Which website hosting service is superior: Locaweb or UOL Host?

Locaweb and UOL Host are two prominent Brazilian companies that provide web hosting services and internet solutions and share many similarities. They are widely recognized and are among the biggest in Brazil.

Companies included in our list of top accommodations offer comparable plans, making it challenging to distinguish one from another at times. To assist you with this choice, I have compiled a comparison that presents a detailed overview of the entry plans of these companies along with our evaluations.

I hope you can ultimately determine which option is more appealing between Locaweb and UOL Host. Shall we compare them?

Which is the better option: Locaweb or UOL Host?

The winner of the thorough analysis was Locaweb among over 20 items reviewed, despite tough competition from other companies.

UOL Host excelled in price, email accounts, and free SSL, while Locaweb stood out for top uptime, free site migration, site creator included in the plan, and disk space and unlimited websites.

The outcome doesn’t imply that UOL Host’s plan should be ignored. The company is reputable and the plan offers various valuable features. Depending on your requirements, either option could be more suitable.

To gain a better understanding, read the following comparison and come to your own conclusions.

About Locaweb and UOL Host

Locaweb, founded in 1998, is a leading company in website hosting in the country. The company operates its own data center and serves more than 280,000 clients, hosting over 320,000 sites. With headquarters in São Paulo, Locaweb has a workforce of over 1,000 employees.

UOL Host is a vital component of the Online Universe group, also known as UOL, which originated in 1996 as an internet communication group. UOL Host, the website hosting branch, was introduced in 2008 and provides various digital services, including the popular payment method PagSeguro. Visit the UOL Host website for more information.

Analysis of Host: Locaweb or UOL Host

The text provides a condensed comparison of the features offered in the Rentalweb and UOL Host guesthouses, followed by a detailed examination of each feature.

We are comparing the resources available in the entry plans of two companies, Locaweb’s Hosting I and UOL Host’s P.

Locaweb and UOL Host are compared in a table.

	Locaweb	UOL Host
Plans
Name	Accommodation I	P
Initial price	R$ 12.90/month (64% OFF)	$ 9.90/month (50% OFF)
Renewal	R$ 24,90/month	$ 9.90/month (50% OFF)
In the cycle	Triennial	Annual
	Page	Page
Hosting	Locaweb	UOL Host
Number of Sites	Unlimited	2
Memory	N/A	384 MB
Disk Space	Unlimited	10 GB
Transfer	Unlimited	Unlimited
Operating System	Linux and Windows	Linux and Windows
Disco	HDD	SSD
Location Server	Brazil	Brazil
Stability*	Locaweb	UOL Host
Uptime 6 months	99.87%	95.39%
Response time 6 months	974,94	3822
*Period of monitoring: February to July 2018
Database**	Locaweb	UOL Host
Quantity	Unlimited	Unlimited
Space	1 GB each	1 GB (each)
Type	MySQL	MySQL
**Other BDs available / SQL Server sold separately
E-mail	Locaweb	UOL Host
Accounts	25	30
Space	10 GB each	12 GB each
Webmail	Round	Himself
Extra resources	Locaweb	UOL Host
Control Panel	Himself	Himself
App Installer	Yeah.	Yeah.
Website Maker	Free to 1 site	No
Free domain	1 year (annual plan)	1 year (annual plan)
SSL certificate	Paid aside	Free (annual plan)
Migration	Free	On account of the customer
Free backup	Yeah.	Yeah.
Collection	Locaweb	UOL Host
Refund guarantee	No	No
Payment methods	Card and Card	Card and Card
Support	Locaweb	UOL Host
Channels	Phone, chat and ticket	Phone, chat and ticket
Service	24/7 24/7 24/7 24/7	24/7 24/7 24/7 24/7
	Page	Page

Compare HostGator and Hostinger to determine which is better.

Prices – Cost of items

Rentweb’s Hosting I plan is priced at R$12.90 per month for a 3-year payment cycle (totaling R$464.40). Upon renewal, the price increases to R$24.90 per month.

