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HostMonster is an embarrassing attempt at web hosting, with a lackluster feature set, low-speed mediocre customer support, and we're wondering how they became a sister company to BlueHost.
In search of answers, we have been a paying customer of HostMonster for over a year, purchasing their shared hosting plans and continuously monitoring important metrics such as uptime and page load times, and this review relies strongly on the test data we obtained.
What is HostMonster
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Some things get better with time, but sometimes, things don't always work out that way.
HostMonster was founded in 1996, which makes it one of the oldest hosting providers in the industry. To get real data, we purchased the cheapest shared hosting plan, created a basic WordPress site, and then conducted detailed performance tests and monitored the site for various statistics such as load speed, uptime, and other important metrics.
Has the management experience gained over the years given HostMonster a competitive advantage? Or have they, like many other brands acquired by Endurance International Group (EIG), declined in performance? Let's find out!
Benefits of HostMonster
Usually, we have high expectations of industry veteran brands, and HostMonster was once a hot brand, now owned by the largest group in the industry. They still offer some good stuff, and here are the main benefits we found.
- Average uptime
According to our long-term analysis, the industry average uptime is about 99.94%. HostMonster is slightly above this standard, with an average uptime of 99.96% over the past 12 months, which is not bad.
- Good customer support
During our review of HostMonster, their live chat support representative was able to establish a connection in less than three minutes and answer most of our questions in less than two minutes. Compared to some of the top hosting providers (including sister company BlueHost), this speed is not amazing, but it was enough to help us move forward.
While phone, email and live chat support is available, there is a lengthy verification process that may not be convenient enough for some users.
- Reliable security options
HostMonster offers a variety of different security options to help protect your site and prevent attacks by malicious programs.
Incredibly, the primary way hackers attack WordPress sites is through vulnerabilities in the hosting company before insecure themes and vulnerable plugins, a natural result of the large number of third-party tools trying to work together in a rapidly evolving environment.
By providing a variety of useful security features such as hotlink protection, SSH access, SSL support, regular site backups and spam comment protection to name a few, HostMonster does a great job at it.
- Instant configuration and quick setup
If you decide to use their VPS or dedicated server, then you can get into shape quickly with instant configuration.
This is good news for those who want to start their business quickly (or are located outside of the U.S. region) because you don't have to go through long phone calls for verification or other audits. Instead, your server can be ready instantly in a matter of seconds.
Like many other web hosting providers, HostMonster is offering a free domain name with all of its new plans!
Disadvantages of HostMonster
So far, we have had a good experience, but some have not. We take our detailed attention to security very seriously to ensure that our customers' websites are safe and secure enough. Before deciding on your next web host, let's see what negative aspects of HostMonster are worth noting.
- average page load time
Over the past 12 months, HostMonster's average page load time has been slightly higher than the industry average (890 milliseconds), but that's okay, it's not the worst we've seen.
- Misleading pricing that requires long-term commitment
HostMonster does not offer a true month-to-month purchase plan, with a minimum requirement starting at 12 months, and to make matters worse, this option is also more expensive.
If you wish to use the promotional prices shown on the website, then have to pay in full upfront for a three year hosting plan. That's a really big commitment when you don't know if you'll like them or not. Unfortunately, this pricing strategy is standard practice in the hosting space.
- Hidden Costs
Sadly, there are also some hidden costs that may surprise you.
First of all, the promotional prices are only applicable to the purchase of a new plan, when the plan expires and needs to be renewed, you will have to pay the expensive regular prices. Secondly, the free domain name is not completely free and if you decide to cancel your account, the domain fee will not be refunded.
HostMonster's prices
The following is a brief overview of HostMonster's hosting plans.
Basic
$4.95/month
- 1 site
- 50GB of storage space
- Unlimited traffic
- Free SSL Certificate
- 1 free domain name
- 5 parking domains
- 25 sub-domains
- 5 email accounts
- 100MB of space per email account
- View Details
- Plus
- $6.95/month
- 10 sites
- 150GB of storage space
- Unlimited traffic
- Free SSL Certificate
- 1 free domain name
- 20 parking domains
- 50 sub-domains
- 100 email accounts
- 500MB of space per email account
- Marketing fund worth $150
- Additional features worth $24/year
- Spam Protection
- View Details
- Choice Plus
- $6.95/month
- Unlimited Sites
- Unlimited storage space
- Unlimited traffic
- Free SSL Certificate
- 1 free domain name
- Unlimited parking of domain names
- Unlimited subdomains
- Unlimited Email Accounts
- Unlimited space per email account
- 200 worth of marketing funds
- Additional features worth $80/year
- Spam Protection
- Domain privacy protection
- CodeGuard Basic Backup
- View Details
- Domain name: free for life
- Account registration: very easy
- Payment method.
- Account activation: instant activation
- Control panel and dashboard: cPanel
Summary
Admittedly, HostMonster's performance is very average, with decent customer support, but it's hard to impress. In our page load speed tests, their overall performance was below the industry average, which is a huge problem because visitors don't have the patience to wait for a slow site.
In addition to that, you will encounter some common pricing tricks. Simply put, for the same (or lower) cost, there are many better web hosts waiting for you. For example, our reviews show that BlueHost, SiteGround and Hostinger are better solutions in almost all categories, and we recommend that you try one of these companies before trying HostMonster.
- Established: 1996
- Lowest price: $4.95/month
- Uptime: 99.96%
- Page load time: 998 milliseconds
- Hosting plans: web hosting, VPS, dedicated servers
- Customer support: live chat, phone, knowledge base
- Control backend: cPanel
- Payment method.
- Money back guarantee: 30 days