SiteHost Review
SiteHost is the standout of New Zealand hosting: it owns its solar-powered Auckland datacenter, answers support tickets in minutes, and its Cloud Containers platform is genuinely modern - you just pay real-infrastructure prices rather than shared-hosting promo rates.
Review last updated 2026-08-20 · How we rate hosts
Scorecard
Pros
- Owns its Auckland datacenter (AKL01), largely solar powered
- Superb 24/7 in-house support with response times in minutes
- Modern container platform on AMD CPUs and NVMe storage
- Flat, honest pricing with no promotional renewal traps
- Trusted by Auckland Council, NZME and other major NZ organisations
Cons
- No cheap cPanel shared tier; entry point is around NZ$30/mo
- Developer-oriented platform is overkill for a simple brochure site
- No formal money-back guarantee advertised
SiteHost plans & pricing
Promotional monthly rates as of August 20, 2026; most require the listed prepaid term and renew at the higher rate shown. Confirm on SiteHost's site before buying.
| Plan | Intro price | Renews at | Storage | Sites | Bandwidth | Notes |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Cloud Container StandardCloud Hosting | $21/mo | $21/mo | From NZ$35/mo; containerised PHP, Node.js or WordPress on AMD CPUs, flat pricing with no renewal jump | |||
| Cloud Container High PerformanceCloud Hosting | $33/mo | $33/mo | From NZ$55/mo; nearly 5x the compute of Standard containers | |||
| Linux Virtual ServerVPS Hosting | $18/mo | $18/mo | From NZ$30/mo; High Performance variant from NZ$40/mo, Windows from NZ$75/mo | |||
| Virtual Dedicated ServerDedicated Servers | $102/mo | $102/mo | From NZ$170/mo; unshared resources with large dedicated drives |
Our SiteHost review
SiteHost, founded in Auckland in March 2004, is that rare thing in a consolidated industry: an independent regional host that competes on engineering rather than price. Its flagship Cloud Containers platform runs each site in an isolated container on AMD CPUs and NVMe storage, so a PHP app, a Node.js service and a WordPress site can live side by side without a cPanel in sight.
The infrastructure story is unusually deep. SiteHost built and owns its AKL01 datacenter, opened in 2018 with redundant UPS and in-row cooling, plus 384 solar panels that make the facility close to fully renewable-powered. Owning the building, the network and the support desk means accountability never disappears into a vendor chain, and it shows in the client list: Auckland Council, Wellington City Council, NZME, the Ministry of Education and thousands of NZ developers.
For New Zealand audiences the latency case is decisive. Traffic served from Auckland instead of Sydney saves 25 to 40 ms per round trip, and against a US-hosted site the difference is 130 ms or more each way. SiteHost also offers container regions in Sydney, Singapore, London and California, so an NZ business expanding offshore can stay on one platform. Data kept in New Zealand also stays under the NZ Privacy Act, which public-sector and health work often requires.
Pricing is flat and honest: Cloud Containers from NZ$35/mo (about US$21), High Performance from NZ$55, Linux virtual servers from NZ$30 and virtual dedicated machines from NZ$170. There are no 36-month promos and no renewal cliffs; the price you start at is the price you keep. That makes SiteHost look expensive next to a US$3 shared plan and cheap next to comparable managed cloud platforms.
Support is the thing customers rave about: an in-house Auckland team, reachable 24/7, that typically responds in minutes and includes the engineers who run the platform. There is no offshore first-line triage to fight through.
The honest caveats: there is no bargain shared tier, so a hobby blog is better served elsewhere, and the developer-centric control panel assumes some comfort with modern tooling. For NZ businesses and agencies that have outgrown commodity hosting, though, SiteHost is the obvious home. Pricing was confirmed on SiteHost's live pages for this review.
Notable facts
- Founded in Auckland in March 2004 and still NZ-owned
- Owns its AKL01 datacenter, opened 2018, near-fully solar powered
- Hosts Auckland Council, Wellington City Council, NZME and 4,600+ developers
At a glance
| Founded | 2004 |
|---|---|
| Headquarters | Auckland, New Zealand |
| Data centers | Auckland, New Zealand, Sydney, Australia, Singapore, London, UK, California, US |
| Hosting types | Cloud Hosting, VPS Hosting, Dedicated Servers |
| Starting price | $18/mo |
| Uptime SLA | 99.9% |
| Support | phone, tickets, email (24/7) |
| Free migration | Yes |
| Green hosting | Yes |
Frequently asked questions
Does SiteHost offer cheap shared hosting?
Not really. Its entry products are Cloud Containers from NZ$35/mo and Linux virtual servers from NZ$30/mo. It is built for businesses and developers rather than the US$3 shared-hosting market.
Can SiteHost host sites outside New Zealand?
Yes. Alongside its own Auckland datacenter, SiteHost offers container locations in Sydney, Singapore, London and California, so you can serve offshore audiences from the same platform.
Bottom line
SiteHost is the standout of New Zealand hosting: it owns its solar-powered Auckland datacenter, answers support tickets in minutes, and its Cloud Containers platform is genuinely modern - you just pay real-infrastructure prices rather than shared-hosting promo rates.
Check current SiteHost pricing →