UOL Host provides Plan P for R$9.90 per month on an annual subscription. Upon renewal after one year, the same price can be maintained with an annual payment cycle, totaling R$118.80 per year.

We are evaluating the basic pricing plans of the two companies, which offer affordable rates. Although there may be restrictions on certain features, these plans are versatile and suitable for various types of websites.

Locaweb’s hosting plans may be cheaper, but their features are more advanced compared to UOL Host after the upgrade.

Quantity of Locations

Customers of both companies can create new websites in the hosting control panel. UOL Host limits users to 2 websites, while Locaweb allows users to create unlimited new sites.

Paraphrase: Random Access Memory

RAM is in charge of temporarily holding all essential resources needed to fulfill user requests. As a result, when accessing a webpage or application, the request is processed and assembled using data from the hard drive and transferred to RAM.

Locaweb not disclosing the memory amount in their plans does not imply an attempt to conceal information; this might be due to the server architecture, a common practice in hosting services.

In these situations, all clients hosted on the same server have access to the server’s total RAM memory, which is utilized based on their needs. Companies like Locaweb have measures in place to prevent customers from misusing server resources and causing harm to others.

The memory allocation for UOL Host is predetermined by the plan, ensuring clients cannot exceed their limits and potentially affect others on the same server due to strict isolation measures in place.

Disk Storage

The disk space refers to the storage capacity for digital files, with each file occupying a specific amount of space on the server, resulting in the total storage used.

The source files of a website typically take up the least amount of storage space compared to image, audio, and video files. The disk space needed for a website is largely influenced by its content and usage.

The 10 GB provided in the UOL Host P plan can be sufficient for various types of websites, especially institutional sites or small to medium blogs. Websites with a high volume of images and/or videos might require additional storage capacity.

Some companies do not include databases and email storage in the storage space account, unlike Locaweb and UOL Host which provide dedicated spaces for these resources.

Storage Technology (Disk)

Data storage on a hosting server is comparable to storage on a personal computer, utilizing devices like hard drives (HDD) or solid-state drives (SSD) for saving information. While HDD technology has been the standard for many years, SSDs offer significantly faster access and recording speeds.

Hosting servers equipped with SSDs provide faster data recording and reading speeds in comparison to servers that utilize HDDs.

When discussing websites on the internet, it is important to consider various factors that contribute to a server’s response time, with storage technology being just one of them.

Move from one place to another

Transfer, also known as traffic, pertains to the volume of data shared between the server and its users, encompassing various downloads and uploads for both site users and administrators.

Each time a visitor views a website page, their browser retrieves the page’s information, and these downloads are tracked to measure the total traffic on the server within a specific timeframe, such as a month.

Choosing between Locaweb and UOL Host should not be based solely on their offer of unlimited transfer.

Operating System

The hosting server’s operating system should be carefully selected based on the applications being hosted, with Linux often being the preferred choice except for ASP and .NET applications.

The operating system can be selected or modified after booking accommodation with either Locaweb or UOL Host.

Location of the server

The distance between the user’s request origin and the hosting data center can affect the loading time of a website. This is because the request has to travel a certain distance, and data transmission speeds are very high. The distance would need to be significant for this to have a noticeable impact on loading times.

It is typical to have Brazilian websites hosted on servers located in the United States, resulting in a slight delay in server response time compared to websites hosted in Brazil.

Hosting plans with high ratings offer servers that are based in Brazil, benefiting both companies involved.

Availability uptime

Availability time is essential for individuals who earn money from their websites, as downtime can lead to significant financial losses.

Companies commit to a minimum uptime in a contract known as a service level agreement (SLA). However, companies may not always meet this uptime requirement, leading customers to potentially request a refund for the downtime. The SLA for Locaweb is 99.5%, while UOL Host offers 99.8% uptime.

We check the availability of a website hosted on a company’s server to gauge its availability. This monitoring is limited in scope and may not represent all services’ availability but serves as a helpful benchmark for comparison.

