Garanntor Review. Was garanntor.ng good web hosting in Nigeria?

📄 Editorial Review

(3*) 🔧 Services: Web HostingDomain Registration
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Garanntor launched in 2016 as a Lagos-based hosting and infrastructure provider focused on making it simple for African businesses to get online and scale. On July 22, 2022, they were acquired by Verpex.com; shortly after, the Garanntor website and business were shut down. What follows is a narrative snapshot of what they offered and how they positioned themselves while active.

Mission, Vision & Growth

They set out to deliver local hosting and infrastructure in Africa that matched—or exceeded—international standards, backed by responsive support. The vision placed African business and government data in-region, reducing latency and addressing jurisdictional requirements. Growth was fast and acquisitive: by 2020 they reported a user base above 20,000 and had folded in several local brands (Bytes Hosting, Hostsleek Technologies, Splint Servers), opened a Kenya office, joined IXPN for better connectivity, and achieved registrar accreditations for .NG, .ZA, and .KE.

Product Portfolio

Shared & WordPress Hosting (cPanel)

Their shared hosting targeted small sites and startups: cPanel for day-to-day management, Softaculous one-click installs, Let’s Encrypt SSL, scheduled backups, and common analytics tools (Awstats/Webalizer). Stack details included PHP 5.x–7.2 and MySQL/Percona support—adequate then, though increasingly dated by later standards.
Guarantees: a 30-day money-back policy for shared plans and a typical 99.9% uptime commitment (maintenance excluded).

Windows Hosting (ASP.NET/IIS)

For Microsoft stacks, they offered ASP.NET (up to 4.7 at the time), MVC frameworks, IIS 8–10, SQL Server (2008 R2–2016), and MySQL support, plus Visual Studio publish workflows and Web Deploy. This made sense for .NET shops needing affordable shared Windows hosting.
Guarantees: mirrored the Linux shared model—30-day money-back and 99.9% uptime language.

VPS Hosting

Their VPS range emphasized instant provisioning, KVM/OnApp virtualization, pure SSD storage, multiple OS templates (Linux/Windows/FreeBSD), DDoS protection, root access, and an "enhanced" control panel with rebuild/resize/console.
Guarantees: 99.9% uptime promise; 30-day money-back stated for dissatisfied buyers within the first month.

Dedicated / Bare Metal

Single-tenant servers with Intel/AMD CPUs, choice of HDD or SSD/NVMe, RAID1 mirroring, root/admin access, and network-level DDoS protection. Aimed at workloads needing predictable performance and kernel-level control.
Guarantees: 99.9% uptime statements on network/service availability; hardware SLAs were positioned around rapid response and replacement.

Colocation

They promoted colocation across African metros with the usual facility standards: UPS and generator redundancy, HVAC, biometric access, fire suppression, and on-site security.
Sites referenced: Nigeria (LOS-01), Kenya (NBO-01), Ghana (ACC-01), and South Africa (JHB-01).
Guarantees: 30-day money-back language appeared throughout marketing, but in practice colocation refunds typically hinge on contract—buyers generally confirmed terms before signing.

Reseller Hosting

cPanel/WHM with CloudLinux isolation, free migrations, DDoS protection, SSD storage (RAID10), and a 99.9% uptime SLA pitched at agencies and freelancers building recurring revenue.

Domains, Security & Add-ons

As an accredited registrar (NIRA/.NG, ZACR/.ZA, KENIC/.KE), they offered TLD registrations plus domain privacy, SSL certificates, SiteLock, and backups (Server Backup Cloud; Files Cloud). A reseller storefront and domain reseller program rounded out the channel angle.

Network, Performance & Tooling

They leaned on Anycast DNS, clustered setups, and IXPN connectivity for better routing within Nigeria. Linux hosting rode the Apache stack with scheduled backups and Let’s Encrypt; Windows plans emphasized IIS and SQL Server. VPS/dedicated relied on SSD storage for faster I/O and KVM virtualization for isolation. Across products, DDoS protections were positioned as always-on and automatic.

Support & Service Culture

Support was marketed as 24/7, with ticketing and knowledge-base resources plus migration help for resellers. Their brand values—customer focus, respectful communication, trust, loyalty, and a bias for creating and improving—were repeated and aligned with the "local partner" narrative.

Uptime & Money-Back Summary

• Uptime: Predominantly 99.9% across shared, reseller, VPS, and dedicated contexts (standard for retail hosting).
• Money-back: 30-day refund widely advertised for shared (and sometimes VPS) purchases; domains and certain add-ons excluded, as usual. Enterprise-style services (e.g., colocation) typically required bespoke contracts—savvy buyers requested the SLA and refund/exit terms in writing.

Strengths

• African footprint with local focus: in-region data hosting and peering improved latency and sovereignty for African customers.
• Broad catalog: from starter shared hosting to VPS, bare metal, and colocation, plus domain and security add-ons.
• Channel-friendly: cPanel/WHM reseller plans, domain reseller program, and storefront features supported agencies.

Trade-offs

• Aging software baselines: published PHP/MySQL versioning lagged later market norms; security-minded teams often pressed for newer stacks.
• SLA specificity: headline uptime and refund claims were clear; deeper, product-level SLA mechanics required contract review.
• Consolidation risk realized: the 2022 acquisition preceded shutdown—underscoring continuity risk for long-term projects.

Current Status (Post-Acquisition)

After the July 22, 2022 acquisition by Verpex, Garanntor’s website and services were taken offline. Customers typically needed to migrate workloads, confirm domain control, and secure backups. Any remaining credits, refunds, or SLA claims would have depended on the transition terms set at the time.

🎯 Conclusion

During its run, Garanntor served a real need: local, Africa-centric hosting with a broad product stack and approachable pricing, backed by 24/7 support and familiar tooling. The 30-day refunds and 99.9% uptime promise made entry low-risk for shared and VPS buyers, and the registrar accreditations plus colocation footprint gave them credibility in the region. The flip side was slower modernization of software versions and the ultimate discontinuation after acquisition. For historical comparison, they exemplify the strengths of local presence and reseller-friendly packaging—tempered by the importance of written SLAs, version currency, and contingency planning when a provider becomes part of a larger consolidation.

🌏 Server locations:

Union

📢 Special pages

• Contact us: https://www.garanntor.ng/contact-us/
• About us: https://www.garanntor.ng/about-us/