Our Verdict: Outstanding for Sites in India BigRock's low-cost web hosting services are ideal for personal sites or small businesses....
Our Verdict: Outstanding for Sites in India
BigRock's low-cost web hosting services are ideal for personal sites or small businesses. Hosting plans come with the cPanel control panel, a website builder, and 30-day money-back guarantee.
Click through any of the BigRock discount links on this page to snag a great deal on your hosting plan.
Pros:
- 24/7 customer support available over phone, chat, and email
- Specialized packages for WordPress
- Domain name registration comes with free email accounts
Cons:
- No free automatic backups
- Dedicated severs only available in select regions
Over 30 customers have rated BigRock 4.2 out of 5 stars for support, features, and value.
Is BigRock the Perfect Host for Your Site?
Looking for more information on something specific? Jump to this review's most popular sections:
- Expert review - read our thorough analysis by hosting specialist, Dale Cudmore
- Customer reviews - see what BigRock customers have to say
- Hosting plans - compare BigRock hosting plans and prices
- FAQs - find answers to the most common questions about BigRock
BigRock Introduction
BigRock is one of the few low-cost web hosts that offer shared hosting for both Linux and Windows. You can also get domains, a website builder, or cloud and VPS plans.
These types of services cover the needs of most hobbyists and small businesses. So how do you determine if this host is right for you?
There are a few things you should know before making your decision.
About BigRock
BigRock was first launched in India and is now part of Endurance International Group (EIG). EIG owns many top brands that provide low-cost shared hosting like HostGator and Bluehost.
With offices in the U.S. and India, BigRock serves an international clientele.
Two Websites: .com and .in
Be aware that BigRock has two different websites and both offer slightly different services. BigRock.com is for international clients: prices are in U.S. dollars. If you're not in India, or the majority of your web visitors aren't, you'll want to use the BigRock.com site.
BigRock.in is for India-centric businesses and displays prices in rupees. They offer a few extra products that BigRock.com doesn't, like dedicated server hosting.
| Product | .Com site | .In site |
|---|---|---|
| Dedicated server hosting | ✘ | ✔ |
| DIY website builder | ✔ | ✔ |
| BigRock Instant (one-page site builder) | ✘ | ✔ |
| Cloud hosting | ✔ | ✔ |
| Cloud for Business | ✘ | ✔ |
Types of Hosting
BigRock offers five main types of hosting:
Specialized hosting
BigRock is one of the few shared hosts that offers both Linux and Windows hosting.
They have hosting servers in both the US and India.
Shared Hosting
BigRock is one of the few shared hosts that offers both Linux and Windows hosting.
Most hosts only offer Linux hosting, because of its widespread popularity. (Linux hosting supports popular content management systems like WordPress and Drupal.)
If your site is built in ASP or .NET, or with an MS-SQL database, Windows hosting is a necessity.
The Windows plans are a bit more expensive than the Linux ones, which is normal, but the features are near identical on either operating system.
Types of Shared Hosting Plans
There are 4 shared hosting plans to choose from, with most plans offering:
Unlimited space in all except Starter plan (10 GB).
Unlimited transfer (bandwidth)
Unlimited email in all except Starter plan (200 addresses).
cPanel (Linux) control panel or Plesk (Windows) control panel.
BigRock's free CDN is not compatible with SSL-secured sites.
Remember that when hosts describe anything as "unlimited," it is typically boundless except in cases of abuse. A user may be charged a penalty or be required to subscribe to a more robust package if they are overburdening the servers.
The cPanel control panel includes Softaculous, a popular application that makes hundreds of open-source applications (like WordPress, Joomla, etc.) installable in just a few clicks.
Specialized Hosting
WordPress, CMS, and e-commerce hosting are the three types of specialized hosting BigRock offers.
These plans are identical to the shared hosting plans.
Reseller Hosting
Like shared hosting, BigRock offers reseller hosting for both main operating systems (OSs).
These plans let you sell hosting services to others but use BigRock's servers and services for a cut of the profit. Unless you're starting a hosting business, you don't need reseller hosting.
Reseller hosting for each OS has four pricing tiers with different options.
