Web Hosting Hub Review: The Right Budget Host For You?
Web Hosting Hub claims that they offer the “best website hosting” and that you don’t need technical skills to make a beautiful website and sell your products online. Is this the case?
In this Web Hosting Hub review, we’ll take a close look at their hosting plans, as well as key offerings like its included cPanel control panel and their money back guarantee.
Let’s find out if Web Hosting Hub promises is what it delivers.
Contents
- 1 Pros and Cons
- 2 About Web Hosting Hub
- 3 Hosting Features
- 4 Shared Hosting Plans
- 5 WordPress Hosting Plans
- 6 Add-Ons
- 7 Domain Name Registration
- 8 Uptime and Response Time
- 9 Security
- 10 Customer Support
- 11 User Ratings
- 12 Web Hosting Hub vs InMotion
- 13 Get Our Discount
- 14 Conclusion
- 15 Your Review of Web Hosting Hub
Pros and Cons
Here’s a quick takeaway.
Pros
- Unlimited resource allocations with all hosting plans
- 24/7 technical support from a US-based team
- 90-day money back guarantee is one of the longest offered by any host
Cons
- No advanced hosting options (e.g., VPS hosting or dedicated servers)
- E-commerce functionality might not be sufficient for growing stores
- Pricing depends on contract length
About Web Hosting Hub
Do what you love, leave the rest to us.
WebHostingHub.com tagline
Web Hosting Hub is a Virginia Beach, Virginia based hosting company founded in 2010 to provide small business customers with easy-to-use and affordable hosting plans.
Since then, the company has grown to employ over 200 people who support more than 40,000 customers.
The company has also expanded its datacenter, adding a second location in Los Angeles, California to complement its original datcenter in Virginia Beach.
Customers can choose the datacenter that hosts their website during the checkout process.
Hosting Features
Though Web Hosting Hub offers three different shared hosting plans (and speciality WordPress plans), there are features that come standard, no matter which plan you choose.
- Free Domain Name Registration or free transfer of an existing domain name.
- SSDs (solid-state drives), which are much faster than traditional hard disk drives: your site will perform better and load faster.
- Free SSL Certificate to make sure that transmissions between your website and your customers are secure.
- Hosting for at Least Two Websites — With the entry-level plan, you can host up to two websites. All other plans allow you to host an unlimited number of websites.
- Unlimited Resource Allocation so that you don’t have to worry about exceeding storage, memory, or bandwidth constraints (as long as you follow Web Hosting Hub’s terms of service).
- Unlimited Email Inboxes with addresses that match your website’s domain. You will be able to access your email accounts from any device or app.
- Advertising Credits ($150 worth) to jumpstart your new website’s marketing campaign.
- 90-Day Money-Back Guarantee, which is one of the longest guarantee periods we’ve seen. Purchase your Web Hosting Plan, try it out, and if you don’t like what you’ve chosen, cancel your plan to receive a full refund.
Here’s a detailed breakdown of the 3 shared plans — starting at $3.99 per month.
Spark Plan
The Spark plan is for those looking to get started on a budget.
You’ll get hosting for up to two websites, an unlimited amount of storage and bandwidth, use of 10 MySQL or PostgreSQL databases, and unlimited email accounts.
Other perks include:
- Support for 5 parked domains and 25 subdomains
- Free website transfers for up to 3 websites
- Auto-installation (by Web Hosting Hub staff) of popular tools like WordPress and PrestaShop
- SSH Access to your hosting account
- Support during the onboarding process
Nitro Plan
For those who need a bit more than the Spark plan provides, the Nitro plan promises double the speed and performance.
You can host an unlimited number of websites and use of an unlimited number of MySQL or PostgreSQL databases. You can have unlimited subdomains and parked domains, too.
If you purchase web design services from Web Hosting Hub, you’ll receive up to a 20% discount.
Dynamo Plan
The Dynamo plan is Web Hosting Hub’s flagship option and it is geared toward highly-dynamic, resource-intensive websites.
It is similar to the Nitro plan, but Web Hosting Hub claims that it offers performance and speeds four times greater than that offered by the entry-level Spark option.
