As many small businesses and home offices start their own websites, many people are interested in comparing Hostmonster vs Bluehost. Surprisingly, they are actually very similar since Hostmonster is owned by Bluehost. Therefore, much of their support service as well as products are the same. However, there are a few differences and many customers have noticed significant divergences. Here is a brief look at some of the differences when we compare cheap web hosting from these two companies.

Hostmonster Web Hosting Review

Hostmonster, started in 1996, boasts around three quarters of a million distinct owners of domains. Each of these owners is allowed to host a maximum of 999 separate websites. Domain names are free and customer service is touted as being superb. Storage space as well as bandwidth transfer is unlimited. Although Hostmonster only offers customers one plan, this plan comes with a variety of splendid offerings and includes just about everything that one could want. Pricing is quite reasonable at $6.95 per month, no matter how long of a plan for which one signs up.

However, some customers don’t appreciate the fact that the minimum amount of time for which once can sign up is for three months. Many prefer to be on a month by month plan for this type of service. For new customers who, this hosting site offers a free site builder as well as a good amount of advertising credits with Yahoo. In addition, spam control on the unlimited email accounts is standard. Since both Hostmonster and Bluehost, say that they have similar customer service and technical support because they are sister sites, it is best to look carefully at what actual customers think of the site.

While Hostmonster boasts a very low amount of downtime, in fact less than a 0.01% amount, many customers are quite frustrated with the system when this happens. Many webmasters complain that it can happen for two minutes to up to four hours each month during normal business hours. Some find the customer support team to be friendly, helpful, knowledgeable and quick while others thought the service was mediocre at best and filled with uncaring team members. A plus noted by some is that the customer support service is not outsourced beyond the United States. In addition, some were a bit disgruntled that the spam control was only average and required an extra paid service each month to receive excellent care.

Bluehost Hosting Review

Bluehost, also begun in 1996, has over two million domains and is among the top ten largest hosting services throughout the world. The site continues to grow each year because of its excellent control panel, competitive pricing and fast and accurate customer support. Once again, they are quite similar to Hostmonster in that the smallest package they offer is a three-month contract with prices at $6.95 per month. In addition, there is no set-up fee included. Customers appreciate the easy control panel interface. Site loading is quick and simple and the plan also includes unlimited amounts of storage and bandwidth transfer.

The only thing that some customers have found to be a bit shady is a couple of the items in the terms of service regarding privacy and monitoring of a domain for legal purposes. However, it should be noted that other than this, the terms of service are quite easy to understand and also simple to find on the site. Customer service is very similar to Hostmonster, with even the same hold music being used. Overall, customer reviews of Bluehost are much better than with Hostmonster. Downtimes does not seem to be as big of a frustration here. There have been some complaints about the webhosting speed being rather slow for a time but it seems to have been due to a temporary problem.

And The Winner Is…

Overall, when comparing Hostmonster vs Bluehost, both sites appear to be fairly consistent and similar. Both offer the same unlimited space, the same prices and similar customer service and technical support. However, when looking closely at customer reviews, actual customers seem to favor Bluehost webhosting service more so than Hostmonster. My experience mirrors those reviews as I have accounts at both companies.

I hope you’ve enjoyed this Hostmonster vs Bluehost hosting comparison and found it helpful.