Advertising disclosure
Hosting Canada is community-supported. We may earn a commission when you make a purchase through one of our links. Read Disclosure.
Netfirms Review 2024
Netfirms delivers great web hosting plans for individuals, entrepreneurs, and small to medium-sized businesses in Canada. The real question is: Is the service worth your time and money?
Let me break it down for you. In this Netfirms review, I’ll go through everything from uptime and customer service to features, packages, and pricing.
What is Netfirms?
Netfirms is a web hosting service and domain name provider based in Canada that claims to help you “get online faster.” It launched in 1998, and today, it powers over 1.2 million sites worldwide. Its reliability is backed by Endurance International Group (EIG), now part of Newfold Digital. This group also owns well-known names like Bluehost and HostGator.
They offer prioritized solutions for domain names, web hosting, email services, SSL certificates, web design, and online marketing. Plus, they take pride in understanding their customer needs, tackling tech challenges, and helping them achieve their goals of sharing their ideas online. Combined with their reliable servers and dedicated support, they’re nothing less than a one-stop shop for efficiently and effectively managing your online presence.
Netfirms Up-close: An In-depth Look at the Pros and Cons
As with any hosting provider, Netfirms comes with its own set of advantages and drawbacks:
Pros | Cons |
Free domain services included | Lacks advanced features for developers |
1-click WordPress installation | Narrow selection of hosting plans |
Owned by a trusted parent company | No phone support or email |
Easy-to-use interface | No shared hosting options on a monthly basis |
30-day money-back guarantee | Missing cloud, dedicated, VPS, and reseller hosting |
24/7 live chat | Occasional extended wait times for support |
Reliable uptime and server performance | Prices are higher than those of competitors |
➡️ Looking for something different, yet still easy on the wallet? Check out the best free web hosting sites in Canada.
Netfirms Review: A Comprehensive Breakdown of Its Best Features
Let’s take a closer look at what Netfirms has to offer in terms of plans, pricing, security and other important details.
The Netfirms web hosting plans
Netfirms offers a total of 3 tiers for their shared web hosting service. You should choose the plans that most closely aligns with your specific needs. You’re assured of a 99.9% uptime guarantee, 24/7 support via live chat, free domain name for a year, and access to e-commerce solutions, regardless of the plan you select.
Let’s see how each plan breaks down:
Features | Plus | Advantage | Business |
Websites | 1 | Unlimited | Unlimited |
Disk space (storage) | Unrestricted | Unrestricted | Unrestricted |
Bandwidth | Scalable | Scalable | Scalable |
SSL certificate | Included | Included | Included |
FTP accounts | 5 FTP logins | 25 FTP logins | Unlimited FTP logins |
MySQL databases | 10 | 25 | Unrestricted |
Subdomains | Unrestricted | Unrestricted | Unrestricted |
Number of email accounts | Unrestricted | Unrestricted | Unrestricted |
Examining the cost of different plans
When it comes to pricing, you can choose to pay yearly, every two years, or every three, with a 30-day money-back guarantee. It goes as follows:
1-year plan
- Plus: $4.95 per month
- Advantage: $9.95 per month
- Business: $14.95 per month
2-year plan
- Plus: $4.25 per month
- Advantage: $8.95 per month
- Business: $12.95 per month
3-year plan
- Plus: $3.95 per month
- Advantage: $7.95 per month
- Business: $10.95 per month
Analyzing the website building tool
Netfirms’ website builder runs on Web.com, one of the country’s most extensive website creation tools, and online marketing services providers. Since its takeoff in 1999, it has supported over 3 million customers globally, most of which are also small businesses.
It offers all the tools needed to design and build your website from the ground up using AI. This includes a builder, domain name generator, logo builder, writer and more. You can also personalize elements like forms, banners, and galleries. Plus, it comes with features such as easy appointment scheduling, intuitive marketing tools, and seamless online store functionality.
