Based in Houston, Texas, eHost has been in business for almost 20 years and has recently rebranded itself. Hosting over 1 million websites, eHost is known for entry-level, low-cost shared web hosting, providing an extensive range of free tools and features that rivals charge for. Read our eHost review below.
OvervieweHost keeps things simple. There is one web hosting package with two options and a low introductory price. People putting up their first website or those just starting out in eCommerce will appreciate their all-in-one solution of the (free) domain name, website builder and hosting, all accessible from an easy-to-use control panel.
However, if you have a WordPress website, and you need someone to look after it entirely for you, you should consider another hosting service.
eHost provides a well-reviewed Website Builder for those who want to create a website from scratch. With drag-and-drop functionality and contemporary templates, users report that they’ve been able to have good-looking websites up and running for a few hours.
Is there Adequate Scalability?
Web hosting with eHost is shared hosting on Linux servers. Unlimited disk storage and bandwidth provide as much hosting power as most individual website owners, and small businesses will use.
However, if your site needs do grow beyond this and you find a need for your server (virtual, dedicated or cloud), you’ll have to move to another web hosting service.
What is web host’s moneyback guarantee policy?
Subscribers to eHost have a 45-day money back guarantee with which they receive a full refund, minus $15 for the domain name registration, in the first 45 days of their hosting plan.
You can test out eHost’s service, as they don’t provide an official free trial period. Cancel after the 45-day period, and you’ll receive a pro-rated refund for the remaining full months on your subscription.
What is web host’s reputation?
eHost’s reputation has improved over the last year or so since the rebranding though the company still doesn’t make the top ten lists of the expert reviewers’ web hosting services roundups.
eHost is not as nearly as widely reviewed, even by users, as the larger companies such as GoDaddy, but the reviews are more on the positive side, especially for customer service.
Does it offer uptime guarantee?
The industry-standard 99.9% uptime guarantee is provided by eHost, with the general provision of the downtime not including scheduled maintenance.
Does it provide a Managed WordPress Hosting?
eHost does not offer managed WordPress hosting though you’re welcome to transfer your existing WordPress site or to create a new one using the WordPress software provided free.
Why choose eHost web hosting?
The introductory price and the free features and tools provide good value for money if you sign up for a long-term subscription with eHost. eHost is a good choice if you anticipate “average” traffic to your website; however, if you’re creating a blog or an online store that may actually grow.
eHost’s shared hosting service may not be enough for you eventually, and you’ll have to move your website to another hosting service to access a dedicated server.
Key FeaturesThe experts see eHost as a good budget option for starting your own website. Typically, they thought it was a good choice for personal pages and very small businesses – a good first step if you will. They thought that it had everything included that you will need for the right price, with no downsides if you’re not looking to do anything complex.
Here’s what they enjoyed about eHost:
Here’s what they had to say about the service’s bad points:
Overall, they rated it highly for a particular kind of customer.
The customers that are happy with eHost look to have simple requirements and self-built websites hosting personal pages and micro-businesses.
Here are their positives:
There are mixed reviews coming out of the eHost stables, however most negatives seem to be very customer-specific, and not broad ranging.
Reliability & UptimeAs with most, if not all, other web hosting services, eHost guarantees an uptime of 99.9%. The 99.9% time guarantee does not include scheduled maintenance and is determined by eHost itself; you can’t use monitoring figures obtained from a third party service to justify your claim for a refund based on downtime.
If there is more than 0.1% downtime, it’s up to you to request the refund – a one-month credit to your account – by the end of the month in which the downtime occurs.
Experts who measure the uptime of web hosts have reported that eHost performs exceptionally well, with a reliable uptime of over 99.9%, sometimes at 100% for extended stretches of time. Reports from some users back this up.
The loading speed of websites hosted on eHost servers is also fast. Tests carried out using websites built with eHost’s Website Builder and with WordPress sites returned acceptable loading speeds.
eHost provides 24/7 data center monitoring and uses load balanced servers, giving sound levels of uptime and consistent response times.
Features & Tools
| Feature | Overview |
| Control Panel | The management of your website on eHost is centered around cPanel, branded to their company look-and-feel. However, it’s possible to customize your cPanel to one of many other styles which change how it looks and sometimes how the icons are organized. |
| Disk Space and Bandwidth | Unlike some other web hosting services that give you disk unlimited space and bandwidth, eHost provides “unmetered” disk space and bandwidth. The difference is subtle but significant. Unlimited means that the company measures what you use; unmetered means that they don’t even bother to set limits to either disk space or bandwidth.
