Scala Hosting Review (April 2024) – Should You Use Managed VPS Hosting?

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About Scala Hosting

Scala Hosting was founded by Hristo Rusev, Vladislav Georgiev, and Lyubomir Lyubenov back in 2007. It has its headquarters in Dallas, Texas (USA). It currently hosts 700k+ websites and aims to make VPS hosting an accessible resource for everyone! 

You will find a variety of hosting plans on Scala Hosting, but their USP is their Managed Cloud VPS Hosting. It offers you the freedom to get the cloud servers of your choice and configure them as per your needs. They also offer their in-house secure technologies along with your hosting plan. 

Additionally, all the technical aspects of your hosting like software updates, security, maintenance, etc are handled by their team of experts. So, you can simply get started with no technical knowledge at all!

Scala Hosting Overview

Speed	655.41 ms (New York)3.68 sec (Bangalore)
Uptime	99.99% (last 49 days)
Data Centers	USA and Europe
Backups and Restoration	Automated daily backups of last dayMonthly charges for more backups1-click Manual Backup and Restore
Migration	No limits on migrations
Customer Support	Email Tickets, 24/7 Live chat, Extensive Knowledge Base
Features	SPanel, Free Cloudflare CDN, Website Staging, SWordPress, Apache/Litespeed servers, 400+ apps, Unlimited Inodes, Referral Program
Developer Tools	MySql, PHP, Perl, Python, NodeJS
Security	Free Let’sEncrypt SSL, 2FA, SShield, SpamAssassin, CSF Firewall, ModSecurity, ClamAV Malware Scanner
Hosting Plans	Web Hosting, WordPress Hosting, Reseller Hosting, Managed Cloud VPS Hosting, and Self Managed Cloud VPS Hosting
Payment Methods	Credit and Debit Cards, PayPal, Bank Transfer
Refund Policy	30-days Refund Policy
Pricing	Starting from $14.95/month

Scala Hosting Review Video

If you are a video person, you can watch my video review of Scala Hosting here. (It’s in Hindi with English subtitles)

Scala Hosting Testing Parameters 

For the testing purpose, I have purchased the Cloud VPS Plan of Scala Hosting for my website https://www.kptesthosting10.xyz. 

This plan comes with a 2 GB RAM, 50 GB SSD storage, and an unmetered bandwidth and is priced at $9.95/month. Along with this, I have used the following settings:

• US-based Apache Servers
• OceanWP theme (Elementor based)
• Gym Template (Elementor based)
• Litespeed cache plugin on default settings

You don’t get any default cache management system in Scala Hosting. Apache Web Servers are installed by default on their hosting plans. However, you can request their technical team for installing Litespeed servers. 

Once installed, you can use the Litespeed cache plugin on your plan. If you need a hosting with default Litespeed servers, check out Rocket.net, A2 Hosting, ChemiCloud, or StableHost.

Now, let us look at the results of some tests I performed on my website hosted on Scala Hosting. 

Scala Hosting User Interface 

The user interface of Scala Hosting is clean, modern, and quite easy to use. All the settings and options are arranged in an organized fashion. 

You get support for 25+ languages and one-click buttons for rebooting, shutting down, or destroying your server! 

As for the control panel, you get their custom panel called SPanel. 

It looks pretty much like cPanel in design and functionality and might be a suitable alternative to cPanel. Overall, the interface looks friendly for beginners. But if you want a cPanel-based hosting, you can look at HostArmada, A2 Hosting, ChemiCloud, or StableHost.

Scala Hosting Server Response Time

Because the servers of Scala Hosting are located in the US, the SRT is low in US regions, with merely 9 ms in US (East)and 69 ms in US (West). 

It keeps on increasing as we move towards the Asian regions like Mumbai (200 ms) or Singapore (245 ms). Overall, the SRT in Mumbai is still appreciable considering the servers are in the US. 

Scala Hosting Speeds

Website Speed refers to the time your website takes to load completely within your browser. 

When I checked the speed of my website from the New York location, it came out to be 992.39 ms, which is quite fast. But I decided to test it again from the same location, but with the Litespeed cache plugin on default settings.

This time I noted lightning fast speeds of 655.41 ms! Honestly, speeds under 700 ms are very rare and I was quite impressed with Scala Hosting!

Finally, when I switched the location to Bangalore, the speeds dropped as low as 4.71 sec. This is due to the fact that they don’t have any servers in Asian regions.  

When I tested again with the Litespeed cache plugin on default settings, I observed a speed of 3.68 seconds, which is decent.

Overall, Scala Hosting performs really well in the US regions with Litespeed cache plugin installed. You can also check out Cloudways or FastComet for impressive speeds across multiple locations! 

Scala Hosting Uptime

I have been monitoring the uptime of my website for the last 224 days with the Better Uptime tool. This tool checks the uptime of my website every 30 seconds. 

In the last 49 days, I have observed a 99.99% uptime with a total downtime of just 6 minutes! There were no major incidents observed either. Thus, the uptime has been remarkable in my experience.

Last 12 months average uptime:

ScalaHosting Entry Cloud Plan

March 2024	100%
February 2024	100%
January 2024	100%
December 2023	100%
November 2023	100%
October 2023	100%
September 2023	100%
August 2023	100%
July 2023	100%
June 2023	99.96%
May 2023	99.05%
April 2023	100%
March 2023	100%
February 2023	100%
January 2023	100%

ScalaHosting Managed VPS Plan

March 2024	100%
February 2024	99.99%
January 2024	100%
December 2023	99.98%
November 2023	100%
October 2023	99.99%
September 2023	100%
August 2023	100%
July 2023	100%
June 2023	99.99%
May 2023	100%
April 2023	100%
March 2023	100%
February 2023	100%
January 2023	100%
December 2022	100%

Scala Hosting also offers an uptime guarantee of 99.9%. If they cannot achieve this standard, the credit for the specific duration is issued into their users’ accounts.

 For an unbeatable 100% uptime, I would recommend Rocket.net and Cloudways hosting. 

Scala Hosting Load Handling

On Scala Hosting, you get the Apache servers by default. But Litespeed servers can be activated by requesting their customer support team. I performed in-depth load tests on both their servers. Let us look at the results. 

With Default Apache Server

When I sent 50 virtual users over to my website hosted on Apache servers, they made merely 934 requests in 6 min 30 sec. All the other requests were rejected, and it even limited the number of users. 

The average response time stood at a high 9526 ms and I noted a lot of spikes as well! 

As soon as I sent the virtual users, the system load on my hosting panel immediately switched to ‘Critical’! Overall, the load handling with the default Apache server was terrible. 

In my experience, even shared hosting services like Hostinger, ChemiCloud, and StableHost perform much better!

With Litespeed Server

Next, I switched to Litespeed servers and sent 50 virtual users on my website. This time they made  a total of 2484 requests in 6 min 30 sec. There were 1207 request failures and the average response time stood at 2951 ms. 

Overall, the performance was not quite satisfactory, but it was much better than the Apache servers. 

With Litespeed Cache Plugin

For the final test, I also installed the Litespeed cache plugin along with Litespeed servers to note the load handling efficiency. I again sent 50 virtual users on my website that now made 9086 requests in a matter of 6 min 30 sec. 

There were no HTTP failures observed, and the average response time was 63 ms, which is remarkably fast! Though it still imposed a limit on the number of users, the average response time was quite reliable. 

The default Apache servers do not come with any optimizations. This is why they cannot handle much load without tuning. But Scala Hosting performs great when you use the Litespeed servers paired with Litespeed Cache Plugin. 

The performance can be optimized further if you fine-tune the Litespeed cache plugin as well. Honestly, I was not expecting this from a VPS plan that charges an expensive amount of $14.95/month. Even popular shared hosts offer efficient load handling capacities for half the cost!

Scala Hosting Cache Management 

Sadly, Scala Hosting does not offer a cache management system. However, you can request the installation of Litespeed servers, after which you can use the Litespeed cache plugin. 

Scala Hosting Data Centers

The data centers of Scala Hosting are available in the USA (Dallas and New York) and Europe.

However, it gives you complete freedom to select the server of your choice. If you go with AWS, you get 13 data center locations, with one in Mumbai, India. And if you go with DigitalOcean, you get data centers in 8 locations, including one in Bangalore, India. 

Scala Hosting Domain Name

You get a free domain name along with your hosting for the first year. However, this only applies to the following domain extensions – com, net, org, info, and eu. I personally love the free for lifetime domain offered by ChemiCloud!

If you need help with deciding a name for your website, blog, or online business, these domain name generators might be of some help to you.

New Domain

 Scala Hosting also functions as a domain registrar. These are the annual prices for registering popular domain extensions on Scala Hosting. The same prices are charged on domain renewals and transfers. You don’t need to pay any additional charges after the first year. 

TLDs	Annual Pricing
.com	$13.65
.net	$14.95
.info	$14.95
.org	$14.95
.in	$12.95

Temporary Domain

A Temporary Domain or Preview URL helps you check how your website appears without actually connecting your domain to your hosting. Unfortunately, this feature is not provided by Scala Hosting. You can check out Hostinger, Cloudways, A2 Hosting, and FastComet for this feature.

Scala Hosting Backups 

The Backup options on Scala Hosting are impressive. Under Backups option in the SPanel, you can easily create manual backups. All you need to do is click on generate backup and choose what you wish to exclude from the backup, like databases, emails, etc.  

What I found interesting is that you can store your backups on a remote FTP server. This ensures better security of your data in case of any emergencies or accidents.

Scala Hosting also creates automatic backups that can be restored with a single click. They keep 7 copies of your data! But what disappointed me most was that you only get 1 backup for free. This means you can only restore a backup from the previous day. 

If you want to access older backups, they charge a hefty amount. For example, you need to pay $3/month for keeping the last 3 days’ backup, and $7/month for keeping backups from the last 7 days. 

Most other web hosting companies store automatic backups for longer durations (upto 30 days) and do not impose any fee on downloading them. 

In my opinion, Scala Hosting should at least offer the previous 7 days’ backups for free. Overall, the backup service is good, but the backup options need improvement.

Scala Hosting Support 

Scala Hosting offers 24/7 live chat support, email support, and an extensive knowledge base of helpful articles. I found their live chat support to be quite fast and responsive. 

My queries were solved within 1-2 minutes and their staff was also quite helpful and polite. Contacting their live chat was overall a pretty good experience!

Scala Hosting Security

Scala Hosting implements the following features for their customers’ security. 

• SSL Certificate: You get a free SSL certificate from Let’sEncrypt to protect your domains and all sub-domains falling under them.
• 2FA: With Two Factor Authentication, you can generate OTP codes through authenticator apps like Authy or Google Authenticator and secure your logins.
• SpamAssasin: It filters all junk emails in your inbox and automatically adds ‘SPAM’ in the subject line of mails flagged as spam. 
• SShield: This is their in-house security system that uses AI to monitor and block malicious attacks made on your website.
• SWordPress Manager: This WordPress Manager helps install WordPress with a single click, automatically install updates, and lets you protect your WordPress website with a security lock.

• ClamAV: It is an open source antivirus tool that is used to detect malware, viruses, trojans, and other online threats.
• CSF Firewall: It is installed on your server to keep it protected. You can control traffic on your server with this service. 
• ModSecurity: It is a Web Application Firewall that blocks unauthorized logins. 

Scala Hosting Inode Count 

Similar to Rocket.net, Scala Hosting does not impose any limits or restrictions on the inode count. Thus, you can store as many files, databases, and emails as you want without worrying about the storage capacity.

Scala Hosting CDN

A CDN or Content Delivery Network is a network of servers placed on different locations around the globe. They cache your web content to improve your website’s speed and performance. 

Scala Hosting offers the free CDN from Cloudflare with its hosting plans. If you wish to install it on your website, their technical team can help you set it up! 

Scala Hosting Pricing

You can choose a server of your choice from Scala hosting, AWS, and DigitalOcean. The pricing plans of AWS and DigitalOcean servers are quite expensive, which is why most people opt for the Scala Hosting servers. 

Its Starter plan can be availed at $14.95/month when purchased for 36 months! Following is a brief comparison of different Managed VPS Hosting plans of Scala Hosting. 

	Start Plan	Advanced Plan	Business Plan	Enterprise Plan
Pricing	$14.95/month	$32.95/month	$72.95/month	$152.95/month
RAM	4 GB	6 GB	10 GB	18 GB
SSD Storage	50 GB	80GB	160 GB	320 GB
Bandwidth	Unmetered	Unmetered	Unmetered	Unmetered
CPU Core	2	3	5	9

Unlike Cloudways, you don’t get any monthly payment options on Scala Hosting. A commitment of 3 years is required to avail the maximum discounts. 

The SPanel comes free with your hosting plan, whereas the cPanel is priced at an insane $576! In my opinion, it is much better to go with SPanel, because it looks and functions the same as cPanel. 

• Scala Hosting Payment Options

Scala Hosting accepts payments through the following methods: International Credit and Debit cards, PayPal, and Bank Transfers. 

If you are looking for Indian payment options, you can go with Hostinger or Bluehost. 

Scala Hosting Refund Policy 

You get a standard 30-Day Money-Back Guarantee with Scala Hosting. You can check out the detailed terms and conditions below.

If you want an extended refund policy, you can go with StableHost, FastComet, or ChemiCloud for 45 days, or A2 Hosting for a pro rata based refund policy.   

Scala Hosting Migrations

There are no restrictions on website migrations. You can transfer as many websites as you want from other web hosting providers over to Scala Hosting for free! 

All you need to do is contact their technical support and mention your previous host’s credentials. Your hosting will be migrated to Scala Hosting effortlessly. 

Scala Hosting Site Builder

A Website Builder helps you choose from hundreds or professional templates for your website or design one from scratch. Sadly, you don’t get a site builder with Scala Hosting.

However, you will find attractive and easy to use site builders on HostArmada, ChemiCloud, and StableHost.

Scala Hosting Applications

Talking about applications, the SPanel offers access to the Softaculous app installer that makes 1-click installation possible.

It comprises a library of 400+ web apps, including the popular content management systems like WordPress, Joomla, Drupal, etc. 

In my experience, WordPress works smoothly, but they should have provided direct login buttons for WordPress dashboard. At the moment, you need to type in /wp-admin at the end of your website URL to access the backend! 

Scala Hosting Software Support

Scala Hosting might be a good option for software developers because you can find support for MySQL, PHP, Perl, Python, and NodeJS on this hosting.

Scala Hosting Staging

Scala Hosting supports website staging, and you can perform it from the Installations tab under the Softaculous App Installer. It allows you to clone your website to a different sub-domain. 

You can test out different themes, plugins, codes, etc on this local website and once you are satisfied with the changes, they can be pushed to the live website.  

Scala Hosting Pros

Easy to use SPanel

The SPanel provided by Scala Hosting is clean, organized, and easy to use. It resembles the cPanel and can be an affordable alternative to it. 

Optional LiteSpeed Servers

You get Apache servers on Scala Hosting by default. However, you can request their support team to install Litespeed servers on your plan for improved performance.

Speeds

Because its servers are in the US region, you get to experience faster speeds of under 700 ms in the US. Whereas, in India, the speeds tend to rise over 3.5 sec.

Exceptional Uptime

 I observed an excellent uptime of 99.99% on my website in the past one and half months. This is remarkably better than most other popular hosts. 

Fast and Reliable Support

I personally liked the 24/7 live chat support of Scala Hosting. Their staff was intelligent, polite, as well as quick in responding to my queries. 

Impressive Security Features

It offers a range of security features including 2FA, SSL,SShield, SpamAssassin, CSF Firewall, ModSecurity, ClamAV Malware Scanner, and more for all-round protection of its users!

Developer Friendly Hosting

It offers support for Python, MySQL, PHP, Perl, NodeJS, etc which makes it a quite friendly hosting solution for developers. 

Scala Hosting Cons

Terrible Load Handling

With the default Apache servers, Scala Hosting performs terribly in the load test. It cannot handle many requests and has a very high response time.

Even with Litespeed servers and Litespeed cache plugin installed, it still doesn’t live up to the expectations. 

No Default Cache Management

 You don’t get a cache management system with Scala Hosting by default. If you install Litespeed servers on your plan, you can use the Litespeed cache plugin. 

Limited Data Centers

Their data centers are located in the USA and Europe regions only. It would be great if they can establish data centers in Asian locations like Singapore or India!

Only 1 Free Backup

It only stores one automatic backup for free. If you need more backups, you need to pay additional charges.

Expensive Plans

The Managed VPS plans of Scala hosting start from an expensive rate of $14.95/month. The best discounts are seen when you purchase a plan for 3 years. 

Scala Hosting Alternatives

Cloudways

Cloudways is a popular managed cloud hosting service built upon 5 unmanaged web hosts, namely AWS, DigitalOcean, Google Cloud, Linode, and Vultr. 

It offers 65+ data center locations, lightning fast speeds, exceptional uptime and load handling capacities, supportive customer service, and easy options for scaling your server up or down! 

However, you don’t get email hosting with it. And, the price keeps increasing if you scale your servers. The pricing plans start from $10/month for the DigitalOcean servers. 

Rocket.net

Rocket.net is a recently launched hosting company. But it has everything you need to build your website. It makes use of the Cloudflare Enterprise CDN to ensure faster speeds and performance of your site. 

It also offers an unbeatable 100% uptime, easy backups service, and top-notch security and support features. However, you don’t get email hosting with it and this hosting might be quite expensive for beginner bloggers. Its pricing plans start from $25/month. 

Who Should Use Scala Hosting?

Scala Hosting looks like a good option for new or low traffic websites. Though it offers good speeds and uptime, its load handling capacity is terrible and it also charges additional price for backups.

Keeping all these points in consideration, I cannot recommend this hosting at the moment. What’s the use of purchasing a VPS hosting that cannot handle load efficiently? Even shared hosting services handle load better than Scala Hosting.

In my opinion, Cloudways is a great alternative to Scala hosting if you want hosting for your WordPress site or eCommerce platform. And if you’re a developer who wants a developer friendly hosting solution, in that case you might prefer Scala Hosting or A2 Hosting.  

Conclusion

With this, we have arrived at the end of our article. I hope you found this Scala Hosting Review helpful. If this article helps you make the right purchasing decision, it would make me very happy. 

Anyway, I’ll be back with more such interesting reviews soon. You can also join my weekly newsletter to stay updated with my latest videos, blogs, and deals on various digital products. This is Kripesh signing off. Take care and keep learning! 🙂

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