We conducted continuous monitoring from February to July 2018 with Uptime Robot, checking site availability every 5 minutes. Server response times were evaluated from US locations, comparing two companies’ sites with markup content.

The website hosted on Locaweb was operational 99.87% of the time, with a total downtime of 5 hours and 41 minutes over a six-month period.

The website hosted on UOL servers had a 95.39% uptime, experiencing a total downtime of 8 days, 9 hours, and 55 minutes. The extended downtime occurred mainly between March and April, with a shorter outage in June.

The response time significantly decreased after the June downtime, improving from over 3,000 milliseconds to around 700, indicating a positive change on the server during that period.

Locaweb performed the best within the analyzed timeframe and circumstances, thus remaining more accessible to its users for a longer duration.

This sample does not represent the availability times of all servers from these companies.

Information storage system

The database is the storage location for a website or application’s content and various settings. MySQL is a widely used open-source database, employed by popular applications like WordPress and Joomla.

Locaweb and UOL Host offer the option to create unlimited MySQL databases, with each database having a maximum size limit of 1GB. Additional databases, such as Microsoft SQL Server, are available for an extra fee starting at R$ 30 per month in both companies.

Email addresses

The email service provided with the hosting can be very useful. In some cases, it is not included and may require specific configurations from other companies, which can result in additional charges.

Locaweb and UOL Host both offer email services with their hosting plans. Locaweb provides up to 25 accounts with 10 GB of space each, while UOL Host offers up to 30 accounts with 12 GB of space each, making it the better option in this aspect.

Locaweb offers RoundCube for webmail access, while UOL Host has its own application. Although the features are mostly the same, there are differences in the interface. Users can still configure email services on external platforms like smartphones, tablets, and programs such as Microsoft Outlook in both cases.

Control Panel

The hosting control panel is used for managing services, including databases, emails, and hosting usage information, so it should have a user-friendly interface.

Locaweb and UOL Host have their unique control panels, which may require some time to familiarize with due to their custom design. However, these interfaces are generally user-friendly and easy to navigate.

Advanced users may have a shortage of resources compared to what is offered in control panels like cPanel, which are commonly utilized by other businesses.

Application Installer

The application installer automates the process of setting up systems and applications on a server, eliminating the need for users to manually configure databases and server settings. Companies aim to provide a variety of popular apps that can be easily installed with this tool, such as WordPress.

Locaweb and UOL Host provide a selection of only 5 applications available for installation.

Locaweb offers apps that can be automatically installed.

• WordPress, a content management system (CMS)
• Drupal is a content management system (CMS).
• Joomla is a content management system.
• Sugar CRM refers to managing customer relationships.
• Zenphoto is a content management system.

UOL Host offers apps that can be automatically installed.

• WordPress, a content management system (CMS)
• Drupal is a content management system (CMS).
• Joomla is a content management system (CMS).
• Magento (e-commerce platform)
• Prestashop is an e-commerce platform.

UOL Host stands out by providing two commonly used applications, Magento and PrestaShop, for creating online stores, despite the limited options available in both cases.

When attempting to use the UOL Host application installer for the first time, an unusual issue arose. The dashboard warned that the current PHP version (7.1) was not compatible with the installer.

In order to utilize the feature properly, it was required to downgrade the PHP version to 5.6. Once this adjustment was made, the dashboard showed the available apps for installation. It is hoped that this compatibility issue will be resolved promptly, as nobody wants to run apps with an outdated PHP version. Despite the inconvenience, the app installations proceeded without any issues.

Website Creator

The website builder is a popular and user-friendly tool that enables anyone, regardless of technical expertise, to create, customize, and publish their own website directly in the browser without requiring any software installation.

Many companies offer website builders as a separate purchase, unlike Locaweb, which provides the platform for free to its hosting clients for one website. This feature makes their service more appealing for users looking to utilize all included features.

