HostMetro Review: Affordable, Long-Term Prices
Location: Schaumburg,IL
Year in Business: 1
HostMetro is new to the web hosting industry -- but in name only. It is owned and managed by industry veterans that started the company to provide robust web hosting plans at a low price and support them with 24 hour U.S. based customer service.
Each web hosting plan comes with key features that make it easy to design, build and manage a website. This includes cPanel, the industry standard for web hosting control panels; Softaculous, one of the largest libraries of scripts and applications that can be installed in one click; and website building software with templates for both flash and non-flash sites, just to name a few.
One of the best features, however, is actually the pricing. Unlike many web hosting firms, when renewing a contract with HostMetro, there is no increase in monthly price. So, if you sign a 3 year contract as a new customer for $2.45/month, when the contract renews, it remains exactly the same -- making it a great long term option.
If you're still having second thoughts about HostMetro, they offer a 45 day full money-back guarantee (not pro-rated). This effectively gives you a free trial for 45 days to test out the service. Combine this with everything else that HostMetro has to offer, and it has to be one of your top choices as a web hosting provider.
Summary
- Very competitive feature set
- 24/7 phone, e-mail and ticket support
- 45 day full money-back guarantee
- Costs just 8 cents per day with a 3 year contract
- Great long-term pricing
Price & Plans
HostMetro has two hosting plans with similar features: The Mega Max plan and the Business Max plan. Below are the prices and contract lengths for the more economical Mega Max plan:
Monthly - $7.95/month + $14.49 set-up fee
12 Months - $4.45/month
24 Months - $3.45/month
36 Months - $2.45/month - best option
For contracts of at least 1 year, there are no set-up fees and each account comes with a free domain name -- this is fairly typical for most shared hosting plans. But what makes HostMetro unique is that any contract length can be selected, and upon renewal there is no price increase. Furthermore, you can switch to another contract length and price at the end of each term.
For example, let's say you select a 1 year contract to get comfortable with Hostmetro also knowing that there is a 45 day full money-back guarantee. At the end of that term, you could move to the 3 year contract to lock in a lower cost for the long-term.
Features
See table (left) for a list of key features and benefits. For a complete list of features,
visit Hostmetro.com.
Service
HostMetro offers 24/7 customer service via phone, live chat, e-mail and a responsive online ticket system so you can get help whenever needed. There are also self-help options such as a knowledge center with frequently asked questions such as "How do I build my website" and a collection of video tutorials on topics such as installing scripts with Softaculous.
Space
Many economy web hosts are offering unlimited disk space -- HostMetro refers to this as "Maximum" hosting space. While no host can truly provide unlimited resources for a few bucks per month, HostMetro easily supports the average website that uses 20 megabytes or less. This equates to a website that has up to a couple hundred pages with an average page size of about 100 kilobytes.
Bandwidth
Similar to its "Max" hosting space, HostMetro also provides "Maximum" bandwidth. This is comparable to other web hosting companies that offer an "unlimited" amount. Again, no web host can deliver infinite quantities each month, but HostMetro supports common websites that use 10 gigabytes or less. Generally speaking, this will be plenty of bandwidth for a site unless it contains large media files/streaming media or has high visitor counts of 1000+ or more per day.
Security
The HostMetro data center is part of one of the most secure facilities in the country, which is Server Central in Elk Grove Village, IL. There are on-site security guards 24/7, video surveillance, and visitors are screened when entering the facility. No one can pass the front door without a proper badge, which only allows visitors into certain areas of the complex. This means it's very difficult for thieves to physically walk off with your data. Learn more about data center security at Server Central's Website.
Other data security measures include servers that are RAID 10 protected to ensure that there is redundancy in the event of a hard drive failure. There are also various firewalls to keep the bad guys outs, and HostMetro runs mod_security and mod_suphp as well as CloudLinux to improve stability. HostMetro requires secure FTP and e-mail connections, with customers having the option to enable CloudFlare -- further enhancing performance and security.
Reliability
HostMetro hosts its customers' websites on high quality equipment including brand new Supermicro servers with Intel Xeon CPUs, Solid State Drives (superior to traditional hard drives) and RAID protection. This is one of the advantages of going with a new web hosting company and means better uptime, performance and security for your website. In fact, HostMetro guarantees 99.9% uptime and provides weekly backups at no extra charge.
Ease of Use
All HostMetro accounts come with cPanel, the industry-leading web hosting control panel. This makes it fast and easy to manage a website from adding e-mail accounts, checking website statistics and increasing functionality with Softaculous and its library of over 300 auto-installing scripts.
Freebies
HostMetro supports its low cost web hosting plans with some good free items including a free domain name and free set-up. There is also a free $100 credit for Google Adwords -- one of the most popular ways to start getting traffic to your website
Guarantees
All HostMetro accounts come with a 45 day money-back guarantee. If you are unhappy with the service for any reason just ask for a full refund of your payment.
Discounts
HostMetro offers fully-featured web hosting plans for as low as $2.45/month to start with renewal pricing that doesn't increase. Here's a little secret to save another $3 when signing-up: use coupon code SAVE20 -- but don't tell anyone you heard this from us!