20i Review

Written by: Romj Amon

Updated: September, 3, 2024

20i Review

This company’s novel approach to web hosting has been well received. To know what the fuss is really all about, read this 20i review!

Highlights

  • Uptime Guarantee: 99.99%
  • Dedicated Hosting: Unavailable
  • Unmanaged Hosting: Available
  • Global CDN: Supported
  • Site Builder: Supported
  • Webmail: Supported
  • DDoS Protection: Supported
  • Malware Scanning: Supported

What Is 20i?

Headquartered in Mansfield, Nottinghamshire, 20i is a shared, virtual private server (VPS), and white-label hosting provider.

Its cutting-edge platform has three sub-platforms, one for LinuxWordPress, and Windows each. Founded in 2015 by brothers Jonathan and Tim Brealey, the company brags about its revolutionary take on web hosting.

This vendor sells different premium subscriptions for individual site owners, fledgling hosting entrepreneurs, digital marketing agencies, and more. And it also offers one free hosting plan designed for personal bloggers, small charities, startups, and growing businesses.

There are cheaper options out there like InMotion and A2 Hosting. But 20i has transparent pricing. And it can justify the fees, because it offers:

  • state-of-the-art infrastructure
  • custom PHP code 
  • autoscaling
  • Content Delivery Network (CDN) 

.In 1,370+ 20i reviews on Trustpilot, the company has garnered an average score of 4.9 stars.

Infrastructure and Network

20i doesn’t skimp on hardware.

Have a look at the noteworthy elements of its infrastructure:

  • Next-generation enterprise-level Dell web servers
  • 960 GB Samsung SM883 solid state drives (SSDs)
  • Intel Xeon Scalable 12-core processors with hyper-threading
  • 64 GB 3200 MHz DDR4 RAM

This British company maintains data centers in the United States and the United Kingdom.

If you subscribe to a 20i VPS, Web, or WordPress plan, you can only choose one of the two countries. But 20i’s network is larger because of its CDN, which covers 21 cities across 14 jurisdictions and spans six continents.

Aside from technological sophistication, this web host is big on sustainability too.

It takes pride in its green initiatives. Renewal energy powers 100% of its cloud hosting processes, cooling, and network. More than 2,000 solar panels keep its office complex’s automatic LED lights on.

20i’s data centers run super efficiently, registering a Power Usage Effectiveness rating of 1.12. It outscores other web host providers by 0.08.

Lastly, 20i is a proponent of recycling and paperless operations. It also advocates telecommuting and encourages its employees that must come to the office to share rides.

20i Features

Let’s dissect the highlights of this hosting provider’s functionality.

20i CMSEcommerce, and Application Hosting

20i is compatible with popular content management systems (CMS), including:

  • ConcreteCMS (formerly Concrete5)
  • Drupal
  • ExpressEngine
  • Joomla!
  • MODX

Likewise, this vendor can host ecommerce sites built with the following solutions:

  • AbanteCart
  • CubeCart
  • Adobe Commerce (previously Magento)
  • OpenCart
  • PrestaShop
  • WooCommerce
  • ZenCart

201 supports Laravel apps too.

IPv6 (Internet Protocol version 6) Compatibility

This hosting platform is optimized for IPv6, which supports a greater number of and more secure IP addresses.

Although IPv6 powers only about a quarter of all traffic, it is the internet addressing system of tomorrow. If you go with this web host, you’ll be able to futureproof your sites and apps.

Google-Powered DNS

This cloud hosting provider offers you the Google global fiber network. Irrespective of traffic, this DNS can handle requests in a quick and stable manner.

Optimized PHP

20i has its own PHP version. Its developers have written custom web hosting code for PHP 5.6 or above to unshackle its site speed-boosting initiatives. Free from CloudLinux constraints, this web host has no core, memory, bandwidth, and processing limitations.

In short, this vendor can keep your site speed from dropping even if you receive a deluge of traffic.

Autoscaling

Thanks to 20i’s proprietary autoscaling technology, your sites can tap the resources they need to remain fast when traffic spikes. This innovation lets this hosting provider instantly scale memory, bandwidth, and processing power up or down according to demand.

