WestHost was founded by Chris Russell way back in 1998. By 2008, it had been purchased by UK2 Group, a massive provider of internet services that also owns companies like MidPhase, AnHosting, Dotable, VPS.net, and 100Tb. WestHost is one of the oldest providers still currently providing hosting services.
Like most other web hosting services, Westhost boasts of top-notch services. I have carefully reviewed their claims. This review will give you a very concise and unbiased opinion of the features, services, and performances you can expect.
Quick Review
- Average speeds
- Great uptime
- Customer support, with 24/7 Live Chat
- Shared hosting, VPS hosting, WordPress, Reseller packages, and Dedicated servers
- Free domain name
- Free SSL certificate
- Unlimited email accounts
- 50 GB storage and 1000 GB bandwidth
- 30-day money-back guarantee
- cPanel present
- Free website migration
- WordPress, Joomla, AbeneCart, and PrestaShop apps
- Linux-based servers
Overview
Headquartered in Utah, in the United States, WestHost has been delivering web hosting services for over twenty-three years. It aims to provide affordable web hosting services to all forms of businesses, from startups to large international companies.
Although it is based in the United States, WestHost leverages on the data centers that its parent company UK2 Group owns all over the world. As a result, it is suitable for customers who are based in countries with not much proximity to the US.
WestHost offers shared hosting, WordPress, VPS hosting, and dedicated servers. It also has reseller plans for entrepreneurs looking to get into the web hosting business.
Shared Hosting
Shared hosting is the entry-level stage of web hosting. It involves several websites sharing a single server, together with the resources that come along with it, such as bandwidth and processor power. Because it is the least powerful type of web hosting, it is also the most affordable.
WestHost’s shared hosting package is split into three plans: Personal, Preferred, and Business. The Personal plan is the most limited of all three, but the cheapest, starting at $1/mo. It lets you host a single website, and you get one database. The available disk space is 50GB, and bandwidth is limited to 1000GB, which is enough for most small websites. You also get a free setup.
The Preferred plan is next and will allow you to host an unlimited number of websites. Disk space climbs up to 200GB, and bandwidth more than doubles to 2500GB. Databases here are unlimited. Pricing starts at $2/mo.
The Business plan is built for bigger websites. It comes with a lot of unlimited resources – disk space, bandwidth, and databases. You get one free dedicated IP and a free SSL certificate.
VPS Hosting
VPS hosting is a level above shared hosting. It is great for websites that have outgrown the limitations that come with being hosted on a shared server but do not quite need a dedicated server. Sure, websites on a VPS plan still share a server, but it is with fewer websites. More importantly, they each get assigned a virtual server, along with control over its resources.
WestHost has four VPS hosting plans starting from $8/mo. and rising to $128/mo., depending on the server’s infrastructure and resources. While the lowest plan comes with just 1GB of RAM and 25GB SSD storage, the highest plan offers 16GB RAM and 400GB SSD disk space.
Dedicated Servers
The most powerful form of web hosting is dedicated hosting. Websites here get an entire server assigned to them, together with all the resources that come with it. Because they don’t have to share, they experience unparalleled performances and uptimes. Dedicated servers require technical know-how to manage and control.
WestHost has both self-managed and managed dedicated server plans. The managed plans are great for newbie webmasters with little experience and knowledge, or those who prefer to focus on the actual running of their businesses. The plans are flexible and depend on your website’s individual needs.
Pros of Using WestHost Hosting
Let’s look at the pros that come with using this service.
Free Domain Name for Life
This is a pretty decent offer. WestHost offers its users a free domain name for life. There is no charge to renew after the first year, as is the case with most other web hosts with a domain name freebie.
This means that you get to save anywhere between $10 to $15 monthly. These domain names are assessable on their Business and Preferred level plans.
Excellent Uptime
Good uptime is essential for any website to be able to attract and retain customers while consolidating good SEO rankings. A website that is down a lot of the time will experience visitors not returning to the site and will take hits in revenue.
