Detailed Comparison
SiteGround and Rochen are well known hosting companies. SiteGround gives website owners more bang for the buck, with a wider range of features and excellent tech support while Rochen's plans are more expensive with fewer features.
1. Company Info
SiteGround has really improved in the past few years. Many of the biggest Joomla developers now host with SiteGround and recommend them to clients.
Rochen has supported the Joomla project since the beginning of the project and they host the official Joomla.org website.
SiteGround
SiteGround was started in 2003, and now has over 50 employees. They are headquartered in Sofia, Bulgaria, with datacenters in the U.S., Singapore, and Europe. They have pioneered several security techniques and continue to innovate with their latest tool which gives Joomla (and WordPress) users the ability to stage a site while making changes.
Rochen
Rochen has been around since 2000, It's unclear how many employees they have and they are based out of Dundee, UK. Their datacenters are located in Dallas, Texas and London, U.K. It's hard to get in-touch with Rochen. Their blog has not been updated in two years and sales chat has been unreachable.
2. Plans and Prices
SiteGround's plans are generally cheaper and more generous than Rochen's plans. Both have strong technical offerings with a focus on security, but you will get more with SiteGround. Additionally SiteGround has a few speed improvement features that you will not find at other hosting companies.
SiteGround
Shared Hosting
- Startup - $3.95/Mo. 1 website, 10GB storage, unlimited bandwidth, databases, ftp accounts, email accounts, free domain name.
- GrowBig - $7.95/Mo. Multiple websites, 20GB storage, priority support, SuperCacher, and 30 versions of backups stored. unlimited bandwidth, databases, ftp accounts, email, domain name. Priority support, SuperCacher, and 30 versions of backups stored.
- GoGeek - $14.95/Mo. 30GB storage, priority support, SuperCacher, and 30 versions of backups stored, less accounts on server, advanced hardware, Joomla and WordPress staging. Multiple websites, unlimited bandwidth, databases, ftp accounts, email, domain name.
Cloud Hosting
- Entry plan Cloud 1 - $68.95/Mo. 2x2.0GHz CPU, 1GB RAM, 40GB space, 1TB bandwidth.
- Top plan Cloud 4 - $138.95/Mo. 4x2.0GHz CPU, 4GB RAM, 150GB space, 5TB bandwidth.
Dedicated Hosting
- Entry Server $229/Mo. - 4GB DDR3 RAM, Quad Core Processor, 500GB space, 5TB bandwidth.
- Top plan Enterprise Server - $429/Mo. - 16GB DDR3 RAM, Hexa Core Processor, 1GB space, 5TB bandwidth.
Rochen
Shared Hosting
- Plan 1 - $8.95/Mo. for 1GB RAID10 storage, 50GB bandwidth, 1 domain
- Plan 2 - $12.95/Mo. for 3GB RAID10 storage, 100GB bandwidth, 3 domain
- Plan 3 - $24.95/Mo. for 5GB RAID10 storage, 150GB bandwidth, 5 domain
VPS Hosting
- Plan 1 - $149.95/Mo. for 30GB RAID10 storage, 1GB RAM, 400GB bandwidth, cPanel.
- Scalability - Every extra 1GB storage is $10/Mo., 1GB bandwidth is $0.50/Mo., 128MB is $10/Mo.
Dedicated Hosting
- Entry level - $399.95/Mo. Plus $99.95 setup fee. 4GB RAM, Quad Core Processor, 500GB RAID1 storage (plus backup).
- Custom - call for price
3. Control Panel & User Experience
Both SiteGround and Rochen use cPanel as their control panel. cPanel is the webhosting industry standard and is perfect for Joomla or any other Open Source CMS.
SiteGround's cPanel implementation is a little cleaner and easier to find your way between billing nad hosting control panels.
SiteGround
SiteGround is constantly updating their control panel. With every release, it improves over the previous design. Navigating is simple and it doesn't take long to find what you're looking for.
The best way to login to cPanel is from 'yourdomain.com/cpanel'. Otherwise you have to login to your account from the website and find the link that says "Go to cPanel".
Rochen
If you know your way around cPanel, you wont have any trouble. The design has not been updated in a long time, so it looks the same as it did years ago.
Under the account area at my.rochen.com for billing and domains, you will find a custom control panel which lacks any type of recent design.
4. Installing & Managing Joomla
Joomla is easy to install at both SiteGround and Rochen. Each company offers 1-click installers, easy staging areas and updating.
SiteGround
Installing Joomla is done either with Softaculous one-click installer or manually. You won't run into any server compatibility errors with SiteGround.
Well known for their Joomla support, SiteGround has an easy way to create a new site, demo a site, or update a current site using their staging area. With a couple clicks you can copy your live site to the staging area, make any changes and then move it back.
They also have created "Super Cacher" which prerenders dynamic pages for Joomla and servers them to visitors which drastically speeds up the rate of delivery, improving speed. This is a fantasitc feature and are the only hosting company that has it.
Rochen
Rochen provides their own set of Joomla tools called Joomla Utilities, which allow you to install Joomla in a couple of clicks. You won't run into any server compatibility errors with Rochen which is nice.
Inside of Joomla utilities you can migrate a Joomla site from another host. Enter in the other host's information and it's completed automatically inside the software.
Use the "Clone tool" to create a separate site for staging a new design or idea. This is comparable to SiteGrounds tool.
5. Speed & Uptime
Speed and uptime are always a priority with websites. SiteGround and Rochen give you roughly the same performance.
SiteGround
SiteGround offers more in terms of caching and delivery because of their "Super Cacher". Sites load quicker because they are prerendered which allows them to be delivered to your browser faster.
Rochen
Rochen Shared hosting speed is on par with the top hosting companies. They are very protective of their servers and are quick to shut down any sites that are using to many resources. This is great unless it is your site. We have seen many reviews where Rochen was quick to suspend sites often time frustrating the site owners.
6. Support
Support for SiteGround is far superior to Rochen. You can reach SiteGround anytime and get help with pretty much anything. Rochen's support is tough to reach and doesn't always provide clear answers.
SiteGround
Their whole hosting motto is "hand crafted" and they pride themselves on helping customers with issues outside the realm of normal hosting. For instance, they will help you with specific Joomla databases errors on your site and more.
You can reach them 24/7 via phone, chat and support ticket. Also, you can reach them through a social network, if you so choose.
Rochen
Getting support requires submitting a ticket. No phone or live chat support. During this comparison we noticed the sales chat was broken. When we tried to use it and it said no ones around to help.
Conclusion
Either go with a host which on the top of their game, SiteGround, or get stuck in the tar pits with a dinosaur like Rochen.
SiteGround has a superior, up-to-date, control panel which is easy to navigate. Plans are much more affordable. Their design, brand and business model has improved and evolved with time. This is key for any business to grow and maintain longevity.
With SiteGround, you won't be worried about support. We can tell you from personal experience that SiteGround's support available, ready to help, and they do a great job resolving issues. Our choice is SiteGround.
