When a monopoly grows too quickly and begins abusing its dominant position through deceptive practices and anti-consumer behavior, it becomes essential for others in the industry to speak out. This article aims to highlight the key issues with Newfold Digital’s brands and examine the impact of their actions on their customers.
Who is Newfold Digital
Newfold Digital operates as both a web hosting giant and a venture capital firm, managing some of the largest web hosting companies around the world, while rapidly acquiring competing providers. Formerly known as Endurance International Group (EIG), the company underwent a rebranding in 2021.
What Brands Does Newfold Own
At the time of posting, Newfold Digital operates or has absorbed over 80+ web hosting providers.
The exact number and brands are unclear, however the major brands include :
- Bluehost
- Hostgator
- Web.com
- Resellerclub
- Crazy Domains
- Network Solutions
Why Is This Bad
The general consequence is that Newfold Digital operates as a predatory venture capital firm, targeting successful hosting companies and acquiring them for their customer base. Once acquired, they exploit these brands for maximum profit, often running them into the ground while capitalizing on their previously once strong reputation.
Common examples of the issues customers face include:
Severely Overloaded Servers
A common strategy to maximize profits in web hosting is to over subscribe server, by placing the maximum number of customers on the fewest number of servers to reduce operating costs. This leads to high server load, reliability issues, and poor site performance.
In many cases, Newfold Digital brands like Vodien are severely overloaded. For example, Vodien’s server web107 has been consistently running at four times its ideal maximum capacity. This issue (OFS-301861) was reported but, as of this post, remains unresolved despite multiple back and forth messages where the issue was not immediately escalated or given the attention it required.
In contrast, quality hosts like VentraIP monitor their servers 24/7, with trained server administrators automatically alerted to resolve issues within minutes whenever common potential faults occurs (server load, low disk space, crashed services, large mail queues etc).
This is especially frustrating because customers are paying premium prices with the expectation of receiving a high-quality service, only to be met with poor performance that could ultimately result in lost sales, reduced website traffic, and severe SEO penalties.
Terrible Support
Quality support staff and the ability to speak with knowledgeable professionals are crucial for web hosting.
Unfortunately, one of the first cuts made after Newfold Digital/EIG acquires a company is the original support team, with roles being offshored to developing countries with minimal training offered. A prime example is Bluehost, which was once a reliable provider but has since become one of the worst following its acquisition. This decline is evident in their 1 star Product Review Page.
Several times a month we get customers from the major Newfold Digital providers who are burnt out dealing with them, often going around in circles for weeks with no resolution for basic problems.
Scummy Upsells
Hidden fees are like ordering a burger and getting charged extra for the bun, the lettuce, and the privilege of chewing. Nothing grinds my gears more than anti consumer practices.
Some of these that Newfold Digital brands practice include:
- Paid Migrations: Most brands including Hostgator and Bluehost do not offer free migrations. This is an absolute joke as cPanel to cPanel transfers are almost 1 click between servers and most reputable providers will do it for free.
- Domain Privacy: Domain Privacy protects users’ personal information from being publicly exposed in the WHOIS database. Brands NewFold Digital brands such as Bluehost charge this on top of the domain price at $14.95/yr extra to protect a ‘.com’ domain. Other providers that value your privacy such as Porkbun, Cloudflare and VentraIP include this FREE!
- Sitelock: Extorting customers to buy an expensive 3rd party security product to reinstate the suspended account which they earn a commission from.
- No Free Daily Backups: A good full service hosting provider will include daily backups and will assist restoring a site back to a particular point in time for free.
- Deceptive Affiliate Campaigns: Many ‘Positive’ reviews for NewFold Digital are actually incentivised affiliate reviews with those that refer a customer earning “at least 70% of each qualified sale” for Bluehost. This is many bloggers and Youtubers shill NewFold Digital brands.
- Expensive Renewals: After your first year, your $65.40 Choice Plus plan renews at an eye-watering $263.88. This has lead to bill shock! In fairness most providers do this but it is something to be aware of.
What To Do
If you’ve been caught out in a Newfold Digital brand and not happy you do have options.
- Checkout our Recommended Partners page for providers who we interact with on a daily basis and recommend.
- If you’re facing an issue that your provider can’t resolve, we’ll gladly assist in troubleshooting and resolving it at no cost for any Newfold Digital brand!
- If you’re looking to move from a Newfold Digital brand to a company not associated with them, we’ll help migrate your website, emails, and update your DNS records—all for free.
- If you are considering a brand such as Hostgator or Bluehost, read real reviews from verified customers and consider if the positive review that sent you to the provider was an affiliate link!
Final Words
It’s a real shame when other providers feel obligated to call out other organisations and warn their customers, especially giants as large as Newfold Digital who have the resources and talent to offer an exceptional service, but instead choose not to in the name of maximising profit.
We genuinely wish they turn over a new leaf and start providing better value to their customers. In the meantime their are still many fantastic smaller web hosting who offer great value, fast server and have teams of very talented support staff.
What are you experiences with NewFold Digital and its brands? Let us know in the comments below