Ethical Host was established in 2006 by John MacKenzie. Frustrated by management issues associated with a company he worked with, John took the leap towards building his own hosting business with an ethical twist.
The Toronto-based web hosting company offers a range of planet-friendly services to cover many of your website needs. Services include web design, SEO, domain registration and, of course, ethical web hosting!
What Makes Ethical Host Ethical?
Ethical Host powers websites with 100% wind and renewable energy at no extra cost to their customers. Not only that, but they have also shown dedication to their cause in their daily work. The team take actionable steps to reduce their impact on the planet by going paperless wherever possible, using energy-efficient computers, installing a high-efficiency heating system in their office, and even banking with a local credit union!
John is proud to have built the first hosting company to commit to donating as much as 10% of pre-tax profits to social and environmental causes. John told us “We donate 10% of our pre-tax profits to non-profit social justice and environmental organizations that are dedicated to improving the lives of people, animals and the environment”.
Charities that Ethical Host have donated to include Food Banks Canada, Ontario Clean Air Alliance, and Evergreen, to name just a few. Ethical Host.
Let’s Take a Look at Ethical Host’s Customer Support
To accompany their range of services, Ethical Host offers real human support – not bots – to resolve any customer issues. They have a strong focus on providing outstanding and efficient customer service, which is the backbone of a successful business.
John stated that issues are solved quickly, usually within one email exchange. He credits this to his extensive knowledge gathered over the last 20 years in the business and he is dedicated to providing a high-quality service in a timely manner.
The team enjoy getting to know their customer too. John told us “We pretty much know almost all of our customers and have a good rapport with them”.
Hosting Plans
Ethical Host’s plans are very reasonably priced, beginning at just $50 per year for their small hosting package. Even with the lowest priced hosting plan, you get a lot of inclusions for your money.
Here’s a quick look at their four hosting plan options and what you get with each:
Small – $50 per year – 500mb SSD Storage, 2GB Bandwidth, 1 Email Address, 1 Domain Hosted, 1 Database, 0.8 CPU Core & 756MB RAM
Bronze – $6.49/month – 2.2 GB SSD Storage, 20GB Bandwidth, 15 Email Addresses, 5 Domains Hosted, 5 Databases, 55% More CPU and RAM
Silver – $10.50 per month – 4.4GB SSD Storage , 40GB Bandwidth, 30 Email Addresses, 15 Domains Hosted, 10 Databases, 200% More CPU and RAM
Gold – $17.50 per month – 10GB SSD Storage, 100GB Bandwidth, Unlimited Email Addresses, 30 Domains Hosted, 20 Databases, 250% More CPU and RAM
Additionally, all their plans include a wide range of features such as:
- Free LetsEncrypt SSL
- Free Exploit Scanner
- Daily Automatic Back-ups
- 60-day guarantee
- Plus plenty of email and cPanel features
- Popular support features like MySQL, MariaDB 10, and MongoDB
As you can see, Ethical Host has affordable plans to suit businesses of all sizes.
How’s Their Uptime?
Ethical Host boast an impressive 99.9% uptime. When we asked John how he can guarantee such a high percentage of server uptime, he explained “We have one of the first High Availability Shared web servers out there. What this means is the server is mirrored to a completely separate server with separate hard drives and hardware. Should any hardware fail in the first server, it will fail over to the second one so the first can be fixed, with minimal downtime”.
The hosting company is very well-prepared for all eventualities. They have taken positive steps to protecting their customers’ interests with offsite backups created 2-3 times per day on all accounts, even if they don’t pay for it. Some web hosts will only backup your site files if you pay extra for the privilege.
Looking to the Future
Like any good business model, Ethical Host has detailed plans in place for future growth and expansion. In particular, John hopes to grow his WordPress security and update services. He explained how simply keeping your plugins and WordPress core up-to-date can help enormously with keeping your website secure from hackers.
With 20 years in the hosting industry, John has a clear vision for the direction of his company. He aims to “continue to grow and spread that word that you can make a difference with the web hosting that you choose, and to shine a bigger light on those companies that are just green-washing their marketing to make them appear like they care”.
After interviewing John MacKenzie, it’s obvious to us that his mission to make a positive impact on the environment is one that he cares passionately about. He personally strives to promote “a higher level of corporate integrity and social and environmental responsibility.”
We give Ethical Host a huge thumbs-up and wish John and his team the best of luck in their future endeavours!