However, this website builder is not included with Netfirms’ web hosting plans and is an extra charge you’ll have to pay. On the bright side, you do get one month for free and benefit from cheaper plans, as follows:
Features | Starter | Business | E-commerce |
Pricing | From $23.88/year | From $83.88/year | From $155.88/year |
Pages | 6 | Unlimited | Unlimited |
AI-Powered Builder | ✔ | ✔ | ✔ |
SSL Certificate | ✔ | ✔ | ✔ |
Over 550,000 Images | ✔ | ✔ | ✔ |
Blog | ✔ | ✔ | ✔ |
Lead Capture Forms | ✔ | ✔ | ✔ |
Contact Management | ✔ | ✔ | ✔ |
Reliable Hosting | ✔ | ✔ | ✔ |
Social Media Integration | ✔ | ✔ | ✔ |
24/7 Chat & Email Support | ✔ | ✔ | ✔ |
Ad Credit | ✘ | $200 | $200 |
Site Analytics | ✘ | ✔ | ✔ |
Save History | ✘ | ✔ | ✔ |
Online Store | ✘ | ✘ | ✔ |
PayPal Integration | ✘ | ✘ | ✔ |
Unlimited Products | ✘ | ✘ | ✔ |
Order & Tax Management | ✘ | ✘ | ✔ |
Coupons & Discounts | ✘ | ✘ | ✔ |
Transactional Emails | ✘ | ✘ | ✔ |
Shipping Integration | ✘ | ✘ | ✔ |
Note: To access these features and prices, you’ll first need to create an account with Netfirms. Purchase the plans directly from the control panel once you have logged in.
The service’s security measures
Netfirms puts forth a number of security options, including SSL certificates. This enhances customer trust, improves Google rankings, boosts SEO, and provides encryption.
All hosting plans at Netfirms already come with a free SSL certificate that helps minimize your risk by safeguarding the sensitive data collected on your website. You can also take it a step further by opting to pay extra for encryption and coverage with a Comodo SSL warranty, which offers up to $1.75M in protection.
SSL Type | Domain Validated SSL | Organization Validated SSL | E-commerce SSL | Wildcard SSL |
Best for | Basic site security, improving Google rankings | Protecting customer data, extra validation | Payment and transaction protection for e-commerce sites | Securing multiple subdomains |
Starting Price | $2.75/month | $3.99/month | $9.99/month | $14.99/month |
Warranty | $10,000 | $50,000 | $1,750,000 | $250,000 |
Additionally, you can get domain privacy and protection to safeguard your personal information against identity theft and fraud and block domain-related spam, junk emails, and unwanted calls. There’s also the option to get SiteLock Security to save your website from malware, viruses, and hackers, with plans starting at $3.99 monthly.
Reaching out to customer support
Netfirms are reachable via live chat 24/7. This means you’ll be able to get an answer anytime, whether you need help setting up your hosting account, troubleshooting website issues, domain management, SSL certificate installation, or billing and account inquiries.
As soon as you click the live chat icon, you’ll be asked a few simple questions like: “Do you require support with existing products, or are you looking to renew/purchase services?” Then, you’ll need to choose one of the preset answers. I tested it out myself. For my first time around, they said it would take up to 10 minutes for them to get back to me. In actuality, it took 23 minutes to connect with a human representative.
On the second and third times I reached out, the whole process took me less than 5 minutes. So, it really depends on their current support volume and availability at the time of your inquiry.
You can access their resourceful Knowledge Base from the page’s footer if you prefer to get solutions independently. It includes answers to questions on various topics like advanced hosting, CGI and scripting, domains, email, files, partnership programs, policies, and security.
There is also a dedicated help centre for video tutorials featuring step-by-step guides. I found these quite valuable, especially for troubleshooting and site management. Notably, the guides on creating an email forward and accessing and editing your site with WebsiteBuilder made managing everything a million times easier for me.
Note: Netfirms does not offer support via phone or email.