BoldGrid Website Builder
All hosting plans come with the BoldGrid Website Builder, a drag-and-drop website building tool built on top of the WordPress platform.
While WordPress is itself fairly easy to use, BoldGrid strives to simplify the process even more by adding drag-and-drop functionality.
With BoldGrid, Web Hosting Hub includes several WordPress Themes you can use to get started.
All websites built using BoldGrid are responsive and use HTML 5. You retain all rights to work you create using BoldGrid.
Softaculous Apps
You’ll get easy access to website building tools like Modernizr and Bootstrap.
Softaculous is a one-click installer that gives you access to over 400 apps like WordPress, Joomla!, Drupal, and PrestaShop.
With Softaculous, you can easily install add-ons to your site with just a single click — you do not have to do any manual installation.
You’ll also find forums, image galleries, administrative tools, and other apps to enhance your web presence.
Frameworks and Dev Tools
Plus there are dozens of frameworks and dev tools you can download with a click, like Laravel, CakePHP, Modernizr, and Bootstrap.
WordPress Hosting Plans
While Web Hosting Hub’s general-use, shared hosting plans can be used to host WordPress sites, the company does offer specialized plans that come with the WordPress core pre-installed.
These plans are not drastically different from the shared hosting plans, but you get some bonus features that make it faster and easier to get started with your WordPress site.
You’ll also get free, customizable themes for use with your site and zero-downtime transfers of any existing WordPress sites you might have.
Web Hosting Hub’s WordPress hosting plans share the same names as the shared hosting plans: Spark, Nitro, and Dynamo. They cost the same, and the resource allocations of the shared hosting plans and their WordPress analogs are identical.
With that said, be sure to purchase the right hosting plan type during checkout. Otherwise, you won’t get the bonus WordPress features, such as the pre-installed WordPress core.
Add-Ons
Web Hosting Hub’s plans can be upgraded for during checkout when purchasing your plan. Here are two add-ons that many customers will find useful.
Automated Backups
Web Hosting Hub includes manual backup functionality with all of its hosting plans, but if you want to automatically backup your entire cPanel account every 24 hours, you can purchase such functionality for just $1 per month, regardless of which plan you choose.
E-Commerce Functionality
If you want to sell online, you can do so by installing the PrestaShop e-commerce platform onto your web hosting environment.
While this app is available for you to self-install via the Softaculous one-click installer, you can also ask that Web Hosting Hub install it on your behalf during checkout. This service is free.
Domain Name Registration
All purchases of a hosting plan from Web Hosting Hub come with a free domain name. If you already have a domain name, Web Hosting Hub will transfer it over on your behalf free of charge.
Uptime and Response Time
Web Hosting Hub makes no promises regarding an uptime guarantee, though the company mentions a 99.9% uptime.
In our testing, however, we do see several instances of the uptime falling below this threshold — though we don’t see it falling below 99%.
Response times from Web Hosting Hub tend to fall in the 300-millisecond range. These are solid site loading speeds and comparable to some of the leading companies in the shared hosting field.
Security
There are several ways that Web Hosting Hub helps ensure that their hosted sites stay as safe as possible.
SSL Certificates
All plans come with a free SSL Certificate to ensure that transmissions between your server and your visitors are encrypted and cannot be read if they’re intercepted.
Malicious Attack Protection
Web Hosting Hub employs a team of systems administrators tasked with monitoring their servers 24/7.
They monitor for malicious attacks, including DDoS attacks, and defend against malware. If they spot attacks, the SysAdmins deploy the company’s pre-determined mitigation plan.
If they spot malware, their goal is to remove it before it does any harm to the websites they host.
Not PCI Compliant
For those who are looking to sell online, do note that Web Hosting Hub’s plans are not PCI compliant.
If you need your site to be PCI compliant because you want to handle payments from customers, you have two options:
- Find another hosting company that offers a PCI compliant hosting option, or
- Work with a third-party payment processor (like PayPal or Stripe) so that you aren’t using your website to handle payment-related details directly.
