HostMonster.com provides web hosting plans for the individual or business owners that do no want to compromise on features yet also do not want to break the bank. However their one size fits all solution might not be what some people are looking for.

Hosting Plans
HostMonster only features a single hosting plan which costs $5.95 per month; however the minimum term of the contract is 1 year. HostMonster includes 1 free domain registration or transfer when you sign up with them. Customers wanting to terminate their contracts early can do so without incurring a cancellation fee. Features of their hosting plan include:

Unlimited Storage space and data transfer
Multiple domains and sub domains in one plan
Unlimited email address and ftp accounts
100 MySQL and PostgreSQL databases
cPanel access
99.9% uptime guaranteed

As per the standard in the web hosting industry HostMonster also provides all standard web programming languages such as PHP5, Perl 5, Ruby on Rails and Javascript. For customers that are looking to have their site up and running quickly HostMonster also has simple installers for popular web based applications such as WordPress and Joomla. Other features which customers can add to their sites are:

Message Forums
Social Networking
Blogs
Image Galleries
Poll and Surveys
Streaming Video and Audio

Businesses can take advantage of the e-Commerce features such as a secure SSL server and OS Commerce or Agora shopping cart. HostMonster will also provide you with $50 worth of Google credits to get your website out to people.

If you don't know what you want your internet persona to look like, HostMonster provides you with free templates and drag and drop site builder tools to get started.

A demo login to their administrator panel is provided so that visitors can get a look and feel for HostMonster products. All hosting is done on Quad core servers using a Linux operating system.

Customer Service and Reviews HostMonster gives its customers multiple ways for them to get in touch such as a toll free 24x7 number, email address and online chat. They also provide a help desk where you can submit a ticket or check the status of your hosting server. A number of video tutorials that touch topics such as email administration and domain registration to WordPress and Dreamweaver tutorials are also available.

As per standard they also have a user forum and knowledgebase for customers that want to help themselves. They do not feature any customer reviews or testimonials on their website. Reviews posted on external sites are both positive and negative.

Affiliate Program
By signing up to be an affiliate with HostMonster you have the opportunity to earn $65 per referral. Affiliates are provided with a separate login where they are able to track the payments by referral and click through ratios for their websites. Commission payments can also be tracked via this website however no details are given to when commissions are paid out.

There is also no 2nd affiliate program which is provided by a number of other hosting providers.

Company Profile
HostMonster has been providing hosting services since 1996 and the home page displays a banner which states that they host 750,000 domains. Apart from that there is not much other information about the company. This seems to be an issue through out the entire site. HostMonster does a good job of getting across the basic facts but provides little else in terms of additional information.

No mention is made of where their servers are located or if they own their own data center. This is surprising since their core business relies on this fact. The website does feature a number of awards that the company has won such as:

Best Customer Support 2010 - CastIronHostingReview.com
Best Web Hosting - Hostingz.com
2010 Best Host - Alreadyhosting.com
Highest Recommended Hosting Company - Upperhost.com

All decisions regarding which company to choose for your hosting needs should be based on personal review of the company. Reviews such as this should not be the sole basis on which a decision is made.

While it's attractive pricing and impressive feature list does make it look like a promising host, the lack of information provided about the company and its policies along with no choice in hosting options, might dissuade customers from signing up with HostMonster.

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