An Honest BigScoots Hosting Review from a 6-Figure Blogger


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As a freelance graphic designer, I’ve been building websites for clients since the early 2000s.

If you’d have asked me years ago whether or not it mattered which hosting service provider you used for your website I’d have probably told you that it matters very little.

After all, the vast majority of sites I’ve built for clients over the years were low-trafficked portfolio sites with a few Squarespace and Shopify sites scattered in throughout.

I don’t think a single site generated more than 500 page views a month.

So no, for those sites, it didn’t really matter.

Then, I built my first big site – TheSmokies.com – a regional travel blog about my hometown.

I thought I’d be able to get away with a cheap host – like GoDaddy – just as I had done for years.

Boy, was I wrong.

Within weeks my traffic was exploding – with several hundred thousand page views per month and cheap hosts like GoDaddy and SiteGround could not keep up.

And so, I began my journey to find a web host that could handle my growing business needs.

Spoiler Alert: Today I own and operate four blogs (MorganOverholt.com, MiamiTake.com, HeyOrlando.com and TheSmokies.com) which, at the time of this writing, generate 5-7 million page views per year.

bigscoots

Current BigScoots offers

Explore current hosting packages and bundles from BigScoots.com.

What does BigScoots do?

Today, between my client sites and my blogs (most running on WordPress), I still use a variety of hosts including GoDaddy, SiteGround, BigScoots and ServeBolt. I personally find that each has its own strengths and weaknesses.

And I will discuss those strengths and weaknesses in this article.

But first, what does BigScoots do?

BigScoots offers a variety of web hosting services like WordPress Managed Hosting, Dedicated Servers, VPS Hosting and even Website Building.

But for the sake of this article, I’ll mostly be focusing on Managed Servers and Managed Hosting.

A Managed Server is precisely what it sounds like – a server that someone else manages for you. This means the host is responsible for server maintenance, updates, and troubleshooting should problems arise.

And trust me, when a problem arises – and no matter who you are or what kind of site you run, problems will arise – you’ll want a managed solution.

And while there are plenty of sites that offer managed solutions on paper – like GoDaddy for instance – BigScoots’ packages feature more of a white glove, concierge-level managed service.

Sometimes, BigScoots alerts me to issues before I even know there’s a problem. I always get to speak directly to an actual human.

And I never have to wait in a phone queue. If I have an issue, I simply create a support ticket. Without fail, I receive a reply within minutes, no matter the time of day.

I tend to prefer email support but phone support is also available.

bigscoots

Current BigScoots offers

Explore current hosting packages and bundles from BigScoots.com.

Is BigScoots fast?

Yes, BigScoots is fast.

In fact, in our experience, this is why most large sites in the blogger community seem to run their websites on either BigScoots or ServeBolt.

In fact, that’s how I originally heard about BigScoots – on an exclusive premium blogger Facebook Group.

For the uninitiated, site speed is one of the most important factors for ranking on Google Search.

And while there are a lot of factors that go into determining site speed – including themes, scripts, styles, images and video – naturally, server speed is an important component.

BigScoots is so proud of its ability to boost its clients’ load time they’ve published hundreds of case studies on the topic.

I’ve included a snapshot of that study featuring average site speeds before and after their clients switched to BigScoots.

The numbers listed are based on BigScoots’ internal studies at the time of this writing.

HostBefore BigScootsBigScootsImprovement
1&110,323 ms876 ms74%
AWS32,470 ms949 ms84%
BlueHost4,776 ms1,085 ms69%
GoDaddy5,848 ms1,404 ms67%
HostGator5,908 ms1,091 ms71%
NameCheap3,725 ms1,020 ms59%
SiteGround3,204 ms1,095 ms55 %

And while I am sure that reporting is somewhat biased as I suspect BigScoots only selected their biggest success stories for their case studies, I can attest that my sites also made significant speed gains when I migrated from GoDaddy and SiteGround to BigScoots.

How to test your site’s speed

If you want to test your own site speed and performance, simply check out Google’s PageSpeed Insights tool. You can also compare apples to apples by using Chrome’s DevTools extension.

bigscoots

Current BigScoots offers

Explore current hosting packages and bundles from BigScoots.com.

How does BigScoots compare to other hosts?

Now let’s see how BigScoots’ service offerings and prices compare to a few leading competitors.

It is important to note that most of the hosts mentioned below offer several different packages and service levels. For the sake of brevity, I’m going to be looking at WordPress Managed Hosting services and provide a snapshot of currently available plans.

Pricing and packages are “as of the time of this writing” and based on an annual contract.

1. BigScoots vs GoDaddy

In full disclosure – I started my website-building life with GoDaddy and I remain a dedicated GoDaddy customer today. However, I admit that mostly only use them for domain registration and hosting small, basic HTML sites with light traffic.

In fact, GoDaddy is probably my favorite entry-level website host in the industry.

Sure, you don’t get the white glove service that BigScoots offers, but it’s cheap. And I find customer support, whether using live chat or phone, to be extremely helpful.

Plus, GoDaddy is affordable – with shared hosting plans available for as little as $5.99 per month.

