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Site24x7 web content monitoring review
12:30 am | September 9, 2021

Author: admin | Category: Computers Gadgets Pro Software & Services | Comments: Off

In times like these, digital presence is key to any business’s success. The thought of being unnecessarily offline is daunting, as that would mean reducing your business’s visibility and potential revenue. However, running a website involves various complex components, meanings things can go haywire at times. As per an ITIC study, 98% of organizations say that even an hour of downtime can cost them up to $100,000.

This is where website change monitoring software like Site24x7 come in handy. It's a robust solution that tracks your website components and reports to you if there are any unexpected downtimes. In addition to testing various website components, you can also harness real user website interaction data to identify pain points and customer trends.

Read on as we’ll explore Site24x7 in more detail in this article, discussing its best features, pricing, interface, and more.

Site24x7: Plans and pricing

Site24x7 offers four plans designed for various business sizes. Startups and small businesses can opt for its Web Uptime plan at $9/month. Such a low starting price makes Site24x7 one of the cheapest options in the industry. This plan comes with 25 basic monitors with a check frequency of 1 minute.

A headline feature is that right from the first plan you can choose up to 8 locations to monitor your website – from a selection of 130+ locations worldwide. There are also 3 basic status pages and decent customer support (email and forum).

If this isn’t enough, you can switch to the Pro plan made for SMBs. That's priced at $35/month and comes with 40 basic monitors, 3 synthetic transaction monitors, 5 network monitoring interfaces, and 2 netflow analyzer interfaces.

This is also Site24x7’s first plan that offers Real User Monitoring (RUM) with 500K pageviews and 5 sites. You also get a lot of third-party integrations that allow you to build custom workflows. Chat and phone support is also available from this plan onwards.

All in all, this looks like an ideal plan for most businesses thanks to its excellent value for money. After all, it has all the features Site24x7 has to offer. However, a larger business may need to switch to the Classic plan at $89/month. This one comes with 100 basic monitors and 5 transaction checks, as well as with 1M RUM pageviews.

A good thing about Site24x7 is that you can buy a lot of add-ons, meaning you won’t have to switch to a higher plan just for more threshold limits.

For example, if you’re satisfied with the Pro plan but only need additional monitors, you can simply buy 50 add-on monitors for $18/month instead of switching to the Classic plan. Similar add-ons are available for RUM data points, advanced monitors, and so on.

Additionally, Site24x7 also offers a completely free plan with 5 basic monitors and 3 location checks. However, this plan is very limited and can only be used to test the platform’s interface and efficiency before purchasing a paid plan.

Site24x7: Features

Site24x7’s comprehensive uptime monitoring checks allow you to track the load times of your web pages from as many as 8 locations at the same time. Moreover, you can choose from over 130 global locations to run these tests from.

Unlike a majority of website monitoring tools, Site24x7 comes with defacement monitoring. Defacement refers to unauthorized hacks on your website, which can lead to outages and damaged reputations.

The platform uses a baseline document object model (DOM) mechanism during a standard check for website components like images, scripts, anchors, links, text, etc. Current DOMs are continuously matched against previous ones to identify any unauthorized changes.

Besides this, Site24x7 also runs SSL/TLS certificate expiration checks and sends you notifications well before they expire.

We found the platform’s Real User Monitoring (RUM) functions to be quite comprehensive, too. It uses real data endpoints to identify load times of various components, like CSS, scripts, and images, from different domains (first-party, third-party, and CDN networks) and summarizes the impact of each component on overall response times.

Site24x7

(Image credit: Site24x7)

Administrators can use core web vitals and secondary metrics, as well as detailed session replays to gain more insights into how real users interact with the webpages. Site24x7’s RUM also helps identify any JavaScript code errors with details on the type of error, error message, and the exact URL, which helps in quick resolution.

Once you’ve identified key website components, you can subject them to synthetic tests with Site24x7. You can record key business transactions like web checkouts, payment pages, or button clicks with the platform’s simple web recorder and then check them with synthetic traffic.

You can also use JSONPath or XPath assertions to monitor API integrations on your website to check if they’re operational or not. For example, you can set up an API check to monitor the payment page on your e-commerce website.

Beyond digital experience monitoring, Site24x7 also offers functions like network monitoring, infrastructure monitoring, and application performance monitoring, each of which will cost you extra.

Site24x7 also has the largest collection of free tools we’ve seen. You get 100+ tools you can use without having to pay a single cent to blacklist checks, monitor SSL certificates, conduct DNS analysis, and monitor aspects like website uptime. The assortment of tools also include an SLA uptime calculator and a host of converter and formatter tools.

Site24x7: Interface and in use

Site24x7’s interface is pretty clean and information loaded. You’ll see a quick summary of all your website checks at the top which are color-coded for easy identification. The platform also allows you to build custom dashboards to view key metrics from every tier of your infrastructure.

Site24x7 interface

(Image credit: Site24x7)

There are several pre-built reports on availability, performance, SLAs, global benchmarks, and more. You can even customize and schedule reports as per your needs. Site24x7 integrates with a lot of incident management platforms, which helps you quickly communicate outages and resolve them in almost no time at all.

There are also handy mobile apps for iOS and Android, meaning you can keep an eye on your websites on the go and ensure you do not miss any critical updates. These apps are also easy to use and set up, just like the web version of the platform.

Overall, Site24x7 is beginner-friendly and you can get a hang of it in less than a day, making it a good choice even for non-tech-savvy teams.

Site24x7: Support

Site24x7 offers comprehensive support with dedicated emails for support and sales inquiries. Depending on the plan you’re on, you get access to either basic or premium support. Basic support included email and forum access, whereas premium comes with phone and chat support on top of the previous two.

Apart from this, you get access to Site24x7’s rich collection of help documents, knowledge base, how-to’s, and training videos, so you don't have to worry about any common queries. There’s also a very active community space where you can post your questions and get them answered by fellow Site24x7 users.

Site24x7: The competition

Although Site24x7 is undoubtedly a great monitoring solution for every business need, it doesn't hurt to look at the alternatives.

Uptime.com is an enterprise-level monitoring tool ideal for large businesses. In addition to synthetic and RUM tests, you can even run group and cloud status checks. It also offers more than 20 types of basic monitors, which is more than what you get with Site24x7.

Plus, you can run checks from as many as 15 global locations simultaneously and harness 1.5M+ RUM data points for insightful user data. It also supports private location checks and internal status pages for seamless intra-team communications. The only downside is that it can be a bit expensive.

For a more affordable option, try Datadog. It offers feature-specific plans ideal for small businesses with limited needs. For instance, its RUM plan with session replays costs just $1.80/month for 1,000 sessions.

Datadog also offers a very handy Mobile Testing feature that lets you assess your app's stability, identify app crashes, and assist in resolving any glitches. Plus, it has the largest collection of third-party integrations we’ve seen, supporting 800+ applications for seamless workflows and notifications.

Site24x7: Final verdict

Site24x7 is a complete website monitoring solution that allows you to monitor various components of your website, such as APIs, load speeds, and overall uptime. Plus, the platform’s baseline document object model (DOM) mechanism detects any unauthorized changes or hacks before it gets out of hand.

We also liked its dashboards, which are fully customizable and laced with various graphs and charts. Site24x7 is also one of the few monitoring platforms that offer a plethora of free tools, allowing you to monitor websites, networks, and servers.

Paying users will find Site24x7 quite affordable, as plans start from just $9/month. Moreover, you can purchase a lot of add-ons to increase monitoring limits. To top it all off, you get a 30-day free trial, too.

FAQs

What is Site24x7?

Site24x7 is a website monitoring tool from the house of Zoho. It allows you to monitor live website uptimes and load speeds, as well as dig into real user interaction data. You get robust network and infrastructure monitoring tools and various options for application performance monitoring.

What is the difference between website monitoring and network monitoring?

A website monitoring tool examines various elements of your website, such as CSS, Ping, and HTTPS, to check its performance, availability, and functionality. Then it alerts you if there are any downtimes or outages.

A network monitoring tool, on the other hand, checks the security and health of your IT network, which includes components like routers, servers, switches, etc. Here, you get to check aspects like data flow, bandwidth usage, and latency, and troubleshoot connection failures.

Visualping web content monitoring review
8:13 am | September 8, 2021

Author: admin | Category: Computers Gadgets Pro Software & Services | Comments: Off

Content monitoring has risen in popularity in recent times - for both personal and business use. You may want to know when your favorite product is back in stock or when your job listing is updated. Similarly, businesses need a solution to monitor their competitors’ websites and execute compliance monitoring. Enter content monitoring tools like Visualping.

Visualping tracks the URLs you want and notifies you of any changes in the webpages. You even have the option to select a specific area to be tracked on the page. To top it all, there are AI features that summarize and analyze the changes for you, saving you a ton of time.

