Award Space Review 2026. Is awardspace.com good web hosting in Germany?

📄 Editorial Review

🔃 Award Space is part of AttractSoft
(3*) 🔧 Services: Web HostingDomain Registration Own datacenter
⇔ Redirected from awardspace.net
AwardSpace is a long-running European hosting brand that grew out of the early free hosting era and has been online since 2003. The company focuses strongly on lowering the entry barrier: anyone can start with free hosting, then move seamlessly into paid shared hosting, semi-dedicated plans, or VPS cloud servers as traffic and resource needs grow. Over the years they have attracted millions of users worldwide and built their own clustered hosting platform instead of relying on third-party systems.

Ownership sits with two related companies, AttractSoft GmbH (Germany) and Zetta Hosting Solutions Ltd., and the main office is in Kiel, Germany, while the production data center is in Sofia, Bulgaria. This structure shows up directly in the platform: there is a strong in-house engineering culture, a proprietary control panel, and a hosting architecture designed specifically around their free-plus-premium model.

At the entry level, AwardSpace offers free web hosting that is significantly more capable than many "trial" services. A free account can host up to four websites (one own domain plus three subdomains), use a one-click installer for popular CMSs such as WordPress and Joomla, and run ad-free websites with 99.9% uptime and 24/7 technical support. There is a web-based file manager, bandwidth statistics, email accounts, firewall and spam/virus protection, and access to their custom control panel. For students, hobby projects, or "testing before going live," this free tier is one of the more generous options in the market, especially because it does not force upgrades or overlay ads.

For production projects, the shared hosting and WordPress hosting lines form the core of the portfolio. Both use the same three paid plans (Basic, Web Pro Plus, Max Pack Plus) and differ mainly in the way they are packaged and explained to WordPress users. All three plans come with unlimited disk space, unlimited monthly traffic, MySQL and PostgreSQL databases, support for PHP 5/7/8 and Perl, weekly backups, the Zacky website builder, and the same in-house control panel. The main differences are the number of domains (2, 10, or unlimited), domain freebies (no lifetime domain on Basic, one or two lifetime domains on the higher tiers), and pricing. For small business websites and growing blogs, these shared/WordPress tiers are the natural progression after testing on the free plan.

Above shared hosting sits semi-dedicated hosting, a proprietary in-between product that behaves like very powerful shared hosting without the operational complexity of a full VPS. The three semi-dedicated plans (Starter, Pro, Advanced) all provide unlimited disk space, unlimited traffic, unlimited hosted domains, and the same database and scripting stack as shared hosting, but each account gets a defined share of CPU and RAM on the server plus higher MySQL query allowances. This effectively reserves more resources per site, so heavier traffic and dynamic applications run more smoothly while the user still manages everything from the familiar shared control panel. For busier e-commerce stores or popular content sites that are not yet ready for full server administration, these plans are a practical middle step.

At the top end, VPS cloud hosting covers users who need root access and fully isolated environments. AwardSpace offers three main unmanaged Linux VPS plans (Starter, Pro, Advanced) powered by XEN virtualization. Each comes with dedicated CPU (from 100% up to 400% / 2 vCPU), RAM from 1 to 4 GB, SSD storage from 25 to 100 GB, monthly traffic from 2 to 8 TB, and one dedicated IP address. Customers can run Debian or various Ubuntu and CentOS versions, with options for their own easy VPS control panel or Webmin. Features such as OS reprovisioning, rescue OS, reboot from a web console, bandwidth graphs, and full root access make these VPS plans suitable for developers and agencies who want low-level control but still appreciate a hosted environment.

Around these core hosting products, AwardSpace also offers domain registration, SSL certificates, CMS-specific hosting (for example Drupal, PrestaShop, OpenCart, Moodle, MediaWiki, various CRMs), and a website builder integrated into their platform. A free reseller hosting program under the ResellerCluster brand lets technically minded users spin up white-label hosting services built on the same infrastructure. Documentation, WordPress tutorials, video guides, and a sizeable knowledge base complete the offering and make the service approachable even for beginners who are just learning how hosting works.

AwardSpace has kept essentially the same product lineup since March 2020, with prices moving higher over time, which points to significant stagnation from a technology and product-evolution perspective.

Overall, the portfolio covers a coherent path from a completely free, low-risk start right up to VPS servers and large semi-dedicated accounts, all backed by the same platform, data center, and support team.

