Another EIG owned hosting brand, HostMonster offers shared hosting, VPS and dedicated servers. They also provide Linux hosting, which is something nearly all owners of starter websites need. Are they any good? Let’s go through our findings.

Hostmonster offers their basic hosting package for special price of just  $3.95 per month (36 months sign up)
+ a FREE DOMAIN NAME worth $15. When you visit the site, it will say $4.95, but once you start the sign up process, a pop-up will appear with the $3.95 per month offer.

Here’s what you get for just $3.95 per month.

A FREE domain name
5 Email Accounts
Fast, high quality & reliable web hosting
Free Site Builder
One-click WordPress Install and 24/7 support.

When you’re searching for the right web hosting service for your site, you will likely encounter HostMonster at some point. As one of the oldest providers that’s still in operation, HostMonster is a staple in the industry. The company has been around through all of the changes and evolutions that have shaped the Internet as we know it today.

But does that mean that HostMonster’s service is any good?

HostMonster offers many different plans for bloggers, small businesses, and large corporations. With so many providers on the market today, it’s important that you take a close look at what companies can do for you. Check out our HostMonster review to get a better idea of what the provider brings to the table and how it stacks up.

As with their sister brand, Bluehost, their data center’s location is in Provo, Utah. What’s interesting is a significant portion of their branding replicates that of JustHost and Bluehost.

Even though one of my long-standing clients uses HostMonster, it hasn’t been until now that I’ve written about them. I decided to structure my review with pros and cons both from a consultant and customer point of view.

About Hostmonster – History & Background

HostMonster was first established in 1996. Back in its early days, the provider put a lot of focus on creating simple personal sites. The company made a name for itself by providing regular Internet users with a quick and easy way to make sites that could be shared easily.

Eventually, their services evolved to accommodate companies that were moving to the World Wide Web to do business. To this day, HostMonster offers solutions for businesses of virtually any size. They currently offer shared hosting, VPS hosting, dedicated server hosting, and cloud hosting. All their plans use the Linux platform and servers located in Provo, Utah.

In 2015, HostMonster was acquired by Endurance International Group. Also known as EIG for short, this large company actually owns and operates some of the industry’s leading providers. Some of HostMonster’s sister sites include HostGator, BlueHost, FastDomain, and more. As of 2019, EIG owns 83 different brands.

HostMonster’s parent company is an important factor to consider. Many resources and policies are shared across all of the corporation’s brands. EIG has a somewhat contentious reputation among Internet entrepreneurs. Brands that are purchased by EIG tend to go through a lot of changes that rub members the wrong way.

Pros Of Hostmonster

HostMonster is no rookie when it comes to web hosting. With over two decades of experience behind them, there are many things that the company does well.

While there are a plethora of reviews available online for HostMonster, the majority of them are user-generated based on personal experience or anecdotes. Even though this approach is okay, I prefer to take a different approach regarding my reviews. As I’ve mentioned in my previous reviews, there’s no such thing as a web hosting service that’s “the best” in comparison to others. However, this is one that’s “the best” when it comes to being the right fit for your budget, goals, project, experience, and expertise.

Pricing That’s Short-Term

Even though I’m going to cover their pricing and plans in the cons section, it’s worth mentioning here. HostMonster’s plans and pricing work as a disadvantage to consumers. However, they will provide deep discounts during the first year for each of their products.

For those who are attempting to save a significant amount of money during their first year starting their website, HostMonster will typically place discounts on their Basic Plans for $3.95 monthly and their Plus plans for $5.95 monthly.

It’s crucial for consumers to take into consideration what they’re receiving in comparison to what they’re paying. However, for those who are beginning with a website that’s small, these deep discounts are advantageous.

Reliable Uptimes

One of the biggest advantages that HostMonster offers is reliability. The web hosting service has a great track record when it comes to uptime. Uptime refers to how often the service and equipment are operational. While most providers do all that they can to make sure that servers are always in good working condition, things do happen from time to time.

When the server that your site is hosted on goes down, it’s not accessible to visitors. This downtime could lead to a loss of income and some damage to your brand reputation. So, it’s always important to consider how a provider does at keeping their data centers running smoothly.

HostMonster does not provide an uptime guarantee like other companies do. But, the provider performs quite well in this department. HostMonster offers a slightly higher uptime percentage than the industry standard of 99.94 percent.

User-Friendly Backend

If you’re not the most tech-savvy person, having a simple backend is crucial. Many hosting providers have their own proprietary control panels to give you access to all the things that you need to do. Unfortunately, custom control panels force you to learn a completely new system.

HostMonster uses cPanel. cPanel is a control panel that’s very easy to use. It has a graphical interface that lets you perform many tasks from one place. The great thing about cPanel is that it has been around for a very long time. It is considered to be the standard that all hosting control panels need to be modeled after. If there are certain aspects of the system that you don’t understand, you can find answers to your questions by performing a quick Google search. Or, you can take a look at the HostMonster.com homepage. There’s a link to test out cPanel and learn more about how it will be used with your service.