Read on as we explore Visualping, one of the best in the business, in more detail. We'll discuss its best features, pricing, interface, and customer support, as well as compare it with some of its top rivals.

Visualping: Plans and pricing

Visualping plans and pricing

(Image credit: Visualping)

Visualping offers two pricing tiers: Personal and Business. The Personal plan priced at $50 per month can support up to 10K checks in a month limited to a maximum of 200 pages. However, there are cheaper plans, too. For instance, if you only want 1K monthly checks of 25 pages, you’ll have to shell out just $10/month.

There’s also a free Personal plan that lets you run 150 checks a month limited to 5 pages – good enough for personal needs.

The Business plans start at $100/month and allow up to 20K checks of around 500 pages. You can scale all the way up to the $250/month plan that offers 50K checks covering 1,500 pages in a month.

Business plans also come with a host of features not offered on the Personal plans. For instance, you can get alerts via Slack, Teams, and Google Sheets. However, on the Personal plan, messages are your only alert option. Likewise, you can add up to 5 users on the Business plans as compared to just 1 on Personal.

Visualping: Features

Visualping offers a ton of handy features that make content monitoring easy. For starters, it's one of the few platforms that use AI to detect website changes. The Visualping AI saves you a ton of time through summaries, smart alerts, and mind reader features.

You can read AI-generated summaries of all the changes observed instead of skimming through them manually. The platform uses advanced AI algorithms to understand the context of the webpage. This helps to avoid meaningless changes and content shifts and generates alerts only based on contextual changes.

Visualping AI

(Image credit: Visualping)

Visualping also offers a lot of integrations so that you can build your own business workflows. For instance, you can connect Visualping with Slack so that you don’t have to keep returning to Visualping every time there’s an alert - you can get them on Slack itself. The same goes for Microsoft Teams, Discord, and Google Sheets as well.

Plus, if you do not find an integration for your needs, you can use the Visualping API to build a custom integration for your business.

Now, if you’re a website owner, you also have the option of adding a Visualping button on your webpage to notify your users of crucial changes. This can come in pretty handy for small businesses that can notify users of price drops or sale offers. Similarly, government bodies, universities, and corporations can use it to intimate users regarding important notification uploads.

Visualping button example

(Image credit: Visualping)

All Business accounts have a central location called Workspace where you can invite your team members to manage the changes. Teams can use labels, folders, and various filtering options to organize the observed changes.

However, Workspaces need to be purchased separately – you can do so for a specific project, team, or client. Although a handy feature for large businesses, it can quickly add up to your total subscription cost.

Visualping: Interface and in use

Visualping is extremely easy to use – even beginners can track websites effortlessly. You only have to enter the URL of the website and select a specific area on the webpage you want to track.

Visualping dashboard

(Image credit: Visualping)

The dashboard is clean and easy to understand. You can see all your active jobs on the left side and the changes detected on the right. To make it easier for you, there’s a Visualping Chrome extension, which you can add to your browser. This way, you won’t have to manually add links on the dashboard – simply deploy the extension on the webpage you want to monitor.

Visualping: Support

Visualping's support options are minimal. You only get basic email support irrespective of the plan you're on – dedicated support, however, is available on the Business plans, but at an extra cost.

The Basic Support add-on costs a whopping $600/year, followed by the Advanced plan at $1,200/year and the Dedicated Support at $3,000/year. That's borderline nerve-wracking.

However, paid support executives take care of everything for you – from setting up your account to monitoring pages and guaranteed response times. Your own team can also benefit from dedicated training on how to get the best out of Visualping.

Although beneficial, the dedicated support can make your overall Visualping bundle very expensive, which may not be ideal for small businesses.

Visualping: The competition

Let's see how Visualping stacks up against the competition.

Distill.io is a more advanced and complicated content monitoring tool ideal for large businesses. You can define your tracking selections with CSS, XPATH, and regular expressions. Plus, you can even automate workflows with JavaScript.

Its free plan is also more generous than Visualping – you can run 1,000 monthly checks with 25 monitors. Even its most expensive plan costs $80/month, which is much cheaper than Visualping’s Business plans.

Change Tower is yet another affordable option starting at just $9/month for 1,500 checks. You even get 2 months free subscription with the annual plan. Users can check as many as 500 URLs with this plan without any daily check limits. Its Enterprise plan can run checks every 3 minutes and monitor 2,000+ dynamic URLs.

With that said Visualping's premium pricing is justified, seeing as it offers a handful of unique features. This includes its game-changing AI checker tool and a nifty Visualping button.

Visualping: Final verdict

Visualping is hands down one of the best content monitoring tools out there. One of the highlights is its ease of use; all you have to do is enter the target website's URL and select the area on the webpage you want to track.

Plus, it's one of the few monitoring tools that use AI to enhance monitoring results – you benefit from AI summarizing and analysis.

For businesses, Visualping offers a dedicated button to send content updates to their users. Plus, there are a lot of integrations with platforms like Slack, Teams, and Google Sheets. You can even make your custom alert software through the Visualping API.

Visualping also offers a free plan with 150 checks a month for up to 5 pages, which can be handy for personal and non-commercial use. Its paid plans start from $10/month and go all the way up to $250/month – you can pick one as per your needs.

All in all, Visualping is an excellent content monitoring tool good for both personal and business use. That said, it can be a touch expensive, especially if you wish to get the add-on for dedicated support.

FAQs

What can I use Visualping for?

Visualping is a content monitoring website that notifies you of changes on webpages. Now, this can have a lot of personal and business use cases. For instance, you may be waiting for product prices to drop while shopping online.

Instead of manually checking every now and then, you can add the URL on Visualping, and it will notify you if any changes are made to the listing. The same goes for job hunting, house hunting, reservations, and so on. Businesses can also use Visualping for competitor monitoring, SEO compliance, and regression monitoring.

Can I use Visualping for free?

Visualping does offer a completely free plan with 150 checks per month limited to 5 pages. Each search takes place every 60 minutes. However, it's always best to upgrade to a paid plan to get the most out of the platform, especially considering that Visualping starts as low as $10/month. Plus, there's also a 14-day free trial on all paid plans, so you can even try the service out risk-free before committing.

Versionista web content monitoring review
6:11 am | September 3, 2021

Author: admin | Category: Computers Gadgets Pro Software & Services | Comments: Off

Versionista is one of the best website change monitoring software solutions on the market, allowing you to simply enter a site's link and find out all the changes that happen on it. You also have the option to choose which changes you want to be tracked and which you should ignore.

Its customizability is one of its biggest attractions. In addition to the plans, you can also customize how the crawling happens, when and how often, and whether they use a US-based IP address or a Europe- or Asia-based IP address to do the crawling.

Keep reading to explore Versionista in detail, including its features, detailed reports, pricing, and support, as well as how it stacks up against the competition.

Versionista: Plans and pricing

Versionista hasn't listed its pricing on its site. But we did a little digging and found that its paid plans start at $99/month and go up to $379/month.

Other than this, you can reach out to the team, schedule a demo, and they will create a custom plan for you.

One good piece of news is that each paid plan comes with a free 7-day trial. So, if you feel a plan isn’t living up to your expectation, you have plenty of time to reconsider.

If you are on a small budget, you can also get started with their free forever plan, where you get 465 free monthly crawls, which is enough for personal needs.

Versionista: Features

Versionista’s core feature is that it monitors target websites or pages for changes and reports back to the customer. However, what makes it one of the best website change monitoring software is that it will create a detailed report on the changes that have been made.

Every subtle change will be recorded so that you don't miss out on anything. You will also get to know which part of the page has been modified. Plus, you can opt for a side-by-side comparison of the different versions to understand the changes better.

You’ll get these updates through email, whose frequency you can choose. Other than that, you can also opt to be instantly notified as soon as there’s a change so that you can take timely action.

Apart from change monitoring, you also get to extract all the links from a target page. If you want, you can start monitoring those, too, in just one click. This will save you a lot of time and will ensure that you don't miss out on any update related to your main target page.

Versionista customizability

(Image credit: Versionista)

One of our favorite things about Versionista is its customizability. You can configure everything as per your requirements. For example, if you want the email reports to be more frequent, you can change their frequency and time and also decide on exactly what they should contain.

Similarly, when it comes to crawling, you can rely on the tool’s algorithm to decide the best time to crawl, or you can do it yourself. Timing of crawl, frequency and location of crawl, what to look for and what to ignore – everything can be customized.

If you're managing a team, Versionista's robust team management features also come in handy. It lets you categorize the kind of content changes each team member is alerted about. For example, if you have an employee working on a client, XYZ, you can ensure that only those reports containing changes on the site about client XYZ will reach them.

Last but not least, Versionista is equally proficient in monitoring non-Latin text too, such as Korean, Japanese, Chinese, Hebrew, and more.