Free WHMCS billing system, except Essential plan
Unlimited Plesk/cPanel panel accounts
Unlimited MySQL and MS-SQL databases
Unlimited domains, email and FTP accounts
Cloud Hosting
Cloud hosting is a little more powerful and reliable than shared hosting, but still not quite as expensive as VPS hosting.
Unlike shared hosting where you share resources with other sites, you are assigned your own dedicated resources from a cloud server.
Again, some plans here say they provide "unlimited" bandwidth, but your site resources may be curbed if you start experiencing high levels of traffic.
Cloud hosting on BigRock appears to be intended for small sites with relatively low levels of traffic.
BigRock's cloud hosting gets a speed boost from Varnish: a caching technology.
VPS Hosting
There are 4 VPS hosting plans on BigRock, all of which are relatively cheap.
All of these plans come with a specific amount of disk space and bandwidth that your site can utilize per month. It's easy to upgrade if you find that you need more as your site grows.
Something important to note is that cPanel is offered but at an additional cost.
Here are some key features of their VPS Hosting:
Four Linux distributions: CentOS, Debian, Fedora, Ubuntu
Automatic failover
High speed Solid-State Drives (SSDs)
Instant provisioning
Full root access
VNC access
WHMCS
cPanel or Plesk
DDoS protection
Kernel-based Virtual Machine (KVM).
Semi-managed services (eg, firewall set up; assistance with server optimization).
Continued below user reviews.
Domain Name Registrar
BigRock offers domain name services. They are an accredited ICANN registrar.
They also offer:
Domain transfers
Bulk domain transfers
Whois lookup.
Notable Features
There are a few features that are available on most of BigRock's hosting packages.
Here are 5 which are included:
Money-Back Guarantee
Redundancy
SSL Certificates
Dedicated IP Addresses
Easy-Installs and App Support.
Money-Back Guarantee
BigRock offers a 100% risk-free, 30-day money back guarantee on all plans, even VPS hosting. Most other hosts don't offer refunds on VPS plans.
Redundancy
On Cloud and VPS hosting, there's a high degree of redundancy.
Plenty of applications are included with most packages, along with control panels which allow simple installation.
In plain English, BigRock stores multiple copies of your website data on separate storage devices so that there's essentially zero risks of ever losing it.
SSL Certificates and Dedicated IP Addresses
SSL certificates and a dedicated IP address are available on the cloud and VPS hosting plans, but you'll need to pay an extra cost.
Most businesses should have these, so factor the price of them into your purchasing decision.
One nice aspect of BigRock's SSL certificates is that their support team will install it for you, instead of you having to figure out how to configure it on your own.
Easy-Installs and App Support
Plenty of applications are included with most packages, along with control panels which allow simple installation. Having these is a great perk for anyone without significant development knowledge.
Apps range from easy-to-use file managers to handy resource analysis tools.
Security and Speed
Let's take a quick look at the performance and reliability of BigRock hosting.
Speed Features
Geeks may be interested in BigRock's smart speed features available with some plans:
Varnish (a caching technology)
SSD (solid-state drives)
mod_pagespeed.
However, their shared hosting uses PHP 5.2 - 5.4. (PHP is a programming language that many popular CMSs are written in, including: WordPress, Drupal, and Joomla.)
Websites and hosts get speed and security benefits from running PHP 7.
SiteLock: Free, But Limited
SiteLock is a third-party application that's included for free on BigRock plans. It provides malware scans and a CDN. (A CDN - or content delivery network significantly speeds up your site loading time.)
Unfortunately, it is limited. The BigRock site states: "SSL-enabled websites are not compatible with the Basic Firewall and CDN that is included for Free in every plan. However, the scans will work as expected for such sites."
That's a big deal, given best practice is for all sites to have an SSL certificate.
Server and Hosting Security: DDoS Prevention and Firewalls
BigRock has a web page detailing their security measures which include:
Firewalls on their servers
Security patches
Software updates
DDOS mitigation.
Customer Support
BigRock has a fully accessible knowledgebase where users can quickly find answers to common issues.