Also, autoscaling can help shield you from cyberattacks. More on 20i security later.

Global Load Balancing

20i can isolate your busy co–server users from you. It keeps an eye on how server load ebbs and flows and balances it across multiple servers if necessary.

That’s why your sites can be resilient enough to stay online and avoid noticeable performance issues caused by traffic surges.

Free CDN

A CDN is a way of caching site content at different locations. The objective is to minimize delay for visitors browsing too far from the data center storing it.

20i draws inspiration from Cloudflare and other premium CDN providers, except that its solution is just as capable and free. Since there’s no bandwidth cap, it would be wise to use it all the time.

Website Acceleration Suite

This web host can help optimize sites and enhance their performance in 40+ ways. You can easily toggle 20i’s speed boosters on and allow its platform to do the heavy lifting automatically.

Website Acceleration Suite is elegant if you find compressing code and/or images too burdensome and/or too technical. 

And it hits two birds with one stone: 

Apart from making your web pages load quickly and consistently, it can positively impact the SEO of your sites too.

20i Email Hosting

20i has native webmail called Stackmail. It shares the basic functionalities of popular email clients like Gmail, Microsoft Outlook, and Apple Mail. And it’s deployable on desktops, tablets, and smartphones. So, it can be a good alternative. 

But if you still want to use any of the top email service providers, you can. Setting up your current email on the 20i platform either manually or automatically.

Once the setup is complete, you’ll be able to view your correspondence anywhere, anytime. And you can synchronize your messages across different devices.

This vendor doesn’t charge extra for email. With the right hosting plan, you can enjoy unlimited 10-GB mailboxes and create email addresses that match your domains. If you need additional storage, you can purchase more in 10-GB increments.

Plus, you can set up 20i email forwarding and autoresponders.

In some hosting plans, you’ll be able to use email subaddressing. This new feature enables you to tweak your email addresses in order to tag folders. This way, the messages sent to those addresses end up in the right places and never get lost in your inbox.

To avoid email misuse and abuse, 20i imposes the limits below.

  • Sending 1 message to 100 recipients max at a time
  • Messaging up to 10,000 recipients every 24 hours
  • Sending messages to 2,000 unique recipients max every 24 hours
  • Attaching files up to 32 MB in size
  • Sending messages up to 50 MB in size
  • 1 automated message every 8 hours per sender
  • 50 messages max for the first 7 days per new mailbox
  • 500 messages max every 24 hours and up to 5 MB in size using via the PHP mail() function

Website Builder

With this 20i cloud platform’s builder, you can publish professional-looking, mobile-responsive, and SEO-friendly sites with unlimited pages with ease.

Included in 20i Managed VPS, Web, and Reseller Hosting subscriptions, it supports JavaScript, HTML, and CSS. But coding is only optional.

This builder has a library of hundreds of site templates, 500,000+ free photos, and hundreds of fonts. It provides a myriad of color themes and theme layout and menu style varieties too. 

If you don’t want to customize an existing design, you can create one from scratch.

Either way, you have user-friendly tools at your disposal so that you can DIY everything. This toolkit includes an image editor, a logo maker, and menu and subpage creators.

Also, 20i offers quick-add modules. They’re useful for doing a ton of things like:

  • Adding a shopping cart.
  • Embedding YouTube videos.
  • Integrating social media pages.
  • Translating site content into different languages.
  • Displaying RSS feeds from external sources.

Overall, this builder offers countless site customization possibilities.

My20i

With this centralized hosting control panel, you can check everything in one place. Logs, SSH (Secure Shell Protocol) access, FTP, email, and security are just a few of the things My20i contains. It also doubles as a powerful file manager and an installer of 80+ free web apps.

If you subscribe to the 20i WordPress Hosting plan, you’ll also be able to wield WordPress tools from My20i.

It’s intuitive, fast, lightweight, and mobile-responsive. In other words, it makes navigation painless, runs smoothly regardless of bandwidth, and adapts to any screen size.

Stack Control Panel (StackCP)

StackCP is the hosting control panel for reseller customers.

It’s as feature-packed as My20i, but it’s flexible enough to suit users with different technical expertise. You can enable all options for technical customers or present a minimalist variation for the not so tech-savvy. 