Versionista: Interface and in use

Versionista’s interface is very user-friendly. After a simple and guided set-up process, you get a dashboard where all the tracked pages/sites are listed on the left side and the count of how many changes took place in the different time intervals is listed on the top-right.

Versionista dashboard

(Image credit: Versionista)

Once you open a tracked page, you get a more detailed overview. From there, you can also change the tracking settings, i.e., what type of content of the page is tracked and how often. Overall, it's simple, refreshing, and easy to navigate.

Versionista: Support

Versionista offers decent support. For starters, there’s a detailed tutorial page that contains guides on every issue that you might come across. Whether it's adding and managing additional accounts or using filters to narrow down your search, you will find in-depth guides on everything.

If you still need to reach out to the team, you can email them at support@versionista.com. You can expect a reply within 12 hours. What’s more, the replies are usually sent directly by the senior engineers. So basically, you are getting expert help every single time.

They also mentioned offering 24/7 support to Enterprise customers. If you are a new customer, you can also schedule a demo with them (you can choose your own date and time through the embedded meeting calendar), and they’ll guide you from there.

Versionista: The competition

While Versionista is indeed a great tool, it's not free of flaws. Two of its biggest competitors are Distill.io and Visualping.

Distill has a phenomenal free plan. You get access to 25 monitors that run 1000 checks per month, more than double what Versionista’s free plan offers. In addition to that, you can also add 2 devices (instead of one) and get email and phone notifications.

As for Visualping, it uses AI at every step so that you have a smoother experience. For example, the AI summarizes your reports, saving you a lot of time. It can also speed up setup by giving you suggestions.

You can also give feedback to the AI if you find any irrelevant alerts. In the future, all similar alerts will be blocked.

Versionista: Final verdict

Versionista is a great website monitoring tool. It's easy to use, and there are tons of customization options. Starting from the pricing to the crawl settings, everything can be tailored to fit your needs.

There’s also a decent free plan that provides 465 free crawls every month. It's not a lot but should be enough for a small business to get started. As for the rest of the pricing, you’ll have to reach out to the Versionista team.

We also loved its instant notifications that timely update you about all important changes. Plus, you have a lot of customization options. You can choose what to crawl at what time and tailor the reports content and frequency as per your needs. This is something team-centered businesses will love.

There are obviously a few flaws. For instance, there’s very little clarity about its customer support and offerings under different plans. If this is an issue for you, alternatives like Distill and Visualping are also good choices.

FAQs

What is Versionista? How to use it?

Versionista is a web monitoring platform that monitors and reports changes made to other websites. These changes can range from content to HTML. Using the tool is pretty simple. Once you have created an account, enter all the URLs of the page/site you want to track, and it will create a detailed report of every change that took place at a given interval. You can also choose how often the page should be monitored and what changes should be noted.

Who is Versionista best for?

Versionista is perfect for big companies because of its customizability. Large businesses often have trouble fitting into pre-designed plans, but with Versionista, they can choose what they need and pay accordingly. It also has the provision to add new features based on popular demand. Plus, you can choose the location and time of crawling and also customize the reports as per your needs. If you’re looking for a decent free plan, you can work with Versionista’s 465 free monthly crawls.

SpotOn POS Review: Pros & Cons, Features, Ratings, Pricing and more
5:17 pm | September 2, 2021

Author: admin | Category: Computers Gadgets | Comments: Off

SpotOn is a POS system designed for restaurants, food trucks, clubs, or basically any hospitality-related business. General retailers can also use it to accept payments from customers with ease. This system offers more than just point-of-sale tools. Customers can also use it to gather insights about their business and know where to make improvements.

A unique thing about SpotOn is that it’s very customizable. Customers can make significant changes to many aspects of the software to match their brand. It’s also flexible such that it works for many types of businesses.

SpotOn, the company, is based out of San Francisco, California. It was founded in 2017 by three entrepreneurs; Doron Friedman, Matt Hyman, and Zach Hyman.



SpotOn POS: Plans and pricing

SpotOn’s pricing is a little opaque compared to other competitors. You must pay a one-time setup fee plus a recurring monthly fee to use the software. Your monthly fee depends on the features and add-ons that you select, and it starts at $25 per month. 

The cost of using SpotOn includes:

- $25 per month for the software (including payment processing)

- $195 per month for the software alone (without payment processing)

- $65 per month for every extra restaurant

- $65 per month for a customer loyalty software add-on

- $65 per month for a website add-on

What you should note is that SpotOn does not have rigid pricing, so you’ll have to contact the company’s sales team directly, tell them what you want, and get a quote. The prices we listed above are the standard ones, but you may get discounts depending on your situation.

SpotOn POS free demo available

Get a free demo to see how SpotOn can be tailored to your business (Image credit: SpotOn)

Let’s say, you only need the SpotOn software but want to use your own payment processor, then you’ll have to pay $195 per month. If you need both the SpotOn software and the company’s payment processor, then the price comes down to $25 per month. If you need the solution in multiple restaurants, then you’ll have to pay an extra $65 per month for each restaurant. If you want a tool to set up customer loyalty discount programs for regular customers, that’ll run you another $65 per month.

There are many add-ons to choose from, and they all come with extra costs. Thus, SpotOn can be pretty expensive if you request many add-ons.

Of course, SpotOn also takes commissions on every transaction facilitated by its payment processing system. The fee is 1.99% + $0.25 for regular transactions and 2.99% + $0.25 for AMEX, corporate, international, and keycard transactions. The 1.99% rate for typical transactions is pretty low, but the $0.25 flat charge on every transaction is quite pricey, especially if you sell low-cost items.

The one-time setup fee is usually $250, but it may vary depending on your requirements.

SpotOn POS terminal

(Image credit: SpotOn)

SpotOn POS: Features

Hardware

SpotOn offers different hardware that enables you to collect payments from your customers, including:

SpotOn Terminal: This is an all-in-one smart device that lets you accept payments from customers' cards. Customers can swipe, insert, or tap their cards, and it'll automatically print a receipt after charging them. It also works with digital wallets such as Apple Pay and Google Pay. All the payments are collated and wired to your bank account the next day.

Virtual Terminal: This is a compact card reader that works in tune with the SpotOn mobile app. With this device, you can collect payments from customers’ cards just as you’ll do with the SpotOn Terminal (swipe, insert, or tap), but your smartphone acts as the screen where you’ll confirm the payment.

Register: The SpotOn Register is a point-of-sale device that’s designed for retailers (e.g., convenience stores and supermarkets). It has a large screen that makes it easy to manage your catalog and sort the products available in your store. You’ll need to pair it with the SpotOn Terminal or Virtual Terminal to collect payments.

SpotOn continues to be an invaluable technology partner that listens well and proactively presents solutions to drive our business forward.

Kevin Youkilis

Payment Processing

Point-of-sale hardware can not work alone. It works in tune with SpotOn’s software which recognizes customers’ cards and collects payments from them. The pricing is transparent, although we observed some (unconfirmed) complaints of customers complaining of hidden fees. It does not just stop at receiving payments; you can also generate insights from your transaction data that help you know where to improve your store.

Reservation

SpotOn also offers software that lets restaurants, bars, hotels, etc., take reservations from customers. Customers can add themselves to the reservation waitlist directly from your website or Google profile page, and you can send wait times automatically. You can notify guests when their reserved table is ready via text message, and they can respond accordingly.

SpotOn POS full service delivery landing page

Connect with local delivery drivers to seamlessly offer take-out  (Image credit: SpotOn)

SpotOn POS: Interface and in use

SpotOn has a modern, intuitive interface that you’ll likely find easy to navigate. It’s designed in a way that makes it easy to find and switch between different features. If user-friendliness was the only criterion for this review, SpotOn will get a perfect score.  

SpotOn POS review

SpotOn’s interface makes it simple for POS beginners to navigate (Image credit: SpotOn)

SpotOn POS: Support

If you experience a problem with SpotOn, the first place to visit is the Knowledge Base, which contains articles, guides, and tutorials concerning all aspects of the platform. If that does not suit you, then you're free to contact SpotOn's support staff via email or telephone. There are dedicated email addresses and telephone numbers to contact depending on your inquiry. Support is available 24 hours a day, 7 days a week. 

SpotOn POS review

24/7 support sets SpotOn POS apart from the competition (Image credit: SpotOn)

SpotOn POS: The competition

Toast POS is the most notable competitor to SpotOn because it is also designed for hospitality businesses. Toast is pretty expensive just like SpotOn and has even higher transaction fees. It has an intuitive interface just like SpotOn and is a suitable alternative to the platform.

