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<hr /> <a target="_blank" href="https://www.fedramp.gov/">FedRAMP</a> is one of those squashed-together government acronyms that most laypeople will never be privy to. It stands for the Federal Risk and Authorization Management Program, which empowers agencies to use modern cloud technologies to securely handle federal information – which, as you can imagine, is some of the most sensitive data in the world. FedRAMP has been somewhat of an enigma for CMS and DXP software solutions and how they’re hosted. Don’t get me wrong, there are a plethora of compliance requirements platforms already wrestle with satisfying (think about the rise of <a target="_blank" href="https://oag.ca.gov/privacy/ccpa">CCPA</a> or <a target="_blank" href="https://www.hhs.gov/hipaa/index.html">HIPAA</a>). However, as more federal agencies are requiring FedRAMP for specific applications, platforms are having to weigh the challenges of attaining this benchmark against the potential rewards of serving federal customers. Speaking of rewards, it’s worth noting that the U.S. federal government is the <a target="_blank" href="https://www.epa.gov/greenerproducts/selling-greener-products-and-services-federal-government">world's largest single purchaser of goods and services</a>, clocking in at almost $700 billion. IT represents a big piece of that pie, <a target="_blank" href="https://www.statista.com/statistics/605501/united-states-federal-it-budget/">almost $80 billion</a> (not including the DoD). And it’s growing rapidly, particularly as more agencies modernize and digitize their legacy systems with cloud-based technologies. Earning FedRAMP status is an exceedingly arduous process, requiring meticulous documentation, third-party audits and assessments, and continuous monitoring once achieved. From an investment perspective, the cost of compliance can range from tens of thousands to millions of dollars – and take up to a year or more to complete. Ugh. Not for the faint of heart.So what’s driving this drift to FedRAMP? It’s simple: federal agencies want the same best-of-breed solutions and access to cutting-edge services. Sure, the goals might differ from commercial entities; the public sector’s motive is to support critical functions for constituents like emergency response in the aftermath of a hurricane. But the opportunity is huge, particularly as federal agencies build applications that leverage open source technologies like <a target="_blank" href="https://www.docker.com/">Docker</a>, <a target="_blank" href="https://kubernetes.io/">Kubernetes</a>, and other scalable frameworks.Here's a quick primer on FedRAMP, and you can find a library of resources from the agency on its <a target="_blank" href="https://www.youtube.com/@FedRAMP">YouTube channel</a>:<figure class="media"><div data-oembed-url="https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=I_3YFkmGTt4"><div style="position:relative;padding-bottom:100%;height:0;padding-bottom:56.2493%"><iframe src="https://www.youtube.com/embed/I_3YFkmGTt4" style="position:absolute;width:100%;height:100%;top:0;left:0" frameborder="0" allow="autoplay; encrypted-media" allowfullscreen></iframe></div></div></figure>FedRAMP’s requirements might seem draconian to some, but there’s a lot at stake. Just ask the Department of Defense about its security clearance protocols. It’s a perilous world with lots of bad actors, so cloud solutions trusted by the federal government have to be put through the wringer – things like 3PAO readiness and <a target="_blank" href="https://csrc.nist.gov/pubs/fips/199/final">FIPS 199 assessments</a> that govern how data is stored and transmitted. It’s not very glamorous stuff, but nonetheless crucial to safeguarding government data and maintaining operations.With such high expectations – and potentially high costs – it’s no wonder that enterprise vendors are typically the platforms to achieve FedRAMP status. There are certainly a few methods for fast-tracking the journey, but larger DXPs are in a class that enables them to attain these standards. Consequently, it creates a smaller pool of available options, making it a key differentiator for winning long-term contracts that can be, in a word, lucrative. To meet these opportunities head-on, <a target="_blank" href="http://www.acquia.com/">Acquia</a> just announced that its <a target="_blank" href="https://www.acquia.com/blog/introducing-acquia-cloud-next-kubernetes-native-drupal-hosting-platform">Acquia Cloud Next</a> has achieved FedRAMP Authorized status. With this benchmark, the open digital experience platform has reinforced its commitment to serve the public sector as the only commercial <a target="_blank" href="https://cmscritic.com/products/drupal">Drupal</a> hosting company to meet U.S. federal government security standards.“Acquia is fully committed to delivering the industry’s strongest assurances around Drupal security, scalability, and performance for our federal customers,” said <a target="_blank" href="https://www.linkedin.com/in/robertformer/">Robert Former</a>, Chief Information Security Officer at Acquia. “At the same time, upholding the industry’s most stringent information security and reliability standards benefits all organizations who operate on Acquia technologies, whether in the public or private sector, that require the highest levels of security.”