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Transfer-in your Domains for 4.99$! [ended]

Consolidate your Domains under one roof with our Transfer-In Sale

Do you manage several domains with different providers? Now is the perfect time to bring all your domains under one roof and save with Web Hosting Canada’s domain transfer sale.

In addition to easy management from Web Hosting Canada's Client Area, all domain transfers include a 1-year renewal to your existing due date, meaning you won't be penalized if your current domain registration only expires several years from now.

Domain transfers are relatively simple to perform (assuming you are the legitimate owner of the domain) and do not cause any downtime for your websites or email.

Need to transfer a website as well?

We've got you covered with free professional site transfers from any (compatible) competitor (an 85$ value!) and a free domain transfer with any new web hosting order. You simply provide us with access to your current web hosting account and we take care of the nitty gritty technical work. Start today by choosing your web hosting plan, then contact our support team to request the free migration.

Still looking for that perfect domain name?

It's never too late to find the perfect new virtual home for your business or idea. Search for a new domain name and take advantage of our huge selection and low prices, starting at 4.99$/year.

2016: Web Hosting Canada’s Year in Review

2016 was certainly an eventful year around the world, and an equally big year for Web Hosting Canada and its clients. Here’s a recap of some of the highlights:

  • WHC is Now the #1-ranked .CA Domain Name Registrar

    We're incredibly proud to have been listed the world’s #1-ranked .CA Registrar as per the Canadian Internet Registration Authority's (CIRA) December 2016 registrar ranking, beating out international hosting conglomerates for the 4th month this year.

    This achievement has only reinforced our steadfast commitment to providing Canadians coast-to-coast with the best possible experience moving into 2017. We’re celebrating (and giving back) by providing clients with heavily discounted domain registrations on .CA and several other domain name extensions.

  • Newer, better technology

    2016 was no stranger to innovation. We’ve rolled out the latest versions of CloudLinux for improved stability, the latest PHP 7 with PHP-FPM for faster performance, AutoSSL for improved encryption across our Cloud & Dedicated servers line, 2-Factor authentication for increased Client Area security, MariaDB 10.1 with MySQL Governor for improved database performance and stability, RankingCoach for better visibility in search engines, and hundreds of other under-the-hood updates and tweaks.

  • New Domain Finder with over 300 new domain extensions

    We’ve rolled out our own domain name spinner, to make finding that perfect domain name even easier. New domains like .blog, .shop, .pro, .club and .tech are reshaping the domain name landscape and providing you with shorter, catchier domain name options to better reflect your brand or product.

  • Better support, faster response times.

    We’ve nearly doubled our support staff over the past 12 months to continue providing timely, quality support to a growing customer base 24/7 in both French & English. A fast-paced growth has had its challenges, but we continue to tweak our processes and increase both our internal and public-facing knowledge base with solutions to new problems, day after day, striving to meet or exceed our support SLA.

  • Tighter partnerships – because you can’t always go at it alone.

    We’ve created or reinforced important strategic partnerships with cPanel, CloudLinux, Weebly, WHMCS, CIRA, rankingCoach and SpamExperts, to provide you with the most comprehensive and integrated experience.

  • Updated, mobile responsive Client Area

    Managing your products and services has never been easier with our revamped Client Area. Our dev team has been hard at work to ensure that your user experience is fluid and optimized, both from your workstation and mobile devices. We’ve also laid out the ground work to enable rapid deployment for new features expected to be rolled out in early 2017.

So as 2016 wraps up, we can safely say it’s been a busy year for us all. With Internet adoption continuing to rise and online sales climbing, the outlook is equally promising for 2017. On behalf of all of us at Web Hosting Canada, we look forward to another successful year servicing you and your business, and wish you and your loved ones the happiest of holidays!

If you have any suggestions, comments, or requests, our management team is eager to hear them at [email protected].

Understanding the New Domain Name Contact Information Rules

Starting December 1, 2016, a new set of rules governing domain name contact information updates, called the Inter-Registrar Transfer Policy (IRTP), is taking effect. These rules will affect how registrants can update the contact information for their generic Top Level Domains (gTLDs) such as .com, net, .org and .club (among many others). They will not affect country-code Top Level Domains (ccTLDs) such as .ca, .fr and .be.

What is changing?

  • Required Authorization. Whenever any important information is changed in your domain name’s registrant information, you will be required to confirm the request by email. Both the old registrant and the new registrant will need to authorize the change if you are changing the email address on file. If the change is not authorized in 14 days, it will be reverted.
  • Transfer Lock. A successful change of registrant will immediately enable a sixty (60) registrar transfer lock on a domain name. The old registrant or their designated agent may explicitly agree to opt-out of the lock at the time of submission or through the authorization email.
  • Email Notifications. After a successful change of registrant is processed, both the Old and New registrants are individually notified by a change of registrant confirmation email to their respective email addresses.

Why are these changes happening?

These changes are being implemented worldwide to improve the security of your domain names and to help fight unauthorized domain transfers.

How will this affect my domains with Web Hosting Canada?

Unless you’re changing your domain name’s contact information (also referred to as WHOIS information), it won’t.

Otherwise, any change (however small!) to your domain name's registrant first name, last name, or email address, as well as, in some cases, administrative contact email (if there is no registrant email) will automatically trigger the authorization process. If you don’t authorize the change within the prescribed delays, they will automatically be reverted.