HostMonster integrates billing information and account settings into this control panel, too. Once you sign up for your hosting account, you are brought to cPanel right away so that you can get started on publishing your site.

One-Click Installs

As mentioned earlier, HostMonster is owned by EIG. While there are plenty of advantages and disadvantages of that, one perk is worth mentioning. HostMonster members have access to the MOJO Marketplace. MOJO Marketplace is a separate service that offers plug-ins, unique themes, apps, and scripts that you can use on your site. It’s owned by EIG, so you can take advantage of its installer with any of HostMonster’s hosting packages.

Most of the products you’ll find on MOJO Marketplace are completely open-sourced. You can use them to customize the way your site functions. Make your site stand out with a unique WordPress theme. If you own an e-commerce store, provide your customers with the convenience of a virtual shopping cart. The options are limitless.

With a single press of a button, you can install your preferred content management system as well. Whether you favor WordPress, Joomla, Drupal, or any other CMS, every part of the installation process is taken care of. This ensures that your site runs like it’s supposed to.

Unmetered Bandwidth

When you see the word “bandwidth” in the context of web hosting, it refers to the amount of data that can travel between your visitor’s device and the server. Even if you’re not providing download links for large files, data is used up each time someone visits your site.

Having unmetered bandwidth is a huge advantage that HostMonster offers. Despite how much people use the Internet to communicate and gather information, there are a lot of providers out there that still use strict data caps. With HostMonster, this isn’t something that you have to worry about. Best of all, it applies to all hosting packages.

It should be noted that HostMonster does not provide unlimited bandwidth. Their service is unmetered. This means that they don’t keep track of how much traffic is going to your site. It doesn’t mean that you’re free to use as much bandwidth as you want. Servers have a set amount of resources. According to the fine print of the service agreement, HostMonster can close an account if it uses up too many resources. This is especially true with shared hosting plans, as resource hogging can result in poor performance for other sites.

Great Security Features

Online security is something that many site owners fail to think about. It’s not just Internet users who are vulnerable to attacks. Malware, DDOS attacks, and hackers are a very real threat. To keep all your hard work protected, you need to have many different forms of security.

Many of HostMonster’s plans include a slew of security features that you can take advantage of. Every site comes with a free SSL certificate, which encrypts the data connection between the servers and your visitors. More expensive plans come with features like SpamExperts to keep your inbox clean, SSH Access to encrypt remote access connections, and HotLink protection to prevent other domains from linking out to your site.

All these security options can be used to create a safe digital space for you and your audience.

Solid Support

Every hosting company needs to have a top-notch support team for when things go awry. Regrettably, some providers missed that memo. HostMonster does a pretty decent job when it comes to providing customers with the help they need. It’s not perfect by any means, but the support team is relatively easy to reach.

HostMonster offers a toll-free number for customers within the United States. There’s also have a dedicated line for international customers. The phone line is not open 24/7, but there is a status indicator on HostMonster.com that lets you know when they’re open. Also available is e-mail support and live chat support. Both of these methods are available around the clock.

The quality of the support team can be a bit iffy. Some HostMonster reviews provide praise while others do not. It seems that the level of tech support you can get is rather inconsistent.

One big plus for HostMonster is their help center. The company has a large knowledge base that provides answers to many common questions. There are also detailed guides and video tutorials on how to perform specific tasks. To find the information that you need, there’s a convenient search engine as well.

Cons Of Hostmonster

Now that we’ve gone over some of the things that HostMonster does right, let’s get into the negative aspect of the service. Even with all the company’s experience, there are plenty of areas that need improvement. It’s important to keep the following issues in mind if you’re considering HostMonster for your hosting needs.

Some of them are valid, while there are others that are anecdotal. Either way, I’ve compiled some cons during my experiences with HostMonster hosting.

Confusing Pricing Structure

One of our biggest complaints with HostMonster is the way that they price and advertise their plans. On HostMonster.com, you’ll see an advertisement promoting a low monthly price. In reality, using the service for an extended period of time is going to cost you a lot more. Web hosting is an ongoing investment. When you compare the overall cost of this provider’s plans, it starts to become less appealing.

The advertised prices you see on the company’s website are for new customers only. HostMonster offers some significant savings to attract new members. But, that price only applies to your first billing cycle. Once you have completed your first membership term, you will need to pay the normal prices. We’ll get into the cost breakdown of each plan a bit later, but you’ll quickly find out that the regular price is significantly higher.

To make things even worse, HostMonster doesn’t offer a true month-to-month plan. The company only has plans that last for 12, 24, or 36 months. Most providers offer single month plans, so this is a big negative for HostMonster. When you create your account, you must pay for the entire term up front.

