I build small sites for friends and local shops. I live part-time near Haarlem. So yeah, I care about fast sites in Holland. I’ve tried a few hosts. I’ve moved sites. I’ve broken a few, too. Here’s what actually happened. If you’re after an even deeper dive into the nitty-gritty of Dutch servers, I put together a separate walkthrough of my benchmarks in “Web Hosting in Holland: My Hands-On Story” over at this extended version.
Why Holland? Simple: speed and trust
Most of my visitors are in the Netherlands. When the server is close, pages load fast. Like, you click, it’s just there. Also, folks use iDEAL. Dutch hosts make that easy. I like that data stays in the EU. And I can get a .nl domain without a fuss.
I speak Dutch okay. But I write in English. So I need support in both. Dutch hosts usually do that. Handy, right?
During my benchmarking spree, WebSpaceHost surprised me by offering Amsterdam-based performance that kept pace with the strictly Dutch providers.
The four hosts I used (and how it went)
Vimexx — the soccer club site
I set up a WordPress site for a youth soccer club in Utrecht. Nothing fancy. News, match times, a small photo page.
- One-click WordPress install worked fine.
- Free SSL turned on in two clicks.
- Email was the pain. SPF and DKIM made me sweat. Their support sent me the records and a short note in Dutch and English. It took 20 minutes to fix.
Speed felt good. Using a simple theme, the home page loaded in under one second for me in Leiden. Pingdom (Stockholm test) said 0.9s. I know, tools vary. But parents stopped asking, “Why is it slow?” So I relaxed.
What bugged me: the panel has lots of little buttons and upsells. Not wild, just busy. Uptime over six months: 99.95% on my tracker. Two short blips at night.
If you’d like a deeper data-backed perspective, check out this in-depth review of Vimexx’s hosting services that benchmarks their performance, customer support quality, and overall user experience.
TransIP — my friend’s bike shop (VPS)
My friend runs a bike shop in Leiden. We sell parts online with WooCommerce. I used TransIP BladeVPS because we needed more power than shared hosting.
- I picked Ubuntu, installed Plesk, and used Redis cache.
- Free Let’s Encrypt SSL, HTTP/2, the whole deal.
- Daily backups saved me once. A plugin update broke the cart. I rolled back in five minutes. Felt like magic.
King’s Day sale? Traffic spiked. The site held fine. The cart stayed fast. Locals told me, “It’s snappy.” Love to hear that.
What bugged me: reverse DNS was a head-scratcher. Their docs helped, but still. Also, this is not “set and forget.” It’s a VPS. You do the updates. You watch the logs. If that scares you, pick shared hosting.
Unsure whether BladeVPS is really the right tier? This article comparing TransIP’s BladeVPS and PerformanceVPS options breaks down the specs and pricing so you can choose with confidence.
By the way, when I later spun up a tiny side project using Ruby on Rails, I leaned heavily on the tips from this Rails web-hosting guide that actually worked for me—it translated surprisingly well to the TransIP setup.
Antagonist — the quiet one
I hosted a photographer’s portfolio from Rotterdam on Antagonist. Very clean panel. Very steady.
- WordPress install was plain and smooth.
- The site felt calm, even with big images.
- I switched PHP versions to fix a gallery plugin. Took 30 seconds in the panel.
Uptime for eight months: 99.98% on my side. No drama. The only thing? Support is ticket-based. No phone. They replied same day for me, often within an hour. Clear English. Polite Dutch. I can live with that.
Greenhost — for privacy folks
A small NGO I help wanted a green host. We used Greenhost. They care about privacy. They use green power.
- The control panel is simple. Not cute. Just clear.
- Mail migration felt slow one afternoon. Support explained IMAP sync, gave steps, and it finished fine.
- The site isn’t heavy. It stayed fast for Dutch visitors.
What bugged me: fewer bells and whistles. If you like “fancy,” you may miss it. But for NGOs and artists, it’s a fit.
Speed, in plain words
- On Vimexx (shared), simple pages loaded under one second for me in Holland.
- On TransIP (VPS with cache), the shop home hit about half a second on my tests.
- Antagonist felt steady. Not flashy. Just fast enough, even with big photos.
- Greenhost was fine for light sites.
Your theme and images matter more than you think. A bloated theme can make any host feel slow. I learned that the hard way. Twice.
Support: did they show up?
- Vimexx: chat and tickets. My fastest reply was 7 minutes. Most were 15–30.
- TransIP: tickets with clear steps. More technical tone. Good docs.
- Antagonist: tickets only, but calm and sharp answers.
- Greenhost: friendly, slower during lunch hours, but thorough.
I paid with iDEAL for all. Invoices had BTW listed. Yearly plans were cheaper. Month-to-month cost more, but I used it while testing.
Some of my younger clients prefer to hash out last-minute logo tweaks over Kik rather than email, so I keep this handy directory of Kik usernames on standby; it’s an updated list that helps me find or share public handles quickly and keep the project moving.
When the same clients want to amplify a flash sale beyond their usual social feeds—say they’re targeting U.S. shoppers in smaller desert towns—I point them toward the hyper-local classifieds scene at this Apple Valley Backpage alternative, where they can place a free listing and tap into a ready-made audience without burning budget on bigger ad networks.
Little snags I met
- Email DNS records made me grumpy. SPF, DKIM, DMARC—set them, or mail lands in spam. All four hosts support this. Ask support for exact records. It saves time.
- Backups are not “set once.” Check them. I do a weekly test restore on a subdomain. Sounds nerdy. Saves tears.
- .nl domain moves need an auth code (from SIDN process). I once waited a day. My fault. I forgot to unlock the domain at the old place. Oops.
Who should pick what?
- New blog or club site: Vimexx or Antagonist. Easy, cheap, fast enough.
- Small store with bursts: TransIP VPS (if you can manage it). Or start on Antagonist and move later.
- NGO, artist, privacy-minded: Greenhost.
Quick tips I wish I knew sooner
- Use a light theme. I like GeneratePress and Blocksy.
- Turn on caching. Even basic cache helps.
- Compress images. TinyPNG is my go-to.
- Add SPF, DKIM, and DMARC on day one.
- Keep plugins lean. Fewer is faster.
- Test from Europe. I use Pingdom (Stockholm) and WebPageTest (Frankfurt).
Final take
Hosting in Holland has been good to me. Local speed is real. Support feels human. Bills make sense. Sure, each host has quirks. But my sites stayed fast, and my friends stayed happy. You know what? That’s the whole game.
If you want easy, pick Antagonist or Vimexx. If you want power and don’t mind work, go with a TransIP VPS. If you care about privacy and green power, try Greenhost. Keep your theme light, your backups close, and your coffee Dutch. Works for me.