Web Hosting Hub Review: 24-Months of Performance Stats
Many people today want to create a website for different purposes. Building a website has become a lot simple over the past few years. Now, platforms such as WordPress allow people without any knowledge of web development to create a website in hours. However, you need to get help from hosting companies to put your website on the Internet. Here you will find the review for one of the most popular hosting platforms for small businesses.
If you are running a small business and require a hosting platform, Web hosting hub is the way to go. Web Hosting Hub, which was founded in 2010, is owned by InMotion Hosting. The US-based company has a team of over 200+ people who serve nearly 40,000 customers. Web Hosting Hub has two data centers in the country. One is on the east coast and the other one on the west coast. The headquarters is located in Virginia Beach, VA.
The web hosting company is very popular among people who need a platform that allows them to quickly set up and run a website.
Web Hosting Hub is one of the few platforms that offer solid-state drives on all its plans. As a result, the users get incredible speed while surfing the websites. According to Web Hosting Hub, the use of solid-state drives boosts the speed by up to 20x when compared to the performance of traditional mechanical hard drives.
Web Hosting Hub claims to be the best hosting platform in the world. As a matter of fact, every hosting platform claims that it is the best. We can only confirm if a platform is performing as per its claim by testing it.
To test that, creating a simple WordPress website and running it is the best solution. We tested Web Hosting Hub and found that it offers good performance. It has some amazing features that might convince you to choose Web Hosting Hub over the competitors. Let us take a look at these features.
Pros of Using Web Hosting Hub Hosting
As mentioned before, Web Hosting Hub offers incredible performance at an affordable price. However, speed is not the only thing that a hosting platform should offer. In the case of Web Hosting Hub, you get more than blazingly fast performance. Here are some of the key advantages of using Web Hosting Hub.
Decent Customer Support
Fast loading websites and consistent performances are necessary for any online platform. Visitors don’t like to wait for a long time as web pages load. They will prefer a fast website over a slow one.
If your website is performing slowly, you need to get the issue fixed as soon as possible. Web Hosting Hub has amazing customer support. It takes less than 5 minutes to get assistance from Web Hosting Hub.
At times, the response isn’t as quick as the competitors, but the overall experience was positive. Other customers are also satisfied with the customer support service. So, it is safe to assume that you will get help whenever you need it.
You can Easily Setup Websites or Blogs
Web Hosting Hub offers a simplified process for setting up your website. As a result, a person who has no prior experience creating websites can finish setting up their website in no time without facing any challenges.
When you visit the sign-up page of Web Hosting Hub, you will get an option to choose WordPress for creating a blog or website. For people who want to create a website for e-commerce, Web Hosting Hub offers Prestashop. All you need to do is click a few buttons, and you are all set to go.
Domain Name and Site Migration is Free
There is a possibility that you used a different hosting platform before coming across Web Hosting Hub and want to shift. If that is the case, you can do it without any worries. Web Hosting Hub will move up to three websites with the associated databases for free. The size should be under 5 GB. The process is seamless and doesn’t require you to shut down your website to complete the process.
If you plan to create a new website, Web Hosting Hub will offer you a new domain name for free.
Solid State Drives
When talking about their capabilities, Web Hosting Hub never fails to mention the use of solid-state drives across all plans. Claims show that a solid-state drive offers 20 times faster performance when compared to traditional hard drives. As a result, your visitors can access the website a lot faster than they did before.
You might not notice a huge difference in performance for a simple website, but as your website gets complex, the SSD performance starts to pay off in a nice manner.
90 Days Money Back Guarantee
A company’s confidence in its services can be ascertained by the money-back guarantee they offer. In the case of Web Hosting Hub, you get a 90-days money-back guarantee, which is one of the longest amongst hosting platforms.
This money-back guarantee means you can use the services offered by Web Hosting Hub for up to three months and get your money back if you decide to discontinue the services. This is a brilliant offer if you are unsure if Web Hosting Hub is the right platform to host your website.
Web Hosting Hub has a list of terms and conditions which mention some deductions that will be made during the refund. Purchasing SSL certificates, domain privacy, or domain names come under the non-refundable category.
This means if you use the free domain provided by Web Hosting Hub, you will need to forfeit $11.99 for the domain name, for one-year access, and a $5 administrative fee. The domain will remain yours for one year, and you can use it with your new hosting platform as well.
Web Hosting Hub is Eco-Friendly
It is not easy to find any EPA certifications for Web Hosting Hub to confirm they are eco-friendly. Still, some policies followed by the hosting platform show that they care about the environment. The company claims that it has been trying to minimize waste, encourage recycling, and reduce reliance on paper since 2010.
The data-centers used by Web Hosting Hub are energy efficient. The company believes in reducing energy wastage instead of offsetting it.
The company famously revealed its green data center in Los Angeles, CA. This data center utilizes advanced Outside Air Cooling Technology.
By switching to this new cooling method, Web Hosting Hub has reduced its cooling cost by up to 70 percent. This method saved them money and reduced their carbon output by nearly 2,000 tons per year.