However, like all other web hosting companies, they do expect you to be reasonable about it; eHost claims that 99.95% of their customers have enough of each for their needs. The terms of service explicitly state that you can’t use your website as a data storage facility or for file sharing. If you exceed the “normal” usage, you’re asked to put it right or to find alternative hosting arrangements. All web hosting subscriptions have access to 1GB of cloud storage. |
| Database Support | With eHost, you are allowed to have unlimited MySQL databases. According to a friendly Live Chat support person, eHost uses solid state drives for their MySQL databases. |
| Free Domain | As with most other web hosting services, eHost provides one free domain name but with two unusual twists. Firstly, the free domain comes with any length of subscription, even the month-to-month one; and secondly, the domain is free for life.
Well, it’s free for as long as you remain with eHost as your web hosting service, but that is your lifetime with the company, so the claim is accurate. If you already own domain, you can transfer it into eHost or keep it in the first place and point it to your eHost account. |
| Multiple Domains | You’re allowed as many domains as you wish with eHost. Beyond the free domain name you receive, you pay for each additional domain on an annual basis. |
| WordPress Managed Hosting | eHost does not offer Managed WordPress hosting. However, they do encourage users to bring across their existing WordPress sites (though you may need to reinstall any add-ons) or to use the free WordPress software provided to create a new site. |
| Data Backups | eHost clearly states that your use of their hosting facilities is entirely at your risk. The company runs data backups just once a week, and these backups overwrite the previous week’s run. This means that only one week of backups is kept at a time, and is provided solely as a courtesy.
So, effectively, you’re on your own to ensure the safety of your data and all your files. If you will need to use more than 20 GB of disk space (not including databases), you won’t even be included in the weekly backups. eHost does provide instructions for creating manual backups of your website and restoring them. |
| Oneclick App Installer | It’s easy to install content management systems like WordPress on eHost with the 1-click installer process. Other apps that come with this convenience include blogging scripts and the online shopping software. eHost also has Quick Install, a tool that lets you easily install software to your domain with just several clicks and you can use this for hundreds of different software apps, easily uploading the latest version of them. |
| Email Accounts | As an eHost web hosting subscriber, you have access to unlimited free email accounts. But, as always with the term “unlimited”, there are caveats. You can create unlimited mailboxes, but each mailbox has a maximum storage capacity of 500 MB or 10,000 messages, whichever you hit first. This should be more than enough for the average website owner.
With your email accounts comes webmail access to check your email online, along with email forwarding and autoresponders. There’s also virus checking, and you can customize your spam filters. |
| Hosting Security | In addition to physically secure locations with restricted access, eHost protects its servers from DDoS attack with a custom firewall. All other security precautions are proprietary and are not spelled out. |
| Malware & Spam Protection | Protection of the data on your website is up to you – eHost does not provide any malware monitoring and removal. However, you can purchase SiteLock security software from them at a discount for the first year of use. eHost does provide spam protection for your email accounts. |
| Website Builder | Users and expert reviewers are enthusiastic about eHost’s Website Builder for creating websites from scratch. It’s difficult to know how many free templates there are – eHost’s website claims 1000+ in one place and 100s in another – but there is agreement that the templates are clean and contemporary looking
The templates are customizable though the generic ones are more than adequate according to users. One significant downside is that you can’t preview the templates until you sign up to purchase the Website Builder hosting plan. Website Builder is a drag-and-drop app, so you don’t need any technical skill to get a website up and running quickly. |
| eCommerce / Shopping Carts | eHost’s eCommerce software is available through the cPanel hosting option only; you can’t create an online store using Website Builder. The online store is accessible through cPanel, and you have a choice of shopping carts, including Zen Cart. Payments are processed through Paypal. The eCommerce software is optimized for use on mobile devices so people can use it easily on their phones, and it’s easily integrated with social media. |
| Web Applications | WordPress is available for those who want to create their blog or website using this software. Content management systems, including Joomla and Drupal, are also available |
| Programming Languages Support | For those who like to get their hands into the code, eHost supports script programming languages which include PHP, PERL, Ruby, and Python. |
| Site Statistics | cPanel displays several built-in statistics reports, as long as you have fewer than 100 domains and subdomains, and most users do. You have access to both Awstats as well as Google Analytics, each of which provides different kinds of information about the activity surrounding your website. |
| Additional features & tools | The additional features are where eHost blows away its competition. In the design suite, eHost provides tools for blogging as well as photo galleries. The marketing suite helps you put your website front and center with $100 worth of Google AdWords, $100 Yahoo/Bing credit, a free Yellowpages.com listing, a website authentication seal and SEO tools and tips
You also have access to Google Webmaster Tools to help maintain your position in Google’s search results. All these tools are provided free (at the time of writing) with any length of subscription to eHost’s hosting services. |
Plans & Pricing Those of you who have been browsing other web host’s websites may be a little confused when you first encounter eHost’s site. There’s no menu tab for “plans” or “pricing” and just one price quoted, with a discount, on the home page.
