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Network Solutions review | TechRadar
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Network Solutions was launched in 1979 as one of the first companies to provide DNS (domain name system) technology. Since then, it has developed to provide many more services, all related to web hosting. Today they provide “all you need, in one place”, that is: domain names and various hosting options with a whole variety of features and accessible applications including a page builder. The company is headquartered in the US, with its main office located in Herndon and its data center situated somewhere in North America.
In 2011, Network Solutions was acquired by Web.com Group, one of the leading web technology companies that provided services to millions of customers all over the world. Then, in 2021 web.com merged with EIG to become Newfold Digital. Later, in 2025 Newfold Digital consolidated brands and absorbed web.com into Network Solutions.
So, it’s fair to say Network Solutions has had a long and varied life changing hands and merging more than most hosts. Is this Network Solution’s final form? Who knows but one thing is certain. It’s not staying power.
Is Network Solutions good value for money?
Network Solutions’ Starter Plan is perfect for businesses just getting started. This plan costs only $2.99 per month for the first year and includes 10 GB of disk space, 1 website, and five email boxes. You also get 25 FTP accounts, a drag and drop page builder, and unlimited bandwidth.
For $4.99 per month, the Essential Plan gives you even more features than the Starter Plan. It includes 20 GB of disk space, 3 websites, 1,000 email boxes, and a domain name included in your package (for one year). If your business needs more than the Essential Plan provides, consider Network Solutions Premium Plan. This plan covers all of the features of the Essential plan plus 40 GB disk space and supports 10 websites for $6.99 for the first year.
Is Network Solutions easy to use?
Because Network Solutions doesn’t exactly have a myriad of hosting options, picking out a preferred plan shouldn’t be a time-consuming decision. The first thing you’ll need to know is if you want a simpler cloud-based solution or a WordPress-optimized one. For the most part, together with these hosting packages, you’ll be getting email services as well. If not (and you want them), digging a bit more around the website will take you to a few email hosting solutions as well.
Network Solutions is a decent choice for anyone looking for an easy-to-use web hosting service with sufficient features. Not only does it offer a good range of benefits such as domain registration, design tools, email hosting, marketing tools, and more but its user interface is also incredibly intuitive and simple to navigate whether you’re a novice or an experienced user.
All plans come with a proprietary control panel, which isn’t as user friendly as some industry-standard alternatives, but we managed to find our way around. From there, most of the famous apps can be yours after a click or two (WordPress, Joomla, Durpal and so on) and all developers out there will be glad to hear that a whole variety of website development features are supported as well (PHP5, Python, Ruby on Rails, Java Servlets, Zend Libraries and much more). A number of e-commerce features (and all-inclusive ecommerce solution) are available for purchase, as well as a competent drag-and-drop website builder.
Speed and experience
When trying to convince us of the superiority of their services, Network Solutions brings up their “reliable” uptime with the guarantee of 99.9%, live tech support and flexible hosting plans, without any promises regarding the speed. Not knowing what to expect, we tested the speed performance of Network Solutions’ main website using GTmetrix as a tool. It placed the website’s speed performance above the average with the conclusive result of B (85%), which is quite good.
We decided to test the uptime of Network Solutions’ main website by using UptimeRobot and see if we’re going to take advantage of the guarantees they provided us with. After a month of constant monitoring, UptimeRobot reported a few occasions of downtime, with the longest one lasting for 19 minutes straight. However, the total of downtime was around 42 minutes. This means the total recorded uptime was 99.917% and that Network Solutions managed to deliver on their promises by a whisker.
While this isn’t a true reflection of the speeds you can expect from your site on shared hosting, it is a good indicator of how reliable and powerful Network Solutions’ infrastructure is.
Help and support
The first help options you’ll probably notice with Network Solutions are their telephone number (which is advised to be used for urgent matters only) and “Contact us” button that will present you with a few ways to help yourself. Their knowledgebase (titled as “Help Center”) can be browsed with the help of a search box or you can pick out some of the preselected categories. There seems to be a decent number of articles which are mostly written in an easy-to-follow way (often with pictures) and rated by users with a five-star rating system.
If you would rather rely on support agents from Network Solutions’ technical team, you can get in touch with them via support ticket, live chat and telephone, all of which ought to be available around-the-clock.
Network Solutions features a community forum, where its registered users (we assume, since trying to proceed without registration made us hit the dead end) can seek answers to their questions, answer questions from other users or leave feedback for others to see. However, when we tried to register, not a single one from dozens of display names (and some were quite original) was deemed acceptable (the only explanation we got was “Name you entered is already in use”, which doesn’t seem to be the case), so we can’t report anything more than this.
The competition
Bluehost is also one of those hosts that will provide their users with everything need but also have servers in Europe and Asia. Even so, Bluehost provides a great value for money and offers (unlike Network Solutions) VPS hosting, managed WordPress and dedicated server in addition to basics, so it is better suited for more ambitious users.
HostGator can provide you with everything Network Solutions can and go beyond that, and we are not thinking about hosting types only. The entry-level (adorably named “Hatchling”) plan with HostGator includes a domain name, website transfer, unmetered bandwidth and SSL certificate, all cost-free. In comparison, Network Solutions’ elementary plan has less bonus features to attract new users with.
Both of those brands are also owned by Newfold Digital. If you wanted to look outside of that group you could also consider Hostinger.
Is Network Solutions right for you?
Since it was founded at the end of the disco era, Network Solutions certainly knows how to get groovy with its hosting packages, offering a great deal of helpful tools to get your website down with a boogie in no time.
When deciding on a web hosting service, there are many factors to consider such as price point, customer service availability, and uptime guarantee. Network Solutions offers all these features in one package, making them a great option for anyone who wants reliable web hosting without breaking the bank.
Network Solutions FAQs
Does Network Solutions support WordPress?
The short answer is yes. Network Solutions supports WordPress, which means you can create a fully functioning website with ease. The service includes auto-installers so that you don’t have to worry about installing WordPress manually or dealing with complex server configurations. You also get access to hundreds of themes so you can customize your site with ease, as well as numerous plugins that further extend the functionality of your online presence.
What is Network Solutions used for?
Network Solutions can be used for much more than just hosting websites and registering domains. The service also offers support for email services, online stores, SSL certificates, marketing, and SEO tools.
