I get asked all the time “What webhost should I use?”

I always respond: Hostmonster

Here’s why:

I’ve used most of the hosts out there:

• midphase
• startlogic
• bluehost
• 1 & 1
• penguinhost
• dreamhost
• hostgator
• powweb
• ipower
• godaddy

(I know, it’s a lot…I do a lot of crap online. I used them all before Hostmonster existed.)

I also own 30 servers which I have in a data center that I manage them myself.

Outside of those 30 servers I still want a hosting account that I don’t have to worry about. One that I’m not responsible to keep it running and it just works.

I know web hosting pretty darn well.

Most of the marketing you’ll see out there to try and get you to buy a hosting account is pure garbage because they’re selling you something you’ll never use. I mean, come on, you’re going to use 600 GB of disk space on a hosting account? That’s more disk space than 99% of people have on their desktop. 6000 GB bandwidth? Do you realize what you’d have to do to use 6000 GB of bandwidth? That’s the kind of bandwidth Google uses!

The features companies are selling you on, aren’t the features you care about.

Features You really want in a hosting account

Here are the things that really matter when you buy web hosting:

1. Support: Why? Because things WILL break. That’s the rule of technology. When they do, how easily are you going to get them back up and running correctly. This is a huge, huge deal with web hosting (yeah, even to me, where I know how to fix 99% of the problems I encounter. When there’s a problem I need fixed, I want a company that’s going to fix it…and not charge me for it). Hostmonster has the best support in the hosting industry, hands down. I know, because I use it.
2. Flexibility of the servers: When you want to install a piece of software on your hosting account (trust me, at some point you WILL want to do this), if the software won’t work on the server you’re going to be pretty ticked! I was. With godaddy, startlogic, 1&1, penguinhost, and powweb. I’ve never had a problem with getting software to run on a Hostmonster server.
3. Features: Does it have cpanel? Fantastico? phpMyAdmin? cron jobs? tutorials? There are ton’s of features hosting accounts have. Some of them have all of them (I know a few of them leave out key features like cpanel (control panel). I didn’t know that until after I bought them because I assumed everyone had the key features you need in hosting. What a mistake! I have yet to find a feature I wanted that Hostmonster didn’t have.
4. Reliability: Duh! If it’s not reliable, why even bother. You’d be surprised at how much downtime some hosting companies have even when they “guarantee” 99.9% uptime.
5. Techie Friendly: Yeah, I’m a techie. That doesn’t mean anything for you. Except that I am a power user and I use hosting accounts to their extreme. Hostmonster let’s me SSH into my account. Most hosts won’t let me do that and it ticks me off. If you’re not a techie, and you ever have a techie help you with something, you’d better make sure your hosting account can accomodate them or they’re going to have a hard time fixing your problem. Hosting accounts that don’t have SSH access tick me off!
6. Price: Obviously. At $6/month Hostmonster isn’t the absolute cheapest (you can get hosting for $4/month) but why take the chance on saving $2 and having it cost you hours of time because some other host couldn’t do what you want.
7. Hidden Fees: Hostmonster: None. Others: Maybe. I’ve wanted to add another domain to my account before and other companies want to double my costs! What a rip of.
8. Addon Domains: This might not be a big deal to most people, but for me it is. I have hundreds of domains. I don’t want to keep track of (or pay for) dozens of hosting accounts because they only let me host 3 or 10 domains on them. With Hostmonster I don’t have to worry about it. Dreamhost and Hostgator are the same.
9. Linux VS. Windows: For a web host, you want linux. Period. All the hosts I’ve used have linux hosting (I would never touch a windows web hosting environment. It’s just asking for headaches and hackers.) Most of the hosts above only do linux.

Problems With Other Web Hosts

When it comes down to it, I won’t touch Godaddy hosting with a 10 foot pole. Soooooo many headaches. (I do use them exclusively for buying domains names).

I will also never touch Powweb again. Too few features.

1 & 1 is ok, but their hosting management system does things so weird that you can never follow someone elses instructions for how to do something.

I still have a startlogic account with a site hosted there because I’m afraid to move the site. Otherwise, the account is too limiting for me. They don’t allow SSH.

Penguinhost had hidden fees.

Bluehost is almost as good as Hostmonster, but they’re owned by the same company so you’d expect them to be. Bluehost just has a limit on the number of addon domains. Plus it’s more expensive than hostmonster.

As you can see, I can name problems with every single web host except for Hostmonster, which has been a hosting dream for me since the company started.

What other people say

You can go search google for “web hosting” and you’re going to find thousands of hosting companies and dozens of websites that “compare” hosting companies. Look and see what they’re showing you as a comparison. They show disk space (who cares), bandwidth (who cares), setup (who cares…they’re all free). All they do is show you that all the hosts are the same and tell you that Hostmonster is the best.

Fortunately most of them are telling the truth, but the sad fact is that they don’t know why hostmonster is the best, they just want to make money off you.

3 Responses to “Why Hostmonster is the best hosting company”

1. 

   andrew vaughan  on July 23rd, 2009

   Hi Gil,

   Thanks for the review on Hostmonster – doesn’t just sound great, but sounds like the only hosting company to be with!

   I must say, that I have several domains with D9 and so far, they’ve been excellent in all sorts of areas – but particularly with their support.

   Anyway, thanks for the info, well worth considering after such a glowing review.

   Hope to speak soon,
   Andrew.

2. 

   gil  on July 23rd, 2009

   Sure Andrew, glad to be of service.
   By the way, checked out the prices and D9 seems to go for $7.95 at the bare minimum.
   Hostmonster is priced at $5.95 but I managed to get in on a promotion so I’m paying $3.95. Basically half that of d9.

3. 

   Evan Beck  on November 27th, 2009

   Gil-

   I use both Hostmonster and Hostgator, although I mostly host with Hostgator.

   I am amazed to read that you own 30 servers. We should create a blog network and put those to good use.

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