Just as HostMonster shares packages, prices, and features with BlueHost, they also share another feature which is the so-called “throttling.” Throttling allows to reduce the amount of resources used by a particular site. What does it give you? For instance, if they decide that your neighbor is consuming too much resources, it can be temporary restricted for the sake of restoring the equal rights of all shared server dwellers. The bad part is that HostMonster may not always correctly identify the website that consumes excessive resources. It means that the site that doesn’t cause a problem may suffer.
With Hostmonster, it is also possible that you can download too many files; the limit on the “unlimited” number of files is 200,000. Exceeding this limit may result in a decrease of the performance level of your site.
As claimed by Hostmonsters, their site works well for everyone, starting with business owners and ending with individuals who need a full functionality operating with a limited budget. You can check the full list of multimedia, e-commerce, hosting and other features on the official homepage at www.hostmonster.com.
Now, let’s make a review of key indicators that we used to evaluate the performance of a given provider.
1.Uptime – 99.5%
We have taken our time to carefully evaluate the average uptime of the website throughout the year. The results are satisfying with an uptime of 99.5%, which however, is not so great if you translate it into yearly terms. It means that your site might be down for 43.8 hours over the course of one year. Of course, server maintenance and other unexpected occurrences are inevitable yet we believe it is possible to find a much better uptime for this price.
2.Support
Lately, we haven’t come across providers with a bad support because that would put an end to such kind of business right away. Hostmonster pricing allows to supply users with round-the-clock support. We have personally checked the responsiveness of CS representatives in live chat and over the phone. Both times, they were able to offer us a solution to our problem and even contacted us back to find out whether it worked.
3.Security
These days, the WWW is not the safest place when it comes to personal data, which necessitates the existence of various protective measures. Hostmonster cares about the security of communication between servers and clients. Every plan is equipped with free SSL certificate that they help to install on your domain.
They give you one Dedicated IP and one SSL certificate for Standard and Pro accounts because you will have only one Hostmonster control panel. Yet you are allowed to have multiple dedicated IPs and SSL Certificates purchasing VPS, dedicated, and reseller accounts because they allow to create multiple cPanels on one account.
4.Truly instant provisioning
Hostmonster helps you get started really quickly and without unnecessary fuss. Once you get registered with the site and make a payment, they will get your server ready asap.
5.Good package deals
We like the way the packages are compiled. There is a good solution for a website of every size, CPU usage, and the amounts of traffic. VPS plans are quite cheap and there are four options to choose from.
6.Page load time
If the page loads in less than 1 second we give it a green light. We haven’t noticed any decreases in loading speed over the last months. Even though the load speed demonstrated by HostMonster is not as great as that of its main competitors it is still less than 1 second and, which is even more important, this indicator is stable.
7.Pricing policies
Pricing policies are somewhat irritating and misleading. You never know whether the stated price is ‘real.’ They tend to use asterisk far too often and you always have to follow their explanations to find out what is the trick this time.
This creates hidden fees that don’t come as obviously not included into the stated price to the beginner users. We also hoped for one price and appeared to be changed with a different one as a result. We’ll talk more about their prices in the next section. For now, you should remember that you should always check the fine print before getting too excited with Hostmonster’s offers.
8.Experience and number of users
It is clear that the longer hosting exists, the better it is. Yet, in an era of high competition, the one who provides the best offers on the market survives. Hosting is no exception to this. Long-existing company like Hostmonster has quality services if it has been selling for so long. Unlike some new companies without sufficient resources and experience, it is much better to start with time-tested guys.
But, no matter what, we also do not recommend to rely solely on this parameter. Even the most praised hosting can deteriorate over time. Rather, be guided by the number of people using hosting.
9.It is not free
Free servers are not as popular as they used to be. Now paid hosting is not all that money-consuming, you can find a decent provider for $4-$5 per month. We think we don’t to avoid such services Free hosting does not have technical support. They just do not need it, because they are not responsible for anything.
If the free provider will have problems, crash the server or the site will be unavailable, you have nowhere to complain. The hosting administration can do anything with the site, because they are in fact the owners of your resource. For example, they may place their ads on the site without your consent. That is why we are lucky Hostmonster isn’t one of those free providers that advertise free services.
10.Control panel
The control panel of your site should be clear and convenient. That’s all. And it is all provided by cPanel. HostMonster also allows to install other control panels of choice. Basically, they provide all conditions to help every user feel satisfied.
jim
ilon
matt