Name: HostMetro
Plans: Shared.
Website: www.HostMetro.com
Summary: HostMetro is a decent host. Have a loyal client-base. See what other site owners are saying with these HostMetro reviews.
HostMetro was founded in 2003. Based out of Arlington Heights, Illinois. They are a privately owned company. Over the years they have gotten more popular. A budget host like iPage and WebHostingPad. HostMetro has a datacenter located in Chicago, Illinois.
This HostMetro review will show their features. Next, their uptime. Then, their performance. Next, customer support. Lastly, a summary.
HostMetro Features
HostMetro has shared plans only. They do not have VPS or dedicated plans. Instead, there are two options. Also, Linux only.
Shared Plans
- Mega Max Plan. Unlimited bandwidth, sites & storage. Free Site Builder. Free domain. Email accounts. Multiple script support. $2.95 to $4.95/month.
- Super Max Plan. Unlimited bandwidth, sites & storage. Free Site Builder. Free domain (with privacy). Email accounts. Multiple script support. Free SEO e-book. SEO consultation. Search engine submission. Marketing tools. Free SiteLock Seal. $6.95 to $8.95/month.
Prices Explained
HostMetro has a “guarantee price lock” price. Means your price will not double. Other hosts like Fatcow and StartLogic increase your price. Prices based on the contract. Can do 1 to 3 years. The longer you sign up, the cheaper per month.
Do have a “true” month to month plan. Meaning can pay your bill monthly. Do have to pay a $14.49 setup fee.
Resource Usage
HostMetro does use the unlimited sales tactic. Lots of host use this. Shared plans state that you can have “unlimited” everything. HostMetro’s TOS page states that the following:
- 200,000 inode limit.
- Can not use more than 10% of CPU or RAM.
Since they only offer shared hosting. If you get suspended for high resource usage, your account will get banned. Need to migrate to a host like InterServer or GoDaddy. They post have VPS and dedicated plans.
Site Transfers
HostMetro does do free transfers. Need to put in request 30 days after signing up. However, can not exceed 3 GB. Have to do it on your own if you exceed 3 GB.
Security & Backups
HostMetro takes security seriously. They back up your files weekly. Some host does it daily. However, they overwrite your backups. Therefore, only have backups for a week. Also, files can not be larger than 1 GB.
HostMetro has partnered with SiteLock. Comes free with “Super Max Plan.” Otherwise, it is going to cost $2.50/month. SiteLock helps safeguard your files. You can have them restore your site. There is a charge for this, though.
Domains
Can purchase domains with HostMetro. One domain does come free. With both of their plans. Free for the first year. Other hosts like Arvixe give you a domain for life. Domains cost $14.49/year. Can make them private for $.50/month. I use NameCheap when I buy domains. NameCheap is cheaper than HostMetro. Also, very easy to make DNS changes.
HostMetro Uptime & Performance
Uptime
HostMetro has a 99.9% uptime policy. They keep close tabs on uptime through Nagios Server Monitoring.
According to their TOS, HostMetro will credit your account. If uptime falls below 99.9% uptime, you are in good hands. HostMetro will credit your account for a month. Refunds do not cover backbone provider failures, DNS issues, and denial of service attacks.
Research shows uptime could be a problem. HostingFacts.com shows uptime is 99.7%. WebHostingSecretRevealed.net shows uptime as 99.92%, 99.38%, 99.49%, 99.61%, 98.82%, 99.56%, and 98.59%. It is lower than HostMetro states. Also, on other review sites, a few customers are complaining about uptime. There is a lot of good feedback on uptime, too.
Performance
Speed matters if you want a fast loading site. HostMetro does use SSD hard drives. These are faster than SATA hard drives. These are shared servers only. Therefore, you can not expect the performance of a VPS or dedicated server.
Research shows could have issues with speed. HostingFacts.com shows they are one of the slowest hosts. WebHostingSecretRevealed.net shows their response time is “slow.” Other review sites have a few complaints about site speed.
HostMetro Customer Support
HostMetro has 24/7 support. Can contact them these ways:
- Live chat.
- Support Ticket.
- Email.
- Phone.
Also, do have a knowledge-base. Has lots of helpful articles to read.
Two times I tried to contact HostMetro on live chat. It failed. Instead, I had to send a support ticket. Annoying really. The good news is, I got a reply in 13 minutes.
Research is mostly good. Customer support gets good feedback from lots of sites. There are sites like HostingFacts.com which state customer support is “spotty.” Sometimes their help is delayed.
HostMetro Reviews Summary
Recommend HostMetro? No, and Yes. Cheap host. One of the cheapest hosts. Small websites might be okay. However, there is no room to grow with HostMetro. Lots of limitation on their plans. If you exceed, you are going to migrate your data. Uptime is not 99.9%. Server response times are slower than other hosts. Support is spotty. Live chat did not work. Did get a reply fast, though.
A better option for shared hosting is WebHostingHub. Also, if you need a VPS or dedicated plan check out my InMotion Hosting review, LiquidWeb review, or RoseHosting review.