Outside Air Cooling Technology works by venting hot air outside and bringing in cooler air with the help of CRAC (Computer Room Air Conditioners) units. It is done only when the situation demands it, i.e., when temperature and humidity are high.
Earlier, these centers used CRAC units throughout the day. By doing this, we can cool down the air and re-circulate it, but the process consumes a lot of energy.
If you are one of those people who want to choose green technology in your field, Web Hosting Hub will suit your requirements perfectly.
Industry-Standard Uptime
Going through the data for the uptime of Web Hosting Hub, we found that it had an average uptime of nearly __. It is a great result when compared with the industry standard.
At times, Web Hosting Hub has struggled to offer consistent performance. At times, Web Hosting Hub would remain functional for days, and at times it would suffer from downtime. Overall, Web Hosting Hub gets a mixed review in terms of uptime consistency.
Related: The Best Web Hosting Companies in 2023
Cons of Using Web Hosting Hub Hosting
Web Hosting Hub has lots of positive aspects, but this Web Hosting Hub review wouldn’t be impartial without discussing the cons associated with it. So, here are the issues that you might face on opting for Web Hosting Hub as your website hosting platform.
“Shared” Hosting Only
Web Hosting Hub tries to keep things simple to provide a better user experience to its customers. As a result, it exclusively offers a “Shared” hosting option. It is not that bad, and one of the major advantages of shared hosting is the fast sign-up process offered by the platform.
If you follow the instructions correctly, you will get your site ready without facing any problems. However, if you are one of those users who want to fiddle around with the options, or want to create a big website, then the “Shared” hosting option is not for you.
This poses a huge problem for people who want to start small but have big ambitions. They need to look for better hosting solutions once their businesses start booming.
Average Page Loading Times
The website offers solid-state drives for hosting data irrespective of the plan. A move from mechanical hard disk to solid-state drive usually gives a speed boost of up to 20 times. However, in our hosting trial, the average page load time came around 767ms, which is not that impressive by any means.
An average load time of 767ms is not bad, but you will come across various hosting platforms that offer better speeds at a similar price.
Pricing Tricks
If you take a look at the hosting cost on the platform, a deal of $5.99 per month looks lucrative. However, it comes with a hidden condition. You need to sign-up for at least three years to get that price.
Many hosting platforms offer monthly hosting options, but not this one. Here you need to sign-up for at least a year for $7.99 per month (you need to pay in advance).
These kinds of price tricks are quite common in the business, and the prices that web hosting hub offers are decent. But, users need to understand what they are signing up for before confirming.
Additional Charges for Security and Backup
Yes, you need to pay extra if you want to make a backup of your data. Making backups is one of the most critical parts of any operation. You might want to add a new feature and end up breaking the website. In this scenario, you need to have a backup to restore the website to its original state.
Hackers and malware continuously try to attack websites. The chances of your site getting hacked might be low, but it is not zero. As a result, you need to focus on backups and security.
The platform takes care of this problem by offering daily backups, but it costs you additional money to pay each month.
Slow Activation Process
The platform might need you to enter additional details or even attend a phone call before your account is validated. It provides security, but there are other ways to verify the accounts.
Pricing
As mentioned before, Web Hosting Hub offers shared hosting. Web Hosting Hub offers three plans: Spark plan, the most affordable plan, offers 2 websites with unlimited email accounts and unmetered bandwidth and storage.
The second plan is the Nitro plan, which offers unlimited websites and email accounts and unmetered bandwidth and storage. This plan also provides twice the performance of the base plan and allows you to choose the data center.
Lastly, you get the Dynamo plan which is similar to the Nitro plan, and the only difference is the speed is four times the speed of the base plan.
FAQs
Q. Does Web Hosting Hub offer a free domain?
A. Yes, when you sign in to Web Hosting Hub, you get a free domain for one year. The cost for this domain licensing is included in the subscription fee. You get to use the domain for one year, even if you cancel your subscription within a year.
Q. Is the platform reliable?
A. Yes, the platform is reliable when it comes to hosting small websites. It is easy to use, and you get a 90-day money-back guarantee. This 90-day money-back guarantee means you can cancel your subscription within three months from the day you make the payment, and you will get all your deposit back (excluding some charges).
Q. Are there any hidden conditions on this platform?
A. The platform has a limit of 75,000 files and 10,000 messages (around 2 GB in size). If an account has a size of over 10 GB or more than 75,000 files, the platform won’t make a backup. In this case, getting a backup would require you to pay $50.
Q. What Control Panel and Dashboard does it offer.
A. The platform offers cPanel as the main hosting control panel for your website. The tool makes the process of hosting a website simple.
Should You Choose Web Hosting Hub?
We would recommend you to go with another option. The platform offers decent service with good customer support and has acceptable uptime. However, the main selling point of the platform, i.e., SSD for storage doesn’t seem to impact the speed and performance. The hosting plans offered by the platform are also designed to trick you into signing up.
If you want a similar experience, you can opt for InMotion Hosting, a sister brand of Web Hosting Hub instead.
Read Further: 12 Best Free Website Hosting Compared (2022)