StackCP is fully customizable. 20i lets you incorporate your own brand elements and replace this control panel’s generic name. With a single click, you can switch preset themes to change its aesthetics.

If your customers buy multiple 20i hosting plans, you can assign more than one package to a single StackCP login. This way, your customers only have to enter their credentials once to manage all of their subscriptions.

In terms of engagement, StackCP empowers your customers to message you through multiple ways.

HostShop

With this hosting automation and billing solution, you can be a legitimate reseller in no time. Being customizable and modular, you can easily infuse your brand elements into HostShop and cherry-pick the features you desire.

If you don’t have an existing business site, HostShop can help you build one from the ground up. It has four editable site templates prefilled with royalty-free imagery and marketing copy.

But if you have an established site, you can integrate your newly built hosting store into it. This comes in handy if you plan to sell other offerings like SEO and bundle web hosting with them.

Whichever route you take, HostShop allows you to present 20i hosting plans and set your prices your way.

With its set-and-forget features, your business processes can go on without our help. If you take advantage of HostShop’s default automated sequences and messages, you’ll be able to accommodate customers immediately.

When it comes to payment, HostShop supports PayPal, Stripe, Square, GoCardLess, and other major payment gateways.

Domain Names

20i sells domain names, but you don’t need to purchase any from it to use its platform. You can transfer your current one to its system.

Generally, there’s a fee to move a domain to 20i. But this vendor waives any transfers involving the following top-level domains:

  • .co.uk
  • .me.uk
  • .ltd.uk
  • org.uk
  • .uk

If your domain is a .com, you’ll have to pay a measly $12 charge. It comes with one-year free renewal, offsetting the initial fee.

20i’s prices are set in stone. You can register any domain name for multiple years, but the minimum period is one.

This vendor has no answer to Bluehost’s one-year free domain. However, 20i offers lower prices for .com, .us, .org, and .net domains than many leading hosting providers. And you also get bigger discounts as a reseller.

Even if you find cheaper prices, 20i’s free hosting plan can bring a ton of value to your domain purchase.

If you opt for this vendor’s Domain Privacy service, you won’t have to use your personal details as contact information. Instead, the company can lend you its generic organization ContactPrivacy.com, if the domain you own isn’t for business use.

For 20i .co.uk and .uk domain names, this add-on is free.

Migration Center

If you’re changing web hosts, you can migrate unlimited data to the 20i platform in minutes for free. This web host can preserve nearly everything as is to reduce the risk of data loss.

20i Review - start a migration

This hosting provider’s Migration Center is designed for moving data from the following:

  • WHM/cPanel servers
  • Heart Internet API
  • Fasthosts API
  • WordPress sites via FTP

The Migration Center’s setup needs little work. If you’re using Gmail or Office 365, you’ll need to add the corresponding DNS records to avoid email service interruption.

To complete the migration after moving your sites, databases, and email, you have to update your domain names.

You have two options:

  1. Transfer your existing one to 20i
  2. Point the nameservers to 20i while leaving them with their current registrar

If you intend to use this vendor’s free SSL certificates, you’ll need to go with option one for security reasons.

20i Security

As follows are measures this web host takes to secure sites:

Redundant Hardware and Software Design

The 20i platform has redundancy at all levels. This helps ensure automatic failover in the event of a major hardware, software, or network issue. Since there’s no single point of failure, this vendor can recover more quickly from technical difficulties and prevent data loss.

Isolated Server Roles

This cloud hosting provider has different servers for sites, MySQL, email, and logs. The logic of this infrastructure design is to mitigate the dangers of getting hacked.

In case an attacker infiltrated your email, this threat actor wouldn’t be able to take over your site.

ISO-Certified Data Centers

The company meets the requirements of ISO 27001:2013. This certification means that this web host safeguards its data centers by:

  • Implementing 24/7 physical security on site.
  • Adopting photo ID and card swipe entry.
  • Keeping the premises under CCTV surveillance.
  • Maintaining gated access.
  • Fencing the perimeter of the buildings.
  • Ensuring redundant and uncompromisable power supplies.
SSL Encryption

This vendor has teamed up with Let’s Encrypt. This partnership ensures that the web address of every site it hosts starts with HTTPS.