💰 Price & Cost

AwardSpace’s pricing is structured to make the first step very cheap while keeping renewal prices in line with mainstream shared hosting and VPS providers.
The free hosting plan costs nothing and is explicitly stated to be free for life, with no compulsory upgrades and no ads injected into customer sites. It is a full account rather than a short-term trial, so there is no time limit.
For shared and WordPress hosting, there are three paid plans:

• Basic: entry-level paid plan with unlimited disk space and traffic and hosting for up to two domains. It is often discounted aggressively for the first year (down to around $0.25 per month on a promotional annual term), with a regular monthly price in the range of about $6.99.
• Web Pro Plus: mid-tier plan targeting small businesses, with 10 hosted domains and one domain name included "for life" as long as the hosting is renewed. Promotional pricing is roughly in the mid-single-digit dollars per month on long commitments, with regular monthly fees around the high single digits.
• Max Pack Plus: the top shared/WordPress plan, with unlimited hosted domains and two lifetime domains included, plus ASP.NET support on top of the standard PHP/Perl stack. Regular pricing sits in the low-teens per month.

Exact figures vary depending on currency (USD or EUR), promotion, and billing term, but the overall pattern is clear: very low introductory prices for the first year, then standard renewals that are still competitive for unlimited shared hosting with domain perks.

The semi-dedicated hosting plans start at about $15.99 per month for Starter Semi Dedicated, moving through roughly $24.99 for Pro Semi Dedicated up to about $35.99 per month for the Advanced tier. All three keep disk space and traffic unlimited and differ mainly in CPU/RAM quotas and database query limits.

For VPS cloud hosting, pricing is straightforward: Starter VPS is about $13 per month, Pro VPS about $26 per month, and Advanced VPS about $52 per month (with matching euro prices). There are no setup fees on these packages, and annual pricing is simply the monthly fee multiplied by twelve.

On the refund side, AwardSpace applies a 30-day money-back guarantee on premium services. Customers who are not satisfied can cancel within the first 30 days and receive a no-questions-asked refund on the hosting fee. Domain registration costs are typically not refundable, which is standard in the industry. This guarantee applies to paid hosting plans, not to the already free services.

Payment processing is handled via 2Checkout (now Verifone) using credit/debit cards and PayPal. Accounts paid this way are created instantly. Billing currencies include US Dollars (USD), Euros (EUR), UK Pounds (GBP), and Canadian Dollars (CAD), giving some flexibility for international customers.

🏢 Data Center

AwardSpace runs its infrastructure in a single main data center located in Sofia, Bulgaria, within the Telepoint facility. This is a Tier 3+ carrier-neutral data center, giving access to multiple telecom and fiber providers and allowing the company to control colocation costs while maintaining redundancy.

The facility operates under ISO 9001 (quality management) and ISO 27001 (information security) certifications. Technical parameters include redundant fiber connections with diverse physical paths, multiple Meet-Me-Rooms, N+1 UPS power feeds, diesel generator groups, N+1 precision air conditioning, leak detection systems, and advanced fire protection with VESDA early smoke detection and FM200 gas-based suppression. The building is monitored 24x7x365, with CCTV, physical security, and on-site technicians.

On top of the physical infrastructure, AwardSpace uses a clustered hosting platform. Servers run Debian Linux on Intel Xeon CPUs, with RAM configurations in the 8–64 GB range and a unified distributed storage system. Instead of hosting each account on a single physical machine, the platform spreads load across a cluster, which improves resilience and helps the service withstand heavy traffic spikes or hardware issues.

For free hosting, AwardSpace mentions 50 Gbit network connectivity and the same underlying network as premium customers. Across shared, WordPress, semi-dedicated, and VPS services, the company operates with a 99.9% network uptime guarantee, backed by 24/7 monitoring and an operations team tasked with maintaining that target. Weekly data backups are included with shared and semi-dedicated plans, adding another layer of protection for customer websites.

The single-location strategy means latency is particularly good for audiences in Europe, the Middle East, and parts of Africa, while visitors from North America or Asia still benefit from a relatively well-connected European hub. However, customers who require multiple geographic locations or region-specific data residency policies will not find multi-region options directly within AwardSpace’s own infrastructure.

✍️ Customer Support

Customer support is available 24/7/365 for both free and premium users. The primary support channel is a ticket/helpdesk system, accessible through the control panel and the website’s "Contact Technical Support" link. AwardSpace states an average response time of around 15 minutes on shared hosting features and guarantees a response within one hour for technical tickets on paid services.