<h3 id="enterprise-grade,-kubernetes-native-drupal-hosting">Enterprise-grade, Kubernetes-native Drupal hosting</h3>Acquia Cloud Next is an enhanced, Kubernetes-powered version of <a target="_blank" href="https://www.acquia.com/products/acquia-cloud-platform">Acquia Cloud Platform</a>, a market-leading Drupal hosting platform. It synthesizes Acquia’s innovation with key technologies powered by <a target="_blank" href="https://cmscritic.com/products/aws">Amazon Web Services (AWS)</a>. Built for speed, security, and resilience, Acquia Cloud Next sports a self-healing infrastructure that continuously and automatically monitors application uptime and performance. No matter the size or breadth of an enterprise's demands, Acquia Cloud Next provides a number of key benefits, including fast dynamic auto-scaling to handle traffic spikes. It also detects failures, reroutes traffic, and dynamically scales experiences to deliver optimal application performance – with no need for human intervention.With Kubernetes in the mix, Acquia Cloud Next leverages container orchestration that enables maximum scalability, security, and resilience to mitigate unexpected risks. By partnering with AWS security experts, the Cloud Next infrastructure is automatically patched and routinely scanned to maintain the highest levels of protection for applications – a key requirement for FedRAMP. <h3 id="now-available-in-the-fedramp-marketplace">Now available in the FedRAMP Marketplace</h3>One of the benefits of achieving FedRAMP status is being listed on the exclusive <a target="_blank" href="https://marketplace.fedramp.gov/#/products?sort=productName">FedRAMP Marketplace</a>, a browsable repository of approved cloud services available for federal government use. FedRAMP Marketplace supports the operational resilience needs of dozens of federal agencies, giving buyers a portal to confidence when evaluating software solutions. You can now find Acquia Cloud Next in the Marketplace, joining a fraternity of authorized solutions. Since its founding in 2011, an adage has emerged within the FedRAMP lexicon: “Do once, use many times.” In the spirit of this axiom, the FedRAMP framework strives to provide a standardized approach to security assessment – meaning that once an organization has been authorized, other federal agencies can use the same assessment results for rapid and cost-effective procurement of information systems and services.Acquia has long invested in the concerns of modern security practices, working diligently to stay ahead of threats and give content ops teams greater confidence in their technology. In addition to FedRAMP, Acquia’s information security program also helps customers operate in a cloud environment that complies with a wide array of industry standards and regulations. This includes ISO 27001, HIPAA, SSAE18/SOC 1/ISAE-3402, SOC 2, and PCI-DSS.<h3 id="why-it-matters">Why it matters</h3>Government agencies are notorious for implementing regulatory and compliance hurdles, often in reaction to a crisis (vis-à-vis <a target="_blank" href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Sarbanes%E2%80%93Oxley_Act">Sarbanes Oxley</a>). These hurdles create headaches for vendors but also opportunities. As security and data privacy continue to be weak links in the chain for technologies of every kind – including <a target="_blank" href="https://cmscritic.com/what-is-a-content-management-system-cms">content management</a> and DXP platforms – reinforcing standards and best practices is critical.While <a target="_blank" href="https://cmscritic.com/products/wordpress">WordPress</a> certainly has a footprint within the U.S. public sector, Drupal is <a target="_blank" href="https://www.webfirst.com/blogs/why-drupal-10-optimal-platform-federal-websites">more widely used</a> among federal agencies. There are several reasons for this, like an abundance of highly performant modules or security designed to protect personally identifiable information. Above all, it’s open source, meaning the licensing is free and flexible. These have all made it an attractive go-to for websites and applications. Of course, it needs to be hosted somewhere reliable, and using highly scalable solutions is a basic tenet in a world where traffic can spike on a dime during a crisis. This is where Acquia has excelled, partnering with a trusted cloud provider like AWS – which has invested heavily in federal compliance around its own services – to provide an innovative hosting environment to meet this mission-critical benchmark.And by embracing a container-based framework powered by Kubernetes, Acquia is meeting the needs of agencies <a target="_blank" href="https://www.cncf.io/blog/2020/05/07/with-kubernetes-the-u-s-department-of-defense-is-enabling-devsecops-on-f-16s-and-battleships/">like the U.S. Navy</a>, which has been hyper-focused on leveraging cloud solutions with an open source stack built on Kubernetes, Docker, and other highly scalable services. In fact, they're using this mix to power other exotic initiatives like DevSecOps on F-16s and battleships. I'd say that's as mission-critical as you can get.   Government data can be just as vulnerable as commercial, and solutions with a FedRAMP status bring peace of mind to the evaluation and purchasing process for agencies. In a competitive field, offering FedRAMP solutions has also become a key differentiator, one where a DXP like Acquia can establish a stronger case for hosting Drupal workloads and accessing its services. At the end of the day, it also reinforces the core federal policy foundation of achieving efficiency, transparency, and innovation through reusable and open source software.To learn more about Acquia’s solutions for government agencies, <a target="_blank" href="https://www.acquia.com/solution-by-industry/government.">click here</a>. <hr /> <img style="width:29.58%" src="https://cmscritic.com/ms-content/uploads/2024/01/cms-kickoff-2025-logo.png" /><h4 id="cms-kickoff-2025"><a href=" https://www.boye-co.com/conferences/cmskickoff25">CMS Kickoff 2025</a></h4>January 14-15, 2025 – Tampa Bay Area, FloridaJoin us next January in the Tampa Bay area of Florida for the third annual CMS Kickoff – the industry's premier global event. Similar to a traditional kickoff, we reflect on recent trends and share stories from the frontlines. Additionally, we will delve into the current happenings and shed light on the future. Prepare for an unparalleled in-person CMS conference experience that will equip you to move things forward. This is an exclusive event – space is limited, <a target="_blank" href="https://www.boye-co.com/conferences/cmskickoff25/tickets">so secure your tickets today.</a>

