1. CoolHandleCoolHandleCoolHandleCoolHandle WebWebWebWeb HostingHostingHostingHosting ComparisonComparisonComparisonComparison
ReviewReviewReviewReview
Coolhandle was started in 2001 by a small group of IT professionals and currently
hosts over 50,000 domains at the time of this review.
Coolhandle currently offers shared web hosting,
reseller hosting, and Virtual Private Servers. In this
review, I’ll go in depth about their three shared web
hosting packages and will touch on their other offers
for those that are interested in their other options or
need additional server power to run their growing
websites.
Have experience with CoolHandle? Awesome! Please click here and leave a review
below!
HostingHostingHostingHosting PlanPlanPlanPlan ComparisonComparisonComparisonComparison

2. In the interest of keeping our pricing comparison fair, I always choose the least
pre-paid option available. For Coolhandle, the smallest pre-paid option is a 6
month duration and these prices reflect that option. Further discounts are
available and shown below if you are willing to pre-pay for a longer term.
All plans include unlimited disk space, unlimited bandwidth, and free setup.
StarterStarterStarterStarter PlanPlanPlanPlan PricingPricingPricingPricing Options:Options:Options:Options:

3. • 6 Month Prepay: $9.95/mo for total price: $59.70
• 12 Month Prepay: $7.95/mo for total price: $95.40
• 24 Month Prepay: $6.95/mo for total price: $166.80
• 36 Month Prepay: $3.95/mo for total price: $142.20$142.20$142.20$142.20 <- Not a mistake!
BusinessBusinessBusinessBusiness PlanPlanPlanPlan PricingPricingPricingPricing Options:Options:Options:Options:
• 6 Month Prepay: $13.95/mo for total price: $83.70
• 12 Month Prepay: $11.95/mo for total price: $143.40
• 24 Month Prepay: $10.95/mo for total price: $262.80
• 36 Month Prepay: $10.95/mo for total price: $394.20
ProfessionalProfessionalProfessionalProfessional PlanPlanPlanPlan PricingPricingPricingPricing Options:Options:Options:Options:
• 6 Month Prepay: $14.95/mo for total price: $89.70
• 12 Month Prepay: $13.95/mo for total price: $167.40
• 24 Month Prepay: $12.95/mo for total price: $310.80
• 36 Month Prepay: $12.95/mo for total price: $466.20
Obviously after looking at this pricing structure, if you only 5 websites with a
database on each (or less), then the best choice is the Starter plan, especially if
you are willing to prepay for a three year term. Coolhandle advertises $3.95 on
their main pages and this is the only plan that offers such a drastically low price.
CoolHandleCoolHandleCoolHandleCoolHandle AvailableAvailableAvailableAvailable HostingHostingHostingHosting OptionsOptionsOptionsOptions
Not only does Coolhandle offer shared hosting (shown above), they also offer
other hosting options including reseller hosting (be your own host) and VPS
(Virtual Private Server) hosting.
ResellerResellerResellerReseller Plans:Plans:Plans:Plans: Coolhandle offers three reseller plans starting at $19.95 (2 year

4. prepay price). The monthly rates for their reseller plans start at $34.95. The
“Reseller 2″ and “Reseller 3″ plans allow you to “oversell” the disk space to your
clients, provide SSH access, and offers access to Private SSL (for Ecommerce),
which “Reseller 1″ does not. Please keep this in mind when looking over their
offering and make the decision if you need these features or not.
VPSVPSVPSVPS HostingHostingHostingHosting Plans:Plans:Plans:Plans: Coolhandle offers three VPS plans with the major
differences between them all is the disk space, RAM, management level, and the
amount of free dedicated IP addresses your VPS will come with. As for pricing,
the lowest price is $23.95 per month when you prepay for 12 months. The
cheapest monthly payment price is $29.95. Interestingly enough, only the VPS
plans sales page quotes the lowest prepay (in this case, monthly payment) price.
Unfortunately, Coolhandle has a Dedicated Servers sales page but they aren’t
making these available. The highest powered offering from them is VPS.
AreAreAreAre TheyTheyTheyThey ReliableReliableReliableReliable andandandand Trustworthy?Trustworthy?Trustworthy?Trustworthy?
The positive is they offer a 30-day money back guarantee from the day of
purchase.
Unfortunately based on reviews seen in 2012, I’m noticing a trend of upset
customers which isn’t good considering they only host 50,000 domains. My
judgement
Scott deems Coolhandle UNRELIABLE at the time of this review. Reasons for this
are as follows:
1) Coolhandle currently has a BBB rating of D and has had their accreditation
revoked due to failure to honor their agreements with BBB.
2) Coolhandle has received a complaint from a web hosting reseller regarding
problems with sending email from their sites hosted on their servers. Although
they have received answers from Coolhandle staff, at the bottom, Coolhandle was

5. caught red-handed attempting to extort a refund by attempting to have the user
remove the negative feedback from WebHostingTalk. Source.
3) Another WebHostingTalk thread complaining about issues getting a refund on
services with no response from the company.
ECommerceECommerceECommerceECommerce ShoppingShoppingShoppingShopping SiteSiteSiteSite InformationInformationInformationInformation
In order to run an ECommerce website on Coolhandle, you will need to start with
the “Business” web hosting plan (see above for pricing).
The pricing for their business plan is $11.95 when
you prepay for 12 months which I consider expensive.
One of the reasons I like InMotion Hosting so much
is an ECommerce website starts at only $7.96/mo
through our links here at WebHostingChoose.
On top of the higher monthly cost of the Business plan, they will also charge you
$4.99 for a dedicated IP address which is required to have a SSL certificate to
accept credit cards online.
For these reasons, I do not recommend Coolhandle for ECommerce needs.
CustomerCustomerCustomerCustomer ServiceServiceServiceService ReviewReviewReviewReview
Coolhandle offers the following customer service options on their website at the
time of this review:

6. • Toll free telephone customer support.
• Live chat (not available at the time of this
review).
• Knowledgebase (limited)
• Support ticket system
• Flash tutorials
I say Coolhandle’s knowledgebase is limited because the amount of questions and
answers is below what I’d call average. I can tell by my analysis that they do not
actively update their knowledgebase when issues from customers arrive in their
helpdesk. Hosts that maintain their knowledgebase have hundreds and hundreds
of Q&As.
Overall, I find their customer support options lacking. They do not have a
company blog that is available and no other way to post notices, updates, and
improvements other than on their sales pages on the site. I’d like to see a blog
setup (their free!) with an active administrator who is sharing their excitement for
their service, updating plans for future, and more. Additionally, an offline live
chat is off-putting, even on a Sunday, the day of this review.
ScottScottScottScott’’’’ssss FinalFinalFinalFinal ThoughtsThoughtsThoughtsThoughts
I find Coolhandle is leaning towards deceptive pricing when you visit their main
page that currently shows $3.95 pricing. This pricing does not accurately reflect
the true pricing scheme that this company offers and the only way to get close to

7. that price is to prepay for a three year term. Personally, if I am trying a new
company, I’ll pay for the shortest term to simply try the service and see if I like it.
The cheapest price for this type of testing is $9.95/month for six months!
Coolhandle should really pay more attention to their customers and try to be
more understanding a patient with their clients. Responding to tickets in full caps
(shown on WebHostingTalk) just isn’t acceptable. I’d also like to see Coolhandle
address their D rating at their BBB page.
I welcome the CEO or employees of Coolhandle to respond to the various issues
I’ve found in the comments below.
Please visit Coolhandle directly to verify current pricing and plan options.