20i sells SSL certificates. But it’s free “wildcard” ones that cover both primary domains and subdomains.

Malware Scanning

Using an in-house tool, 20i scans all of the sites on its sub-platforms daily for different types of malware. It generates detailed reports of the results and emails you when it detects something malicious.

The scanning happens automatically. But you don’t have to wait for the next scheduled run. You can put this web host’s scanner to work whenever you want.

Mail Antivirus Scanning

20i has an email scanner too.

This tool can keep phishers at bay in various ways. It prohibits messages from spam networks on Barracuda Networks, Invaluement, and Spamhaus’ commercial anti-spam deny lists.

Likewise, it denies known malware signatures and sends emails with dubious content characteristics to the spam folder.

20i returns the mail it rejects to the sender. And to prevent it from erroneously blocking certain messages, you can configure its filters and bypass its protections.

This vendor has zero-tolerance for all spammers. That’s why it can also scan outgoing messages to prevent fraudsters from phishing others using your domain.

Isolated Backups

20i backs up sites on separate web servers housed in other physical locations in the US and the UK. If disaster strikes and this cloud host’s data centers become paralyzed, your sites won’t fade into oblivion.

Two-Factor Authentication (2FA)

20i supports 2FA, giving you the option to add another layer of security to My20i, StackCP, and SSH access. This is an effective way to prevent fraudsters from taking over your account.

In addition, you can use a time-based one-time password (TOTP). It serves as a secondary lock to your account. You can generate a TOTP using third-party authenticator app developers like Microsoft and Google.

Enterprise-Level Distributed Denial of Service (DDoS) Protection

Through its 1 Tbps+ anti-DDoS protection, 20i can safeguard its web servers from a tsunami of malicious traffic.

This enterprise-level security measure can neutralize most attacks quietly, so expect no interruption whatsoever.

IP Blocking

20i can divert disreputable IP addresses automatically and networks to different web servers. It can deny access to individual and entire IP ranges with a bad reputation at the edge of its network.

Web Application Firewall (WAF)

Unlike ordinary firewalls, 20i’s WAF can identify and block suspicious activity by inspecting every HTTP request at the network edge. This way, it can bust harmful code before the scripts from web apps execute it.

The company’s security team regularly updates the feature.

StackProtect

The tool can constantly monitor all common site logins. If it catches a potentially ill-intentioned automated attempt, it will reject it or use the latest reCAPTCHA tools, if needed.

PCI-DSS Compliance

This web host satisfies the Payment Card Industry Data Security Standards (PCI-DSS) to help combat credit card fraud. To stay compliant, it has to prove to independent auditors that it’s immune to the security vulnerabilities fraudsters generally exploit.

If you intend to accept card payments on your site, this stamp of approval should give you peace of mind.

20i Uptime

According to the VPS service level agreement, it promises 99.99% network availability. This uptime guarantee is subject to exclusions like maintenance periods, system upgrades, and moments of service loss due to cyberattacks.

In case of hardware failure, this vendor swears to replace it within four hours from when it diagnosed the issue.

If you experience more than 0.01% downtime in any given month, it will credit your account. For every hour of service unavailability, you’ll get 12 hours of service credit. The maximum credit in any month you can receive is 50% of your monthly fee.

20i Speed

Results from K6.io revealed that 20i could load WordPress pages in 250ms. This figure matches the speed of many well-known web hosts like GoDaddy.

Now, the good part:

HTTP/2 is the enhanced version of the standard HTTP network protocol, enabling browsers to request and receive more data. As a result, sites load incredibly fast.

20i Hosting Services

20i doesn’t try to compete with HostGator through dedicated hosting. Nevertheless, this vendor has diverse packages, which are as follows:

Free Hosting

This is a legit free plan with no ads whatsoever.

As expected, this free cloud hosting package offers limited access to the 20i platform’s functionality. Having said that, you can still enjoy decent features for running a single site. It’s perfect for personal use and is workable for small organizations, especially startups and charities.

