Truehost vs Novahost Kenya: Hosting Costs and Which to Choose

Choose Truehost if your priority is a lower annual hosting bill for a small website. Shortlist Novahost if you need its advertised storage allowance or want to host more sites within one shared account. The better purchase depends on your workload and the full renewal bill, including your domain.

At the prices checked on 6 October 2026, Truehost WebHosting Starter is listed at KSh 2,500/year and Novahost Starter Cloud at KSh 2,999/year. The KSh 499 difference is small enough that a useful feature or clearer support answer could matter more than the saving.

This comparison uses each provider's current product information and Novahost's published policies. We have not purchased these accounts or measured their speed, uptime or support response times.

Quick comparison: the entry plans

We compare annual shared-hosting plans first. Both are candidates for a business brochure site, portfolio or modest WordPress project; neither should be selected for a demanding application on storage capacity alone.

The Truehost store and Novahost plans are the sources for these listings. GB and GiB use different units, so do not read the storage figures as an exact ten-gigabyte difference.

Our recommendation for a first business site

For one ordinary company website, start by checking Truehost Starter. If your files, mailboxes and application fit, the lower annual entry price is a reasonable starting point.

For a collection of sites or a larger file requirement, check Novahost Starter against your actual usage. Ask for the account's CPU, memory, inode and database limits before relying on the unlimited website allowance.

Compare the commitment, not just the monthly headline

Truehost's hosting page shows a KSh 188 monthly equivalent for a three-year Starter commitment, with KSh 6,768 paid for the term. That is different from paying KSh 188 each month.

Its separate monthly Starter listing is KSh 500/month. Twelve payments would total KSh 6,000, compared with the current KSh 2,500 annual listing. Monthly billing can reduce the initial commitment, but it increases the full-year cost at those rates.

Here is a hosting-only planning comparison. Future annual prices are assumed unchanged for the calculations; this is not a guaranteed renewal quote. Domain charges, tax treatment, optional extras and promotions are excluded.

On these assumptions, the three-year Truehost commitment saves KSh 732 against buying three annual terms at today's price. It also needs KSh 4,268 more upfront than one annual term.

For a new project, that trade-off deserves thought. If you are still choosing the software, testing the business or working with a new developer, paying for a shorter period can preserve flexibility. Once you know the account suits the site, a longer commitment becomes easier to evaluate.

Compare the same billing period on both sides. A three-year monthly equivalent should not be presented as a monthly-payment alternative to an annual plan.

Add your domain to the renewal budget

Treat the entry-plan hosting charge and the domain charge as separate costs. A free-domain banner elsewhere on a provider's website does not establish that your chosen Starter order includes one.

Novahost Standard Cloud is listed at KSh 5,999/year, with 100 GB storage and a .co.ke or .com domain offer. Consider it when its extra resources meet a real requirement. Moving up solely to obtain a domain can cost more than buying the domain separately.

The domain-renewal promise needs clarification. Novahost's hosting FAQ describes eligible domains as renewing free while hosting remains active. Its domain page says the free-domain offer covers the first year and renews at the normal price afterwards. Its service terms tie offers to the conditions of the specific package or promotion.

Before buying a bundle, ask for a written answer covering the extension, first-year charge, renewal charge and what happens if you leave the hosting plan. Use that answer in your budget. We would not treat a lifetime domain saving as confirmed from these conflicting pages.

For either provider, keep the domain registered with the correct owner details and retain access to its DNS. You can change website hosting without automatically moving the domain registration. That flexibility helps if you later need another provider.

What does unlimited websites actually give you?

A website-count allowance tells you how many sites the package lets you add. It does not tell you how much processing power those sites can consume together.

Novahost's resource policy permits restrictions when shared-account usage affects other customers. CPU and inode limits can vary by plan, and persistent background processes are generally prohibited on shared hosting.

That matters for developers hosting several client sites. Ten small brochure sites and ten busy WooCommerce stores are very different workloads. Ask how the provider handles an account reaching its limits and what an upgrade would cost.

For unrelated clients, also decide whether sharing one account is appropriate. A billing problem or account-level incident can affect several websites at once. Separate accounts or a reseller arrangement may simplify ownership, access and handover.

Use disk space for your website and mail requirements, rather than choosing the biggest number available. A site with compressed images and a small database may need much less capacity than a business keeping years of email attachments on the same account.

Backups, migration and support: ask about the task you need

Both providers advertise migration assistance. Confirm whether your current setup is eligible and whether the move includes files, databases, email and DNS work. Do this before cancelling the old account.

Novahost's terms describe shared-hosting backups as best effort and require customers to maintain independent copies. Its homepage advertises nightly backups retained remotely for 30 days. Ask what retention and restore process apply to your exact account.

For either host, a useful backup question is: “If an update breaks my site tomorrow, how do I restore yesterday's files and database, and will there be a charge?” Keep a separate copy you control, particularly before a migration or major update.

Support quality is harder to settle from a feature table. Instead of assuming a winner, ask both providers the same specific question about your application or migration. Compare whether the answer resolves the issue, names the relevant limits and explains the next step.

For a business that depends on enquiries or paid orders, clarity about recovery and escalation can be more valuable than a small difference in the annual bill.

Which provider should you choose?

Choose Truehost for a straightforward annual budget

Our default starting choice for a modest business site is Truehost Starter, provided the account fits the application. Its annual entry price leaves more of the budget for the domain, content and ongoing maintenance.

Choose the three-year option only when you are comfortable committing that cash and have confirmed the plan meets your requirements. The lower monthly equivalent should follow that decision, not make it for you.

Choose Novahost when its allowances solve a real requirement

Novahost deserves a closer look when the Starter storage or website-count allowance is useful to you. The small annual price premium can be sensible if it avoids an otherwise necessary upgrade.

Confirm the resource limits and renewal bill first. If you are considering Standard for its domain offer, resolve the conflicting renewal statements in writing before counting that saving.

Get a different plan when the workload demands it

For a busy store, complex application or several commercial client sites, obtain a recommendation based on workload. Provide expected traffic, database size, plugins and background-job requirements. Compare the resulting plans rather than forcing the project into the cheapest shared tier.

If HOSTAFRICA is also on your shortlist, our other comparison covers that buying decision.

Before you pay

Check the selected plan and billing cycle, the full initial invoice and the next renewal. Include domain costs and any optional services. Remove extras that do not serve a requirement you have identified.

Then confirm account limits, backup recovery and migration scope. Keep the quote or written answers with your order records so the person maintaining the site can find them later.

If your needs are ordinary and the annual Starter plan fits, Truehost is our budget starting point. If Novahost's allowances matter to your project, compare its Starter quote before deciding. In both cases, buy the plan that supports the work your website needs to do.

Frequently asked questions

Is Truehost cheaper than Novahost?

The annual Starter hosting listing is lower at the date checked. Compare the final invoices, domain charges and renewals before deciding which gives your website better overall value.

Does Novahost Starter include a free domain?

Its Starter Cloud listing explicitly says no free domain. Eligible higher plans advertise a domain offer, but you should obtain written confirmation of its renewal conditions.

Is KSh 188 a monthly Truehost payment?

The advertised Starter figure is a monthly equivalent for a three-year commitment. The full term is paid upfront. Select the intended cycle when checking the quote.

Which provider is faster or has better support?

We have not measured those outcomes for these plans. Storage technology and support availability claims do not establish a tested winner. Check your site's workload and obtain specific answers from each provider.

Can I move my website without transferring my domain?

Yes. Website hosting and domain registration are separate services. You can keep the registrar and point the domain to the new hosting account, while preserving the records your email service needs.