HostMonster web hosting review

HostMonster is one of the bigger web hosting providers on the internet. HostMonster web hosting is hosting more than 600 000 web sites. HostMonster’s model of pricing is very aggressive. Web hosting service include wide range of features at low-cost price.

HostMonster in short

Country of origin and location of servers: USA
Unlimited disk space
Unlimited bandwidth
Unlimited number of web sites
Unlimited number of domains (addon domains)
Unlimited number of email addresses (POP3/Imap
Unlimited number of FTP accounts
Instant account activation
CGI, Perl, PHP 5, Ryby on the Rails (RoR)
Max 100 MySQL/PostgreSQL databases
SSH shell (on request), SSL
Web site builder tools (free)
cPanel control panel
Linux based servers
99.9% network uptime quarantee
Price of the service includes one free domain (international TLDs, no country code TLDs (ccTLDs))
75 USD free search engine marketing money (50 USD Google AdWords, 25 Yahoo)
Support: phone and email support 24 hours all year around 2 minutes average answering time and chat support
no setup fee
Monthly or time period based billing (12 months, 24 months etc.) The service gets cheaper if longer time period paid at once.
No hidden fees

HostMonster web hosting features / HostMonster pricing

HostMonster features

HostMonster web hosting service provides large set of features. The most significant limitation is that the amount of MySql / PostgreSql databases is limited to 100. HostMonster is providing only one package, the same for all the clients.

Hosting package includes unlimited disk space, bandwidth, email addresses, FTP accounts and add-on domains. SSH shell access is available on request.

HostMonster provides SimpleScripts installation system in addtions to Fantastico installation system.

Support

HostMonster support answers to support requests on average delay of only 2 minutes. HostMonster provides phone and email support. Also chat support is available.

HostMonster pricing

HostMonster is a good low-cost web hosting solution. Unfortunately there is no possibility to scale up the hosting package as HostMonster provides only one hosting package. On the other hand, it is easy to transfer sites to other hosting services if they reach the limits of HostMonster hosting. cPanel eases up the transfer a lot. The pricing of HostMonster is very similar as the pricing of the sister company BlueHost. By comparing the feature set of these two services, one can find the most suitable one for one’s needs.

Applications

HostMonster is using Fantastico installation and update system. In addtion to Fantastico SimpleScripts installation system is provided. SimpleScripts has been lately much more active with updates and software additions than Fantastico.

Blogging tools: b2evolution, Nucleus, WordPress, Text Pattern

Content management systems (CMS): MODx, Drupal, Joomla, e107, Geeklog, Mambo Open Source, PHP-Nuke, phpWCMS, phpWebSite, Post-Nuke, Siteframe, TYPO3, Xoops

Customer support systems: Crafty Syntax Live Help, Help Center Live, osTicket, PerlDesk, PHP Support Tickets, Support Logic Helpdesk, Support Services Manager

Forums: bbPress, PunBB, phpBB3, Simple Machines Forum (SMF)

eCommerse solutions (online shops): CubeCart, OS Commerce, Zen Cart, ShopSite, Magento, OpenCart

Photo galleries: Coppermine Photo Gallery, Zenphoto, Pixelpost, 4Images Gallery, Gallery

Email list tools: DadaMail, PHPlist, poMMo

Voting and polls: Advanced Poll, phpESP, LimeSurvey

Project management: Mantis, dotProject, PHProjekt

Web site builders: Concrete 5, Site Builders, Soholaunch Pro Edition, Templates Express

Wikis: TikiWiki, PhpWiki

CRM systems: vtigerCRM

Other scripts mm. Dew-NewPHPLinks, Moodle, Noahs Classifieds, Open-Realty, phpAdsNew, PHPauction, PhpFormGenerator, WebCalendar