Acquia Cloud Next Achieves FedRAMP Authorized Status

matt-garrepy

<hr /> There's no question that <a target="_blank" href="https://cmscritic.com/products/netlify">Netlify</a> can “amplify” how brands build, deploy, and scale their apps. Since 2014, it's been one of the leading platforms for running modern <a target="_blank" href="https://cmscritic.com/top-jamstack-static-site-generators-for-2021">Jamstack</a> web applications in production. Developers love it because it's powerful yet simple, making it easy to integrate their choice of tools and collaborate with their teams in a more composable world.Now, the renowned cloud computing and hosting platform is partnering with <a target="_blank" href="https://cmscritic.com/products/crownpeak">Crownpeak</a> – a digital experience platform (DXP) solutions provider – to empower businesses to deliver exceptional digital experiences effortlessly.Here's how: Crownpeak and Netlify will offer an end-to-end web development and deployment solution with accessible, optimized content at its core. Leveraging Crownpeak's DXP solutions, teams will be empowered to rapidly create and distribute compliant, personalized content across digital touchpoints. Meanwhile, Netlify will effectively “supercharge” the development process to support customer engagement and conversion through lightning-fast speeds and reliable web performances."Crownpeak and Netlify are joining forces to empower businesses to deliver exceptional digital experiences that drive growth and engagement," said <a target="_blank" href="https://www.linkedin.com/in/christoph-feddersen-218388a/">Christoph Feddersen</a>, VP of Technical Product Management at Crownpeak. "Our partnership reflects our shared commitment to simplifying digital experience management and hosting while fostering a composable approach for enterprise organizations to build powerful digital experience platforms."<h3>Powering content with innovative web hosting and deployment</h3>Over the years, Crownpeak has built a strong reputation in <a target="_blank" href="https://cmscritic.com/what-is-a-content-management-system-cms">web content management</a> and digital experience solutions. A globally recognized player, the company continues to chart on the <a target="_blank" href="https://wire19.com/digital-experience-platform-vendors/">Gartner Magic Quadrant for DXPs</a> in a leading position amongst Niche players. With a focus on enabling organizations to create, manage, and optimize content across various digital channels, Crownpeak has proven itself a trusted partner for enterprises worldwide.Netlify, on the other hand, has revolutionized web hosting and deployment, offering an all-in-one solution that simplifies the process of building and delivering modern web projects. Its global content delivery network (CDN), serverless functions, and continuous integration/continuous deployment (CI/CD) capabilities have made it a go-to option for developers seeking efficiency and scalability.The partnership between Crownpeak and Netlify represents a convergence of strengths. Together, they aim to provide businesses with the tools and capabilities to enhance digital experiences and drive engagement across the web. From a technology integration perspective, Crownpeak's CMS – <a target="_blank" href="https://community.crownpeak.com/t5/FirstSpirit/ct-p/FirstSpirit">FirstSpirit</a> – seamlessly integrates with Netlify's hosting and deployment platform, enabling businesses to manage content, deliver personalized experiences, and deploy web projects more efficiently. Bolstered by Netlify, FirstSpirit ensures websites and applications can handle traffic spikes while maintaining fast load times and low latency. Both companies also prioritize security and compliance, providing customers with robust protection for their digital assets and customer data.In addition, the new partnership streamlines the development and deployment process, allowing users to harness the combined capabilities of Crownpeak and Netlify – resulting in faster time-to-market for digital initiatives. Businesses can also leverage Crownpeak's personalization and optimization features alongside Netlify's CDN, delivering optimized website performance and better user experiences. <h3>Future-proofing for composability</h3>Crownpeak and Netlify share a common vision for a <a target="_blank" href="https://cmscritic.com/the-future-is-composable-a-conversation-with-new-mach-alliance-president-casper-rasmussen">composable future</a> – one where developers and marketers alike enjoy unmatched agility when bringing unique customer experiences to market. Netlify also met and exceeded several requirements Crownpeak was looking for in a progressive web app (PWA) development and deployment infrastructure.By harnessing the combined strengths of Crownpeak and Netlify, organizations can innovate at the speed of the business with unmatched flexibility rooted in its <a target="_blank" href="https://cmscritic.com/top-free-headless-cms-platforms">headless</a> approach. Brands can deliver consistent, high-performing experiences, no matter the customer’s channel or location. "We're excited to partner with Crownpeak to bring together our composable web platform with their content management solution," said <a target="_blank" href="https://www.linkedin.com/in/stevenvlarsen/">Steven Larsen</a>, VP of Partnerships and Ecosystems at Netlify. “Together, we're enabling businesses to create, deploy, and scale their digital projects with ease, ensuring they can deliver the exceptional experiences their customers expect.”The two also provide a future-proof, scalable architecture, enabling teams to create content once and repurpose it for any channel on an infrastructure that meets your growth, traffic, and performance demands. The combined solutions unify cross-functional teams on automated workflows – with all your integrations and APIs together on one powerful, serverless platform.

Crownpeak and Netlify Partner to Combine Web Platform Features with DXP Solutions