Like other hosting companies, you can save a bit of money by choosing a longer commitment term. However, this is where things start to get a bit misleading. You see, HostMonster does provide you with the normal rates when you first sign up. This is to show you how much you’re saving with the promotional period. But, those prices are all displayed as “monthly” costs. Furthermore, the advertised regular price is for the three-year plan.

As you can see, HostMonster has made its pricing structure unnecessarily complicated. The company’s true pricing information can be found on their website. Though, you have to do a bit of digging to find it. The fact that the company advertises monthly prices without actually giving you the opportunity to pay on a monthly basis is a bit deceiving.

Slower Connection Speeds and Subpar Performance

HostMonster falls behind some of its competitors with speed and performance. While it may not seem like a huge issue at first, you need to consider how your site’s performance affects the browsing experience. People don’t want to wait for a page to load. Even a couple of seconds of delay will cause many web users to search for an alternative site to visit.

Considering that you have to pay good money to use the service, your web hosting company should be able to provide you with reliable performance. Unfortunately, HostMonster simply isn’t capable of achieving the speeds that you need.

Additional Fees for Important Features

As if HostMonster’s pricing wasn’t complicated enough, there are extra costs that you have to take into account. Many features that are readily available from other providers are locked behind a paywall at HostMonster. You have to pay extra fees to take advantage of SiteLock security, make regularly scheduled site backups, and a selection of other add-ons.

Migration Charge

If you already have a site and are looking to move to HostMonster, you may have to pay a hefty migration fee. The company charges $149.99 to migrate up to five sites to their servers. Most providers will perform this task at no extra charge. It’s a great way to attract new customers who are looking for better service. For some reason, HostMonster doesn’t see it that way.

You are allowed to perform the transfer on your own using FTP, or File Transfer Protocol. Though, this can be risky if you’re unsure of what you’re doing. That’s why companies offer migration help.

On top of that migration charge, HostMonster has some pretty strict terms to go along with that service. According to the Website Transfer Agreement, they don’t hold any responsibility for any errors that occur. So, if the data transfer is unsuccessful, you’re out of luck and $149.99 in the hole.

No Free Trial

Having the ability to see if a hosting service is right for you can save you a lot of time and money. HostMonster doesn’t have a free trial that you can use. While that’s not unheard of in this industry, this fact holds a bit more weight with this company.

As we mentioned earlier, the shortest service contract you can sign up for is 12 months in length. Even with the promotion, you’re going to have to pay over $50 just to test the service out.

HostMonster does have a 30-day money-back guarantee. If you realize that the hosting service is not for you, you can contact the customer support department to request a refund within the first 30 days. But, there are some limitations.

The biggest is that you’re charged for your domain. The company offers a free domain for your first year of service. When you cancel your plan, the original costs of that domain registration are taken out of your refund. The good news is that you can keep the domain and use it elsewhere. The bad news? New domains can’t be transferred to a new registrar for 60 days.

Hostmonster Pricing – What You Get For The Money

There are a couple of different types of hosting options offered by HostMonster. We’re going to be taking a look at their shared hosting plans, which are ideal for smaller sites that can be easily managed alone. Currently, the provider has four different shared hosting tiers. Every plan includes unmetered bandwidth and access to a simple website builder. Additional features and limitations vary from plan to plan.

Basic Plan

The Basic plan is ideal for those who are just getting started. HostMonster limits you to a single website with 50GB of disk space. Like all the plans, this tier comes with a free domain during your first year and a free SSL certificate. It also includes 25 subdomains, five parked domains, and up to five email accounts with 100 MB each.

Promotional Price
$4.95 per month during your first term

12-Month Plan
$10.99 per month billed as one payment of $131.88 every year

24-Month Plan
$9.99 per month billed as one payment of $239.76 every two years

36-Month Plan
$9.49 per month billed as one payment of $341.64 every three years

Plus Plan

This plan offers more resources and some additional perks. Instead of being limited to one site, this plan includes the ability to create up to ten. To store all of your files, the provider gives you 150GB of storage. In addition to the free domain name, you can also get 50 subdomains and 20 parked domains.

Email capabilities are increased as well. The plan includes 100 email accounts and 500MB of storage for each one. SpamExperts is thrown in as well for convenience. Finally, HostMonster includes $150 worth of marketing offers.

Promotional Price
$6.95 per month during your first term

12-Month Plan
$14.99 per month billed as one payment of $179.88 every year

24-Month Plan
$13.49 per month billed as one payment of $323.76 every two years

36-Month Plan
$12.49 per month billed as one payment of $449.64 every three years

Choice Plus Plan

The Choice Plus plan is the ultimate consumer-level plan offered by HostMonster. The previous plans had limitations on how many sites you can create and how much storage you could use. For this plan, everything is unlimited. This includes unlimited email accounts, unlimited domains, and more.