Web Hosting

Available in three subscriptions, it’s designed for managing up to five large Linux sites.

It’s as feature-rich as any of this vendor’s premium plans. In addition to the core ones, it can provide you with dozens of easily installable site-building tools.

Quintessentially 20i, this 20i shared hosting package promises seamless data migration and round-the-clock expert customer support.

Managed Hosting

If you want to get dedicated server resources without buying or renting entire hardware, this package is for you.

Unlike Web Hosting’s pricing, that of Managed Hosting is based on the set of specs you choose. Whichever of the five subscriptions you pick, rest assured that you’ll access 20i’s top-of-the-line Samsung, Intel, and Dell equipment. 

Furthermore, it is designed to make life easier for developers. On top of standard 20i functionalities, it includes specialist tools for running daemon-based apps and many other tasks.

Thanks to the luxury of expert monitoring and management, 20i will implement the necessary updates and patches on your behalf.

Unmanaged VPS Hosting

With this 20i hosting package, the software maintenance duties rest on you. But it’s extremely versatile and more scalable than its managed counterpart.

Sold in seven subscriptions, the Unmanaged VPS Hosting plan gives you absolute control over the software you can install. And you’ll be able to deploy your VPS with Windows Server, six Linux distributions, and three apps with one click.

This package is suitable for any use; your imagination is really the only limit. 20i’s VPN is useful for:

  • testing code 
  • self-hosting mobile apps 
  • storing IoT data
  • starting a VoIP venture

WordPress Hosting

This is the route to take when you want to exclusively host WordPress sites. As mentioned, 20i has a sub-platform engineered for this famed CMS. That’s why it can deliver all the essentials for WordPress staging and management from its intuitive dashboard.

As with Web Hosting subscriptions, site count dictates the price of 20i WordPress Hosting ones. The only difference is that you can eliminate the hosting, SSD storage space, and bandwidth limits with the top-tier option.

Reseller Hosting

20i specializes in white labeling, so you can resell any of its premium hosting services as if they’re your own.

As a reseller, you only need one account to access all three sub-platforms. You can host an unlimited number of sites in the US, the UK, or both for an extra fee. There are no disk space and bandwidth restrictions too.

By default, 20i products go by the generic brand name Stack. But you have 12+ customization options at your disposal to make them really your own. One of them is the option to label the 20i virtual nameservers as you see fit.

This cloud hosting provider offers separate control panels for you and your customers. The latter is fully customizable. So, you can make it as basic or complex as possible to suit its users’’ technical ability.

What’s more, you can turn a profit by offering VPSdomains, and premium SSL certificates. You can buy them for 25%–30% less, giving you enough room to repackage and resell them at high markups.

To give you a head start, 20i provides free resources like logos, royalty-free photos, and unique WordPress themes. Plus, you can sell 1-GB Managed Hosting services exclusively to your customers.

20i Pricing

Have a look at the prices of this vendor’s hosting packages and add-ons.

PlanPricingDetails
Free Hosting$01 site, 10-GB SSD storage, SSL certificate, 70+ apps for site building, 1-GB MySQL database, and 250-MB monthly bandwidth. It also includes 100 mailboxes, CDN, Website Acceleration Suite, limited hosting functionality, and all security features.Visit
Web Hosting Startup$6.99/month1 site, 10-GB SSD storage, 1 MySQL database, 1,000 mailboxes, and 50-GB monthly bandwidth. This 20i Web Hosting subscription also includes complete hosting functionality, advanced hosting software access, and security and email features.Visit
Web Hosting Premium$11.99/monthTwo sites, unlimited SSD storage, bandwidth, MySQL databases, mailboxes, and all other Startup features.Visit
Web Hosting Business$18.99/monthFive sites and all other Premium features.Visit
Managed Hosting$65.99–$659.99/month4–12 cores, 4–64-GB RAM, 75–800-GB SSD storage, 250–1,000-Mbps port speed, unmetered bandwidth, and unlimited mailboxes. 20i also offers 99.99% uptime, extensive hosting software access, and all security features.Visit
Unmanaged VPS Hosting$13.99–$527.99/month1–12 cores, 1–64-GB RAM, 25–800-GB SSD storage, 100–1,000-Mbps port speed, and unmetered bandwidth. You can expect 99.99% uptime, Linux and Windows support, full root access, and DDoS protection.Visit
WordPress Hosting Personal$7.99/month1 site, 10-GB SSD storage, and 50-GB monthly bandwidth. It also includes complete hosting functionality and decent hosting software access. Plus, you can get 20i 2FA, automatic malware scans, DDoS protection, and site password manager.Visit
WordPress Hosting Professional$19.99/month10 sites, 100-GB SSD storage, 500-GB monthly bandwidth, and all Personal features.Visit
WordPress Hosting Unlimited$59.99/monthUnlimited sites, SSD storage, monthly bandwidth, and all Professional featuresVisit
Reseller Hosting$59.99/monthUnlimited hosting packages, sites, domains, subdomains, SSD storage, free SSL certificates, MySQL databases, migrations, and bandwidth. Likewise, you can enjoy access to HostShop, WordPress tools, and all email and security features.Visit

