HostPowr vs Combell
The largest Belgian host, founded in Ghent in 1999 and now part of the team.blue group, running its own control panel from Belgian data centres.
Combell is the closest thing Belgium has to a default hosting choice. It started in Ghent in 1999, grew into the largest host in the country, and in 2019 merged with the Dutch TransIP Group and the Italian Register Group to form team.blue, one of the largest hosting groups in Europe. It was the first Belgian host to certify against ISO 27001, and it holds ISO 9001 as well. On the questions a Belgian buyer usually asks first — is the company local, are the servers in Belgium, can I phone someone — Combell answers well, and we are not going to pretend otherwise.
Two structural differences separate us. The first is the control panel. Combell states plainly on its own site that it built its own and does not use cPanel, Plesk or DirectAdmin on shared hosting; cPanel is offered only on VPS and Cloud servers. HostPowr runs cPanel on every plan. That is not a claim about which panel is better — it is a claim about portability. A cPanel account can be handed to any other cPanel host as a standard archive. A proprietary panel cannot, so leaving means rebuilding rather than restoring.
The second is how the price is quoted. Combell publishes both figures on its own pricing page, which is more transparent than most: the first year and the renewal. The gap between them is large, and it is the single thing a Belgian buyer comparing us should look at before anything else. Our pricing has no first-year rate — the number you sign at is the number you keep paying.
HostPowr
- NVMe SSD on all plans
- EU data sovereignty guaranteed
- 30-day money-back guarantee
- Free SSL + domain (annual)
- n8n automation hosting
- One-click WordPress
- cPanel on hosting plans
- Transparent renewal pricing
Combell
Best for: Belgian businesses that want the incumbent — a large local provider with phone support, ISO 27001 certification and two decades of Belgian trading history behind it.
Pros
Cons
HostPowr vs Combell, side by side
Structural differences between the two products. Every row is a feature you can verify on either provider's own site.
| Feature | HostPowr | Combell |
|---|---|---|
| Where your data is stored | Belgium and Finland, on hardware we own | Belgian data centres |
| Control panel | cPanel on every plan — portable to any other cPanel host | Combell's own panel on shared hosting; cPanel on VPS and Cloud only |
| Account portability | Standard cPanel archive, restorable anywhere | Proprietary panel — an account move is a rebuild |
| How the price is quoted | One rate; 10/15/20% off for 1, 2 or 3 year terms | A first-year rate and a separate, higher renewal rate |
| Renewal pricing | Renews at the rate you agreed for the term | Renews substantially above the first-year rate |
| Certification | GDPR-aligned with a published DPA and SLA | ISO 27001 and ISO 9001 certified |
| Automation hosting | Managed n8n from €19/mo, no per-execution billing | Not offered as a managed product |
| Support languages | English, Dutch and French, replies within two hours | Dutch, French and English, 24/7 by phone and email |
What each one costs
HostPowr
Shared hosting at €6/mo, or €4.80/mo effective on a three-year term — and it renews at that rate.
Combell
Business advertised at €5.99/mo for the first year, renewing at €19.49/mo. Professional €8.99/mo renewing at €27.99/mo. Expert €14.99/mo renewing at €45.99/mo. Both figures are published on Combell's own pricing page.
Compare the renewal rates, not the first-year rates. Combell's entry plan starts below ours and renews at roughly four times our monthly price — and Combell publishes that second figure openly, which is more than most hosts do. The first year is the promotion; every year after it is the actual cost.
Combell pricing last checked August 2026, from their public pricing page. Prices change — verify both before deciding.
Which one should you actually choose?
Choose Combell if
- You want the established Belgian incumbent, with the trading history and scale that brings
- ISO 27001 or ISO 9001 certification is a procurement requirement you must satisfy
- You need Microsoft Exchange, Microsoft 365, colocation or OpenStack alongside your hosting
- 24/7 telephone support matters more to you than the renewal price
- You want a single supplier for a large and varied stack, and are willing to pay for that
Choose HostPowr if
- You would rather pay one rate than a first-year rate followed by a renewal three times higher
- You want cPanel, so the account stays portable and leaving is a restore rather than a rebuild
- You want managed n8n automation hosting, which Combell does not sell as a product
- You want the engineers who run the servers answering the ticket, not a tiered support desk
- You are already past your Combell first year and have seen what the renewal actually costs
Moving from Combell to HostPowr
Because Combell runs its own control panel rather than cPanel, there is no standard archive to restore — our engineers rebuild the account and copy the files, databases and mailboxes across by hand. It is free on every plan, and the site is stood up on a staging URL for you to check before DNS moves. Two Belgian-specific notes: bring your .be domain across at the same time or point it at us and move it later, either works; and if you are mid-term, check what you have already paid for, because there is rarely a reason to cut over before your renewal date. The renewal date is usually the right moment to move.
Questions about Combell and HostPowr
Our verdict
Combell is the Belgian incumbent and deserves that position — local data centres, ISO 27001 and 9001, 24/7 phone support, and twenty-five years of trading. If certification is a procurement requirement, or you need Exchange and Microsoft 365 from the same supplier, choose Combell. HostPowr is the better fit when you want one price rather than a first year and a renewal three times higher, cPanel so the account stays portable, and support from the people who run the servers.