What you do see is a full page of all the free features that comes with the plan, and you can see it in a more organized way on the Features page.
But that’s it. That’s the web hosting plan, and that’s the monthly price. One Plan. One Price.
The price shown is the month-to-month price for an open-ended contract; it may be discounted up to 50 percent. If you sign up for 12, 24 or 36 months, the price per month reduces, but there’s no upfront information about this.
The discounted web hosting price is only valid for the initial term and automatically renews at the regular rate, which you have to pay in advance. If you cancel your plan at any time, you’ll be charged the $15 domain fee if you want to keep your domain name.
Each plan, regardless of length, and even the month-to-month comes with a free domain name, unlimited free email accounts, free drag-and-drop Website Builder and unlimited domains, $15 each annually beyond your free one. Other free extras include a Google AdWords credit, 1 GB of cloud storage, WordPress, and CMS Tools.
At the time of writing, tools for the Design, Marketing and Support suites are marked as free features for a limited time with no details as to how long this offer will last.
Some of the free offers have prerequisites and geographic limitations. For example, the Google AdWords $100 bonus requires you to spend $25 upfront, is limited to users in the United States, Canada, and India, and must be used by the end of the year.
There are some other options which you come across when you start to purchase your hosting service, but they’re not also mentioned anywhere up front. And that’s inconvenient. Beyond the length of your hosting plan and your domain name, there is one other decision to make when signing up.
You have the choice to enroll in the Website Builder plan if you want to create your website or the cPanel plan if you’re bringing across your website or want to use WordPress or some other CMS software or an eCommerce site. Both choices are the same price.
Once you’ve chosen your option, you can switch to the other at any time at no extra cost, but this involves canceling your plan, deleting your website and starting again.
As far as the best plan for a beginner, you have just the one plan to choose from. Take your pick as to which option is for you as either is suitable.
Customer Support eHost provides customer support through several channels:
All support is available 24/7 and the support centers are situated exclusively within the United States and Canada.
It’s easy to find how to contact support lines on the eHost website: the phone number is in the top right corner of the Homepage, and the Features page and the Chat Now button is at the top right corner of the Support page.
eHost claims to answer the phones within two minutes of receiving the call. The online help center consists of a keyword-searched knowledge base and extensive step-by-step tutorials. The articles and tutorials are clearly written, jargon-free and geared towards the not-so-technically inclined.
As with any web hosting service, there are mixed reviews about the quality of customer support, On the whole, though, the reviews lean towards the positive. The politeness and courtesy of the customer support agents are never in question; they are also always available and willing to help.
The complaints are usually about the length of time it takes to solve a problem. Often these issues are complex and require several “visits” to customer support or are not resolved to the client satisfaction.
Ease of Use Using the eHost website
The eHost website is clean, well-organized, simple and straightforward to use, which is both a big plus and a big minus. There are just three information pages: Home, Features, and Support, with a Login page to access the cPanel to manage your websites.
The price of the plan is displayed front and center with a big “Get Started Now” button beneath it. There’s lots of high-level information about the freebies you get and the features of the hosting service.
But that’s it. There’s no information about the plan options (cPanel or Website Builder) and the pricing discounts for longer term commitments. There’s no explanation about what the free “Enhanced Security Suite” contains or what you get with the free Online Store or previews of the templates with the free Website Builder.
The Get Started Now button takes you straight into entering your domain name and starting the purchase process. You can go to the Support page and try to find out information from the knowledge base, but that’s inconvenient for potential purchasers.
Managing your website through the cPanel
All website management is accomplished through the cPanel portal. The extensive range of statistics for your website usage is displayed in handy bar graphs on the left side of the screen which slightly-more-technical subscribers appreciate.
The icons representing tasks are organized in groups in the rest of space. Users report that it’s easy to find everything, and there are multiple add-ons to the panel for those who want more control beyond the basics.
Conclusion After its rebranding, eHost is positioning itself as a web hosting service for everyone. However, its services and features are still mainly aimed towards entry-level, budget-conscious, possibly first-time website users. And this is where it seems to succeed.
Users have had good experiences with eHost’s drag-and-drop Website Builder, easily creating good-looking, functional websites in a matter of hours. Reports of eHost’s up-to-guarantee web hosting service show that its uptime is reliable and consistent.
The problems seem to come up with the most advanced features on offer: for example, with the SSL certificate needed for eCommerce. eHost subscribers have also reported problems with billing – with difficulty in canceling their plans, in being overcharged and in not receiving refunds.
The bottom line: consider eHost as your web hosting service if you’re just starting out and want a relatively straightforward website. For a quick and easy start go with the Website Builder option; if you want more control or are interested in using WordPress, opt for cPanel hosting.
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