Domain name available at no cost

The domain is crucial for any website as it serves as the online address that users use to visit it. Typically renewed annually, registering popular extensions like .com and .com.br usually costs less than R$ 50 per year.

Many businesses provide complimentary domain registration to clients to enhance the appeal of their hosting packages. Typically, this free service is provided only for the initial year, with renewal costs falling on the customer thereafter.

Both Locaweb and UOL Host provide a free domain for one year with the purchase of an annual hosting plan, offering savings not only on the domain but also on the hosting plan itself compared to monthly payments.

SSL certificate is a digital certificate that authenticates a website’s identity and enables secure connections.

The SSL certificate is now essential for all websites as it enables secure data encryption between the server and users, safeguarding information traffic. Websites using encryption can be identified by the HTTPS protocol in the page address, with browsers indicating this by displaying a green lock symbol.

Locaweb provides SSL certificates from GlobalSign for R$ 120 per year per domain, while UOL Host offers Let’s Encrypt SSL for free for all domains and subdomains on its hosting service. The installation of the certificate on UOL Host is automatic and can be done by the client in the hosting control panel, but the free SSL in UOL’s plan P Host is only available with annual payment.

Moving web hosting services

When opting to switch hosting services, transferring the website and emails can be a major source of stress, particularly for those unfamiliar with the process. It is highly beneficial when the hosting provider offers to handle this migration, especially when it is done at no additional cost.

Locaweb provides complimentary migration services for new customers switching from other providers. A pre-sales service is offered to assess the feasibility of migrating your website and to receive recommendations on selecting the most suitable plan.

UOL Host does not provide site migration service but offers resources on its knowledge base to guide customers in migrating websites from other hosts to its servers. The actual migration process needs to be done by the client.

Backup service at no cost

Backing up is crucial for website hosting as it helps safeguard against unforeseen issues that may necessitate restoring previous site versions. This service is included for free in Locaweb and UOL Host plans, but there are variations in how each company implements it.

Locaweb conducts a daily backup of its servers and retains the most recent 7 days of backups. Older backups are replaced by newer ones. Customers can avail of one free restoration per month, with additional restorations incurring a fee.

UOL Host offers daily backups and retains copies of the past week, but this service is exclusive to customers on annual plans. In contrast to Locaweb, UOL Host permits up to 5 complimentary restores each month.

We believe that both companies are connected to this matter due to the equilibrium present.

Payment and reimbursement documents

Payment methods can have an impact in certain situations, particularly when customers are limited to using specific options like credit cards. Whether opting for Locaweb or UOL Host, customers have access to the primary payment methods widely accepted in Brazil, including bank transfers and major credit cards (Visa, MasterCard, Diners Club, and American Express).

UOL Host provides automatic debit options in four different banks for renewals only, while Locaweb allows debit in Itaú for both hiring and renewals. Due to these differences, we consider this item to be a draw.

If you decide to stop using the service, you will receive a refund proportional to the time until the cancellation date, but not a full refund.

Assistance

Technical assistance is essential for hosting websites, as minor adjustments in settings can impact the performance of a site significantly. Having reliable technical support can be a game-changer in such situations.

UOL Host and Locaweb provide continuous service 24/7, including weekends, with the same communication channels available: phone, online chat, and ticket.

Which is superior: Locaweb or UOL Host?

Locaweb outperforms UOL Host in various aspects, including uptime, migration, website creator, disk space, and the number of websites allowed, although UOL Host also offers appealing features.

Therefore, it is your responsibility as the reader to assess the arguments presented and determine the most crucial ones in your situation. This will simplify your decision-making process. It is advisable to review all the service features before making a commitment. While we continuously update our articles, there is a chance that some companies may have modified their services since our last update.

To find out more about Locaweb and UOL Host plans, click the buttons below to access the evaluated plans.

Locaweb Hosting and UOL Host provide hosting services.

Publication date: August 22, 2018 (last modified on May 7, 2020)

Tags: Comparisons, Locaweb, UOL Host