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SoftLayer Review

SoftLayer
Our score: 9.1 User satisfaction: 96%
Logo of SoftLayer

What is SoftLayer?

SoftLayer was founded in 2005 and was acquired by IBM in 2013. The company offers enterprise scale cloud hosting. It has data centers in many cities around the world including Washington D.C., Seattle, San Jose, Houston, Dallas, Singapore, and Amsterdam. SoftLayer’s headquarters is in Dallas, Texas.

SoftLayer’s solutions are targeted at large businesses and those who run numerous websites. They are not ideal for individuals, bloggers, and those looking for budget plans. SoftLayer is a serious hosting service provider that offers experienced support as well as solid infrastructure in diverse locations around the world.

Virtual Servers

The prices of virtual servers depend on the cores, RAM, and storage you select. You can choose hourly or monthly billing.

Uptime & Reliability of SoftLayer

SoftLayer offers a 100% network uptime guarantee. The company’s global data centers are equipped with state-of-the art infrastructure. Security features include standardized pod design, redundant, best-in-class infrastructure, and high performance rack architecture. The data centers are manned by expert data operations employees. Each data center has 24/7 on-site security and rigorous controls.

Overview of SoftLayer Features

  • 100% uptime guarantee
  • 17 geographically diverse locations
  • Flex Images for capturing server images
  • Full control of services through customer portal and application programming interface (API)
  • Fully redundant
  • Server reboots, operating system reloads, and other services can be done automatically without the help of customer support
  • Standardized features and procedures across data centers

How Much Does SoftLayer Cost?

Shared Web Hosting Plans:

Price
Storage
Bandwidth
Single Processor
$158
500GB
500GB
Dual Processor
$351
500GB
500GB
Quad Processor
$1439
500GB
500GB

CPanel of SoftLayer

SoftLayer offers popular control panels like Cpanel, WHM, and Parallels Plesk Panel at an extra cost.

Pros & Cons of SoftLayer

Pros

  • Premium support is offered as a standard service
  • Plans are fully customizable
  • Monthly plans without long service contracts

Cons

  • Hosting plans are not suitable for budget customers
  • Pricing details are vague
  • Customers have to pay extra for popular features like Fantastico, Cpanel, and WHM

User Satisfaction

Positive Social Media Mentions 78
Negative Social Media Mentions 3

We realize that when you decide to buy a Hosting Services it’s vital not only to find out how experts evaluate it in their reviews, but also to find out if the actual users and enterprises that use these solutions are actually content with the product. Because of that need we’ve designer our behavior-based Customer Satisfaction Algorithm™ that collects customer reviews, comments and SoftLayer reviews across a vast array of social media sites. The data is then displayed in an easy to understand way indicating how many clients had positive and negative experience with SoftLayer. With that information available you should be equipped to make an informed business choice that you won’t regret.

Technical details

Top features

  • Wordpress hosting

Platform

  • Windows
  • Linux

Scripting & Languages

  • ASP
  • Django
  • Java
  • Perl
  • PHP
  • Python
  • Ruby on rails

Control Panel

  • CPanel
  • WHM
  • Plesk

Easy Installs

  • Drupal
  • Fantastico/Softaculous
  • Magento
  • MediaWiki
  • Wordpress
  • SSL

Server Location

  • USA
  • UK
  • Canada
  • Netherlands
  • Singapore

Databases

  • PHPMyAdmin

Support

  • Phone
  • Live chat
  • Knowledge base
  • Tickets

Customer support details

SoftLayer offers 24/7 technical support through phone, live chat, and tickets. Support staff respond to a ticket within 20 minutes and answer phone calls promptly. Customers can also use a knowledgebase named KnowledgeLayer, help forums as well as automated tools on SoftLayer’s website.

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Popular SoftLayer Alternatives

SoftLayer Comparisons

Top Competitors To SoftLayer By Price

What are SoftLayer pricing details?

Shared Web Hosting Plans:

Price
Storage
Bandwidth
No. of domains
No. of IP addresses
Single Processor
$158
500GB
500GB
No info
No info
Dual Processor
$351
500GB
500GB
No info
No info
Quad Processor
$1439
500GB
500GB
No info
No info

Frequently asked questions about SoftLayer

Is it a good choice for e-commerce? Do they offer SSL, shopping carts and payment processing?

SoftLayer offers a range of solutions for e-commerce businesses.

Do they provide an uptime guarantee and pay you back for downtime?

SoftLayer offers a 100% network uptime guarantee.

How can I pay for their services?

SoftLayer accepts credit cards and PayPal for payment.

How secure are their hosting services?

SoftLayer uses best-in-class infrastructure and rigid security features at its data centers to provide secure hosting services.

Do they allow you to easily create a website without any HTML or coding knowledge?

SoftLayer offers a SiteBuilder license to help novices easily create websites without technical knowledge.

Is it a good hosting service for Wordpress?

Yes, SoftLayer supports WordPress blogs.

Do they offer unlimited email addresses and bandwidth?

SoftLayer does not offer unlimited bandwidth. There is no information available about unlimited email accounts.

Do they provide both Windows and Linux hosting services?

Yes, SoftLayer offers both Windows and Linux hosting.

Do they offer CPanel or any other control panels?

SoftLayer provides widely used control panels like Cpanel, WHM, and Parallels Plesk Panel at an extra cost.

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Jenny Chang

By Jenny Chang

Jenny Chang is a senior writer specializing in SaaS and B2B software solutions. Her decision to focus on these two industries was spurred by their explosive growth in the last decade, much of it she attributes to the emergence of disruptive technologies and the quick adoption by businesses that were quick to recognize their values to their organizations. She has covered all the major developments in SaaS and B2B software solutions, from the introduction of massive ERPs to small business platforms to help startups on their way to success.

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