Hosting Direct has pulled the plug on it's affiliates without any courtesy note to say that they had discontinued service. Looking at their website, it appears that they only offer a dedicated hosting service, and speaking to HD by phone, I was informed that the hosting service was considered a liability. To close any service without informing customers that use that service is largely inconsiderate and indicates a customer support or service that is lacking. For that reason, we cannot and do not recommend Hosting Direct at this point in time.

Website hosting in New Zealand is part of the big 'rip-off' that foreigners visiting here learn all too well. Prices are sky high and service is minimal. At this point we cannot find any hosting company within the New Zealand domain space that provides a service that is adequate for a modern website and of comparable value to any hosting that can be purchased overseas. With that in mind, anyone requiring international website hosting should consider purchasing their next website hosting account from a reputable and long-standing company like HostGator. Take a look at their hosting packeges and compare them with any New Zealand hosting company and you'll immediately see the difference.

The only time I would recommend a New Zealand hosting company over an international one would be if your site is focused on NZ content and specifically for New Zealand viewing. If that is the case, then you will simply have to absord the high costs and make do with the low disk space and bandwidth. Afterall, you need your hosting server to be where your traffic is sourced, right?

Good luck in your search, and if you haven't done so already, take a look at the hosting plans at HostGator. You'll be impressed!

(archived article follows - views and opinions expressed in this article below are no longer valid) 

Who is The Best Web Hosting Company in New Zealand?

The best webhost for hosting New Zealand websites is Hosting Direct!

Why is Hosting Direct the Best Website Host for NZ Sites?

As website owners, at Insite Internet we have tried them all, and for New Zealand based websites, Hosting Direct was the one hosting company that stood out from all the others. And here's why.

Hosting plans at Hosting Direct are simple to understand and full of features that clearly benefit the subscriber to their service. They offer fast website hosting on modern dual-core or quad-core servers with huge disk space and bandwidth. Software versions are always the most secure versions - these guys certainly take your website's security seriously.

Price is a no-brainer! Hosting Direct simply has the best value hosting plans and to date, we have not found a competitor that comes close to their prices for the same features. In fact, until Hosting Direct arrived, many business owners opted to host their websites overseas to avoid the over-inflated charges that New Zealand hosting companies were able to demand. But not anymore, and thats all thanks to Hosting Direct!

The basic features of the Hosting Direct Starter Plan include:

• Price is 8.95 per month
• You get 2GBytes of web space (thats 2000 MBytes of disk space)
• Unlimited bandwidth (NZ and International traffic)
• Host up to 3 domains - great if you plan to make more sites
• Hosted on super fast dual quad core servers
• A tonne of add-ons, features, benefits, bells and whistles. Its all there! Why not click through to Hosting Direct and see for yourself how great this plan really is.

For web designers, site developers, and start-up hosting companies, Hosting Direct has reseller packages and dedicated servers, and once again Hosting Direct has out done their competition and offered it all.

 Here is a brief overview of the Starter Reseller Package:

• Only 29 NZD per month
• You get two dedicated IP addresses
• Host up to 25 domains
• 3GBytes of disk space (an amazing 3000 MBytes)
• Unlimited bandwidth
• Your own personal nameservers
• Your own personal mail server

For a trader just starting out in the web hosting business, this is simply the best plan on offer anywhere in New Zealand. And best of all, you can upgrade to the Designer Reseller Plan or Unlimited Reseller plan at any time. Plans at Hosting Direct can be scaled to fit the growth of your business.

 Hosting Direct's dedicated server configurations reflect the same desire to offer affordable services without cutting back on the latest technology. We haven't seen dedicated server configurations for such a low price anywhere in New Zealand. And Hosting Direct have priced themselves very competitively not only in New Zealand, but also when compared with Dedicated Server providers elsewhere in the world. We know this because we have dedicated servers in Germany and also the United States. Both those servers are configured similar to those of Hosting Direct, and they are similarly priced. Hosting Direct has BUSTED the gap that existed between local pricing for hosting and international pricing, that until now, had always been so much cheaper.

 For about a hundred dollars per month, you'll be able to get a dedicated server configured with an Intel Xeon processor running at 3.0GHz, having 2 GB of RAM and 2x250GB SATAII hard drives in a RAID 1 configuration. This webserver is fast and reliable.

The products and services at Hosting Direct have evolved into the fantastic offerings that they have today. It wasn't always like that. Initially, when Hosting Direct first started out, they had some hard lessons to learn about running a business. Although Hosting Direct was very competent regarding technology and internet security, they did have a steep learning curve with regard to customer service and unfortunately that become apparent very early on. However, they did learn from their mistakes, and have come forth as one of New Zealands leading technology companies offering superior products and services with the best customer support in the industry. Because of their success and continued growth, we plan to host all our New Zealand domains with Hosting Direct in the very near future.

If you haven't done so already, click on over to Hosting Direct and see for yourself how great these website hosting plans really are.