Square POS

Square point of sale are a POS giant who are an excellent alternative to SpotOn. (Image credit: Square)

SpotOn POS: Final verdict

SpotOn is an ideal point-of-sale system for hospitality-related businesses. General retailers can also adopt it as a point-of-sale solution. It’s an intuitive tool that lets you accept payments with ease but is, however, pretty expensive.  

We've listed the best POS systems for retail.

Distill.io web content monitoring review
7:35 am |

Author: admin | Category: Computers Gadgets Pro Software & Services | Comments: Off

Website monitoring has become an essential part of business strategies, be it for competition monitoring or compliance monitoring. Plus, it has several personal use cases as well. For instance, you may want to track your online job application or be the first one to know about ongoing sales on your favorite shoes. Enter Distill.io.

Distill is an easy-to-use and customizable website change monitoring tool that lets you get started for free. You can either monitor the entire webpage or choose a part of the page to keep an eye on. Plus, there are several methods for receiving notifications – SMS, emails, etc.

With more than 432K users and 99.99% standard cloud uptime, Distill.io has made a name for itself in the website monitoring field. In this article, we’ll dive deeper into this popular monitoring tool, discussing its features, pricing, and support options and comparing it with some of the other top names in the space.

Distill.io: Plans and pricing

Getting started with Distill.io is absolutely free, thanks to its generous $0 plan. You can set up 25 monitors (5 in the cloud) with 1,000 checks in a month. Plus, you get 100 push alerts and the ability to run the free plan on 2 devices, making it good enough for personal uses.

You can upgrade to a paid plan at just $12/month, which comes with 30,000 monthly checks and 50 monitors. You also get 100 SMS notifications here, as well as unlimited push alerts and 2,000 email alerts. Unlike the free plan, you can check up to 10 version histories with this plan, which allows you to track all past changes.

If this plan doesn’t meet your requirements, you can move to the Professional plan at $28/month. Curated for mid-sized to large businesses, you can set up 150 monitors here and run as many as 100,000 monthly checks. You also get unlimited email alerts.

The last plan is the Flexi plan, starting from $80/month. With 200,000+ monthly checks and 500+ monitors, this plan is ideal for large businesses.

Overall, we found Distill.io more affordable than the likes of Visualping and Versionista, making it one of the best website change monitoring solutions for those on a budget.

Distill.io: Features

The core feature of Distill is website monitoring, and we love the various tracking options it offers. There's a visual selector where you can choose the exact elements on the page you want to track. There are also options to refine your selections with CSS, XPATH, and regular expressions.

Distill also lets you choose whether you want to run the scan on the cloud or on your local monitor. Cloud scans render updates 24/7, while you can run scans on your local monitor at intervals as low as 5 seconds.

Tracking

Only track the information you need, keeping alerts relevant (Image credit: Distill.io)

Now, a lot of times, tracking a page isn’t as straightforward. Some pages do not display content unless you perform an action. This could be clicking a button, scrolling, filling out a form, setting up a filter, or simply logging in.

These actions change the view of the page, but the URL remains the same. Distillo solves this issue through macros, which record a sequence of actions on a webpage. Simply paste the URL of the webpage on the Macro section of your Distill dashboard.

Distill Macros section

(Image credit: Distill.io)

The webpage will load within Distill itself, after which you’d need to perform and record the desired set of actions. Once done, save the macro, return to the main dashboard, and add a monitor. You can edit, add, or delete the steps later on too.

You can get alerts through various modes with Distill – phone push notifications, email alerts, and SMS notifications. However, Distill doesn’t stop here. It even allows you to customize these notifications based on various conditions.

For example, if you’re tracking the price of your favorite shoes, a small $2 drop in price may not be significant. You wouldn’t want to be bombarded with notifications that do not serve your purpose.

With Distill, you can set an alert when the price falls by, let’s say, $50. Now, instead of getting alerts for any price change, you will only be sent a notification if the price is reduced by $50. This helps you filter out a lot of clutter and only render useful and actionable information.

Distill.io: Interface and in use

We found Distill.io easy to use and navigate. The dashboard is clutter-free, as all the actions can be performed from a single hamburger icon on the ‘Watchlist’ tab.

All you have to do is paste the link of the page you want to track and choose whether you want to monitor parts of the page or the entire page.

Distill.io dashboard

(Image credit: Distill.io)

Next, you’ll see an ‘Options – Add Monitor’ screen where you can customize your search – rename the monitor, select the device, choose an interval, and so on. Once done, click ‘Save’ and you’re done.

Distill also offers apps for both Android and iOS. This makes it easy to track websites on the go – you don’t have to sit in front of your desktop all day. You can even add browser extensions for Chrome, Firefox, Edge, and Opera.

Overall, Distill.io is beginner-friendly and easy to get a hang of.

Distill.io: Support

Distill offers a dedicated forum where you can post any queries you might have. The forum is pretty active and divided into various categories. Chances are you wouldn’t need to punch in your query, as you’ll already find a rich collection of common queries.

Besides this, there are a lot of blogs and ‘how to’ articles that help you learn the ropes of the platform.

If you need further assistance, you can drop the Distill team an email at support@distill.io. Paid customers can expect a response within the next business day.

We would have loved to see support options via call or live chat too. That said, the email support should get the job done.

Distill.io: The competition

Distill is certainly one of the best website monitoring tools. However, it isn’t your only option. Here are some alternatives you can look at.

Visualping is one of the few website monitoring tools that use AI for content change detection. This saves you a lot of time as you can access ready-made summaries and analysis of key changes.

Its AI algorithm understands the context of the monitored webpage and only generates alerts in case of contextual changes and ignores content shifts. It is ideal for large businesses that need to monitor 1,000+ pages in a month. That said, it can be a bit expensive, with business plans starting from $100/month.

If you’re looking for a more customizable solution, you can consider Versionista. You can choose aspects like the time and location of the crawl along with the frequency. You can even predefine what the algorithm should exactly look for and what it can ignore. The frequency of reports can also be customized.

Distill.io: Final verdict

Distill.io is an excellent website monitoring tool ideal for small and large businesses alike. The paid plans start at just $12/month with 50 monitors and 30,000 checks in a month – more than enough for any mid-sized business.

Plus, we loved the number of notification options you get. You can choose to be notified through email, SMS, or phone push notifications. Distill also offers the option to add conditions to these notifications, and you’ll only be sent an alert if the condition is met.

Plus, Distill simplifies setting up complex monitors by recording macros. These come in handy when the website to be tracked requires users to perform certain actions to display the content.

It also has a generous free plan where you can run 1,000 free monthly checks, which is enough for personal needs. Overall, Distill is easy to use, isn’t as expensive as some other website monitors, and offers advanced features.

FAQs

Is Distill.io free?

Yes, Distill.io offers a completely free plan where you can set up 25 monitors and run 1,000 checks per month. You even get up to 100 phone push notifications and the ability to operate the Distill app on two devices simultaneously. The minimum interval between two checks is 6 hours.

This is one of the most generous free plans going around. The limits are way more than the likes of Versionista, which only offers 465 free crawls per month, or Visualping, with only 150 checks a month.

How to use Distill.io?

Using Distill is pretty easy – here’s how you can set up a monitor:

1. Open the Distill web app on your browser.

2. Click ‘Add Monitor’ and paste the link of the webpage you want to track.

3. A visual selector will load. Select the exact area on the page you want to track.

4. Once done, click ‘Save.’

Your monitor is now ready. You can view the monitor on your dashboard and track the version histories. What’s more, you’ll also be provided with all the change notifications via SMS/email.

ChangeTower web content monitoring review
8:21 am | September 1, 2021

Author: admin | Category: Computers Gadgets Pro Software & Services | Comments: Off

Website content monitoring is essential for businesses, especially those that rely heavily on their online presence. For instance, you may want to keep an eye on your competitor’s websites, check for news and updates, and monitor compliance-related websites.

ChangeTower is a cloud-based website content monitoring platform that helps you monitor third-party sites. Founded in 2016, it's the go-to monitoring solution for many big brands such as KPMG, Disney, IBM, The Wall Street Journal, etc.

Using it is pretty easy, too. You can just enter the URL of the page that you want to track, and it will notify you about every small change that takes place henceforth. Each change notification is supported by a snapshot of the same, which you can archive in your account for up to 12 months.

Read till the end to know everything about ChangeTower, including its best features, pricing, and interface, as well as how it compares to the rest of the competition.

ChangeTower: Plans and pricing

ChangeTower has three plans: two paid and one completely free. The free plan is ideal for those who are just getting started. It allows you to monitor up to 3 URLs with 6 daily checks. What's more, you can archive up to one month of data.

The first paid subscription is the Power User plan, starting at $9/month (billed monthly). Under this, you get tracking for 500 URLs, 1,500 checks per month, Zapier integration, and up to 3 months of content archive. Additionally, you get to simulate user actions, monitor websites that require a login, and enjoy full-page visual snapshots.

