will benefit from it.

Even better, TMDHosting resells SSL certificates by GlobalSign, one of the leading certificate authorities.

TMDHosting offers special rates for GlobalSign SSL certificates, so it is a better deal than most. The host will install the certificate for you, so you won’t have to bother with the technical details. If your business needs a higher level of validation or a liability warranty, it’s an amazingly helpful choice.

TMDHosting covers all your SSL needs.

6. Weebly Access

The provider is partnered with Weebly, and you can access the builder from the TMDHosting cPanel portal.

Weebly is one of the leading website builders on the market. It comes with attractive templates, lots of great features - including ecommerce - and it's incredibly easy to use. It's an excellent option if you want to quickly set up a website but don't want to use a CMS like WordPress.

A great addition to the offered services.

7. Daily Backups

Sometimes, things go wrong with a website. You could get hit by ransomware, an update could break things, or you might make a mistake yourself. In such cases, a backup lets you roll back your site and start over.

TMDHosting takes daily backups. This is excellent, especially for sites that constantly store new data on the server. 

A few TMDHosting reviews left by users do complain about not having enough backup versions, though.

TMDHosting saves the automated backups for five days, i.e., you can access five versions at any given time. Meanwhile, most hosts save backups for a week or longer. You should be careful to catch issues within five days from when they occur, or you might not have a suitable restoration point available.

You can get around this somewhat by downloading a backup file every now and then. This is just good practice for keeping your site safe, and it’s not a tip exclusively for TMDHosting website hosting.

Daily backups are still a top-notch feature, though.

8. Extended Money-Back Guarantee

Most hosting providers let you request a refund within the first 30 days of using the service. This lets you try out a few things and back out if it’s apparent you’ve made a mistake. However, one month usually isn’t enough to really see how the service performs if you’re setting up your first site.

TMDHosting doubles the industry-standard guarantee and lets you request a refund for the first 60 days. This gives you much more time to confirm that the provider works for you and your website.

Keep in mind this applies only to shared and cloud plans. Also, many TMDHosting reviews complain paying month-to-month shortens the money-back period to 30-days. This is fine, though, since most users go for long-term deals.

It’s a good sign that the company is confident enough to let you thoroughly test it out before fully committing.

9. Good User Reviews

TMDHosting relies on solid infrastructure and technical excellence to deliver top-notch services. End-users recognize that as evident by the numerous positive reviews that praise the undeniable qualities of TMDHosting: reliability, versatility, good support, fair pricing, and lots of room for growth.

The Cons of TMDHosting

In years of searching, I am yet to run into a perfect hosting company. All providers have something to work on, so it’s mostly up to what you can live with. Even though few TMDHosting reviews point out any issues, there are some things you should know about:

1. Paid WHOIS Privacy

Like many others, TMDHosting lets you have a free domain registration once you purchase a plan. This is sort of a sign-up bonus for choosing that particular company. 

WHOIS privacy is where things get a bit tricky. 

This service keeps your private details invisible in the WHOIS directory, which helps avoid spam emails and phone calls. The service is optional, but it's beneficial.

The issue is that you could go to a domain registrar like NameCheap, buy a .com domain for $8.88/year, and get privacy protection for free. That’s way more affordable than paying for WHOIS privacy when purchasing TMDHosting web hosting.

Not to mention that TMDHosting’s domains renew at $15/month, so you’d have to pay high fees.

While TMDHosting offers free domain registration, you’re usually better off going with a specialized registrar.

2. Poor Knowledge Base

While the TMDHosting support team does an okay job, the knowledge base is a bit of a letdown. It is more of a community forum than a repository of articles.

The navigation is pretty clunky. Even worse, there is practically no sign of life on the forum. At the time of the writing of this 2022 TMDHosting review, the last answered question is four years old. As you can imagine, much of the info is outdated and pertains to versions of technologies no longer in use. 

On the whole, the self-help center is underwhelming.

3. Questionable Uptime Claims

I mentioned TMDHosting’s policies in the uptime section. TMDHosting flaunts “99.99%” and “99.999%” availability guarantees on the product pages, but there is no mention of this in the legal documents.

The SLA reveals only a 99.9% uptime guarantee, regardless of the plan, just like most providers. And there are some interesting provisions I ran into when making this TMDHosting review.

The first thing is that you can only invoke the guarantee if you've been using the service for over a year. It’s a strange addition to the document. It’s most likely there to prevent users from getting hosting credits and then requesting a refund for the service.

A more worrying aspect is that you can only request a refund based on annual downtime, and not monthly as most hosts offer. It might seem like a minor detail, but it’s actually significant.

If you track uptime annually, a provider can have an eight-hour outage and still have 99.9% uptime, as long as availability is perfect the rest of the year. If you calculate uptime monthly, the longest outage is about 40 minutes. It’s quite a difference. 

Now, the uptime guarantee is not as bad as it might seem. Plus, TMDHosting actually records decent uptime.  However, you should keep in mind the product pages don’t disclose everything about the SLA.

TMDHosting Plans at a Glance

TMDHosting has three managed shared hosting plans. They leave SSD storage space and bandwidth up to fair use, i.e., you get unlimited hosting. You can have a website of any size, as long as you don’t abuse the plan.

Keep in mind the fees reported below reflect a 40% discount that you can achieve by prepaying for three years. After the initial period, the price goes back to the standard rates. Even with the eventual price increase, TMDHosting has some of the most affordable rates.

Do We Recommend TMDHosting?

Considering all the info in the TMDHosting review, I can say that yes, we do recommend the provider.

TMDHosting has a very reasonable offer and a range of both Linux and Windows-based plans. You can host your website in seven different facilities, making the web host suitable for the majority of users.

The performance is okay, and the support does its job. What's more, the plans have plenty of good features, like daily backups, WordPress management, and a free WildCard SSL certificate.

What most user-generated TMDHosting reviews praise, though, are the incredibly affordable rates for the resources. A small shared plan with access to 1 CPU core and 1GB RAM would cost you only $2.95/month. 

That said, the provider does have some issues, like iffy policies and a knowledge base that’s years overdue for an overhaul.

Still, TMDHosting does the job if you need affordable plans that can still do some heavy lifting.