1.7
POOR
  • User Friendly
    1.6
  • Support
    1.6
  • Features
    1.8
  • Reliability
    1.6
  • Pricing
    1.7
Write Review Visit HostMonster

HostMonster Review - Expert and User Insights by Paid Customers

Pricing Range

Shared Hosting $4.95 - $6.95
VPS $29.99 - $119.99
Dedicated Server $109.99 - $209.99

Data Centers

Frank Kruemmel

Pinned Review

Frank Kruemmel,
5.0
We use Hostmonster for our webhosting. Our company does optimization, content writing etc. Hostmonster is a great company from a web professional's opinion. I am more technical and Hostmonster has not passed the buck on me yet.
Jane Woh
Jane Woh from Netherlands,

They don't know what security means

1.0
I didn't even want to give one star on Support and Reliability, but it's required. but my real score is negative 100 points.

funny tip: if you type "refund" in the chat, it leads you to q&a page repeatedly, even you paraphrase...Read More. but once you type "renew" or "purchase new service", assign the human assistant to you right away.

I gave up my server to my ex and I told Hostmontser to delete my credit card info, but they still charged $422 me a year later. and no refund was accepted. I know giving up the server to other people is not safe, but I explained the situation and told them to delete all my info, but still kept my card info and let him use. this is definitely against the privacy policy. They kept saying "We emailed the notification to the primary email" but the primary email and the server is not mine anymore, and how could I know that?

also they allow you to change the primary e-mail of not even your server. I didn't even contact to my ex, but once I talked to ownership@hostmonster.com with my ID copy, they set my email to the ex's server. I also told them that security-wise this is questionable and it's not comfortable to take over someone's server, but they ignored my concern and kept telling me, "to get refund, you need to change the primary email." (Although even after I changed following their rule, they still refused to return my money. such an unnecessary and uncomfortable step for nothing) anyway, according to my case, I don't think they know what the security means.

also their mail server sucks. constantly having problem to sending and receiving. they give you the temporary solution like setting the security lower or MX or SPF, and almost once a month having the same problem, but all they did is giving you the same solution over and over, and no further action was made. Yes, service sucks.

If you still want to get the server from them, all I can say is just good luck.
Less
Antonio Cobo
Antonio Cobo from Colombia,

BAD service

1.0
Websites, emails, database all time has a problem, different with each support agent at the same day. No solutions applied, and repeats each week. Totally poor service. i have this hostmonster account about 11 years ago
Ken Moore
Ken Moore from United States,

LOUSY SERVICE!!!!

1.6
They messed up my account and then they put you on horrible wait music while they mess it up even more! I could get NOWHERE with them. They will not let me fix the problem on my end. Am ready to shut down account. Been on the p...Read Morehone with them for 3 hours now! Worse than dealing with Social Security!
DO NOT USE THIS SITE The quality has gone down. They used to be good. NO longer!
Less
David Hamilton
David Hamilton from United States,

After ten years, they lost me as a customer forever

2.4
It is pretty uncommon that I give bad reviews online, but I'm making an exception here.

I've recommended Hostmonster / Bluehost in the past as a viable option for people looking for cheap shared hosting. I regret it. This compa...Read Moreny's policies are terrible and absolutely put the bottom line in front of customer happiness. I have a defunct account on Hostmonster. There are no domains currently pointing to it. I thought the my billing information had been removed when I sold my company but my old business credit card was still on file. Hostmonster ran my card for one year of hosting at $443. I called today to try to get at least *some* of that money refunded since I will not be using their service at all and they are charging me for an entire year. But since it is five days after the start of the new year for the account (and only two business days after my credit card statement) according to company policy I am out an entire year of hosting costs. They can't even issue a partial refund for the 12 unused months.

I asked if there was anyone else I could talk to. I asked to talk to their customer retention department. I explained that I don't use this credit card anymore and didn't even get the statement until after the 16th. But they are insisting that it is company policy and there's nothing they can do. So, I unequivocally do NOT recommend their services. I went from a happy customer of almost a decade to a furious former customer over the course of an hour.

This is absolutely not how you run a business.
Less
mike walker
mike walker,
You have the right to contest the charge with your credit card bank. Any order placed on a US credit card which does not have your signature - so that is internet orders, or over the phone - is subject to immediate chargeback. The...Read More merchant does not get a chance to give their side of the story to the bank.