HostMonster gives you some additional perks as well. With this plan, you can get $200 of marketing offers and the SpamFilter filter. There’s also access to CodeGuard Basics to make backups and domain privacy features for one domain.

Promotional Price
$6.95 per month during your first term

12-Month Plan
$16.99 per month billed as one payment of $203.88 every year

24-Month Plan
$15.99 per month billed as one payment of $383.76 every two years

36-Month Plan
$14.99 per month billed as one payment of $539.64 every three years

Pro Plan

The Choice Plus plan is the ultimate consumer-level plan offered by HostMonster. The previous plans had limitations on how many sites you can create and how much storage you could use. For this plan, everything is unlimited. This includes unlimited email accounts, unlimited domains, and more.

HostMonster gives you some additional perks as well. With this plan, you can get $200 of marketing offers and the SpamFilter filter. There’s also access to CodeGuard Basics to make backups and domain privacy features for one domain.

Promotional Price
$6.95 per month during your first term

12-Month Plan
$16.99 per month billed as one payment of $203.88 every year

24-Month Plan
$15.99 per month billed as one payment of $383.76 every two years

36-Month Plan
$14.99 per month billed as one payment of $539.64 every three years

Accepted Forms Of Payment

HostMonster will accept credit cards from Visa, Master Card, Discover, and American Express. While the provider does not accept wire transfer payments from your bank, you can use PayPal Instant payments. This method involves using your bank account to make a payment through PayPal. Currently, HostMonster won’t accept PayPal payments that use funds in your account. They have to come from a credit card or bank.

Other accepted payment methods include purchase orders, checks, and money orders. The two latter options are reserved for US-based members. Mailing addresses can be found on the company’s website.

Hostmonster Comparisons

I’ve worked with several well-known web hosting company as a consultant and as a customer. Therefore, I’ve compiled a list of how HostMonster compares to each of them directly.

HostMonster vs. GoDaddy

GoDaddy is a prominent name in the hosting industry thanks to its long history of online and offline ads through TV and print advertising. Even though the company has undergone significant improvements since 2013, it still shares many of HostMonster’s pros and cons. While I don’t believe either of them is an optimal choice, HostMonster has the edge over GoDaddy in my opinion. However, for those who are already comfortable with the services provided by GoDaddy, I would recommend sticking with them. DRAW

HostMonster vs. Bluehost

Endurance International owns HostMonster and Bluehost, which are sister brands. The same datacenter is shared by each company. Users will also find that their plans are the same, as well. When getting down to the bottom of it, I would select Bluehost. Endurance has chosen them as one of their marquee brands and, out of the two, they’re receiving the most attention in comparison to HostMonster. Bluehost WINS.

HostMonster vs. HostGator

HostGator, like Bluehost, is very well known in the hosting industry as far as brands go. Because they’re also owned by Endurance Internation, HostGator is another sister brand of HostMonster.

Similar brand names ( Gator & Monster ) however that’s where the similarity ends. Operations for HostGator occur out of Houston, the company has a different brand focus, and users will find a different pricing structure. The company’s primary focus is on starter websites. Therefore, they offer better features at more affordable prices. Because they provide monthly billing options, it makes them a more optimal choice. I’d select HostGator between the two based on their affordability and billing options, not to mention Hostgator’s superior load speeds. Hostgator WINS.

HostMonster vs. iPage

iPage is the last sister brand of HostMonster’s that I’ll mention. I’ve also reviewed them elsewhere on my website. As with HostMonster, they’re another hosting service Endurance Internation seems to have forgotten. Users will find that iPage offers must deeper discount in comparison to HostMonster. However, when looking at the backend options, HostMonster’s is slightly better. If I had to make a choice, I would probably select iPage even though neither of them is optimal in my opinion. iPage WINS

HostMonster vs. InMotion Hosting

What’s most significant about InMotion is that it’s an independent hosting company that’s owned by employees and not a large corporation. It’s also one of the largest and fast growing independent hosting companies in the industry. I’m currently running this site’s VPS server using InMotion. The company has better performance, pricing, and support in comparison to HostMonster.

Do I Recommend HostMonster?

Short answer is no. There’s much better hosts out there for the money like Bluehost, Hostgator and Hostinger.

HostMonster is a prime example of how age and experience don’t necessarily translate to better service. Despite the company’s history, HostMonster hosting service is average at best.

The provider does do some things very well. It’s an easy-to-use service that lets you get your site up and running in only a few minutes. However, the negative aspects greatly outweigh  the positive ones. HostMonster suffers in terms of performance. With the high costs of membership, misleading advertisements, and questionable policies, I don’t recommend HostMonster to anyone who needs solid hosting that they can rely on.

There are more than enough options when it comes to web hosting. You can easily find a provider that will give you more features and better performance at much lower prices.

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