HostMonster Review – Web Hosting Services

If HostMonster ranking is a criterion to be considered, you should know that they are among the top hosting services providers out there. With a long history on the market, Hostmonster has been active since 1996 and many HostMonster reviews praise their services. They specialize in affordable web hosting services, while including a variety of packs in their offer. HostMonster has its headquarters in the state of Utah, and they are a part of the Endurance International Group. This HostMonster review details the services, plans and pricing of this company.Hostmonster review

HostMonster Overview

HostMonster focuses on shared hosting, and their most basic packages start at incredibly affordable prices ($4.95/mo), the cost increasing as the number of features grows. They offer a variety of facilities for even the simplest of plans, such as unlimited disk storage, unlimited domain hosting, free drag and drop site builder, email support, webmail solutions, cPanel, and more. Some of their eCommerce features include SSL secure server, OS, Agora, Cube, Zen commerce shopping carts, password protected directories, and open PGP/GPG encryption.  Most of the HostMonster review writers were impressed by the solid interface, and secure backups included with every plan. HostMonster’s solutions are adapted to both individuals and business owners.

Pricing Information

HostMonster web hosting services come in a variety of plans and can be customized to fit the particular needs of any client. They start from basic options that include a handful of features and go all the way to comprehensive plans created to host e-commerce websites or high-traffic business pages. All packages come with attractive special offers. The HostMonster review writers recommend the Pro Package for its various features. They also provide 4 VPS hosting plans that promise instant provisioning, managed services and guaranteed server resources.

Hosting Plan Price Disk Space/Bandwidth Features
Basic $4.95 / mo 50 GB / Unmetered WordPress CentOS PostgreSQL Dedicated IP, 1 website, 1 included domain, 5 email accounts
Plus $6.95/mo 150 GB / Unmetered WordPress CentOS PostgreSQL Dedicated IP, 10 websites, 1 included domain, 100 email accounts
Prime $6.95/mo Unlimited / Unmetered WordPress PHP Shell Access CentOS PostgreSQL Dedicated IP, unlimited websites, 1inlcuded domain, unlimited email accounts
Go Pro $14.95/mo Unlimited / Unmetered Everything on Prime plus a high-performance server!
Standard VPS $19.99/mo 30 GB / 1TB WordPress PHP VPS CentOS
Enhanced VPS $29.99/mo 60 GB / 2TB WordPress PHP VPS CentOS
Premium VPS $44.99/mo 90 GB / 3TB WordPress PHP CentOS Dedicated IP
Ultimate VPS $59.99/mo 120 GB / 4TB WordPress PHP Dedicated IP CentOS

A cool sign up present HostMonster promo offers all new clients one free domain name for a year, a Google Adwords credit worth of $100, and $100 free ad credits on Bing. There are also more than 70 scripts available for you to install, so you can choose from WordPress, Drupal, Joomla and a lot of other options.

Security and Risk

Security and stability do not seem to raise any problems to HostMonster. The data center located in Utah hasn’t experienced any major outages so far, as the HostMonster headquarters are powered by a synchronized system. The servers located in Utah have the latest versions of Python, MySQL and PHP, and also additional software designed to maintain information security. Security doesn’t seem to be an issue either because Host Monster has an automatic inbuilt backup system. As outlined by many HostMonster reviews, they include various security features like SSH Access, Hotlink Protection, SSL support, Spam Assassin Protection and regular site backups.

Usability and User Friendliness

HostMonster uses CPanel for site administration. This means that it is easy for users to adapt to a program they already know even if we are thinking about brand new clients or users who have migrated from another provider. Young and elder audiences can easily use the cPanel and administrate their personal account. Most of the HostMonster review writers appreciate this beneficial choice, as it spared them from the drag of learning how to use a new control panel. The HostMonster login process is a simple one, ensuring that even the not so experienced users can easily manage their website or websites without any issues.

Customer Support and Additional Information

The customer support team is generally one of the main reasons HostMonster review writers complained online. They stated that all the various support options (live chat, ticket, phone) prove to be inefficient, and the staff is unprepared to answer users’ inquiries. Anyhow, if you need to contact HostMonster through customer support, you have all the useful information below.

Overall Service Rating:

What we like: Throughout its long history, HostMonster managed to stay away from the bad press, so they are generally considered to be a viable hosting option. Most of the HostMonster review writers appreciate the design of the control panel that is functional and easy to use.

What we don’t like: A fairly great number of HostMonster review authors complained about the new policy adopted by the company since being bought by the Endurance International Group. The users find that the quality of the services has decreased significantly, some of them also noting that the customer support available is not very reliable.

Rating:
Web Hosting Package: 4/5
Security and Risk: 3/5
Usability & User Friendliness: 3/5
Pricing: 4/5
Customer Support: 2/5

Hostmonster Review

HostMonster Alternatives

If you are still not sure about HostMonster, we recommend you try one of these alternatives: InMotion, Go Daddy or iPage hosting.

Hostmonster Review

HostMonster Reviews and Complaints

Users who have written HostMonster review articles highlight the shortcomings of this provider, stressing the decrease in service quality they have been experiencing in the last years.

Greg Bowen is very critical, saying that:

Hostmonster is not a good option. They charged my PayPal long after I canceled my account. Their rep put me on infinite hold. Their servers are really slow. I would avoid them at all costs.

Phil Coles is not as harsh, but still has some complaints regarding HostMonster:

I have been with host monster quite a few years and been quite happy, but customer service has got so bad over the last year that I am looking elsewhere. I have also had some problems with their server not running my cron job and terminating my scripts before they have finished, no help or explanation given.

Hostmonster Review

 

Verdict

If you are searching for an extremely affordable option, HostMonster is worth a try, with a variety of hosting features and plans, and solid security. Thank you for reading our HostMonster review, and please comment if you have experience with this provider.


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