Westhost has consistently stayed above the industry average with a very solid uptime of 99.98% over the last couple of months. I tested this metric using the UptimeRobot tool. While SiteGround has an uptime of 99.99% in that time, this still puts WestHost in esteemed company.
Free Website Migration
WestHost does all the heavy lifting when it comes to site migration. If you decide to move to WestHost from your current web host provider, you only need to apply, and your website will be transferred, free of charge.
30-Day Money-Back Guarantee
You can try out WebHost’s services backed by a 30-day money-back guarantee. What this means is that if you are dissatisfied with the service, you can request a refund within 30 days of purchase and get your fee back in full. No questions asked.
Like with most other providers, this guarantee has some terms and conditions attached to it.
Enhanced Security with Nightly Backups
WestHost is quite secure. Your websites will get regular nightly backups to ensure that you do not lose important files. This feature comes for free on all plans. It is great because quite a number of other web hosts do not throw in backups as a freebie.
It also offers support for Automatic Malware Removal for its plans, with the Cloudflare CDN.
One-Click Applications and Website Builder
WestHost provides users with the ease of one-click install applications. A ton of apps like Magento, Joomla, WordPress, and Drupal can be installed with just a click.
There is also a pretty intuitive website builder that contains well over 165 themes that users can easily drag and drop.
Fairly Clear Pricing List
It is no news that website hosting providers are pros at hiding costs. With most platforms, there are several hidden charges in places you would have never thought of.
A number of these web hosts hide these charges in their renewal rates. They load their platform with a lot of upsells that end up increasing the total cost at the checkout page.
WestHost comes off as a more transparent provider than most others. There are very few hidden fees or charges, and generally, what you pay for is what you get.
Cons of Using WestHost Hosting
Now we’ll look at the reasons you may pause to consider hopping on a WestHost plan.
Average Load Times
Your website’s speed can significantly impact your business’ online success, both positively and negatively. Snail-pace speeds will turn customers away from your site most of the time.
Compared to top-rated hosts like Bluehost, WestHost does not quite cut it when it comes to speed. During testing, our test website sustained an average page load time of 881ms through the last two months. While this is not excruciatingly slow, it does not rank among the best in the industry.
Customer Care is Not the Easiest to Reach
It took close to an hour before I could finally get through to WestHost’s Customer support. While it does not look that bad on the surface, an hour can be a very long time for a webmaster struggling to deal with an urgent issue. Customer reviews have largely shown a similar trend.
Other than that, customer support was very friendly and helpful.
Unlimited Plans are Not Really Unlimited
Contrary to what users are led to believe, the ‘unlimited’ tag attached to some of the shared hosting plans is not unlimited. In reality, every ‘unlimited’ plan has an actual threshold that can be activated when a website crosses it.
To be fair to WestHost, this is not peculiar to them, and is the industry standard.
Committing to Long Term Plans Unlocks Low Prices
At face value, WestHost plans are dirt-cheap. The Personal plan, for example, is only $1/mo., placing it among the most affordable in the industry.
The catch is that you will need to subscribe to a 12-month package to unlock this price. Again, this is a practice that is quite common in the web hosting world.
Lots of Limitations
The lowest sharing host plan does not come with a free domain name, SSL Certificate, or dedicated IP address. This is only gotten with the more expensive plans.
Additionally, WestHost does not offer quite a few advanced features. Its servers are all Linux-based. As a result, it is not an alternative if you prefer Windows servers and frameworks like .NET.
Renewal Prices are Significantly More Expensive
As with most other service providers, WestHost lures in customers with ridiculously low starting prices. After these customers take the bait, prices reverse to their original fees, which are considerably more expensive.
With WestHost, you purchase a Personal plan for 1 year at $1.99 per month. Afterward, you revert to paying $8 per month.
Summary
Does WebHostBros recommend WestHost? Yes, we do. While there are a few cons that may have you thinking hard, WestHost is great value for money, especially if you are on a budget.
With plans that are very affordable, an easy-to-use interface, and great extra features like free website migration, it is certainly worth a look at.