cms-critic-staff

<a target="_blank" href="https://kinsta.com/?kaid=QQMMZOGRMCQE">Kinsta</a> is a popular hosting provider that provides managed WordPress hosting to the public. Today, I'm going to review their system and hosting setup to see whether it's a good option for those of you looking for a solid, trustworthy provider with a good set of tools for your WordPress website.What makes Kinsta a unique beast is that their entire infrastructure uses <a target="_blank" href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Google_Cloud_Platform">Google Cloud Platform</a> which differs from the traditional shared, VPS, or dedicated infrastructures you see with most providers.Kinsta was kind enough to provide me with a test account for the purposes of this review so I'll be using that for the screenshots and to take a look through everything.<h2>The Dashboard</h2>Once you've <a target="_blank" href="https://kinsta.com/?kaid=QQMMZOGRMCQE">signed up for an account with Kinsta</a>, you'll be given access to your Kinsta Dashboard which is where you'll manage your sites, migrations and a whole lot more.Your dashboard, once you get access and sign-up, will look like this:<img src="https://cmscritic.com/ms-content/uploads/2023/08/kinsta-wordpress-hosting-review-1_ws7yhd.png" />Kinsta Managed WordPress Hosting DashboardThere are numerous graphs on the Dashboard for you to review such as Resource Usage, Data Transfer and Unique Visits. You can also see a full list of your sites from one location (if you have multiple).<h2>Sites</h2>To add new sites and manage existing ones, you'll use the Sites tab. When you move a site over to Kinsta, you are given the option to choose from one of their <a target="_blank" href="https://kinsta.com/knowledgebase/google-cloud-data-center-locations/?kaid=QQMMZOGRMCQE">18 data centers</a> for your site. Each of your sites can have a different data center as Kinsta uses multi-regional deployments.<img src="https://cmscritic.com/ms-content/uploads/2023/08/kinsta-wordpress-hosting-review-2_qmmhyx.png" />The Sites TabIn the Info section, you can see everything you need to know about your site from your IP information to your Data Center location, sFTP and SSH details and more.Most of the other sections are pretty self explanatory and I won't go through all of them because that would likely bore you to tears but what I will tell you is that there is plenty of information and functionality here. One of the sections I especially found useful is the Tools section. Here you can clear site cache, restart PHP and do a database Search and Replace quickly and easily.<img src="https://cmscritic.com/ms-content/uploads/2023/08/kinsta-wordpress-hosting-review-9_v1tcl7.png" />The Tools Section<h2>Migrations</h2>The Migrations tab is where you'll initiate any migrations from your previous hosting provider to Kinsta. As you can see in the screenshot below, I've got 1 free migration that I haven't used yet so to kick off a site move, I'd do so here.<img src="https://cmscritic.com/ms-content/uploads/2023/08/kinsta-wordpress-hosting-review-4_lspgkw.png" />The Migration Tab<h2>Kinsta DNS</h2>Kinsta also offers a service called Kinsta DNS which allows you to manage your own zone records and use Amazon Route 53 to speed up DNS resolution for faster domain name resolving.<img src="https://cmscritic.com/ms-content/uploads/2023/08/kinsta-wordpress-hosting-review-5_fz2pm7.png" />Kinsta DNS<h2>Analytics</h2>The  tab is exactly what it claims to be, analytics for your site. While it does offer you a quick peek into how your site is performing, most of you should make sure you also have Google Analytics as that's what everyone uses and it provides far more in-depth detail. Having said that, this doesn't mean this section is useless as it does provide quick insight without having to leave the dashboard so I can appreciate that.<img src="https://cmscritic.com/ms-content/uploads/2023/08/kinsta-wordpress-hosting-review-6_ecfwrv.png" />Analytics<h2>Activity</h2>Skipping now to the Activity tab now, this is where you'll find a log of all activity that has happened within your Dashboard such as adding new sites, making changes and more.<img src="https://cmscritic.com/ms-content/uploads/2023/08/kinsta-wordpress-hosting-review-7_vbeols.png" />ActivityThat about does it for the Dashboard tour but does all of this mean Kinsta is the right managed WordPress hosting provider for you?<h2>My Thoughts</h2>Kinsta provides some pretty amazing features / services that go along with each and every plan so they are definitely good bang for your buck. One of the most interesting ones is the Free hack fix meaning that if your website gets hacked (which is always a fear for every website owner) they will fix it with immediate priority.Additional features include:<ul><li>Free CDN, free Letsencrypt SSL, staging environments, automatic daily backups and the option to create manual backup points anytime.</li><li>Full page caching at the server-level to deliver content almost instantaneously to visitors. We also pair that with our Kinsta MU plugin, developed in-house, to provide even more granular control over caching.</li><li>PHP 7, 7.1, 7.2, and 7.3.</li><li>Server-level rules and optimizations for WooCommerce and Easy Digital Download sites to ensure a smoother checkout experience for customers.</li><li>Multi-user access with fine-grained permissions. Add any number of users to your team. Give them access to all your sites, just billing or add them as developers or administrators to a subset of your sites.</li><li>SSH access, Git, and WP-CLI.</li><li>At least one free migration, completed by our expert support team. There are a certain number of migrations included depending on which plan you choose.</li></ul>There's another good reason I'd consider Kinsta that most people aren't aware of. AdThrive, one of the largest ad networks in the world for bloggers, recently recommended Kinsta in an email sent out to their publishers (I know this because my wife's site is with them). This nod from a company that takes things into deep consideration before making recommendations is a good sign for those thinking of choosing Kinsta for their own websites.<a target="_blank" href="https://kinsta.com?kaid=QQMMZOGRMCQE">You can learn more or sign up with Kinsta here.</a>

Kinsta Managed WordPress Hosting Review

mike-johnston

<a href="https://wpengine.com/">WP Engine</a>, a WordPress hosting company, has announced the introduction of <a href="https://wpengine.com/support/best-practices-using-wp-engine-page-performance/">Page Performance</a>, which will focus on delivering actionable insights for websites across its 47,000 customers and agency partners in 133 countries.
<img style="max-width:432px" src="https://cmscritic.com/ms-content/uploads/2023/08/wp_engine_logo_bb.png" alt="wp_engine_logo_bb" />
Impressively, this product launch makes WP Engine the first managed WordPress platform to offer a web page speed performance tool integrated into the user dashboard through which customers can quickly improve the speed of their websites.
<h2>WP Engine Page Performace</h2>
Here's a breakdown of the benefits brought forth by WP Engine's newest project:
<ul>
<li>Access to Key Metrics on Any Page with Report History to See Improvements Over Time. Report includes such metrics as cacheability, render start, visitor complete, render complete and other data.</li>
<li>Actionable Recommendations with Rich Context including links to a library of support material enable users to make fast, significant, measurable impact to site performance.</li>
<li>Integrated into WP Engine User Portal to support developer workflow.</li>
</ul>
<h2>“Helping Out Customers Win Online”</h2>
Website speed is a major part of Search Engine Optimization, and WP Engine have recognized this with this release, as Heather Brunner, CEO of WP Engine, states:
<blockquote>“WP Engine Performance Intelligence is our ongoing commitment to develop tools and insights to help our customers win online.
A website’s speed affects nearly every metric a brand or agency might care about from page views to conversion rates. Our Page Performance product gives you specific recommendations to do just that.”</blockquote>
According to a recent study published on <a href="https://blog.kissmetrics.com/speed-is-a-killer/">KISSmetrics</a>, a one-second delay in page load time results in 11 percent fewer page views; a 16 percent decrease in customer satisfaction; and a 7 percent drop in conversion. Thus proving that site performance can make or break a brand and a customer’s digital experience.
The aim of WP Engine’s Page Performance feature is to gives site owners a detailed site speed report and actionable recommendations to solve for technical issues impacting digital business.
I think WP Engine has made a strong move with this project. It's well established that site speed plays a big role in SEO and overall user experience, and a WordPress-integrated performance checker will surely play into the hands of SEO specialists who work with WordPress.
To find out more about WP Engine's new Page Performance features, <a href="https://wpengine.com/support/best-practices-using-wp-engine-page-performance/">check out their website</a>.
And as per usual, you can explore and review this product through the <a href="/products/wp-engine/">WP Engine hub</a> on our Hosting Directory.