By having your domain registered with Web Hosting Canada as of December 1, 2016, you are authorizing us to act as your Designated Agent. This basically means you’ll be able to enjoy a streamlined contact information change process (essentially the same process you’re already using from our secure Client Area), while still retaining full ownership of your own domain.

What if I have other questions or concerns?

As always, just get in touch with us! We’re available 24/7 to answer your questions by phone, email, or live chat.

Finding Your Perfect Domain Name Just Got Easier

Web Hosting Canada is delighted to announce the immediate availability of the new Domain Name Search tool, designed from the ground up to make finding that perfect domain name even easier.

What's new

  • Over 300 new domain extensions added (that’s nearly 400 in total)! New domains like .blog, .shop, .pro, .club and .tech are reshaping the domain name landscape and providing you with shorter, catchier domain name options that better reflect your brand or product.
  • Faster and more intuitive. Quickly browse through hundreds of results by category, add multiple domains to your cart for faster checkout and perform multiple searches from the same page.
  • Better pricing. We’ve slashed prices again as part of our commitment to being your one-stop shop for all your domain needs. If you manage 10+ domains, we’ll also be offering volume pricing (stay tuned).
  • Fully responsive. Search, register and transfer domains from your mobile device or tablet just as easily as you would on your computer or laptop.


Why Choose Web Hosting Canada for my Domain Names?

  • Experience you can bank on. We’re CIRA-accredited, in business for over 13 years, and managing tens of thousands of domains for small business, government agencies, larger corporations as well as Canadian individuals coast-to-coast looking to leave their mark online.
  • You’ll save money. Not only do we offer some of the lowest rates in the industry on registrations, transfers and renewals, but you can even get your domain name for free with web hosting.
  • It’s Hassle-free. The registration and transfer process is fast and entirely automated. Transfers cause no downtime of your website or email. You’ll be up and running in no time!
  • You’ll love the features included with every domain, including URL forwarding, DNS Hosting, DNS record management, auto-renewals and domain locking, as well as affordable add-ons such as Privacy Protection, Email forwarding and DNS Anycast technology.
  • You’d be partnering with a Canadian technology leader committed to building a better Internet in Canada. We’re constantly investing to make your services better and more resilient.
  • True 24/7 live support from qualified experts, by phone, email, and live chat (even on holidays!)


How do I get started?

Visit Web Hosting Canada’s Domain Name Search page and find the domain that best matches your business, brand, or project. Complete the short registration process and be online in minutes!

We’re upgrading all Web Hosting accounts!

Newer cPanel, PHP & MariaDB

Over the next few weeks, we’ll be upgrading web hosting accounts across all of Web Hosting Canada’s servers with several under-the-hood updates to benefit from the latest performance and security enhancements.

What’s changing?

  • For servers where the native PHP version is 5.5, we’re upgrading it to 5.6.

    PHP 5.5 has reached its development end-of-life, meaning it will no longer receive important security patches and bug fixes. PHP 5.6 is not only faster with a lower memory footprint, but it’s also more secure and better supported.
  • We’re upgrading the database version from MySQL 5.5. or 5.6 to MariaDB 10.1.

    MariaDB is a drop-in replacement from MySQL (ie, same functionality, same codebase) but offers performance and stability improvements over MySQL.
  • Upgrade of the cPanel control panel to version 60

    cPanel 60 brings several improvements and bug fixes, including improved SSL support, faster load time, lower memory footprint, improved DNS performance, and better security.
  • Update to EasyApache4 with MultiPHP Manager

    EasyApache4 brings automatic PHP updates to your web hosting servers, and gives you greater flexibility by allowing to set different PHP versions within different folders of the same hosting account (unlike the PHP selector, which sets your PHP version across your entire account).
  • New MySQL Governor module for better database resource management

    MySQL Governor, developed by the CloudLinux team, allows better resource management and control over database queries. It will optimize performance usage across our infrastructure, and reduce resource spikes caused by abusive or heavy processes in our shared environments

How will I be impacted?

While these changes will be rolled out gradually and in such a way to reduce any visible negative impact, your website or account may experience a short partial downtime while some of these components get upgraded.

As always, we’ll send out a personalized notice by email a few days prior and we’ll also take great care to perform these updates during off-peak hours. We don’t expect any of these upgrades to cause more than 30 consecutive minutes of downtime.

Do I need to do anything to prepare?

If you are currently using the default native PHP version 5.5 (or earlier) on your web hosting and are unable to upgrade to a newer version due to some incompatibility with your website or application, you’ll want to change the PHP version using the PHP Selector, available in your cPanel. Select the PHP version you wish to use, then click Save. This way, even if we change the default version of PHP on your account, your site will not be impacted.

Note: as most accounts are already configured to use the PHP Selector’s custom version, no impact or change will be felt. This would, however, be a good time to give PHP 7 a try, as it’s been known to accelerate websites’ load speeds by up to 30%! Switching is as simple as selecting it from the pulldown list of version and clicking Apply.

As always, if you use software like WordPress, Joomla, Drupal, or other popular content management systems, we recommend upgrading to their latest versions to stay on top of latest security and performance enhancements.

What if I'm a Cloud or Dedicated customer?

Then these updates might be of interest to you! Simply get in touch with our friendly support team to request a manual update of your server and we’ll gladly get you upgraded at your earliest convenience.