HostMonster Changes Their Hosting Plan

Posted on October 24, 2008
Filed Under HostMonster Hosting, Best Web Hosting Company, unlimited bandwidth, unlimited web space, business web hosting, webhosting reviews, web hosting, web hosting company, web hosting review, web host |

Just so you know, this web hosting review site isn’t a static web site.  The two main reasons I designed this site using a blog, were so that I could continue to monitor the available hosting plans out there and comment on them, and so I could answer your comments and questions regarding hosting, hosting companies and web site building.  I really do appreciate all of the comments and emails I receive, and I’ll try to respond to all of them.

Recently, HostMonster Hosting changed their hosting plan (they only offer one option), and I don’t think it was a change for the better.  Overall, their prices have gone up, although a “Special Promo” price for a three year contract has been introduced.  My main problem with them is that they have changed their plan to promoting “unlimited” space and bandwidth, but admitting in some hidden fine print that they really can’t live up to that offer.  My main concern with them initially was their somewhat tricky and deceptive pricing and marketing, and this change makes me even more concerned.

HostMonster is a premium host.  They used to have a good hosting plan for a decent price, and made my list as first runner-up for the Best Web Hosting Company.  Near the top of this list, my concerns with each company were decreasing, and HostMonster really only had a few things that separated it from the top host. However, these recent changes at their site means I have to drop them down in my rankings. See the bold comment below for more on this problem.

Basically, this company still meets almost all of my minimum requirements for a great host. They offer 24/7 support, with a choice of email ticket, live chat or phone support, and a 30 day money back guarantee. They give you all of the basic tools and scripts you’ll need, a free domain name with hosting, and the ability to host an unlimited number of domains.

HostMonster does offer quarterly and semi-annual payment options, but these aren’t very attractive to the spammers or phishers that simply want to set up an account that they know will be canceled (or to anyone else, for that matter). Both of these options require a $30 non-refundable set-up fee, plus $10 for domain name registration, and cost $9.95 a month. When there are really cheap web hosts offering these low-lifes a throw away account for $1-$4, they aren’t going to want to spend almost $70 to get one here. You can click the following link to go directly to the HostMonster Web Site..

My main concerns about HostMonster are;

1. The fact that they only offer one hosting plan
2. Their pricing, and the advertising they use to promote it
3. Although their support is relatively quick and has been reliable, they don’t offer any kind of support response time guarantee.
4. They are now saying they offer “unlimited” space and bandwidth, but on a shared server, such claims are never without limits, and now you just don’t know what they are.

Their main page lists all of the features for their one hosting offer, and shows the price as $6.95 a month. (On “Special Promo” right now for $4.95, as of 10/23/08) This price applies only if you sign up for 3 years, paid in advance. The price for a standard one year contract is actually $8.95 a month. This is a decent price, and I’d feel a little better about them if they advertised it right up front, and then offered the discount for the 2 or 3 year term. Signing up for a year or more also eliminates the $30 set-up fee, which is another of my requirements, and gets you you one free domain name registration. Additional domain names are a good deal, at only $10 each.

Recently, (10/15/08) they changed their only offer for hosting from 1,500 GB of space and 15,000 GB of bandwidth, to one offering unlimited space and bandwidth. However, hidden in their Help section, under Overwhelming Traffic, is this comment.

“Our servers include several hundred websites, and so many users share the same resources, including disk space, processor (CPU), and bandwidth limits (the speed and capacity of the Internet connection). If one website becomes extraordinarily popular it can threaten access to the web servers resources, which it shares with other sites, and so may be temporarily taken offline.”

Basically, HostMonster is just stating what I’ve already told you before about “unlimited” space and bandwidth hosting plans.  Neither really exists.  If it did, huge popular web sites like YouTube and MySpace would all be hosting their web sites for $4.95 a month, instead of spending tens of thousands of dollars a month to maintain their own servers and internet connections.  If you do succeed, and your web site becomes too popular, you will have to move your web site somewhere besides HostMonster for hosting, or be faced with it being shut down at its busiest times.  The difference now is, you just don’t know how much bandwidth you can use before that happens!

Here’s a link to my initial review of HostMonster hosting, and here are the basics of the new HostMonster hosting package;

• Free domain name for life with hosting purchase (1 year or longer)
• Additional domain names are $10.00 a year
• Unlimited domains hosted
• Unlimited space (not really)
• Unlimited bandwidth per month (not really)
• 24/7 ticket, live chat and phone support
• No support response guarantee, but calls it the “Best Support in the Industry”, which really doesn’t tell you anything
• Online searchable help database and FAQ
• 99.9% uptime guarantee (excellent)
• Unlimited “forwarding” email accounts (no mention of number of allowed email accounts anymore)
• 100 MySQL databases
• Free online “Drag and Drop” Site Builder
• Fantastico one click scripts (blogs, Joomla, Drupal, forums, etc.) included. Multiple versions of many common scripts for certain functions (like blogging and shopping carts)
• E-commerce shopping carts included
• Free shared SSL server
• Custom control panel combining both cPanel and WHM functions (my favorite choice for ease of use is this type of configuration)
• Basic search engine submission service included
• $50 in PPC Ad credits at Google Adsense
• Cost - $107.40 a year ($8.95 a month) for a one year contract. Price drops to $95.40 a year ($7.95 a month) if you sign up for two years, paid in advance. “Special Promo” price of $4.95 a month ($59.40 a year, as of 10/23/08) if you sign up for a three year contract.

HostMonster was a really good choice for hosting your web site. I’d prefer some kind of support guarantee, and I’ve always wished they were more “up-front” about their true cost. But, since they recently changed to offering “unlimited” space and bandwidth, I have a real problem with their marketing message versus what they can really deliver. I’ll be investigating this issue further, but it may result in HostMonster dropping significantly in these rankings. After further evaluation, I’ll give you some idea where they wind up, or if I’m dropping them from the list. You can use this link to go directly to HostMonster Hosting.

The good news is, my number one pick for the Best Web Host hasn’t changed.  HostJacker still offers the best premium hosting plans at the best price, with excellent service and tech support.  Their extra free bonuses and discounts on other software and marketing tools are just icing on the cake.

I’m also in the process of checking out three other hosting companies that I was asked about in recent emails.  As soon as that research is finished and I’ve made my decision about HostMonster, I’ll publish a new post with the revised rankings and links to all of my Top Web Hosts.

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