Aruba Review
Aruba is Italy's default host for a reason: unbeatable first-year bundles, green Italian datacenters and legally required PEC email under one roof. Accept the renewal jump and the dated interface going in.
Review last updated 2026-08-20 · How we rate hosts
Scorecard
Pros
- Extremely cheap first year with unlimited storage and traffic on shared plans
- Italy's dominant host, with one of Europe's largest green datacenter campuses
- Daily backups, SSL and antivirus filtering included on every tier
- Certified PEC email for Italian legal requirements, a feature US hosts cannot offer
Cons
- Renewals of three to six times the first-year price, billed annually
- Dated panels and an Italian-first experience that can feel clunky in English
- Performance is unremarkable; no NVMe story on shared plans
- Add-on pricing (extra databases, more mail space) accumulates quickly
Aruba plans & pricing
Promotional monthly rates as of August 20, 2026; most require the listed prepaid term and renew at the higher rate shown. Confirm on Aruba's site before buying.
| Plan | Intro price | Renews at | Storage | Sites | Bandwidth | Notes |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Hosting Linux BasicShared Hosting | $0.90/mo12 mo prepay | $3.20/mo | Unmetered SSD | 1 | unmetered | EUR 9.90 first year then EUR 34.99 per year, excl. Italian VAT |
| Hosting Linux EasyShared Hosting | $0.90/mo12 mo prepay | $5.50/mo | Unmetered SSD | 1 | unmetered | Renews at EUR 59.99 per year excl. VAT; adds unlimited mailboxes and MySQL; first-year promo varies |
| Hosting Linux AdvancedShared Hosting | $7.30/mo12 mo prepay | $7.30/mo | Unmetered SSD | 1 | unmetered | EUR 79.99 per year excl. VAT; includes 20 GigaMail boxes and 5 certified PEC addresses |
| Cloud Server Smart SCloud Hosting | $3.10/mo | $3.10/mo | 20 GB SSD | unmetered | Approx EUR 2.79 per month on Aruba Cloud; not verified on review date | |
| Domain + EmailEmail Hosting | $0.90/mo | $0.90/mo | Approx EUR 9.90 per year domain-plus-mailboxes bundle; not verified on review date |
Our Aruba review
Aruba is to Italy what IONOS is to Germany: the incumbent that hosts a huge share of the country's domains, websites and certified email from its own datacenter campuses. Founded in 1994, it runs one of Europe's largest datacenter facilities at Ponte San Pietro, powered by renewable energy with its own hydroelectric plant and solar arrays on site.
The shared hosting proposition is aggressive first-year value: EUR 9.90 plus VAT buys a year of Linux hosting with unlimited storage, unlimited traffic, a domain, SSL and daily backups. Renewals reset to EUR 34.99 or more per year depending on tier, which is still cheap in absolute terms but a jump worth planning for since everything bills annually.
What no US competitor can replicate is the Italian institutional layer. Aruba is a major provider of PEC, the certified email that Italian law requires for businesses, plus SPID digital identity and long-term document preservation. For an Italian company, consolidating hosting, PEC and domains at Aruba is the path of least resistance, and often a legal necessity anyway.
On GDPR and sovereignty Aruba is a flagship: Italian company, Italian and Czech datacenters, and a founding force behind European cloud initiatives. Its green credentials are also substantive rather than cosmetic, with self-generated renewable power at the main campus.
The weaknesses are experiential. Panels and workflows feel a generation older than Infomaniak or one.com, English-language polish is inconsistent, and shared performance is adequate rather than fast. Support runs around the clock but is at its best in Italian.
Shared renewal pricing was verified against Aruba's published price list; first-year promos change frequently, and the Cloud Server and email bundle figures are approximations flagged in their notes.
Notable facts
- Italy's largest hosting and domain company, founded 1994
- Runs one of Europe's largest datacenter campuses, powered by renewable energy including its own hydro plant
- Major provider of PEC certified email required for Italian businesses
At a glance
| Founded | 1994 |
|---|---|
| Headquarters | Ponte San Pietro, Italy |
| Data centers | Italy, Czech Republic |
| Hosting types | Shared Hosting, Cloud Hosting, Email Hosting |
| Starting price | $0.90/mo |
| Support | phone, tickets (24/7) |
| Free migration | No |
| Green hosting | Yes |
Frequently asked questions
What is PEC and why does it matter?
PEC (Posta Elettronica Certificata) is legally certified email that Italian businesses are required to have. Aruba is one of the largest PEC providers, and its Advanced hosting bundles PEC addresses in.
How much does Aruba hosting cost after the first year?
Linux Basic renews at EUR 34.99 plus VAT per year, Easy at EUR 59.99 and Advanced at EUR 79.99. First-year promotional prices are much lower and change often.
Bottom line
Aruba is Italy's default host for a reason: unbeatable first-year bundles, green Italian datacenters and legally required PEC email under one roof. Accept the renewal jump and the dated interface going in.
Check current Aruba pricing →