WP Engine Rolls Out WordPress Integrated Page Performance Tool

Nowadays, if you aren't opting for a cloud-hosted CMS or website builder, there are a few key names that (should) spring to mind when it comes to website hosting.<a target="_blank" href="https://www.bluehost.com/">Bluehost</a>, <a target="_blank" href="https://www.inmotionhosting.com/">Inmotion</a>, and <a target="_blank" href="https://www.godaddy.com/">Godaddy</a> for example are three capable companies. 123-Reg.co.uk? Not so much.And yet, I've come across more than one web design client in my time who, to my frustration, relies on 123-Reg for their website hosting needs.In my personal experience with the company, I have been left disappointed. And it's safe to say that I'm not alone.<h2>Who are 123-Reg?</h2>123-Reg is a web hosting company based in the United Kingdom. Founded in 2000, it's technically the largest domain provider in the UK. Which is some feat.But sometimes the numbers can tell a misleading story, because on top of a relatively dated user dashboard, 123-Reg has a few issues.Here's three reasons to steer clear.<h2>Reason #1: The Horror Stories</h2>Most website hosting companies have their fair share of disgruntled ex-customers ranting about their services, but 123-Reg's share is beyond what one might call fair.Some of the stories online are enough to make you run for the hills. I can't testify that the following claims are true, but what I do know, is that they're common:<ol><li><a target="_blank" href="https://webdesignfromscratch.com/blog/how-123reg-almost-crippled-my-business/">How 123-Reg Nearly Crippled My Business</a></li><li><a target="_blank" href="https://paulnrogers.com/review-123-reg-hosting-services/">[Stay] as far away from 123-Reg as possible!</a></li><li><a target="_blank" href="http://0lly.uk/2013/11/01/123-reg-lost-my-domain/">123-Reg lost my domain</a></li><li><a target="_blank" href="http://0lly.uk/2008/05/07/123-reg-stole-my-money-auto-renewal-nightmare/">123-Reg stole my money</a></li></ol>Now those are some grisly tales, to say the least.<h2>Reason #2: Iffy Marketing Packages</h2>If you've had a look through 123-Reg's website and decided that it's geared towards those who aren't so tech-savvy, you would be correct. And their marketing packages give it away big time.They have something called, “Instant Traffic” which is supposed to bring your website traffic from Google, simply by 123-Reg submitting your site to the search engine. Anybody who knows anything about SEO knows this is utter garbage.It's worth noting that, upon investigation, there doesn't seem to be a way to sign up to InstantTraffic anymore, but it is still present in customer's dashboards<h2>Reason #3: Poor Customer Service</h2>123-Reg boasts a notoriously poor customer service.Firstly, they have a phone line for sales, but not for support. Live chat is available, but only during UK working hours.That lack of 24/7 support is a huge issue, and one which I discuss in my article, “Why You Shouldn't Use Your Friend's Website Hosting Company“.Imagine your website goes down at 9pm London-time. You'd have a 12-hour wait before you can actually chat to your website host. That's a long time to wait if your website is anywhere near successful.<h2>Avoid, Or Jump Ship</h2>Quite frankly, you can pay the same money (or even less in some cases) for a web host that doesn't have an awful reputation, doesn't promote bogus SEO schemes, and has a decent level of round-the-clock customer service.Based on all of the above, I'd strongly recommend that you avoid 123-Reg for hosting your website. Try either one of <a target="_blank" href="https://www.bluehost.com/">Bluehost</a>, <a target="_blank" href="https://www.inmotionhosting.com/">Inmotion, </a>or <a target="_blank" href="https://www.godaddy.com/">Godaddy</a> instead, all of which have far better track records.And if you're already using 123-Reg, I'd think about moving to one of those names above, even if its only for the 24-hour support – which is an industry-standard when it comes to web hosting.Update by Mike J: On April 16th, 2016 a major issue occurred at 123-reg, the details of which are outlined in this email that was sent out to their customers:<blockquote>Dear Customer.I am writing to you to explain what happened to some VPS services on 16.04.16. This email is to detail what our steps have been. I am committed to open communication with all customers and would like to take this opportunity to explain in detail.So what happened to some services? As part of a clean-up process on the 123-reg VPS platform, a script was run at 7am on 16.04.16. This script is run to show us the number of machines active against the master database. An error on the script showed ‘zero-records' response from the database for some live VPS. For those customers, this created a ‘failure' scenario – showing no VM's and effectively deleting what was on the host. As a result of our team's investigations, we can conclude that the issues faced having resulted in some data loss for some customers. Our teams have been and continue to work to restore. What have we done? We have been working with an extended team of experts and have left no stone unturned. Our teams have been working long into the night to restore as much as we possibly can. We have also invested in external consultants to recover, in the best way possible.We have recovery running on the VPS servers and some are restoring to new disks. We have also begun copying recovered VPS images to new hosts and we expect some VPS to be back up and running throughout the night and into tomorrow.Our teams have worked for more than 24 hours and will continue to do so. No stone is being left unturned.As the technical teams come back with updates for individual VPS we will communicate updates to customers.For those customers with their own backup of their settings and data, if you wish to restore services yourself you can do this by issuing a reimage command through your 123 Reg control panel, this will give you a freshly installed VPS on a new cluster, where you can restore your service.I understand that some customers may have lost some confidence in the service that we offer. So, I want to explain what we have done to prevent this happening again. We have started an audit on all cron-jobs and scripts controlling the platform, and associated architecture, so that no script will have ability to delete images, only suspend. For image deletion for those suspended over 28 days we will have a human eye to double check. A new platform will be available by the end of the year for customers which we will provide self-managed and automated snapshot backups, in addition to architecture technology to backup the whole platform, something that is not available on the current platform. I hope this goes some way to win back your confidence.Richard Winslow, 123 Reg Brand Director</blockquote>Following this email, Twitter has gone absolutely nuts with furious customers who have not only lost their websites but, in some cases, their businesses as well. This type of experience is the nightmare of every business owner that relies on their website and our hearts go out to the poor people who have been affected by this horrible hosting nightmare.I don't know about you, but I can't imagine how 123-Reg is going to win back anyone's confidence after this debacle. If I was a customer, I'd be insulted by the suggestion that they could. We will be staying on top of this story and updating this post with any developments. In the meantime, however, please let us know about your experiences in the comments below.