It's months ago for you now but still it's worth you calling your credit card bank. Tell them the charge was put through without your approval.
Less
Mark Denman
Mark Denman from United States,

Stayed too long

1.4
When I started my business, Hostmonster was great. No problems whatsoever. Support, uptime, cost...everything was just fine. Price hikes began to happen every year. Support fell off tremendously and so many malware attacks bas...Read Moreically shut my site down. I had to leave. I was with them, by that time, for about 12 years. They made no effort to understand why or change my mind. I think they know why people leave. A2Hosting is home now.Less
Rich Storah
Rich Storah

Real Scam, Beware!!!

1.0
I purchased a domain from them last week for $99.9. I discovered that the domain was inactive. When I contacted their online chat agent, I was instructed to purchase a special host, but I informed that I do not have purchase a hos...Read Moret at an extra cost and demanded the refund of my payment, but they instantly refused to chat with me and a day after they deleted my account with them, so I am unable to sign in or communicate with them to further request for a refund.
If I had read the reviews here, I wouldn't have patronized them. The guys there are pure scam.
Less
Jon Labaj
Jon Labaj from United States,

after 10+ years, I cut the host monster cord today

2.4
In the beginning host monster was amazing, affordable, friendly customer service, fast site, and cutting edge tech. Within the last few years the prices went higher and higher while the service, support, experience fell apart. Mas...Read Moresive price increases with no new features. When I cancelled today the customer support rep didn't even ask why? I would think after 10+ years they would at least ask or try to convince me but I guess its too common to care.Less

Expert Review

Idan Cohen
Idan Cohen
Marketing Expert

Overview

HostMonster: In Group of Cheapies with Good Basics

HostMonster is a part of a ring of hosts that are all owned by a guy named Matt Heaton, and they all basically provide the same features and support, just in different packages, with a different photo on the homepage. Other web hosts in the group:  BlueHost, FastDomain, and Just Host. So when you’re shopping around those four sites, you’ll realize that it’s all one operator.

One of the group’s big selling points is that they are cheap and are completely American-run with zero outsourcing. You get all the typical unlimited basics: domains, email accounts, disk space, and bandwidth, plus you get a free domain. They’re so confident you’ll be happy, there’s an anytime money back guarantee.

7.1

Good

Rated by Idan Cohen

  • User Friendly
    5

  • Support
    6

  • Features
    10

  • Reliability
    6.5

  • Pricing
    8

Uptime & Reliability

Excellent Reliability

HostMonster doesn’t throw out a promise of a number, but our testing shows basically perfect uptime. This is probably due to its back-end protections, like SSH access, spam blocker IP deny, and leech protect. These technologies are a step above the usual cheap host offerings, and it means more stability at a lower price.

Features

70+ Features

HostMonster boasts of an impressive selection of features – more than 70, at last count. That’s more than double some hosts, and the selection can be a little overwhelming.  However, pay close attention to the Terms of Service—this is where they stipulate limits for things like mysql tables, total number of files—and since every email you receive is counted as a file, there is really no such thing as ‘unlimited email space.’

In addition to the basics, there are some great options for e-commerce, blogs, media management, free search engine submission, and $100 Google AdWords credit to launch your first online advertising campaign.

Feature Description
Bandwidth You are allowed unlimited bandwidth with all HostMonster accounts.
Disk Space You are allowed unlimited disk space with all HostMonster accounts.
Website Builder HostMonster includes a slim version of Weebly for free, but if you want over 6 pages on your site, you have to pay for it. Also, with a single click, you can install simple site-builders like WordPress with a single click..
Email Accounts You are allowed unlimited email accounts with all HostMonster accounts.
Shopping Carts HostMonster gives you the option of OS Commerce Shopping Cart or Agora.
Stats Track your site traffic with Awstats or Webalizer.
MySQL databases Although all HostMonster accounts have MySQL, it’s not clear how many databases are allowed.
FTP Account You are allowed unlimited FTP accounts with all HostMonster accounts.
Multiple Domains You are allowed unlimited domains on each HostMonster account.

Support

Not Many Self-Help Options

If you’re a self-learner, you might find the company lacking. The Help Center doesn’t have a great selection of video tutorials, and the User Forum is unimpressive. For someone who prefers to poke around to find the answer, this isn’t the best option.

The email-based ticket system is responsive, and wait times for live chat and live phone calls are quite slow.

Pricing

Price Break with 3-Year Contract

Although the service offerings are basically identical, HostMonster is a bit less expensive than BlueHost, and a bit more expensive than JustHost. If you want to work with HostMonster, you get a price break with a 3 year contract.