Even free hosting accounts can open support tickets, which is a differentiator compared to many free providers that only offer community forums. In practice this makes the free tier more viable for real projects because configuration questions and small issues can be escalated to staff rather than left to guesswork.

For sales and general enquiries, there are contact forms and a published phone number in Kiel, Germany. Phone support is not positioned as the primary troubleshooting channel for every issue, but it gives customers a real-world point of contact and is useful for pre-sales questions, billing clarifications, or business discussions.

Self-help resources are extensive. AwardSpace maintains a knowledge base, detailed WordPress tutorials, video tutorials, and a blog covering hosting topics, CMS guides, and best practices. For many common tasks—installing WordPress, configuring email, setting DNS records, or moving from free to paid hosting—these resources reduce the need to open a ticket at all.

Overall, the support setup fits the company’s profile: a strong self-service layer combined with round-the-clock ticket support from staff who work daily with their own platform. Users who prefer chat and instant messaging may miss a live chat widget, but ticket response times are short enough to make up for that in most scenarios.

🔨 Control Panel

A key characteristic of AwardSpace is its proprietary hosting control panel. Instead of cPanel or Plesk, all free and shared/semi-dedicated accounts are managed through an in-house web-based interface built around their clustered platform.

This control panel offers:

• A customizable dashboard where frequently used sections can be pinned and rearranged.
• File management (upload, download, edit for HTML, CSS, PHP, and other text-based files).
• Email account and alias management.
• DNS tools, including A, MX, CNAME and other record control.
• Subdomain and domain management, integrated with a separate domain control panel for WHOIS and registrar-level settings.
• Password-protected directories and firewall-related options.
• Bandwidth and traffic statistics, helping users monitor usage and growth.
• The Zacky App Installer for one-click installation of WordPress, Joomla, and several other CMS applications.
• The Zacky Website Builder, a visual site builder with pre-made templates and drag-and-drop editing.

For many users, this panel feels simpler than cPanel because it is tuned specifically to AwardSpace’s environment and hides some of the complexity that generic panels expose. On the other hand, users migrating from other hosts may need a short learning curve, and some third-party tutorials that assume cPanel will not map one-to-one.

On VPS servers, AwardSpace offers an Easy VPS Control Panel that resembles the shared hosting interface for basic tasks (reboots, rescue OS, monitoring) along with access to Webmin on certain OS images. In all VPS plans, root access is enabled, so advanced users can install their own management stack if desired.

The control panel approach is consistent with the rest of the platform philosophy: it is custom-built, integrated with their clustered infrastructure, and intended to give both beginners and power users enough control without overwhelming them.

🎯 Conclusion

AwardSpace stands out in the crowded hosting market for one main reason: its free hosting heritage is not an afterthought but the foundation of the whole service. The free tier is genuinely usable, ad-free, and backed by the same 99.9% uptime and 24/7 support mentality as the paid plans. For anyone who wants to experiment, learn, or validate an idea without spending money, this is a very attractive entry point.

The paid product line is coherent and easy to grow through: shared and WordPress plans cover typical small-to-medium websites, semi-dedicated accounts handle heavier loads without demanding server-administration skills, and XEN-based VPS cloud servers provide full control for advanced users and agencies. The proprietary clustered platform, the strategic data center in Sofia, and the in-house control panel give the company a distinctive technical profile compared to providers who simply resell standard panels on generic infrastructure.
Strengths include:

• Free lifetime hosting accounts with no ads and clear upgrade paths.
• 99.9% network uptime guarantee and a technically solid Tier 3+ data center in Bulgaria.
• A tightly integrated custom control panel, one-click installer, and website builder.
• 30-day money-back guarantee on premium plans.
• 24/7 ticket-based support with short response times, even for free users.
• Pricing that is very aggressive in the first year and still reasonable at renewal, especially given the "free domain for life" perks on higher plans.

Potential downsides are worth noting as well. The infrastructure is concentrated in a single European data center, so users who require multiple geographic regions must look elsewhere or layer a CDN on top. Some customers may prefer industry-standard cPanel or Plesk for compatibility with existing workflows, whereas AwardSpace’s custom panel is unique to their platform. VPS services are unmanaged, which is perfect for experienced administrators but not ideal for novices who need hands-on management.

Taken together, AwardSpace is a strong fit for beginners, freelancers, and small to medium businesses who appreciate a free-to-paid growth path, as well as for developers who want affordable European VPS resources with root access. It is less suitable for organizations that insist on multi-region deployments or standardized control panels, but for many users it offers a balanced mix of cost, performance, and flexibility with low entry risk.

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Kiel

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