rSitez Review | By: JuanBenitoBlanco

This community software review will talk about a hosted community solution with name rSitez. First of all let me explain what “hosted solution” means. Hosted solution means that the files of the software are being hosted on the servers of the company. In most cases it means – no source code is provided. You’ll just be able to manage your web-site through the admin panel of the software. Hosted solutions have one advantage – you'll not need to pay additionally for a hosting account and there is no need to administer a server, the company will take care of it. However there is a disadvantage too. You'll not have any control over the files on your server, the source is not accessible and you'll not be able to make any changes and modifications in the software. rSitez states to be an unbranded solution, means you’ll be able to put your own logo and remove the name of the software from your site. Let's continue rSitez review.

License types/pricing.

Well. I’m a little bit confused with pricing of this software. I’ve never seen a hosted solution which is so expensive. Now you’ll understand what I mean.

	Gold	Platinum	Entrepreneur	Corporate	Enterprise*
Monthly Price	$29.95	$69.95	$225	$1,500	$3,500
Set up fee	$65	$150	$995	$5,000	$50,000+
Users Included	10,000	100,000	1 Million	1 Million	Unlimited
Disk Space included	50 GB	120 GB	400 GB	1,000 GB	Unlimited*
Bandwidth included	100 GB	250 GB	600 GB	1,000 GB	2,000 GB
Services
Support	Knowledge Base	Available	Priority	Priority	Priority 24/7
Use your own domain name	None	Your own domain	Your own domain	Your own domain	Your own domain
Account Manager	None	None	None	Included	Included
Remove rSitez links	None	$20/Month	$20/Month	Included	Included
Hosting (Server)	rSitez server	rSitez server	rSitez server	rSItez server	Your choice
Custom development	Available	Available	Available	Available	Included*
Custom Web Design	None	Available	Available	Homepage / Logo	Included*
SEO	None	Available	Available	Available	Available
Community Management	None	None	Available	Available	Available
Integrate with external software (CMS, etc)	None	None	Available	Available	Available

Well. Concerning the license types. What does rSitez mean with “Users Included”? Are those fakes or the quantity of users which can register at your web-site? If those are fakes, what does “Unlimited” mean under Enterprise license type? Unlimited fake accounts? Funny… And the pricing… The cheapest license type costs 29,95 USD a month, more 65 USD you’ll have to pay as a setup fee. And the most expensive license type costs 3500 USD a month and 50 000 USD for the setup!!!! OMG, what will they setup if they charge 50k dollars? If even they are going to set up a dedicated server, it costs not more than 250 USD. So, they’re going to set up for you 200 dedicated servers!! Pretty interesting, a community site on 200 dedicated servers. Don’t think that MySpace.com has 200 dedicated servers or this software is worth to pay so much money for it, just for the setup. After the pricelist I’m near to close this page and delete this community software review, but will not do it as I don’t like to stop in the middle of something.

System requirements.

As it was stated before, this is a completely hosted solution. You'll not need to get a hosting account so there is no need to mention any system requirements here in rSitez review.

Look/layout of the software.

There are 4 “featured demo sites” shown on the Demo section of rSitez web-site. I'll be using the first one. I doubt that anybody will pay 50 000 USD setup fee and 3500 USD a month for something like this: Unshiny design, simple CSS based layout. I would like to meet the person who has written that blue text on black background. Maybe he can explain why he has chosen that colour… One field is larger than the other. This is a minor thing, but a lot of people worldwide will leave such a web-site just after they've seen it. Let's register and see how it works. rSitez didn't provide with any kind of demo usernames and passwords to test the web-site.

Registration.

The same we can see here. Would be better if the fields had the same length. I can only guess that this field is for the username. Where is the text? Filled in the forms, clicked on Sign up and got the following: Have never seen such a statement after the registration. It doesn’t say what I’ve done incorrectly or something like that, just says – Unable to create profile, please try again. Pretty professional… Got the same error the second, third and etc. times. Couldn't register to test this software. I’m sorry for that…

Admin panel.

rSitez doesn't show the admin panel demo. Pretty strange solution, isn't it? Not possible to register on demo, admin panel demo is not available. Then what the customer should pay money for when he even can't test the software?

Usability.

What can I say about the usability when the demo site doesn't work at all? Doesn't accept registrations and rSitez's site doesn't contain any demo username and password to test the software? The software seems to be too unprofessional. Seems there's nobody to support even the demo sites.

Custom design.

rSitez states to provide the customers with custom design services, but I couldn't see any examples of the designs which they've created.

Support.

Support is included in the price starting from Platinum license type. But didn't find a members' area or a support phone number. The web-site of rSitez doesn't have a live chat possiblity too. Have to finish this community software review. Too poor, unprofessional and expensive software.

President CEO/Founder | By: Diane Uzelac | Aug 19, 2009
I signed up for the rSsitez program in January 08'. Since then the lack of service... has been more than frustrating. I made the mistake of paying a year in advance. This site is not user friendly. After sale customer service is a "negative ten" -10... They have no op...
Read more>>