If you decide to go with a different company for hosting, we recommend SiteGround. Their GoGeek plan is PCI compliant.
Customer Support
If you ever have any questions, comments, or concerns, you can get in touch with Web Hosting Hub’s US-based customer service team 24/7. All plans come standard with full technical support.
How to Contact the Support Team
You can submit questions via your Account Management Panel, email, live chat, telephone, Skype call, or contact form.
The company also boasts that they can help you in your language, though they never explicitly list the languages offered.
Community Help Center
There’s also Web Hosting Hub’s Community Help Center, where you can post questions and solicit answers from fellow customers.
The Community Help Center is publicly-accessible, rather than a customer-only forum, so you might find yourself getting answers from the general public. The forums are monitored by Web Hosting Hub support team staff as well.
Knowledgebase
For those who would prefer a more DIY approach to customer service, Web Hosting Hub offers a robust knowledgebase.
There are FAQ pages, tutorials, and more. Everything is searchable in case you can quite figure out how to find what you need using the pre-determined categories.
90-Day Money-Back Guarantee
Web Hosting Hub offers an industry-leading, 90-day money back guarantee.
This offer is valid for new hosting accounts, but it does not include non-refundable fees such as the purchase of SSL certificates, domain privacy, and domain names.
If you received a free domain name, Web Hosting Hub will deduct its cost from your refund. You continue to own the domain name. Dedicated IP addresses will be refunded on a prorated basis.
User Ratings
If you’re curious what actual users think of Web Hosting Hub, you can check out their reviews. Current customers give Web Hosting Hub a rating of 4.3 stars out of 5.
Recent user reviews cite great customer support and catering to small businesses as highlights.
Web Hosting Hub vs InMotion
We compared the two lowest-priced plans for both Web Hosting Hub and InMotion Hosting.
They offer nearly identical features, including free domain registration, SSL certificate, SSD drives, 2 websites, website builder, 24/7 US-based support, 90-day money-back guarantee, and a 1-click installer. You can also get WordPress and e-commerce software pre-installed with either host’s plan.
However, there are a few differences, particularly in price and server response speed.
| Web Hosting Hub | InMotion Hosting | |
| Plan name | Spark | Launch |
| Monthly cost for 1-year contract | $5.99 | $4.99 |
| Automated Backups | Add-on for $1.00 | Included |
Server Response Speeds
Below we’ve charted out the results of our server response speed tests for the last 6 months of 2018. Speed is measured in milliseconds (ms) on the left vertical axis.
Google research has shown that as your site load time goes from “1 second to 3 seconds” the “probability of bounce increases 32%.”
For most of this period, Web Hosting Hub is in the 331- 494 millisecond range. InMotion starts at over 500ms then spikes upwards to a whopping 2,002 ms.
How has InMotion done in our tests in 2019? Unfortunately, they’ve stayed in this upper range so far (between January and April 2019) averaging 1,827 ms. a month.
There are many factors that can affect your site load time — such as how well-coded your site is. Server response speeds are one key factor.
Everyone’s needs are different so be sure you research sufficiently before choosing, so check out our InMotion review.
Get Our Discount
Ready to get started with a hosting plan from Web Hosting Hub? Use any of the links on this page to save up to 56% on your purchase of a web hosting package today. Visit Web Hosting Hub now.
Conclusion
There’s a lot to like about Web Hosting Hub. Their hosting plans all come with unlimited resource allocations.
You’ll also get bonuses like free advertising credits, SSL certificates, and easy installers for add-ons like e-commerce functionality. Add to that speedy SSDs and migration assistance that leaves you with zero downtime.
The downside to Web Hosting Hub, however, is that its pricing is higher than its competitors.
Unsure if Web Hosting Hub is right for you? With its 90-day money back guarantee, you can try it out, risk free. Visit Web Hosting Hub now.
Your Review of Web Hosting Hub
Are you a current or past customer of Web Hosting Hub? Would you recommend them? Please leave your comments below and let our visitors know what you think of Web Hosting Hub’s speed, features and customer service.
Contributing write: Katie Horne. Contributing editor: Natalie Mootz.