Media Temple is a giant in web hosting. The company hosts over 1.5 million sites reaching 100 countries and serves upwards of 125,000 people and businesses. Around since 1998, the company got a sizable cash injection when they were acquired by GoDaddy in 2013. They retained their brand, company culture, mission and autonomy and had the investment needed to accelerate their growth beyond what is possible organically. Their wide array of services and promise of superior customer service helps them stand out from the crowd of webhosting services trying to make their mark in the industry.
The answer, to whether Media Temple is right for you, depends on what you need from a webhosting service. Media Temple offers a range of services that can fit your customized needs. The choices are comprehensive, yet easy to choose from in terms of their simple segmentation.
There seems to be some negative feedback on the speed and quality of their customer service so if you are looking for assistance on a regular basis and absolutely can’t wait on the other end of a support phone call or for the issue to be resolved – you might think twice before starting off or switching to Media Temple. If you are savvy at webhosting and comfortable navigating well-designed services, and are in need of a set of different services related to webhosting, then Media Temple might be exactly what will work for you.
Features
Media Temple offers five different hosting services: shared hosting, WordPress hosting, VPS hosting, dedicated server and managed hosting.
The basic shared webhosting service on Media Temple is called “The Grid”. For $20/month, you get to host up to a 100 websites, 1,000 email accounts, 100 GB storage, 1 TB monthly bandwidth, SSD database storage and 24/7 live support. The following are some of the prominent features of the Grid service:
The Grid’s MySQL SmartPool servers promise high speed even with large/complex databases. Latest Server Technologies like PHP 5.5 and FastCGI promise fast loading speeds. Media Temple promises not to take your website offline if there is an unanticipated increase in traffic; it claims to scale up to match the demand. You can manage email users, install apps, manage databases and add domains with ease.
WordPress hosting is available for $29/month and is designed to serve all the needs of professional WordPress designers and developers.
VPS (Virtual Private Server) Hosting services are also available for both developers and for users opting for simple controls.
Plans for simple controls are shown below. Features include 99.999% guaranteed uptime, choice of control panel (Plesk verus cPanel), premium support and an opportunity to be a webhosting reseller. More details are available here.
Plans for developers are shown below. Features include 99.999% guaranteed uptime, choice of Linux OS, high performance hardware and instant upgrades. More details are available here.
Dedicated Server services are available for $2000/month (developers) and $2500/month with the control panel access. Details are available here.
If you want to focus on your business and let Media Temple handle your website, then Managed Services are meant for you. There is a wide range of options available and the option to get a free quote here.
Media Temple Pros
Media Temple, with its decades of experience and feedback from customers, has services that truly keep the customer’s every need in mind. This makes them top-quality and their range of services speaks to all kinds of webhosting needs. The Grid offers a unique platform that offers shared hosting, while there is also the option of dedicated servers, WordPress hosting, private server hosting and managed services. This makes them a great one-stop shop for customers of all sizes and types.
Their long history and association with big brands and names in the online world means that their services, platform and user interface has been hammered down to be extremely easy to navigate and use by users with different levels of expertise. Their size allows them to make the latest technologies and top quality platforms available to all their subscribers.
Media Temple Cons
Even though their website claims to have award-winning 24/7 customer service that can be easily taken as a sign of good quality, the number of complaining customers is also a bit overwhelming. The stories are disconcerting – long delays, unresponsive staff, unhelpful solutions as well as surprise negative actions like shutting off the website by Media Temple (without warning).
With over a hundred thousand clients and more than a million hosted websites, the customer support team would definitely be flooded with requests. This is no excuse for poor service, but can be seen as a side effect of having too many clients. It would be worth speaking to peers with similar webhosting needs or asking for direct client referrals before you start using Media Temple’s service, as service for different segments might vary.
Many have concluded that the level of service available for Media Temple’s customers is not commensurate with their premium pricing.
In Conclusion
Media Temple has a service cut out for everyone. You might want to be a bit wary of the support quality, and perhaps don’t set expectations too high. On the other hand, premium support might be the answer for you depending on how critical webhosting support is to your business. This is an evolving company and range of service and we can expect more industry leading services coming from this direction.