Why You Should Avoid 123-Reg At All Costs

—– Website Building with BlueHost &amp; WordPress
A web hosting provider should give you more than just web hosting.
Uptime, speed, and customer support are all important, but what about the tools you need to kick-start a new website? After all, your new website idea is precisely why you needed a web host in the first place.
Starting from just $4.95 per month, BlueHost – CMS Critic’s <a href="/bluehosts-4th-july-sale-professional-web-hosting-for-just-3.95-per-month/" target="_blank">web host of choice</a> – is a hosting provider which gives you those tools in the form of quality content management systems and website builders. Fifty-five of them in fact.
The best part? They can all be installed on your domain name within minutes. Maybe even seconds.
Here are some quick guides on how to do that with WordPress, <a href="https://www.weebly.com/">Weebly</a>, and GoMobi Mobile, along with a look at the easy installation for the other fifty-two CMS that work so seamlessly with BlueHost. 
<img style="max-width:151px" src="https://cmscritic.com/ms-content/uploads/2023/08/download.jpg" alt="BlueHost" />
<h2>Website Building with BlueHost &amp; WordPress</h2>
With BlueHost, your website can be up and running on the worlds most popular CMS/blogging platform – WordPress.
WordPress is used by over 60% of all the websites whose content management system we know. That's over 22% of all websites on the Internet. So, your website would be in good company if you decide to go with WordPress as your platform of choice.
After signing up with Bluehost, you'll have access to your hosting control panel. There, you’ll see WordPress listed under “Website Builders”.
<img src="https://cmscritic.com/ms-content/uploads/2023/08/wp700x0.png" alt="Bluehost WordPress" />
Selecting WordPress will bring you to a new page, where you can click the “Install” button.
<img src="https://cmscritic.com/ms-content/uploads/2023/08/wp1700x0.png" alt="Bluehost WordPress" /> 
Then, it's time to select which domain name you want BlueHost to install WordPress on. You can choose from any domain name on your BlueHost account.
<img src="https://cmscritic.com/ms-content/uploads/2023/08/wp2700x0.png" alt="Bluehost WordPress" /> 
Finally, you will then have the chance to fill out some of the details of your new website, like the website name and tag line. These fields are all optional though, so if you like, you can go ahead and click “Install” straight away.
<img src="https://cmscritic.com/ms-content/uploads/2023/08/w3.png" alt="Bluehost WordPress" />
After that, all you need to do is sit back and relax for a few seconds as BlueHost builds the WordPress website for you. Before long, you will be prompted to visit your website, which will now be running WordPress, enabling you to dive into the world's most popular website building platform.
Sign up with BlueHost
—– Website Building with BlueHost &amp; <a href="https://www.weebly.com/">Weebly</a>
Don't worry if WordPress doesn't float your boat, because <a href="https://www.weebly.com/" target="_blank"> Weebly</a> is one of many other website builders supported by BlueHost.
Weebly is renowned for its friendly user interface and drag-and-drop page builder. It powers millions of websites across the web.
Weebly is actually a hosted website builder, which means you can use Weebly as a web host when you sign up with them. However, if you're running multiple websites on BlueHost's shared hosting plan, or you simply want the added functionalists that BlueHost brings, you can opt for BlueHost instead of Weebly to host your Weebly website.
After signing up with Bluehost, you'll have access to your hosting control panel. There, you’ll see Weebly listed under “Website Builders”.
<img src="https://cmscritic.com/ms-content/uploads/2023/08/web1700x0.png" alt="BlueHost Weebly" /> 
This will take you to the Weebly plan selection page. You can choose between the free, professional and eCommerce plans. To get started with the free plan, you only need to assign it to one of your existing domain names.
Then, you simply click “Use Weebly”.
<img src="https://cmscritic.com/ms-content/uploads/2023/08/web2700x0.png" alt="BlueHost Weebly" />
You will then be presented with the Weebly user interface, which allows you to immediately start building pages for your website. It's that easy.