Add-Ons

This vendor offers Simple and Extended GeoTrust SSL certificates for $64.99 and $269, respectively.

In addition, you can get Timeline Backups. These are snapshots of sites and databases that you can run automatically and on-demand. 20i offers prices ranging from $9.99/month to $100/month.

If you want to back up your emails and email accounts, you can subscribe to Timeline Backups Pro for $14.99–150/month.

If you buy Unmanaged VPS Hosting, 20i will offer cPanel. Priced by the maximum number of sites, this control panel will set you back $15.99–$41.99/month. You can add Snapshot Backup service for $3.75/month.

Payment and Refund Policy

20i accepts cards bearing the logo of Visa, Mastercard, or American Express.

By default, monthly is the payment frequency of hosting plans. If you wish, you can switch to annual billing with the promise of getting one month free.

This hosting provider’s subscriptions are refundable within 30 days

20i Customer Support

This hosting provider’s help desk is reachable through chatemail, and phone.

The company has an extensive knowledge base with at least 21 categories and several subcategories. It has a FAQ section on its web pages and maintains a blog to cover different interest topics.

20i is on social media too. It has a presence on Facebook, Twitter, Instagram, and LinkedIn. And its YouTube channel is home to tons of video tutorials.

The company has claimed its Trustpilot profile, indicating its willingness to reply to user-generated 20i reviews.

As a new customer, you can submit a support ticket if you have sales questions. The web host doesn’t advertise any product demo yet, though.

The best part is that you don’t have to contact the company to get hosting advice. It provides a self-help tool on-site for finding out the most suitable package for you.

As an existing customer, you can get quick 20i tech support via My20i.

If you experience service loss, you can consult this web host’s System Status page anytime. It can tell you when something’s down, whether there’s any incident, and when’s the next scheduled maintenance.

How responsive is the company’s help desk?

I contacted 20i through its live chat and was glad to get an active agent in seconds. The reps I spoke with were professional, knowledgeable, and polite. They didn’t actively encourage me to sign up. No sales pressure is always a plus.

My only issue was I couldn’t minimize that chat window, which occupied a large chunk of my computer screen. I didn’t restore my previous conversations when I initiated a new session, but I could get the transcript of our exchange through email.

20i Review – Verdict

20i is a powerful hosting platform made special by its autoscaling tech, intuitive site builder, and strong security features.

However, it’s not for everybody at this point. It won’t appeal to those who search for dedicated servers, nor does it entice users with free domains. Although it has a free plan, its regular prices can be expensive for some.

Despite some missing offerings, there’s a silver lining.

Historically, the 20i team has responded positively to constructive criticism. So, here’s to hoping.

FAQ

Who owns 20i?

Jonathan and Tim Brealey co-founded 20i. These brothers are web hosting innovators who also launched Webfusion, 123-reg, and Heart Internet.

Is 20i good?

20i is more than good.
It’s a hosting industry disruptor with unique infrastructure and an autoscaling cloud platform built for speed and security.

Is 20i hosting fast?

20i can load WordPress pages in 250ms, which is incredibly fast.
To learn more about what makes this web host special, read my full 20i review.