The best part is this is a flexible plan. This means you can change the number of monthly checks, the number of users, and the number of months your data is archived. All these things are customizable, and your plan's price will change accordingly.

Next is the Enterprise plan, which starts at $299/month (billed monthly). Here you can monitor a page every three minutes, track over 2000 URLs, monitor text-based files and PDFs, receive advanced support and setup assistance, and much more.

Plus, you get 1 Enterprise seat that allows you to create your own monitors, view the comments and notifications for each of them, and then share them with your colleagues. We found this plan ideal for large businesses with constant monitoring needs.

It's worth noting that the prices mentioned above are for monthly billing. If you choose the annual plan, you get a two-month subscription for free. For instance, the Power User plan will cost you $90 for the whole year.

ChangeTower: Features

ChangeTower’s core feature is very simple – it tracks a given URL and notifies you about the changes on it. The change can range from textual and image changes to code changes. Text-based pages such as .CSS, .txt, and .js and PDFs can also be monitored.

You can decide what kind of changes you want to be notified about from the settings page and set up unlimited conditional alerts. For instance, you can choose to be notified only when certain keywords appear in the changes.

You can also add various user actions. For instance, if the website you want to monitor requires a few clicks before displaying the content, you can configure ChangeTower to perform it before running the checks.

ChangeTower user actions

(Image credit: ChangeTower)

We also liked ChangeTower’s collaboration tools. For instance, if multiple people from your team are using this platform, you can choose who gets notified about the changes and who doesn't. They will have read-only access and won't be able to make any changes to the monitor. This is ideal for businesses that have defined teams with assigned roles.

All the update reports you get will be stored in ChangeTower’s own archive. Depending on the plan you choose, you can archive a report for up to 12 months. This helps you pin down the exact time when the changes took place.

To further simplify managing updates, ChangeTower lets you assign tags and categorize them accordingly. There’s also a one-week timeline on the dashboard in case you want to filter the updated reports as per date.

If its native features are falling short, you can always integrate your account with Zapier to set up a seamless workflow.

ChangeTower’s Domain Scanner is a lifesaver for large organizations that need to ensure complete coverage of a domain. It scans an entire domain to discover any newly published URLs and sets up monitors on them. This way, you don’t have to manually look for new pages on domains you already track.

Going a step ahead, there’s also a new KW Discovery tool that actually extracts & examines the content of each page it discovers. It can come in handy when you’re hunting for specific keywords or phrases. ChangeTower will not only identify new URLs but also generate reports of pages containing these keywords.

ChangeTower: Interface and in use

The interface of ChangeTower is extremely simple and beginner-friendly. Once you create an account (which only takes a minute, by the way), you’ll be directly led to your all-in-one dashboard.

You get various options while adding a monitor: single URL, multiple URLs, or entire domain. This is further drilled down into categories like visual monitor, SEO monitor, HTML monitor, and so on.

ChangeTower dashboard

(Image credit: ChangeTower)

On the left side of the dashboard, you’ll see a menu where you can choose between different options such as Monitors, Recent Notifications, Settings, Billing, and more.

In the center, you’ll have an overview of all your active and paused monitors, notifications, and a timeline of the past week.

Here you’ll also find a filter menu where you can assign tags such as “important” and “reviewed” to different updates and organize them accordingly.

Overall, the interface is simple, compact, and navigable—everything you need in monitoring software. There’s also an iOS app that helps you keep track of the changes on the go, which is fairly simple to use.

ChangeTower: Support

ChangeTower has a detailed knowledge base where you’ll find information about almost everything – whether that's setting up your account, managing your plans, or integrating with Zapier.

Apart from that, they also have a contact form on their website where you can submit your issues. There’s space to fill in your email ID, subject, a detailed explanation of the problem, and an attachment in case you need to explain it properly.

ChangeTower: The competition

ChangeTower is a great option for monitoring websites. But if you're looking for alternatives, Versionista and Visualping are equally good.

Verionista lets you customize things like the timing of the crawl, frequency and location of the crawl, what to look for, and what to ignore. Along with a knowledge base, Versionista also offers email support with a guaranteed response time of 12 hours. What’s more, these responses come directly from their senior engineers. However, it can be a bit more expensive than ChangeTower.

Similarly, Visualping outperforms ChangeTower with its wide array of AI features. There’s an AI tool to summarize change reports, saving you the hassle of going through it manually. It also has an AI to give you suggestions throughout the setup process to speed it up.

In addition to that, if you find a certain update alert irrelevant, you can give that feedback to the AI, and it will block all similar types of alerts in the future.

ChangeTower: Final verdict

ChangeTower is a great pick for businesses looking for a competent monitoring tool. Its free plan and customizable pricing make it perfect for budding businesses. Depending on the plan you choose, you can monitor more than 2,000 URLs, which should be enough for most businesses. In addition to live pages, you can also monitor PDFs, .txt, and .CSS files.

If you have a team-oriented organization, you can choose which team gets the change notifications. There’s an option to provide read-only access so that no unauthorized changes can be made.

ChangeTower’s interface is very simple and easy to navigate, making it beginner-friendly. The dashboard is compact, bringing everything you need on one page.

Overall, it is a good business content monitoring tool, delivering excellent value for money. However, its AI features are still a work in progress. If that’s a concern, you can consider alternatives like Visualping and Versionista.

FAQs

What is a change monitoring tool?

A change monitoring tool, as the name suggests, tracks a webpage of your choice for every single change and reports back to you about those changes. You will have the choice to determine what kind of changes you want to monitor. For example, you can monitor only content changes such as text and images, or you can make the tool look out for code changes as well. These tools also have a notification system, which makes tracking easier.

Who is ChangeTower best for?

ChangeTower is best for businesses that work in teams. You can choose which team will be notified about the changes and define the degree of access they have. Plus, monitors can be segregated using labels and categories for better organization. There’s also a free plan, and the pricing of the paid ones is both affordable and customizable.

GHD Flight review
1:00 pm | August 31, 2021

Author: admin | Category: Computers Gadgets Hair Care Home Small Appliances | Comments: Off

• Original review date: September 2021
• Replaced by the slightly upgraded GHD Flight+
• Launch price: $99 / £59 / AU$99
• Official price now: $119 / £99 / AU$160

Updated: February 2024. The GHD Flight has now been replaced with the GHD Flight+, which as of writing we've yet to get our hands on. It's more expensive than its predecessor; significantly so in the UK and Australia, but does now exclusively come as part of a gift set which includes a pretty chic protective travel case, so that's a benefit if you like keeping your kit in a good state. Its specs are slightly better compared to those listed in our original review; the Flight+ is now 49% lighter (vs. 50% previously) and 25% smaller than the GHD Air, but offers 78% of the power (vs. 70% previously). The rest of the review remains unchanged.

One-minute review

GHD is most well known for its hair straighteners. The company has spent the past two decades offering ceramic-plated flat irons, taking over from steam-powered straighteners as the must-have tool for hair styling. 

However, more than nine years ago, GHD also dipped its toe in the world of hair dryers, and now offers three different models, the smallest and most compact of which is the GHD Flight. Designed to be packed in your suitcase, the GHD Flight is 50% lighter than the GHD Air, but offers 70% of the power, at 1400W, allowing you to dry your hair in a relatively short frame of time. 

The GHD Flight comes with a folding handle, which ensures the hair dryer takes up as little space in your suitcase as possible. It operates on both 120V and 240V electrical supplies, so it really can be used anywhere in the world.

It has two temperature settings, along with a slower, cool-shot option for setting styles, and the hair dryer will automatically switch off if held too close to the hair when blow-drying to prevent overheating, too. In the box you’ll find a concentrator nozzle and a carry pouch.

At $99 / £59 / AU$99, the GHD Flight is the most affordable hair dryer GHD offers, and is ideal for those on a budget. It also makes a great additional hair dryer for those who travel, easily slipping into a bag or suitcase, safe in the knowledge that it won’t send luggage over a weight limit. However, those looking for a hair dryer with a plethora of attachments to create a wide array of hair styles might be better looking elsewhere.

The GHD Flight being held in a hand

(Image credit: TechRadar)

GHD Flight price and availability

  •  List price: $99 / £59 / AU$99

The GHD Flight is the brand’s entry-level hair dryer and is priced at $99 / £59 / AU$99. It’s available from GHD or Amazon worldwide. 

GHD also offers a mid-range hair dryer, the GHD Air, which will set you back $199 / £99 / AU$220, while it’s top-of-the-range model, the GHD Helios, costs $249 / £159 / AU$295.