<img src="https://cmscritic.com/ms-content/uploads/2023/08/web3700x0.png" alt="BlueHost Weebly" />
—– Website Building with BlueHost &amp; GoMobi
The last of the “big three” website building platforms which BlueHost displays to its users within their control panels, is GoMobi.
GoMobi is an easy-to-use mobile website platform that enables you to create premium mobile websites. Its friendly interface makes it easy to create feature-rich mobile websites that are quick to load and easy to use. Plus, you need no technical knowledge to make it work.
As with WordPress and Weebly, you'll be able to see GoMobi via your hosting control panel after signing up with Bluehost. You can find it listed under “Website Builders”.
<img src="https://cmscritic.com/ms-content/uploads/2023/08/mob1700x0.png" alt="BlueHost GoMobi" /> 
You will then be taken to a page asking you to agree to GoMobi's terms and conditions. GoMobi will set you back $2.99 per month. If you're happy with that, you can go ahead and click “Get Started”. 
<img src="https://cmscritic.com/ms-content/uploads/2023/08/mob2.png" alt="BlueHost GoMobi" /> 
This brings you to the checkout page, where you will need to follow the instructions in order to complete the purchase.
To cut a long story short, you'll end up with your GoMoi control panel as seen below, ready for you to start building a mobile website.
<img src="https://cmscritic.com/ms-content/uploads/2023/08/mob4700x0.png" alt="BlueHost GoMobi" /> 
GoMobi is certainly not the fanciest platform on the market, but it's one that BlueHost pushed alongside WordPress and Weebly on the front page of its control panel. But there's plenty more where they came from, as I'm about to show you.
—– The Full List: 55 Integrated BlueHost Website Builders
WordPress, Weebly, and GoMobi are three platforms displayed on the front page of BlueHost's control panel, but there are actually fifty-two more – all just as easily accessible.
Here's the complete list of BlueHost integrated website builders:
<ol>
<li>WordPress </li>
<li>Weebly </li>
<li>GoMobi </li>
<li>Xoops </li>
<li>Joomla 2 </li>
<li>Joomla 3 </li>
<li>Drupal 7 </li>
<li>Drupal 6 </li>
<li>B2evolution </li>
<li>Croogo </li>
<li>OCPortal </li>
<li>MODx </li>
<li>Concrete5 </li>
<li>LiveSite </li>
<li>phpwcms </li>
<li>PHP-Nuke </li>
<li>Textpattern </li>
<li>PyroCMS </li>
<li>e107 </li>
<li>Geeklog </li>
<li>AnchorCMS </li>
<li>Chyrp CMS </li>
<li>Noah's Classified </li>
<li>Open Classifieds </li>
<li>ShopSite </li>
<li>PrestaShop </li>
<li>CubeCart </li>
<li>OSCommerce </li>
<li>Magento </li>
<li>OpenCart </li>
<li>TomatoCart </li>
<li>ZenCart </li>
<li>AgoraCart </li>
<li>Moodle </li>
<li>Chamilo 1 </li>
<li>Chamilo 3 </li>
<li>LimeSurvey </li>
<li>Simple Machines Forum </li>
<li>Vanilla Forums </li>
<li>My BB </li>
<li>phpBB </li>
<li>PunBB </li>
<li>Coppermine </li>
<li>Piwigo </li>
<li>Zenphoto </li>
<li>Gallery </li>
<li>4Images </li>
<li>Oxwall </li>
<li>Elgg </li>
<li>Pligg </li>
<li>MediaWiki </li>
<li>PmWiki </li>
<li>Tiki Wiki 9 LTS </li>
<li>Tiki Wiki CMS Groupware </li>
<li>DocuWiki </li>
</ol>
Every single one of the above website building tools can be installed just as easily as the previous demonstrations of WordPress, Weebly and GoMobi.
All you need to do is visit your control panel after signing up with Bluehost, and find Simple Scripts, which is listed under “Website Builders”.
<img src="https://cmscritic.com/ms-content/uploads/2023/08/ss1700x0.png" alt="BlueHost Website Builders" /> 
Then, click “Install New Scripts”.
<img src="https://cmscritic.com/ms-content/uploads/2023/08/ss2700x0.png" alt="BlueHost Website Builders" /> 
You should now see all fifty-five website building platforms (along with an array of other useful applications), all ready to be installed with a few clicks each. Not too shabby, if you ask me.
<img src="https://cmscritic.com/ms-content/uploads/2023/08/ss3700x0.png" alt="BlueHost Website Builders" /> 
So there you have it. Fifty-five BlueHost website builders, all waiting to be installed in a matter of minutes.
This brilliant flexibility is what makes BlueHost the <a href="/bluehosts-4th-july-sale-professional-web-hosting-for-just-3.95-per-month/" target="_blank">web host of choice here at CMS Critic</a>. It's the perfect way for web experts and web newbies alike to get their hands on the best CMS for their projects. Fast.
<a href="https://www.bluehost.com/hosting/shared#pricing-cards">Sign up with BlueHost </a>

