JustHost Web Hosting Review
Pros
- Intuitive website builder
- Choose between Windows or Linux based servers
- Great customer service
- No setup fees
Cons
- Constable up-selling when you're signing up
- Not easy to import your existing WordPress site
- Difficult to find information about dedicated hosting plans
Bottom Line
JustHost is a good web host that offers a balance between services offered and price.
Overview
There are many web hosts to choose from, so it's not easy to choose which one is best to be the bases of your personal or business website. JustHost is not our top choice, but it is worth considering. Their interface is easy to use and very intuitive, and a definite must to those who are not tech savvy. JustHost offers VPS and dedicated hosting along with their shared hosting plans, however they don't offer WordPress migration services so it can be difficult to bring your existing site over.
Shared, VPS & Dedicated Hosting
JustHost has three tiers of shared hosting plans: Starter, Plus and Business Pro. For just $2.95 you can sign up for the first month of the Starter plan, and have a 30 day month back guarantee. There isn't really any risk with that deal! The amount of resources provided will increase based on the plan you pick. It is recommended you start with the Starter plan and then scale up your plan based on the demands of your website. All packages also include free site backup services and unlimited bandwidth.
If you need a step up from shared hosting, you can move to JustHost's VPS or Dedicated hosting plans. VPS plans start at $14.99 per month, and you can scale up your service needs for addition fees. VPS plans include root access, guaranteed server resources, enhanced control panel and managed services.
JustHost Dedicated hosting starts at $119.99 per month. The dedicated hosting resources provided are industry standard, except for bandwidth limits which stand out at 15TB per month. JustHost only offers Linux based dedicated hosting, so you will have to look elsewhere if you are looking to run Windows based services. On the upside, JustHost allows you to host an unlimited number of domains. You can cancel any of these plans through JustHost's 30 day money back guarantee.
Signup Experience
We choose to test JustHost's starter plan. Setup was very easy, but we did see a lot of up-sell ads, if you don't read carefully you will accidentally agree to services you never wanted. You will get a free domain name if you commit to a 36 month subscription, otherwise the domain will cost $14.99. Some of the extra services that were pre-selected for us included: Site Backup Pro for $1.67 per month, Domain Privacy Protection for $0.83 per month, Search Engine Jumpstart for $1.25 per month and SiteLock Domain Security for $1.67 per month. That is a lot of services! Especially since we didn't ask for any of it, they are all pre selected to be purchased.
Once you finish the setup process, three website building tools are presented to you: WordPress, Weebly and Mojo Marketplace. Weebly is very easy to use, just drag and drop elements on to the page. You can easily add features such as buttons, slideshows and YouTube videos. There are also plenty of themes to choose from to match your design ideas.
WordPress & Email Setup
The process to export your WordPress blog from another service is usually pretty straight forward and simple. The process becomes difficult when you try and import your WordPress blog to your new JustHost account. We didn't know how to get started so we started a web chat with JustHost support center. The support staff directed us to a link with details on how to import WordPress content, but it was complicated as it included the setup of a MySQL database, not a simple task for everyone.
Setting up email was much easier. Through your control panel you can choose to add an email account, set the email address, password and set a mailbox size limit. They also include a password generator if you don't want to create your own.
E-Commerce & Security
You can get your online shop going very quickly through a one-click installation of several shopping cart programs. JustHost offers e-commerce solutions through Mojo Marketplace, you can choose between Magento, ShopSite and Opencart. We choose ShopSite you can easily add a banner, logo, products and social media links. You can keep track of sales made and there is a detailed guide to help you if you get stuck.
JustHost has several enhanced security options that are available through the control panel. You can purchase advanced backup, for $19.99 per year, but basic backup services are included for free. This is where you can buy SSL certificates and also malware scanning and removal through SiteLock, starting at $19.99.
Customer Support
We decided to test JustHost's telephone support by calling them about the WordPress hosting plan, and how it differs from their regular hosting. Our call was answered after a ten minute wait on hold, the support person was very friendly and helpful. Telephone support is offered around the clock. We were told there is no dedicated WordPress hosting at JustHost, but you can install a WordPress blog on your website.
We then started another help request through the JustHost web chat feature. We wanted to know how to import a WordPress blog to our new site. The web chat interface was really professional looking, and it even had a countdown clock for your wait time. The support staff directed us to a link that described the process, but it was very technical. It would have been nice to have more hands on help, or at least a help video that showed how to set it up.
Conclusion
JustHost is a good choice if you're building a small to mid-level site that doesn't require a lot of resources. We really liked the easy to use site builder and shopping cart programs. Also JustHost doesn't make it easy to find out about their dedicated server plans. Most won't care about dedicated hosting, but it's a good option to have if your site needs to scale up to meet demand.
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