Managed WordPress Hosting packages start at just $8.99 per month and include a free domain name.

But GoDaddy is, in my personal experience, considerably slower than BigScoots. And, seemingly, riddled with cache issues.

It used to drive me crazy when I’d make a change to one of my GoDaddy sites but have to reset the entire cache multiple times to see the edit. And caching plugins didn’t seem to help.

These are issues I rarely experience with BigScoots.

BigScoots also consistently blows GoDaddy out of the water in terms of response time (as referenced above).

Regardless, if you value price over performance, GoDaddy may still be an option for you.

Below you will find a side-by-side comparison of the two hosting providers featuring a few of GoDaddy’s Managed WordPress Hosting options compared to BigScoots Managed WordPress packages.

Entry Level Packages

BigScootsGoDaddy
StarterBasic
$31.46/mo$8.99/mo
Approx 250k Visits/Mo–
1 Website1 Website
10 GB Storage20 GB Storage
1000 GB BandwidthUnlimited Bandwidth
CDN IncludedCDN Included
SSL IncludedSSL Included
Site MonitoringSite Monitoring
Staging–
Email IncludedEmail Included (1 year)
Migration IncludedMigration Tool
Daily BackupsDaily Backups
*GoDaddy does not provide approximate visit data. Staging is not included with GoDaddy’s Basic Package.

Mid Level Packages

BigScootsGoDaddy
ProfessionalManaged WP Pro 10
$89.06/mo$69.99/mo
Approx 750k Visits/Mo–
10 Websites10 Websites
30 GB Storage80 GB Storage
Unlimited BandwidthUnlimited Bandwidth
CDN IncludedCDN Included
SSL IncludedSSL Included
Site MonitoringSite Monitoring
StagingStaging
Email IncludedEmail Included (1 year)
Migration IncludedMigration Tool
Daily BackupsDaily Backups
*GoDaddy does not provide approximate visit data.

Top-Tier Packages

BigScootsGoDaddy
BusinessManaged WP Pro 50
$224.06/mo$229.99/mo
Approx 1.5M Visits/Mo–
20 Websites50 Websites
200 GB Storage200 GB Storage
Unlimited BandwidthUnlimited Bandwidth
CDN IncludedCDN Included
SSL IncludedSSL Included
Site MonitoringSite Monitoring
StagingStaging
Email IncludedEmail Included (1 year)
Migration IncludedMigration Tool
Daily BackupsDaily Backups
*GoDaddy does not provide approximate visit data.

You can see a full list of BigScoots’ and GoDaddy’s hosting packages on the sites’ respective pricing pages.

2. BigScoots vs SiteGround

SiteGround is another extremely affordable website hosting provider with shared hosting packages starting at just $14.99 a year. Sometimes, you can even sign up when they are having one of their big hosting sales and nab a hosting package for as little as $1.99 for the first year.

However, unlike BigScoots and GoDaddy offerings, SiteGround does not include SSLs with their managed hosting packages, which can add quite a bit to the final price tag.

SiteGround’s performance, in my experience, seems to be a bit better than GoDaddy. I also find SiteGround’s user interface to be more user-friendly. And, I’ve never been disappointed with their customer service.

But their Managed WordPress Packages are limited. The biggest package tops out at just 40 GB of space which can only efficiently handle about 400,000 visits per month.

I currently only have one small WordPress site on my SiteGround account.

I used to host my original blog – TheSmokies.com – with SiteGround until it outgrew the service.

Below are a few of SiteGround’s Managed WordPress Hosting options compared to packages from BigScoots.

Entry Level Packages

BigScootsSiteGround
StarterStartUp
$31.46/mo$14.99/mo
Approx 250k Visits/MoApprox 10k Visits/Mo
1 Website1 Website
10 GB Storage10 GB Storage
1000 GB BandwidthUnlimited Bandwidth
CDN IncludedCDN Included
SSL Included–
Site MonitoringSite Monitoring
Staging–
Email IncludedEmail Included
Migrations IncludedMigration Tool
Daily BackupsDaily Backups
*Staging and SSLs are not included with SiteGround’s StartUp package.

Mid Level Packages

BigScootsSiteGround
ProfessionalGrowBig
$89.06/mo$24.99/mo
Approx 750k Visits/MoApprox 100k Visits/Mo
10 WebsitesUnlimited Websites
30 GB Storage20 GB Storage
Unlimited BandwidthUnlimited Bandwidth
CDN IncludedCDN Included
SSL Included–
Site MonitoringSite Monitoring
StagingStaging
Email IncludedEmail Included
Migration IncludedMigration Tool
Daily BackupsDaily Backups
*SiteGround Managed WordPress Packages do not include SSLs.

Top-Tier Packages

BigScootsSiteGround
BusinessGoGeek
$224.06/mo$39.99/mo
Approx 1.5M Visits/MoApprox 400k Visits/Mo
20 WebsitesUnlimited Websites
200 GB Storage40 GB Storage
Unlimited BandwidthUnlimited Bandwidth
CDN IncludedCDN Included
SSL Included–
Site MonitoringSite Monitoring
StagingStaging
Email IncludedEmail Included
Migration IncludedMigration Tool
Daily BackupsDaily Backups
*SiteGround Managed WordPress Packages do not include an SSL certificate.