You also get the common free domain when you purchase hosting for one year.

There is also a “pro” version that offers better performance, but this isn’t necessary for typical individuals and small businesses.

User Friendly

Easy Signup, Easy to Use

Registration is pretty easy, but the company opted to do that sneaky thing of automatically checking some add-ons, so if you don’t pay attention and uncheck them, you’ll be paying for stuff you didn’t necessarily want. For example, SiteSecure is automatically selected. Not cool.

Thankfully, HostMonster utilizes cPanel, which is a relief to those used to its interface. One nice feature about HostMonster is that you can access the cPanel before purchasing, so you can get familiar with it and be sure you like that layout before forking over the cash.

On the downside, HostMonster lets cPanel get a little overburdened with promotions, so it seems a bit cluttered. On the upside, applications like WordPress can be installed with a single click.

Summary

HostMonster is one of four sites providing the same features, just priced slightly differently, with different breaks at different contract lengths. For people who want to rely on live help, this is a great option, but if you want a deep pool of knowledge available on videos and a user forum, you will be disappointed.

PROS

  • Free domain with 1-year contract
  • Economical pricing
  • American live support
  • Money back guarantee, anytime

CONS

  • Big price break only at 3 years
  • Small video tutorial library
  • Small user forum
  • Poor customer service
  • Long wait time for support

HostMonster Prices, Plans & Features - 2023

Shared Hosting Plans

Plan Name Space Bandwidth Panel Number of Sites Price Score
Basic 50 GB Unlimited cPanel Unlimited $4.95 2.1 Details
Plus 150 GB Unlimited cPanel Unlimited $6.95 1.5 Details
Prime Unlimited Unlimited cPanel Unlimited $6.95 1.1 Details

VPS Hosting Plans

Plan Name Space CPU RAM OS Price Score
STANDARD 30 GB - 2 GB $29.99 1.7 Details
ENHANCED 60 GB - 4 GB $59.99 1.7 Details
PREMIUM 120 GB - 6 GB $89.99 1.7 Details
ULTIMATE 240 GB - 8 GB $119.99 1.7 Details

Dedicated Server Plans

Plan Name Space CPU RAM OS Price Score
STANDARD 500 GB 2 x 2.30GHz 4 GB $109.99 1.4 Details
ENHANCED 1000 GB 4 x 2.50GHz 8 GB $159.99 1.7 Details
PREMIUM 1000 GB 4 x 2.50GHz 16 GB $209.99 1.0 Details

Check Similar Hosting Companies:

  • 11
    FastComet
    Money Back 45 Days
    Expert Review
    4.8
    FastComet Reviews 1505 reviews
    Starting Price
    $2.19 / mo
    18 Hosting Plans
    12 Data Centers
    check
    Fast SSD Storage for CMS Website Speeds
    globe
    Powered By 11 Enterprise-Class Datacenters
    cpanel
    Manage Unlimited Domain Names with cPanel
    Visit Site
  • 0
    Hostens
    Money Back 30 Days
    Expert Review
    4.4
    Hostens Reviews 246 reviews
    Starting Price
    $0.90 / mo
    21 Hosting Plans
    1 Data Centers
    database
    Up to 80 GB Disk Space,16 TB Bandwidth
    check
    Offer One Of The Cheapest Prices On The Market
    check
    24/7 Customer Support Service
    Visit Site
  • 1
    Webdock
    Money Back Anytime
    Expert Review
    4.8
    Webdock Reviews 99 reviews
    Starting Price
    $3.23 / mo
    16 Hosting Plans
    2 Data Centers
    vps
    Linux VPS Hosting With Instant Provisioning & Built-In Scaling
    check
    Three Green-Energy Data Centers, Including Mumbai, India
    shield-alt
    Awesome Control Panel, Lots Of Free Backups, Root Access, High Baseline Security & DDoS Protection
    Visit Site
  • 3
    Hostwinds
    Money Back Anytime
    Free domain
    4.7
    Hostwinds Reviews 1161 reviews
    Starting Price
    $4.99 / mo
    37 Hosting Plans
    4 Data Centers
    globe
    Enterprise-Level Solutions with Personal-Level Support
    server
    Fully-Redundant Servers with 2N Redundancy Standards and T1 Carriers
    check
    Award-Winning Web Hosting services suitable for Personal and Business use
    Visit Site

Web Hosting in Compare:

Select at least 1 more company to compare
Cancel Compare