55 Ways to Build a Website with BlueHost

<a href="/hostgator">HostGator</a> is one of the largest web hosting providers in the world and offers some of the lowest monthly fees out there but does the adage “You get what you pay for” apply here? Read on to find out in this HostGator Review.
HostGator has been around for quite some time and is one of the largest shared hosting providers out there. They offer shared hosting, VPS Hosting, Dedicated Hosting and more. Today, we're going to take a look at some of the details behind their shared hosting offerings.
<h2>Pricing Structure</h2>
Shared hosting prices, at the time of this review, range from a meager $3.96 to $10.96 per month. Here is a quick breakdown of the differences between each of their Shared Hosting plans:
Hatchling
<ul>
<li>Single Domain</li>
<li>Unlimited Disk Space</li>
<li>Unlimited Bandwidth</li>
<li>Shared SSL Certificate</li>
<li>NO addon domains</li>
<li>NO anonymous FTP</li>
</ul>
Baby
<ul>
<li>Unlimited Domains</li>
<li>Unlimited Disk Space</li>
<li>Unlimited Bandwidth</li>
<li>Shared SSL Certificate</li>
<li>Unlimited addon domains</li>
</ul>
Business
<ul>
<li>Unlimited Domains</li>
<li>Unlimited Disk Space</li>
<li>Unlimited Bandwidth</li>
<li>Unlimited addon domains</li>
<li>Free Private SSL &amp; IP</li>
<li>Free Toll Free Number</li>
<li>Unlimited addon domains</li>
<li>Anonymous FTP</li>
</ul>
Price wise, HostGator is definitely competitive. For shared hosting, there are thousands of hosts out there that are competing for your business and HostGator definitely has priced their packages well. Most people should have no problem affording any of these, but how do they fare from a usability standpoint?
Let's explore…
<h2>Usability</h2>
When it comes to usability, if you've never had a hosting package before, you're going to be in for an eye opening experience. I will say, however, that if you have someone with even the slightest bit of technical knowledge looking after your hosting (or you are willing to learn) then you'll be happy with the setup that HostGator provides.
There are numerous options for hosting control panels (the place you log into to set up things such as your email accounts, addon domains, statistics, etc) but few are as good as CPanel setups and HostGator uses them for all of it's shared hosting plans.
This is a good thing.
CPanel is easy to use, yet very powerful and once you get used to it, you'll find yourself falling in love with the fact that everything is just there and easily accessible without distracting graphics and colors. Functionality is broken up into logical categories and getting to the task at hand is quick and easy to do.
Curious as to what it looks like? Here's a screenshot:
<img src="https://cmscritic.com/ms-content/uploads/2023/08/cpanel-620x570.jpg" alt="HostGator Review - CPanel" />
Are you the hands-on type and want to explore it further? Here's a fully functional <a href="http://174.121.236.237:2082/frontend/x3/index.html">CPanel demo</a> that you can mess around with to see how it works.
Installing scripts is quick and easy as well. Should you need to set up a WordPress, Joomla or Drupal Site or even a forum software for your website, HostGator offers QuickInstall and Fantastico Deluxe which are basically interfaces that help you install various things such as calendar software, billing software, CMS software, eCommerce and much more.
<img src="https://cmscritic.com/ms-content/uploads/2023/08/quickinstall-620x605.jpg" alt="HostGator Review - QuickInstall" />
Installation scripts such as QuickInstall are great additions to the service and offer a quick and easy means to get up and running with as little technical knowledge as possible. Within about 10-15 seconds, you can have a fully functional WordPress, Drupal or Joomla install up and running and ready for you to use. Obviously, the system won't teach you how to use it but it definitely helps shield you from (what can be) a complicated installation process.
What else do you get with a HostGator install?
<h2>Bonus Features</h2>
HostGator is out to win you over as a customer and they throw tons of bonus features in with each purchase of a hosting plan. Here's a quick breakdown of what else you receive over and above the hosting package itself:
<ul>
<li>Free BaseKit SiteBuilder and Website Building Tools</li>
<li>4,500 Free Website Templates</li>
<li>Free Website Transfer, Domain Transfer, MySQL Transfer, Script Transfer</li>
<li>$100 Google Adwords Offer</li>
</ul>
Of particular value is the $100 Google Adwords credit which you can use to kick off a campaign through Google and help drive traffic to your newly created site.
<h2>Support</h2>
I've had plenty of experience with HostGator as CMS Critic was, at one time, hosted with their shared hosting service on the Business plan and we were with them for several years. During this time, I've had plenty of times when I've had to reach out to their support for either simple questions or advanced troubleshooting.
They are quick to answer the phone and the bulk of the support technicians are very good at their jobs. I've had very few poor experiences over the years and coming from many years experience dealing with web hosts, HostGator definitely is one of the best I've used.
The only reason we are no longer hosted with them is we needed to graduate to managed hosting and as a result, switched to WP Engine (you can read that review here: <a href="/wp-engine-review/">WP Engine Review</a>).
<h2>Things you need to know</h2>
I'm now going to flag something that I experienced with HostGator that I didn't realize until it was too late.  This was not the fault of HostGator but rather my own for not paying attention and catching it. By filling you in now, it's my hope that you'll be sure to pay attention and won't cause yourself headaches down the road.
If you have a website hosted with them that contains an extremely large number of files (in excess of 100,000 or over 20 GB in size) they will not back your site or any of the files up if you exceed these limits. There is an option to enter an email so that you are notified if a backup fails or whenever one is run but not when you are closing in on these limits. As such, it is very important to pay attention to this box and if you start creeping up on the limits, you'll want to act quickly to ensure your site is backed up. Otherwise, you could be exposing yourself to the risk of no backups. It is YOUR responsibility to pay mind to the backup summary box within the hosting control panel.
Here is how it looks when you've exceeded the limits:
<img style="max-width:226px" src="https://cmscritic.com/ms-content/uploads/2023/08/backupstatus.jpg" alt="HostGator Review - Backups" />
I would suggest that if you choose to use HostGator, you enter your email here first thing when you log into your account. That way, if you don't get a backup email, you'll notice it and hopefully react accordingly. I wouldn't exclusively rely on the emails, however.  I would also suggest you check watch for the red exclamation mark if you want your site backed up. I didn't do this initially and it caused me tons of headaches down the road.
Of course, there are plenty of alternative backup services such as <a href="http://vaultpress.com/" target="_blank">VaultPress</a> and others but if you want to rely on HostGator to do it, be sure to pay attention to this box. That's my only major piece of advice. Otherwise, I think HostGator is a great option. Most people never exceed these levels, it just so happens that I had 6 sites running with thousands of photos on them and didn't notice this until it was too late. The average single site will not exceed these limits for several years and when you do, you should be thinking about upgrading your plan anyway.
<h2>Conclusion</h2>
HostGator offers great value for a great price. If you are in the market for shared hosting, you'll be pleased with the results. They offer excellent support and tons of value for your dollar.
Interested in learning more? Visit their website for more details: <a href="/hostgator">HostGator </a>

Hostgator Review - Shared Hosting on the Cheap

CMS Kickoff 26

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What's the future of CMS in the AI era?

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