You can see a full list of BigScoots’ and SiteGround’s hosting packages on the sites’ respective pricing pages.

3. BigScoots vs ServeBolt

Finally, we have the elephant in the room: ServeBolt.

Take note: ServeBolt is missing from the BigScoots case study page. And likely – although I’m mostly guessing here – it’s because they are a much more worthy opponent.

It’s easy to pick on the little guys, as they say.

In fact, we host two of our blog sites on BigScoots – MorganOverholt.com and MiamiTake.com (1M pageviews/year). But we host the biggest two sites on ServeBolt – TheSmokies.com and HeyOrlando.com (5M pageviews/year).

ServeBolt seems comparable to, if not better than BigScoots as far as speed is concerned. And if you want to talk about white glove service – ServeBolt is bar none.

ServeBolt’s massive computing power offers an unrivaled scale for extra-large, highly trafficked websites.

But all of that awesomeness comes at a steep price. In fact, ServeBolt’s entry-level packages start at $99/month and climb all the way up to $1,400. They can even work with businesses on custom packages if needed.

This is why we tend to start our sites on BigScoots and eventually move them to ServeBolt after a few years.

Below are a few of ServeBolt’s Managed WordPress Hosting options compare to BigScoots.

Entry Level Packages

BigScootsServeBolt
StarterPro Plan
$31.46/mo$99/mo
Approx 250k Visits/MoApprox 1M Visits/Mo
1 Website3 Websites
10 GB Storage4 GB Storage
1000 GB BandwidthUnlimited Bandwidth
CDN IncludedCDN Included (2 domains)
SSL IncludedSSL Included (2 domains)
Site MonitoringSite Monitoring
StagingStaging
Email Included–
Migration IncludedMigration Included
Daily BackupsDaily Backups
*ServeBolt does not offer email hosting.

Mid Level Packages

BigScootsServeBolt
ProfessionalBusiness Plus Plan
$89.06/mo$549.99/mo
Approx 750k Visits/MoApprox 1M Visits/Mo
10 Websites10 Websites
30 GB Storage32 GB Storage
Unlimited BandwidthUnlimited Bandwidth
CDN IncludedCDN Included (2 domains)
SSL IncludedSSL Included (2 domains)
Site MonitoringSite Monitoring
StagingStaging
Email Included–
Migration IncludedMigration Included
Daily BackupsDaily Backups
*ServeBolt does not offer email hosting.

Top-Tier Packages

BigScootsServeBolt
BusinessSmall Enterprise
$224.06/mo$1400/mo
Approx 1.5M Visits/MoApprox 10M Visits/Mo
20 WebsitesUnlimited Websites
200 GB Storage128 GB Storage
Unlimited BandwidthUnlimited Bandwidth
CDN IncludedCDN Included (2 domains)
SSL IncludedSSL Included (2 domains)
Site MonitoringSite Monitoring
StagingStaging
Email Included–
Migration IncludedMigration Included
Daily BackupsDaily Backups
*ServeBolt does not offer email hosting.

You can see a full list of BigScoots’ and ServeBolt’s hosting packages on the sites’ respective pricing pages.

Conclusion: Would I recommend BigScoots?

In conclusion, I’d offer the following advice.

If you’re a small business that doesn’t expect more than a few hundred visits every month to your website – your best choice, in my opinion, is still GoDaddy. You just can’t beat that affordable pricing.

For small websites, to me, it’s the obvious choice.

But if you have a larger website – as in, a website that attracts anywhere between 5,000-750,000 hits a month and/or requires a significant amount of storage space – go for BigScoots. It offers the best of both worlds with affordability, white-glove service, lightning speed and other high quality options for your site.

We saw dramatic traffic increases with each site we migrated from SiteGround/GoDaddy to BigScoots.

I cannot emphasize this enough. Site speed matters when it comes to SEO.

But don’t forget to keep ServeBolt in mind if you have a website (or two) that is growing at a rapid rate and in need of more dedicated resources and hands-on technical support.

It’s cost prohibitive for the vast majority of websites. However, ServeBolt wasn’t built for the majority – it was built for that small minority of websites that attract millions of views annually.

bigscoots

Current BigScoots offers

Explore current hosting packages and bundles from BigScoots.com.

Are you currently considering switching to BigScoots? Do you have any specific questions about the service or about my BigScoots review? If so, drop your questions and comments below!

PS: If you’ve found any of the above advice helpful, and you feel so inclined – buy me a coffee (leave a tip) on Kofi!

Photo of author

ABOUT THE AUTHOR

Morgan Overholt

Morgan has almost 20 years of professional experience in graphic design and a bachelor’s degree in Computer Science. Her successful freelance business has been featured in articles that have appeared on Upwork.com, Refinery29 and Business Insider Prime.

1 thought on “An Honest BigScoots Hosting Review from a 6-Figure Blogger”

  1. Hi Morgan,
    Very Amazed by your BigScoots Review & especially the review thumbnail. After reading from top-to-bottom, I found out that I should be moving onto BigScoots hosting.

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