Investigating the uptime promises
Netfirms claims a 99.9% uptime guarantee. This is undoubtedly a big deal, especially for businesses that need to maintain a continuous online presence.
I figured I’d see for myself and put Netfirms to the test. In all honesty, it lived up to the hype—they did a pretty good job throughout my 12 months as a paying customer. I can see why they call it their biggest selling point.
An overview of Netfirms’ Shared Web Hosting System
With shared web hosting, you share the same server with other sites. Therefore, you’re allocated just a portion of the overall available bandwidth, memory, and processing power. For this reason, it’s usually the cheapest service available, as infrastructure and operational costs are distributed among many websites. Ultimately, all this greatly lowers the price for each individual user.
Surely, it has its advantages, making it the most popular option for many small businesses. However, as expected, it also comes with a few limitations.
Pros of shared hosting | Cons of shared hosting |
Affordable and cost-effective | Limited scalability and customization options |
Easy to set up and beginner-friendly | Performance can be affected by other websites and load times are relatively slow |
Expertly managed server maintenance | Less control over server configurations; the server can easily be strained |
Great for websites with low traffic | Not ideal for high-traffic or resource-heavy sites |
Scalable pricing | Potential security risks due to shared servers |
Netfirms only offers shared web hosting solutions, and you will not find any options for cloud, dedicated, VPS, or reseller services. This makes it ideal for startups, new companies and blogging sites, but may require a second thought if your company is expecting heavy traffic.
In that case, you might start looking at alternative ways to scale your website and not be plagued by constant server crashes and bandwidth issues. Check out the best web hosting services in Canada.
How Netfirms Stacks Up Against Its Toughest Competitors
Now that you’ve gotten to know all about Netfirms, let’s dive into how it compares to other major hosting providers: HostPapa, Hostinger, Verpex, SiteGround, and HostArmada. Find the service that checks all your boxes at a glance.
Features | Netfirms | HostPapa | Hostinger | Verpex | SiteGround | HostArmada |
Hosting Types | Shared | Shared, Optimized WordPress, Managed WordPress, VPS, Reseller | Shared, Cloud, VPS, Business Email, Managed WordPress, Managed WooCommerce | WordPress, Shared, Cloud Web, Reseller | Shared, Cloud, Reseller, WordPress, WooCommerce | Cloud WP, Cloud Shared, Cloud Reseller, Cloud VPS, Dedicated CPU Server, Open Source, Development |
Web Hosting Starting Price | $3.95/mo | $2.95/mo | $2.99/mo | $1.33/mo | $2.70/mo | $2.49/mo |
Free Domain | Yes | Yes | Yes (depends on plan) | Yes (depends on plan) | Yes | Yes |
Free SSL Certificate | Yes | Yes | Yes | Yes | Yes | Yes |
Website Builder | Yes (Additional cost) | Yes (depends on plan) | Yes | No | Yes (Additional cost) | Yes |
Uptime Guarantee | 99.9% | 99.9% | 99.9% | 99.9% | 99.99% | 99.9% |
Customer Support | 24/7 Live Chat | 24/7 Live Chat, Email, Phone | 24/7 Live Chat, Email | 24/7 Live Chat, Email | 24/7 Live Chat | 24/7 Live Chat, Tickets, Phone, Email |
Wrapping Up: Do I Recommend Netfirms Canada?
Having used and analyzed it myself, I’m pretty confident recommending it to small- and medium-sized businesses. It might not beat every other hosting service out there, but it offers solid performance speed, dependable uptime, and the support team is really on the ball. All in all, it stands up well on its own.
Its biggest miss, in my opinion, is the lack of hosting options beyond shared, which can be quite limiting. Scalibility is a key factor business owners seek in providers, and it is sadly missing from Netfirms’ offer. Other than that, it delivers where it counts.
For more on getting started online, read our tips on how to build a website from scratch in 2024. You might also want to check out our take on how to buy a domain name for your website.
You May Also Like: