xneelo Review

Plans and Pricing

xneelo's shared hosting starts at the same R99/month as HostAfrica, but with less storage. The trade-off is infrastructure quality — xneelo owns its data centres and includes PCI-DSS compliance.

Self-managed dedicated servers start at R1,195/month and scale to R3,495/month for 12-core Xeon configurations. xneelo Cloud offers pay-as-you-go hourly billing (currently in beta at 50% off). Free Let's Encrypt SSL and daily backups (14-day retention) are included on all plans.

One billing note: EFT and credit card payments are annual only. Month-to-month billing is only available via debit order.

Setup and Control Panel

xneelo uses ConsoleX, their proprietary control panel. It's clean and functional, but it's not cPanel. This means:

• Migration is harder — Moving to or from xneelo requires more manual work than cPanel-to-cPanel transfers.
• Less community support — Most hosting tutorials assume cPanel. ConsoleX has its own documentation, but less third-party content.
• Familiar basics — DNS, email, and file management work well within ConsoleX.

xneelo's managed WordPress offering is a genuine differentiator. It includes staging environments, automatic WordPress updates, and performance optimization — features that HostAfrica and Afrihost don't offer on shared plans.

Support

xneelo provides 24/7 technical support via phone and live chat. They've won Stevie Awards for customer service (2019, 2020, 2021), and their TrustPilot score is 4.8/5 from 272 reviews with 96% five-star ratings.

However, recent reviews note a decline in response times, with some customers reporting 60+ minute waits. This is a change from xneelo's historically fast support and worth monitoring. For time-sensitive issues, HostAfrica's smaller team currently delivers faster responses during their operating hours.

Infrastructure and Load Shedding

This is where xneelo genuinely excels. They own two data centres — Samrand (Centurion) and Newlands (Cape Town) — plus German hosting options for international audiences.

Their Johannesburg facility features:

• 2N fault-tolerant power distribution with redundant UPS and generators on separate feeds
• 53,000 litres of fuel storage enabling 7+ days of autonomous operation during load shedding
• PUE score of 1.2 — efficient cooling and power usage
• PCI-DSS certification — required for handling credit card data

This level of infrastructure is unmatched by HostAfrica or Afrihost in South Africa.

Who Should Choose xneelo

• Established businesses needing guaranteed uptime and enterprise infrastructure
• E-commerce sites requiring PCI-DSS compliance
• Agencies and resellers (Volume Plan at R595/month)
• WordPress sites that need managed hosting with staging environments
• Businesses where a few hours of downtime means significant revenue loss

Who Should Look Elsewhere

• Budget-conscious small businesses — HostAfrica offers more storage per rand
• Beginners who want cPanel — xneelo's ConsoleX has a learning curve
• Simple blogs or portfolio sites — xneelo's premium infrastructure is overkill
• Anyone who needs monthly EFT or credit card billing — only debit order is month-to-month

Alternatives

• HostAfrica — Better value for small businesses. R99/month for 20GB (vs xneelo's 15GB), cPanel, and 4.9/5 support. Less robust infrastructure.
• Afrihost — Cheapest at R84/month but with significant support and reliability concerns.

See our comparison: HostAfrica vs xneelo | Best hosting in South Africa

We earn commission from some links. Rankings are not affected — see our affiliate disclosure.

FAQ

Is xneelo the same as Hetzner?

xneelo was formerly known as Hetzner South Africa but rebranded in July 2019. It operates independently from the German company Hetzner Online GmbH — different shareholders, different companies. The name changed but the team and infrastructure remained the same.

Is xneelo worth the higher price?

For established businesses, yes. xneelo's own data centres, 7-day generator backup, PCI-DSS compliance, and managed WordPress justify the premium. For basic blogs or small sites, HostAfrica delivers better value per rand.

Does xneelo use cPanel?

No. xneelo uses their own ConsoleX control panel. It handles standard hosting tasks well but makes migration to other hosts more involved than cPanel-to-cPanel transfers. If easy portability matters, HostAfrica (cPanel) may be a better choice.

How does xneelo handle load shedding?

xneelo has the strongest load shedding protection among SA hosts. Their Johannesburg data centre has 2N redundant power, 53,000 litres of fuel storage, and generators on separate feeds — enough for 7+ days of autonomous operation without grid power.

What is xneelo's managed WordPress hosting?

xneelo's managed WordPress includes automatic core and plugin updates, staging environments for testing changes, and performance optimization. It's a step above standard shared hosting with WordPress installed — you get hands-off maintenance and a safer way to test updates.