People often look to experience when selecting companies that they are going to work with, and HostMonster has been around and performing well for a long time. Founded in 1996, the company has since merged with EIG. This happened in 2015. Many WordPress websites have been hosted here, as well as numerous other types of sites. In this review, I am going to take a look at the speed, uptime, customer service, and features, among other things. Tracking information over a period of time, the data here will help you decide if it is the top web hosting company for your particular needs. There are numerous pros and cons to the website, which I will cover here.
Knowing what services are offered is an integral part of deciding which web hosting package to purchase. There are a few different plans, each of which has benefits. The least pricey plan on the list is the Basic Plan, which is a little more expensive than the lowest level plans at other services but provides some useful extras. This plan offers 50 GB of storage and comes with unmetered bandwidth. This is more storage than the lowest tier other sites offer. Also, this plan gives a free SSL certificate as part of the account price as well. Many companies look to upsell their customers for this feature, and it can cost quite a bit of money.
Knowing pricing is essential to those looking for powerful web hosting. The basic plan at HostMonster starts at $4.95 per month. It comes with a free domain, instant setup, one-click installs, and free site builders. The website uses the Mojo Marketplace. Other plans that are available include the Plus plan and the Choice Plus plan. These plans cost more money but provide more services and have more perks. All of the accounts here come with a free SSL certificate, which is a significant benefit for companies.
Each of these plans also includes one domain, and the Plus and Choice Plus plans include the ability to build unlimited websites. Website space for the Plus and Choice Plus plans are unmetered, bandwidth for all three is unmetered, and there many other perks when it comes to domains, subdomains, and e-mail accounts. Domain privacy and protection are included with the Choice Plus plan.
Another available plan is the Go Pro plan, which starts at $14.95. With this plan, you get a high-performance server, a dedicated IP, an SSL certificate, domain privacy and protection, and website backup. The other plans that are found here do not include backups, and there is a $1.99 per month charge if you would like to purchase it. Another note to be aware of is the migration costs at HostMonster are not cheap. Some companies offer website migration for free, and HostMonster is not one of those websites.
There are a few upsells that the site presents. This can add to the price of the plans overall. Each plan does get cheaper with longer terms. Also, the first year a person has a plan, the cheapest it will be. When users go to renew their plan, they will find that the price has jumped. The very cheap web hosting plan prices listed on the first page of many websites are specials that people get for the first year. The following year, prices will see an increase. HostMonster is one of the websites that does this. You can find websites that have price lock guarantees reviewed here at HostingGuy. This has a lot of benefits to it but does not affect some people when it comes to making their choice.
In addition to shared web hosting rates, which are the ones found above, VPS hosting is also available at HostMonster. This was not always offered, but now you can get instant provisioning, managed services, and guaranteed server resources from the packages. There are four plans available in this category: Standard, Enhanced, Premium, and Ultimate. With each of these plans comes more features, storage space, and more. The standard plan starts at a rate of $19.99 per month. This is dual-core, with 2 GB of RAM, 30 GB of storage, with 1 TB a month. An IP is included with this plan.
Going up one level to the Enhanced VPS plan from HostMonster, there are upgrades bringing it to 4 GB of RAM, 60 GB of storage, and 2 TB per month. Two IP’s are included with this plan level. From there, plans can move up to having a triple-core, quad-core, having more RAM, more storage space, and more terabits per month. The most IP’s VPS plans at HostMonster will have is two.
HostMonster provides great uptime with 99.96%. This is over a long period of time tested and this one of many reasons that people love utilizing the service. This site is also one of the few sites I’ve tested recently that has had 100% uptime for a month straight over the last few years.
Unlimited domain hosting and unlimited disk storage are fantastic features that HostMonster offers, and there are more. The company can support international domain names, offers multiple e-mail support options, allows great access to domains, subdomains, add-on domains, and more. There are e-commerce features here as well, and a free SSL Secure Server is included with each plan. There are also multimedia features, CGI/databases, and other world-class technology with these plans.
The VPS plans utilize cloud technology to offer more features and more options. The company is continuing to expand what it can offer as technology improves. Having the ability to grow into the future is essential, and this type of hosting can make it easier.
Some people like more control, and Enhanced cPanel Control Panel, as well as Guaranteed Server Resources, Instant Provisioning, and Multi-Account Management, are also available. VPS plans have several features that can help you break barriers and create a website that has the speed and reliability you want easily.
The support at HostMonster has benefits, though it can be inconsistent from one customer service agent to another at times. All agents were able to answer basic questions about my needs. The company offers customer service over the phone, though the process for verification is lengthy and can take a few minutes to complete. This is not appealing to some website users who want to get their problems taken care of more quickly. Some users have praised this longer verification process and stated they believe that it is a benefit to the overall security of their site.
I took a look at other security at HostMonster and was impressed. There are a few security options that users can choose from to help protect their websites. Keeping malicious people and programs at bay is essential. Many people are not aware WordPress websites that get hacked often have vulnerabilities with their hosting companies. Insecure themes and vulnerable plug-ins are also ways that a website can be hacked. HostMonster has defenses against this and includes several security features such as SSL Support, regular site backups, Spam Assassin Protection, SSH Access, and others. Each of these things benefits customers.
While there are many positives to HostMonster, there are also other things that should be considered. Many web hosting providers have misleading pricing where the price a person pays for the first year is not the same prices they will pay forever. People using these websites can see their prices jump in the second year of use. HostMonster has lower pricing for the first term that rises after it ends.
There are some hidden costs and fees associated with getting a web hosting plan at HostMonster. Outside of this, the page load speed for this company is lower than many other providers. The company charges for backups, as well as migration costs, which not all sites do. HostMonster does have instant provisioning, fast set up, good value in terms of storage and free SSL certificates, plus support that does get the job done.
There are a few things that can cause pause here for some users. Customer service could see some improvement, there is a relatively high average page load time overall, and the company does charge for backups and migration costs. These extra charges can add up. There are many sites that offer less storage, however, with their basic plans. Outside of this, most other websites do not offer a free SSL certificate at these lower price points. If you are okay with higher renewal costs overall, HostMonster could be a service for you. Some websites do not see website speed as a larger consideration, and for people with whom this applies, and who also need an SSL certificate, HostMonster can be the right choice. Comparison-shopping for web hosting can help you with the best rates on packages available. Take the time to explore multiple reviews on this website; some websites are better than others for specific needs and circumstances.
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