The GHD Flight folded up ready for travel

(Image credit: TechRadar)

Design

  • Foldable design
  • Two temperature settings
  • Comes with one attachment

The GHD Flight is the most compact hair dryer we’ve tested to date, measuring 9.6 x 5.2 x 2.7 inches / 24.4 x 13.3 x 6.8cm (h x w x d). It’s folding handle means its dimensions come down further still to 7.9 x 4.1 x 2.7 inches / 20 x 10.5 x 6.8cm. It’s lightweight, too, coming in at just 0.9lb / 422g.

The hair dryer features a stylish matt black design, with a gold slider that lets you select one of the two temperature settings, or the cool-shot function for setting your hair after styling – a look that apes the GHD Air, although the gold band around the barrel of the Air hair dryer has been dropped in favor of a glossy black accent. 

As already mentioned, the 1400W hair dryer is dual voltage, so it can be used anywhere in the world. Simply use a coin to turn to the dial to select the correct voltage (either 120V or 240V) for the country in which you’re using it. The hair dryer has a 6ft / 1.8m cable and comes with a concentrator nozzle and a soft carry pouch in the box.

The hanging loop is also a nice touch, and is usually a feature on hair dryers used in salons. 

The GHD Flight hair dryer being held in a hand

(Image credit: TechRadar)

Performance

  • Fast drying times
  • Balanced in use
  • Automatically switches off when too close to hair

Even though the GHD Flight offers less power than some of the brand's other hair dryers, it certainly isn’t sluggish when it comes to drying times. On the lowest temperature setting, it took 5 minutes and 52 seconds to take below-shoulder-length fine hair from damp to completely dry. Using the hottest settings shaved 1 minute and 51 seconds off this time. On both settings, locks were left smooth – although they lacked the shine we’ve achieved with other hair dryers, plus there were more fly-away strands than usual.

We put this down to the lack of technology that uses negative ions to speed up evaporation and reduce flyaway strands. 

The GHD Flight felt balanced in the hand when blow-drying hair, and was comfortable to hold, both in the left and right hands (we switched hands, depending upon the side of the head being styled). The hair dryer was easy to fold into its more compact form, while the hinge felt durable and offered a reassuring click as the handle was moved. 

Also notable is the fact that the GHD Flight will automatically switch off if held too close to the hair, to stop the hair dryer from overheating. However, we were disappointed to find that the filter isn’t removable, which can make cleaning the hair dryer more difficult. 

For noise, the GHD Flight registered 77.8db on our decibel meter on its fastest setting. This puts it middle-of-the-range when it comes to noisy hair-care appliances, and is equivalent to the level of noise made by a vacuum cleaner. However, since it is likely to be on for only a few minutes at a time, it’s unlikely to bother too much.

The GHD Flight resting on the glass top of a dressing table

(Image credit: TechRadar)

Should I buy the GHD Flight?

Buy it if...

Don't buy it if...

First reviewed: August 2021

• Original review date: October 2022
• Still Laifen's flagship, but the new Swift SE provides a more affordable alternative
• Launch price: $199.99 / £175.11 / AU$297.83
• Official price now: The same

Updated: February 2024. The Laifen Swift remains to be a great Dyson Supersonic alternative, though it's far from the only one at this point. Still, it's a fraction of the price, and nearly as affordable as some of the most high-performing standard hair dryers in this list. Since our original review, Laifen has released a more affordable sister product, the Laifen Swift SE ($149.99 / £128.01 / AU$228.02), which is marginally less powerful and more cheaply made, but comes in some adorable pastel hues.

• Original review date: October 2022
• Still Laifen's flagship, but the new Swift SE provides a more affordable alternative
• Launch price: $199.99 / £175.11 / AU$297.83
• Official price now: The same

Updated: February 2024. The Laifen Swift remains to be a great Dyson Supersonic alternative, though it's far from the only one at this point. Still, it's a fraction of the price, and nearly as affordable as some of the most high-performing standard hair dryers in this list. Since our original review, Laifen has released a more affordable sister product, the Laifen Swift SE ($149.99 / £128.01 / AU$228.02), which is marginally less powerful and more cheaply made, but comes in some adorable pastel hues.

Liquid Web review
3:38 am | August 29, 2021

Author: admin | Category: Computers Gadgets Pro Website Hosting | Tags: | Comments: Off

The story of Liquid Web began in 1997 with one man by the name of Jim Geiger and his dream to create “the most loved hosting provider in the world”. Nowadays, it employs more than 500 on-site hosting professionals and serves over 500,000 customers in more than 150 countries across the world.

As its founder likes to emphasize, Liquid Web puts its focus on meeting the needs of small and mid-size businesses while keeping the customer at the center of its strategy. Liquid Web use a cloud-based infrastructure and specialize in fully managed cloud VPS and dedicated server solutions. There's no shared hosting or all-in-one website builder packages as Liquid Web don't aim their services at beginners.

Liquid Web’s head office is located in Lansing (Michigan, the USA) and their data centers can be found in Lansing (Michigan, the USA), Phoenix (Arizona, the USA), and Amsterdam (the Netherlands). If this doesn’t cover you or your intended users, worry not since Liquid Web also provides a global CDN (content delivery network) with server locations in more than 120 countries.

Liquid Web’s official site features something we haven’t seen in a while, and that is pictures of people laughing out loud at jokes they haven’t shared with us (or they may just be happy working at Liquid Web). Besides this, the site is everything you would expect from a veteran web hosting provider, professional-looking and well-polished. It also features a blog and a pretty good one to boot.

In 2024 Liquid Web underwent a rebranding and changed their logo and got a much more professional look. They also added self managed bare metal servers, managed metal, cloud VPS, and cloud metal servers to their product list

An image of Liquid Web's VPS plans

Liquid Web offers a variety of premium hosting solutions though VPS is its specialty (Image credit: Liquid Web)

Plans and pricing

Given that Liquid Web is specialized in providing powerful managed hosting solutions aimed at professionals and businesses, it’s no wonder that simple shared hosting is not an option. One of the best things about the plans and pricing is that they don't try and bait and switch you with low introductory prices and then high renewal fees. Plus, when there is an introductory offer, they still make it clear what the price for hosting is each month usually.

The smallest WordPress plan called “Spark” will supply you with the ability to host a single site, use 15GB of storage space, and 2TB of bandwidth for $21 a month.

The VPS plans are low-price but the marked price doesn't include a panel or management which can significantly increase the cost. For example the $5/mo VPS plan with a panel and full management can rise over $90/mo.

As it usually is with similar premium providers, Liquid Web offers no risk-free trials for its products but it does offer a “no-hassle” money-back guarantee for the first 30 days of use for cloud, cloud dedicated, and VPS packages. They also add that if you happen to discover that their solutions are not right for you within a few days, you can get in touch with their support staff and get your monthly investment refunded. On the other hand, if you’ve subscribed for an annual plan, you’re out of luck.

The methods of payment which Liquid Web accepts include credit cards (VISA, MasterCard, American Express, and Discover), PayPal, check and wire transfers.

Ease of use

When you’re ready, pick out a plan, a billing cycle and prepare to surrender your email address, come up with a strong password and prove to them that you’re not a robot. After this, you’ll be asked to wrap up your account with Liquid Web by providing your personal information, a phone number, and a physical address.

If there is an introductory discount for the product you are purchasing, make sure to copy the code and paste it into the appropriate field before making a buy, since it can get up to 50% off the original price for a couple of months.

There's no domain included in Liquid Web plans so this is something that you'll need to take care of yourself. Buying a domain name from one of the best domain registrars is not complicated but it can still be a little daunting for new users.

Liquid Web’s dashboard design is clean and simple, and everything you’ll need for monitoring and managing all aspects of your website (or websites) is laid out in the main menu on the left tab. If you already have a site elsewhere, Liquid Web's technical team will transfer it for you at no additional cost (you just need to ask), and this is true even if you’ve purchased their cheapest hosting package.

InterWorx

This is the user interface of InterWorx which is one of several control panels offered by Liquid Web (Image credit: Liquid Web)

As we write, Liquid Web provides a selection of easy-to-use control panels including InterWorx Unlimited, Plesk, cPanel, and WHM/cPanel, together with enough information about each of them. The panel you’re interested in will already be covered by the pricing, but only if you went with an annual or a biennial plan. However, if you want to put your technical expertise to the test, you can even choose a server with no control panel and/or choose to install your own.

Liquid Web doesn’t offer a website builder, therefore, if you want to use one you’ll have to install it on your own or use an online service such as Weebly, Wix, or Squarespace.

Performance

We used GTmetrix to test the uptime and response time of Liquid Web's main site (Image credit: GTmetrix)

Speed and experience

When Liquid Web described its solution as “lightning-fast”, it wasn’t exaggerating by any means. Before putting the speed of Liquid Web’s official site to the test (via GTmetrix) we did have high hopes, however, we didn’t expect to get thunderstruck with a perfect speed performance crowned with an A (100%) as a final score. Although the time the page took to fully load was 6.8 seconds (which is slightly above the average), all other vital web metrics were well ahead of the curve, resulting in a perfectly presentable performance.