The customer support phone line and live chat options are available 24/7.
Keep in mind that all EIG companies share the same support staff. This is different from having a company having its own in-house dedicated.
Knowledgebase and Resources
There's also a basic knowledgebase available with hosting tutorials.
It's a bit tough to navigate, but the articles themselves are reasonably well written.
Uptime Guarantee and Payments
BigRock offers a 99.9% uptime guarantee, which is standard for low-cost hosts.
It means that your site could be down for up to 44 minutes per month. If that would cost you a significant amount of money, you should probably move to a more expensive and reliable host.
Payment and Billing
BigRock accepts a wide range of payment options. They take all major credit cards, PayPal, and even wire transfer for most countries.
You can choose to pay every 1, 2, 3, 5, or even 10 years. I've never seen another host that lets you pay for more than 3 years up front.
The reason you might want to choose a longer billing period is that the introductory rate (the cheap prices you see when you first sign up) only apply to the first billing period. Then the prices go up to "regular" rates.
Similar Hosting Providers
Some other hosting providers which could interest use are as follows.
SiteGround
SiteGround offers affordable shared hosting plans. In addition, they offer VPS and dedicated plans for medium to large sites.
All plans come with free SSD storage, CDN, and automatic backups. They also have their own trained staff for 24/7 customer support.
Check out our detailed SiteGround review.
WP Engine
A good alternative if all you're looking for is a simple way to get a fast and reliable WordPress site running. All plans are managed, meaning they take care of the setup and maintenance for you.
The one big disadvantage is that it costs significantly more than BigRock.
Read our WP Engine review for more details.
InMotion Hosting
InMotion Hosting focuses on affordable hosting plans, best for small businesses based in the US. Their shared hosting plans come with many freebies, including SSDs, SSL certificates, a free domain, and cPanel.
Pros and Cons of BigRock Hosting
BigRock does some things really well but has a few weaknesses as well. Here are the biggest pros and cons in my opinion.
Pros
Solid money-back guarantee: you have 30 days risk-free to try out BigRock on any plan.
Many payment options: BigRock is one of the few hosts to accept wire transfers, and they also accept PayPal.
24-hour tech support: while the support may not be the highest quality always, it's always available and can be a lifesaver.
Affordable: BigRock's plans are about as cheap as you'll find when it comes to shared hosting and basic cloud hosting plans.
Cons
The plans are bare bones: the reasons the prices are low is because you're only paying for the essentials. Advanced features are either unavailable or an extra paid add-on (like SSL certificates).
No modern speed features: no option for SSD disk space on shared or cloud plans.
Some software is out of date: at the time of writing this, PHP 7.0 is the latest and recommended version for WordPress. BigRock offers PHP 5.4 on their specialized WordPress plan.
The Verdict
BigRock is among the class of hosts that offer basic needs for a low price. It's great for hobby sites and can be good for small business sites as well.
If you need simple web building tools, they may miss the mark. Likewise, serious webmasters or companies with huge amounts of traffic may need to keep shopping.
If your biggest concern is affordability, BigRock should make the list. Visit BigRock now.
BigRock Frequently Asked Questions
If you select shared hosting you have the option of either a Linux server running CentOS or Windows servers powered by Windows Server 2008. VPS accounts include Linux servers with several OS options.
BigRock Instant is a website builder for creating a single-page website "in less than 2 minutes." BigRock Instant is only available on BigRock.in, the India-based website of the web hosting company. The international site, found at BigRock.com offers a different website builder.
Linux server accounts include the popular cPanel control panel while Windows server accounts include Plesk.
First, login to your cPanel account. Then navigate to the "Domains" section and click on "AddOn Domains." Type in your domain name. BigRock states that "You can leave FTP Username, Document Root to the default ones or set custom ones." Next, choose a password. Finally, click "Add Domain."
If you select a Linux server you can use PHP, Perl, Python, Ruby on Rails, and CGI. If you select a Windows server you can use PHP, ASP Classic, and ASP.NET.
All hosting accounts support MySQL databases. Windows hosting accounts can also optionally support MS-SQL databases.
COMMENTS