Hostwinds Review (2026): Plans, Prices and the October Security Breach

By ExpertahUpdated November 202610 min read

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Hostwinds has been around since 2010 and has long been a popular budget choice for VPS hosting, partly because it owns its servers and network outright instead of renting space from a third party. That gives it control over its infrastructure and helps keep prices reasonable.

This review covers what Hostwinds offers and what it costs. Because of the October security incident, we also cover what happened and what it means for you, because any host’s track record matters as much as its price list.

Who is Hostwinds?

Hostwinds was founded in 2010 and is headquartered just outside Seattle, Washington. Its terms now describe it as “a HostPapa Inc Company,” meaning it’s part of the Canadian hosting group HostPapa. It runs three data centers, in Seattle, Dallas and Amsterdam, and says it owns all of its servers, systems and network equipment.

Its range covers shared and business web hosting, reseller hosting, managed and unmanaged Linux and Windows VPS, cloud servers billed by the hour, and custom-built dedicated servers.

The October 2026 security incident

According to Hostwinds’ status page, here’s what happened:

• October 22: Hostwinds said it had identified unauthorized access to the system that runs its client area and billing, and took the client area offline.
• October 23: the client area reopened on a newly built system. Every client area password was reset, and customers were told to set a new one and turn on two-factor authentication.
• October 24: PayPal payments were restored. Hostwinds asked customers to change root, administrator, SSH and control panel passwords directly on their servers, check for unrecognized users, keys or DNS changes, and change any password they had shared in a support ticket.
• Ongoing: an independent forensic firm is still investigating. Hostwinds says customer servers and websites remained online.

Customer reviews from the same period tell a rougher story. Several reviewers on Trustpilot reported being unable to reach their servers or the client area for a day or more, and difficulty getting through to support.

What this means for you: a breach of a billing and account system is serious, but how a company responds matters too. Hostwinds rebuilt the system, reset passwords and brought in outside investigators, which are the right steps. Until it publishes what was accessed and what it has changed, we’d hold off on choosing Hostwinds for anything important.

VPS pricing

Hostwinds sells the same VPS sizes in four versions: managed or unmanaged, Linux or Windows. Managed plans include hands-on server management from Hostwinds’ team; unmanaged plans give you the server and leave the rest to you.

Prices in US dollars from Hostwinds’ website, checked November 2, 2026. Managed plans get 35% off the first billing cycle, then renew at the regular price. Unmanaged plans have no intro discount, so the price you see is the price you keep. Larger plans go up to 16 CPUs and 96 GB of RAM.

The unmanaged Linux plans are the best value here: $4.99 a month for a small server with no renewal jump. The managed plans cost about twice as much, which buys you a team that handles updates, security and troubleshooting. Hostwinds also sells cloud servers billed by the hour, from about $0.0069 an hour (roughly $5 a month), which suits short-term projects and testing.

Compared with rivals, Hostwinds gives you less storage per dollar. Its 4 GB unmanaged plan includes 75 GB for $18.99, while HostNoc offers 4 GB of RAM with 300 GB of storage for $12.75 and AccuWebHosting starts at $4.95 for 4 GB with 50 GB of NVMe storage.

Shared and business hosting

Billed yearly. The first-year price is 35% off; renewals are at the regular price.

Every shared plan includes unlimited storage and bandwidth, free SSL, cPanel, Softaculous one-click installs, a free dedicated IP, nightly backups, website monitoring and free migration. Business plans put fewer sites on each server and use the LiteSpeed web server for extra speed. A 35% renewal increase is gentler than many big-brand hosts, but the prices aren’t the cheapest around.

Features and locations

• Owned infrastructure: Hostwinds owns its hardware and network, and builds its data centers to 2N redundancy (two of everything).
• Three data centers: Seattle, Dallas and Amsterdam.
• VPS extras: 1 Gbps ports, SSD storage, snapshots, custom ISOs, a firewall, real-time monitoring and instant upgrades.
• Nightly backups: a configurable automated backup service is available.
• Free migration: its team will move your site for you on new orders.
• Uptime promise: Hostwinds advertises 99.9999% network and power uptime.

Three locations is fewer than many competitors offer. If most of your visitors are in Asia, Australia or South America, Hostwinds isn’t a natural fit.

Support, refunds and reviews

Support is available 24/7 by live chat and tickets, and by phone. Managed VPS and dedicated servers include full server management.

Refunds are limited. Hostwinds may give a prorated refund on eligible services, but you have to cancel and request it within 72 hours of the payment. Hourly cloud servers, domains, licenses and IP addresses aren’t refundable. That’s a much shorter window than the 30 days many shared hosts offer.

Reviews are the biggest concern. Hostwinds has a 1.8 out of 5 rating on Trustpilot from 738 reviews, and many recent reviews describe outages and slow or automated support responses. Trustpilot notes the company hasn’t invited customers to leave reviews recently, which can skew ratings toward unhappy customers, but the volume of complaints is hard to ignore.

Things to know before you sign up

• Recent security breach of the client area and billing system, with the investigation still ongoing.
• Poor customer reviews: 1.8 on Trustpilot, with recent reports of outages.
• 72-hour refund window, prorated, and no refunds on hourly services.
• Managed plans renew 35% higher after the first cycle; unmanaged plans don’t.
• Only three locations: Seattle, Dallas and Amsterdam.
• Less storage per dollar than several VPS rivals.

Who is Hostwinds a good fit for?

Our take: on paper, Hostwinds has a sensible lineup, especially its unmanaged VPS plans with flat pricing. But a recent breach of its account and billing systems, an investigation that isn’t finished and a weak review record add up to too much risk for a new customer right now. For a VPS today, we’d look at AccuWebHosting for low prices, NVMe storage and a 7-day refund window, or HostNoc for lots of resources at a flat price. For shared hosting, see our best shared hosting guide. We’ll update this review when Hostwinds publishes the results of its investigation.

Frequently asked questions

Is Hostwinds safe to use?

In October 2026 Hostwinds disclosed unauthorized access to its client area and billing system. It rebuilt the system, reset all client area passwords and is working with an independent forensic firm. Until it publishes the findings, we recommend new customers wait, and existing customers follow the steps on its status page.

Was Hostwinds hacked?

Hostwinds said on October 22, 2026 that it found unauthorized access to the system that runs its client area and billing. It says customer servers and websites stayed online.

How much does Hostwinds cost?

Unmanaged Linux VPS starts at $4.99 a month with no renewal increase. Managed Linux VPS starts at $10.99 a month, with 35% off the first month. Shared hosting starts at $6.99 a month, or $4.54 a month for the first year.

Does Hostwinds have a money-back guarantee?

Not in the usual sense. Hostwinds may give a prorated refund if you cancel and request it within 72 hours of a payment. Hourly services, domains and licenses aren’t refundable.

Where are Hostwinds’ data centers?

Seattle, Dallas and Amsterdam.

Who owns Hostwinds?

Hostwinds describes itself as a HostPapa Inc company in its terms of service.