As for uptime, Liquid Web provides an SLA-backed guarantee of 100% across the board, which means that all major routing devices within Liquid Web’s network will be available from the global internet 100% of the time. To test this out we employed UptimeRobot, a tool with which we monitored and measured the availability and responsiveness of Liquid Web’s official site for two weeks. Unsurprisingly, our report showed no traces of downtime.

The report also reveals a few major spikes in response time, but since the average one was around 107 milliseconds, these spikes can be safely ignored.

Support

If you find yourself needing a helping hand, Liquid Web’s stellar support staff can be reached 24/7 via telephone, live chat, and e-mail. Liquid Web provides a 59-second support response guarantee (for phone, chat, and helpdesk) with all of its plans, which means you’re not going to waste virtually any time waiting for help. Even Liquid Web describes its in-house support team as “the most helpful humans on hosting”, with which we can’t argue.

An image of Liquid Web's KB

You can look for answers on your own in Liquid Web's knowledge base which contains loads of helpful articles and in-depth guides (Image credit: Liquid Web)

If for some reason you want to search for solutions on your own, Liquid Web has several options on offer. The most obvious one is the knowledgebase, to which we can’t do enough justice by describing it as merely comprehensive. It comprises over 1700 in-depth guides covering everything from the most common to more complex issues, all of them described in detail and backed by suitable screenshots.

The competition

For managed cloud VPS, a fair competitor to Liquid Web would be ScalaHosting which comes out just cheaper per month but is not as flexible when it comes to plan specifications. For example, if we take a plan with 2 vCPUs and 4 GB of memory, it will cost you just under $50 at ScalaHosting a month but just over $60 with Liquid web. If you wanted to drop the RAM to only 2 GB, ScalaHosting wouldn't allow that, Liquid Web will.

Final verdict

Liquid Web are an ultra professional web hosting provider that have a lot of experience in the game. Their services have a really good reputation and you'll be hard pressed to find a winder managed product range.

Any web professional looking for managed hosting should definitely check out Liquid Web but also take a look at other providers on the market like ScalaHosting that might just beat them on price.

Vivaldi Browser Review: Features, Usage, and Competition
3:14 am |

Author: admin | Category: Computers Gadgets Pro Software & Services | Comments: Off

Need a browser to handle sensitive information? A secure and encrypted browser like Vivaldi might just be what you’re looking for.

Vivaldi might not be one of the most popular browsers, but if you’re after a feature-loaded option, it's a must-try. The browser is created by former Opera developers, and aims to add unique features and functionality on top of its Chromium-base.

It's also fast, responsive, and incredibly light on your system. Read till the end to find out more about Vivaldi and see if it's the best browser for you.

Vivaldi browser: Features

The best thing about Vivaldi is its tag management features. For starters, you can put inactive tabs on hibernation mode to save battery and free up more space. For managing multiple tabs, Vivaldi offers a separate set of features. You can open them in a split-screen view to see multiple pages at once. Or, you can also group similar tabs together in a two-way stack, keeping your workspace clean and clutter-free.

Say you want to access all the tabs you opened in one particular session — Vivaldi allows that by giving you the option to name each session. Once done, all you have to do later is type in a particular session’s name, and the tabs will be in front of you. It's the perfect feature for both students and working professionals who work on the same topic on a long-term basis.

Vivaldi comes with a built-in ad blocker, so it offers a calm and peaceful “Reader View.” This basically means that you can cut through all the unnecessary notifications, ads, and floating windows to concentrate on your work and enjoy nothing but the content you’re looking for online. It can also hide the irritating cookie banners and popups on most websites.

You can also use its “Break mode” that fades content and pauses any playing media to help you take your eyes off the screen, and relax. It also includes a mail client, calendar, and a feed reader. They are disabled by default, but you can enable them from the settings.

If you want to watch a video as you work or browse the internet, Vivaldi will put that on a floating window. Of course, you’ll be able to adjust the position of this small window so that you can look at it and still see what’s playing on the screen behind it. This facilitates multi-tasking too.

Vivaldi’s installation sharing is another benefit of using this browser. No need for multiple installations for different users — after you create a user profile, you can share the installation with other users.

If you want to check social media feeds or chat with someone as you work, you can add additional web panels on the side of the screen. If not, this space will be occupied by the default menu that lets you manage your bookmarks, downloads, and more.

The sidebar also includes a Notes feature, as well as a Translate tool. Like any modern browser, Vivaldi also has a Sync feature that allows you to synchronize bookmarks, history, passwords, open tabs, and more with other Vivaldi installations.

Another interesting feature is its support for mouse gestures. Thanks to this feature you can perform common tasks such as open and close tabs, open a link in a new tab, reload page, and more with a flick of the mouse. The browser ships with several default gestures, and you can also define your own.

Vivaldi browser review

(Image credit: Vivaldi)

Vivaldi browser: Privacy

Vivaldi does pretty well in terms of privacy and security. It doesn't track your browsing history, and according to its privacy policy, it doesn't profile and track users, nor does it collect and sell user data.

If you use the Sync option, your download history and other browser data will be synced to other devices via an encrypted channel. As already mentioned, there’s also a built-in tracker and ad blocker, plus the ability to disable all cookies from third-party sites. Also, like most of its peers, Vivaldi supports private browsing and has a very capable password manager as well.

Together, these features protect you from trackers and potential hackers who might want to break into your system.

Vivaldi browser privacy in action

(Image credit: Vivaldi)

Vivaldi browser: Ease of use

Vivaldi is quite easy to use. It’s Chromium-based and made using the latest algorithms, so the user interface won't take too long for you to master. The same goes for the Vivaldi mobile app, which is quite similar to the web version in terms of aesthetics and appeal and is just as easy to use.

After installation, it takes through an onboarding process that helps you import bookmarks and other data from other browsers, choose a theme, and more. By default it places tabs at the top, but you can also place them on the left, right, or at the bottom of the window.

The best thing about the browser is its fully functional sidebar. Besides providing easy access to the browser’s downloads, history, and bookmarks, you can also access all of Vivaldi’s most used tools from here.

We particularly like how the browser’s design is customizable, and you can experiment with multiple themes of your choice.

Vivaldi browser: Competitors

Vivaldi faces tough competition from Google Chrome, Microsoft Edge, Safari, and Opera, to name a few.

The biggest drawback of Vivaldi is that it's relatively new to the market. On the other hand, browsers like Opera, Firefox, and Chrome have been around for a long, long time. They have a strong hold over the market, making it difficult for new browsers like Vivaldi to break in.

The browser has also deliberately avoided jumping on the AI-bandwagon with its CEO saying that AI isn't a priority for them.

Vivaldi also doesn’t have extensions of its own. Instead it points users to the ones on the Chrome Web Store, thanks to its Chromium base. But this comes with a caveat—not all extensions designed for Chrome will work flawlessly on Vivaldi.

However, on the flip side, Vivaldi not only includes a free VPN like Opera and Edge, but its implementation, courtesy of ProtonVPN, is uncapped. That said, the VPN facility is currently only available on the desktop version.

Also, Vivaldi is one of the few browsers that provides a commendable environment to foster work and efficiency — it offers a separate set of task management tools that helps you manage your tabs and keep your workspace clutter-free.

Vivaldi browser: Final verdict

People who enjoy feature-rich browsers will certainly enjoy Vivalidi. After all, there’s just so much to do.

For example, it makes browsing multiple tabs more efficient through the Tab Stacking feature — group two or more tabs of the same subject together. You can also send the inactive ones into hibernation mode to save battery and CPU power.

On top of all this, Vivaldi also comes with a built-in tracker and ad blocker, which, to be fair, are available on most browsers. That said, their presence is certainly appreciated. One protects you from malicious websites that collect user data, while the latter blocks annoying pop-ups and ads that might otherwise disrupt your experience.

All said and done, thanks to the inclusion of an email client, and a feed reader, Vivaldi is designed for people who want to use their web browser for more than just browsing the web.

Also check out our roundup of the best anonymous browsers.

DreamHost Website Builder review 2025
6:28 am | August 26, 2021

Author: admin | Category: Computers Gadgets Pro Website Building | Comments: Off

DreamHost has recently revamped its approach to website building. Instead of competing with other no-code builders on our best website builders roundup, they now focus on two separate but complimentary services.

TechRadar reviewers have spent thousands of hours testing 140+ website builders, giving us deep insight into what works. While Wix remains our top pick for 2025, DreamHost's revamped service is unique enough to deserve a spot and a mention.

DreamHost now offers both an AI-powered website builder called Liftoff and a professional website service for WordPress. Both come free with any hosting plan, including the shared hosting that starts at just $2.59/month for the first year. Plus the company has been hosting websites since 1997 and powers over 1.5 million sites, so you know you're in good hands.

DreamHost Website Builder: 2-minute review

DreamHost takes a refreshingly different approach to website building. Rather than creating another traditional drag-and-drop tool, they've developed two complementary services that address different user needs. The AI-powered Liftoff builder creates complete sites in under 60 seconds, while their professional service delivers custom 4-page websites built by experts that integrate with WordPress.

Both services excel at what they do, but they're not for everyone. You're locked into WordPress, which limits flexibility compared to platform-agnostic builders. However, for small business and professional users who want WordPress, DreamHost's approach works quite well. And it's completely free if you're subscribed to any DreamHost hosting plan, which is great value.

What is DreamHost Website Builder?

Think of DreamHost's website builder as two different services rolled into one package. First, there's Liftoff, an AI assistant that asks about your business and builds a complete WordPress website automatically. You simply describe what you need, and in less than a minute, you have a fully functional site with content, images, and design.

The second option is their professional service, where DreamHost's team builds a custom 4-page website for you. You provide your content and branding, but they handle all the technical work. No dragging elements around screens or learning design principles. Everything still runs on WordPress, so you get powerful blogging features and can expand your site later if needed.

Features

DreamHost Website Builder editor

You get access to hundreds of WordPress block patterns and page templates through their Design Library, plus an AI-powered help center for support. (Image credit: DreamHost)

DreamHost's feature set focuses heavily on WordPress integration and AI assistance over traditional website building tools. The AI builder includes content generation, image creation, and automatic site structuring based on your business description. You get access to hundreds of WordPress block patterns and page templates through their Design Library, plus an AI-powered help center for support.

On the other hand, the professional service delivers more hands-off features — expert design, mobile responsiveness, SEO optimization, and hosting setup. Both services include free domain registration, SSL certificates, and unlimited traffic. WordPress integration also means you get built-in blogging capabilities, plugin support, and the ability to scale up later.

Missing features include advanced customization using animations and interactions, built-in ecommerce tools beyond WooCommerce, and support for other platforms besides WordPress. However, the pricing justifies these limitations since everything comes free with hosting plans starting at $2.59 monthly.

DreamHost's approach works best for small businesses, bloggers, and anyone who prefers WordPress over proprietary platforms. AI-powered workflows suit tech-comfortable users who want speed, while the professional service appeals to those who'd rather outsource everything. The feature set feels intentionally focused rather than comprehensive.

Tools

DreamHost Website Builder blogging tools

DreamHost's content generator integrates directly with the WordPress editor for seamless workflow. (Image credit: DreamHost)

DreamHost provides several integrated tools designed to work seamlessly with WordPress to simplify the website creation process. Each tool focuses on a specific aspect of building and managing your online presence.

Liftoff AI builder

DreamHost's new AI-powered tool creates complete WordPress websites in under 60 seconds. Simply answer questions about your business purpose and goals. Liftoff generates a personalized site with content, images, and design elements. It can also add ecommerce functionality or appointment booking systems based on your input. You maintain full ownership and can continue editing later in WordPress.

Site assistant dashboard

A personalized guidance system helps you refine your site after the initial AI-generated results. Your dashboard provides smart tasks and next-step recommendations, making it easier for beginners to improve their sites progressively. This tool bridges the gap between automation and manual customization.

Design library

Access hundreds of WordPress-native block patterns and page templates for visual customization. These professionally designed elements help you quickly modify layouts and add visual appeal without starting from scratch. The library focuses on WordPress blocks, ensuring compatibility and performance.

Professional website service

DreamHost's new human-powered service assigns a team to create a custom 4-page website (Home, About, Services, Contact) using your content and branding. This service includes mobile optimization, SEO setup, and professional design - delivered ready to launch. Perfect for those who prefer expert handling over DIY headaches.

Content creator

DreamHost offers AI-powered writing assistance for creating blog posts, product pages, and website copy. This tool helps maintain consistent messaging across your site and speeds up content creation. It integrates directly with the WordPress editor for seamless workflow.

Ease of use

DreamHost Website Builder dashboard

For advanced customization, you transition from DreamHost to WordPress's familiar interface. (Image credit: DreamHost)

DreamHost's website builder prioritizes simplicity over complexity. Once in, the control panel features a modern interface that's easy to navigate, though it heavily promotes paid add-ons which can feel pushy. Setting up a website takes less than five minutes, with an additional few minutes for server-side processing.

The AI-powered Liftoff tool eliminates traditional learning curves entirely, because you just answer a few questions about your business and it builds your site automatically. You can use DreamHost's editor to customize your AI-generated results, which uses a block-based system where you drag elements to reorder them, remove sections, or insert new ones.

You can't drag objects anywhere on the page like traditional builders, although you get decent layout control through column adjustments and block spacing. For advanced customization, you transition from DreamHost to WordPress's familiar interface.

Pricing

DreamHost Website Builder pricing

DreamHost offers three different plans for its website builder (Image credit: DreamHost)

Plan

Starting rate (paid annually)

Renewal rate (paid annually)

Shared Starter

$2.59/month

$5.99/month

Shared Unlimited

$3.95/month

$10.99/month

DreamPress Basic

$16.95/month

$19.95/month

DreamPress Plus

$24.95/month

$29.95/month

DreamPress Pro

$71.95/month

$79.95/month

VPS Basic

$10.00/month

$24.99/month

VPS Business

$20.00/month

$39.99/month

VPS Professional

$40.00/month

$79.99/month

VPS Enterprise

$80.00/month

$159.99/month

DreamHost's pricing structure follows the industry standard of significant discounts for long-term commitments. The Shared Starter plan at $2.59 monthly offers excellent value for beginners, including the free AI website builder and professional service. DreamPress plans cater to WordPress enthusiasts who want managed hosting with enhanced performance and security features.

But it's the renewal rates that tell the real story. Prices can double or triple after your initial term ends. VPS plans see the steepest increases, jumping from $10 to nearly $25 monthly for the basic tier. But, DreamHost offers a generous 97-day money-back guarantee, giving you plenty of time to test their services. Also, monthly payments cost up to 60% more than 12-month+ commitments, making longer terms essential for budget-conscious users.

Security

DreamHost Website Builder security

(Image credit: DreamHost)

DreamHost covers security basics well across all plans. You get free Let's Encrypt SSL certificates, web application firewalls, automated daily backups, and domain privacy protection. Their server-side security includes intrusion detection systems, malware scanning, and 24/7 monitoring. And the user management system lets you create role-specific accounts, so team members only access what they need.

But the catch is DreamShield, their premium malware removal tool, which costs extra at $29.99/year. With the latest updates, this offers impressive additional features like real-time threat monitoring, 30-day scan history, and color-coded security status indicators. Their new centralized dashboard gives you instant visibility into your site's security health, making it easier to spot problems early.

Support

DreamHost Website Builder support

DreamHost won both 2025 Stevie Gold and Globee Awards for customer service excellence. (Image credit: DreamHost)

DreamHost won both 2025 Stevie Gold and Globee Awards for customer service excellence. You get 24/7 live chat and email tickets, plus a comprehensive knowledge base that's actually useful. Chat support typically connects you within 2-5 minutes, where agents explain things clearly without robotic scripts. Their knowledge base covers most common issues with step-by-step tutorials.

Phone support exists but works differently, as it's callback-only and costs extra for most plans. Shared hosting users pay $9.95 for one callback or $14.95 monthly for three callbacks. Only managed hosting and dedicated server customers get free callbacks included. Email tickets get responses within an hour, though some can take up to a whole day during busy periods.

DreamHost's community forum provides additional help, though responses aren't always quick. Professional services are available for hands-on assistance with site management, SEO, and development work. Overall, support quality is solid if you're comfortable with chat and email, just don't expect free phone calls unless you're on premium plans.

Alternatives

DreamHost occupies a unique position by focusing entirely on WordPress rather than competing with general-purpose builders. This works well for users who specifically want WordPress sites but limits appeal for those seeking platform flexibility. Their dual approach targets different user types within the WordPress ecosystem effectively.

Main competitors include traditional hosts like Bluehost, HostGator, and SiteGround, all offering similar WordPress-focused services. Bluehost provides stronger beginner tools and phone support, while SiteGround excels at performance and security. For pure website building, Wix and Squarespace offer more design flexibility.

DreamHost Website Builder: Summary

DreamHost's reimagined website builder succeeds by doing something different rather than trying to beat everyone at the same game. The AI-powered approach creates WordPress sites instantly, while the professional service handles everything for users who prefer expert help.

Both options eliminate traditional building complexity, though you're locked into WordPress. Pricing remains competitive with generous renewal terms, while security and support quality cover the basics well.

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