When starting a website for your small business, one of the very first decisions you’ll have to make is your web hosting provider. There are a seemingly endless amount of options, each promising you unmatched performance, speed, security and customer service. So how do you make the decision as to the best web hosting service for your small business?
In order to ensure you’re making the right choice for your web hosting provider, you need to know a lot of information about what each host provides. Having the facts on your web host of choice will help you determine whether it’s a worthwhile investment – or not.
To help you make a more informed decision, Create Your Start has done the research on a ton of different hosting providers. We’ve gone through the most frequently asked questions and found answers for you, plus compiled data from actual, verified customer reviews. Based on all of our information, we can ensure you are making the most informed choice. Put simply: we have done the hard work, so you don’t have to.
If you’re considering Justhost as a potential provider for your small business, our Justhost review and alternatives can help you decide. If you’re not sure about this hosting provider, read on!
Table of Contents
Is Justhost Good: The Bottom Line Up Front
Founded in 2008, Justhost is relatively new on the web hosting scene. Founded by UK tech entrepreneur Chris Philips, the company has seen steady growth since its inception. It now has bases in the UK, USA, and Australia, with its main data center in Illinois.
Justhost promises the best value for money. It promises to include many additional features in every package, absolutely free. This can make it a particularly popular choice for those on a tighter budget, or are just laying the foundation of their online business.
But is Justhost any good? How does its online reviews stack up to its incredible claims? Are customers happy with the service? Our Justhost review and alternatives is here to answer all these questions – and more.
Pros
Above Average Uptime & Uptime Guarantee
Uptime is one of the most essential aspects on any web hosting provider. If your site goes down, you’ll undoubtedly lose customers to other, working websites. While 100% uptime is what everyone should be striving for, it’s unrealistic. Nonetheless. you want your host’s uptime to be as close to perfect as possible. The industry standard is around 99.94% – and based on some tests, Justhost offers 99.98%. These are pretty good innings, as certainly a tick in the pro column.
Excellent Freebies
With any Justhost plan, you’re promised some tempting bonuses to make their service seem more attractive. With every plan, you get both a free domain registration and a free email address. This will not simply help save cash, but save you the hassle of getting these other things set up separately.
Money Back Guarantee
Another positive aspect of the Justhost service is the fact that you are promised a 30-day money back guarantee on any purchase. This shows the company are confident in what they’re selling – plus gives you as a consumer an extra level of security when making a purchase.
Ease Of Use
Justhost uses cPanel as their control panel, which makes it intuitive to get the hang of. It’s also fairly similar to other hosting providers, making transferring over fairly easy. The service also offers a huge range of apps to make building your site, blog, or e-commerce site super easy. Compared to many other web hosting providers, Justhost has less of a steep learning curve.
Top Security Features
Justhost clearly prioritizes customer security. They use a range of different methods to minimise potential for hacks, including SSH, SSL, SSD and more. The company also provides a service called SiteLock, which scans your site for any potential threats and alerts you directly by email if anything untoward is detected.
Cons & Problems
Not So Speedy
Alongside uptime, loading time is the most important feature for a website of a small business. People don’t have much patience, so if your page is taking too long to appear, they’re very likely to go elsewhere – potentially even to one of your competitors. While Justhost offer fairly good uptime, their speed and load time is lacking. It does seem to be taking an upturn now, but if you’re concerned about website speed, it’s likely there’s another provider who can better fulfil your needs.
Slow Customer Support
Justhost has a less than positive reputation online when it comes to customer support. It can take a long time to get connected to anyone who can help you out. Many also report that the customer service professionals seem under-trained, and tend to rely on the answers to the frequently asked questions on the website, leaving some feeling getting in touch was a waste of time.
Confusing Pricing
One of the main features Justhost advertises is its incredibly competitive pricing. And while their prices are low, the payment structure is a little more complex than the company may have you believe. To get the low rate advertised by Justhost, you need to commit to a three-year plan, plus pay the whole lump sum upfront. Otherwise, the pricing becomes less incredibly cheap.
Lack Of Backups
Many hosting providers promise daily backups of every site they host, plus save older versions of sites to help customers in times of need. Not only does Justhost only offer weekly backups – but these backups aren’t even guaranteed. This means if you’re concerned, you’ll have to consistently perform manual backups – which is both stressful and time-consuming.
Real Customer Reviews: What People are Actually Saying
Justhost has a fairly mixed reputation online. Many have had very poor experiences, and leave supremely negative reviews of the service. However, there are satisfied customers out there, too. Searching around, we were able to come up with a more balanced view on the topic.
Good Things People Are Saying
Great Value For Money
Many satisfied customers point to the low prices Justhost offers as a huge reason they’re happy with the company. It’s true that in terms of value, Justhost is one of the biggest bargains out there for a web hosting provider. On top of the low monthly price, customers get a ton of free extras when they sign up, making it a great choice if budget is your primary concern.
the live chat is really good and the company doesnt charge nothing… u just pay for the domain and 1000’s of benefits. very good.
trustpilot.com
Positive Customer Support
In spite of an ambiguous reputation, many
Customer support is by ticket and so not instant but on the few occasions I needed to contact them they were helpful.
trustpilot.com
Consistent, reliable service
Others simply say they find they get what they pay for with Justhost. Their sites have little downtime and are speedy and secure. The low price does not reflect on a lower quality service.
I am really shocked to read the reviews of this company. I have been with them nearly 4 years and they have been fantastic.
trustpilot.com
Bad Things People Are Saying
Despite having some fans, it’s safe to say Justhost doesn’t have the best reputation online. At review site Trust Pilot, it has 82% one-star (or “bad”) ratings. Here are the primary reasons customers are unsatisfied.
Issues With Setup
Some report site migrations to be hugely problematic, and find Justhost almost impossible to get into contact with the sort out these issues. For some, setting up a site with this company is simply more trouble than it’s worth.
Had a domain and website hosted by justhost for a customer we took on and have been trying to transfer the domain out for over a month with no progress.
trustpilot.com
Constant Upselling
Many customers also report dissatisfaction with how the company try to squeeze money out of customers. The low price is appealing, but many say they feel pressured to pay for extra services, making things less of a great deal overall.
Used to keep backups as standard, and have now started charging it as an extra service without informing customers. Unhelpful staff with poor attitude.
trustpilot.com
Generally Unreliable
Many customers report losing their domains or sites when hosting with Justhost. Not only this, but many report a difficulty leaving, and find they can still get charged after they’ve cancelled their service. The technical glitches and lower quality customer support can be a deal breaker for some.
just host decided they were unable to make simple settings to make a site run smoothly without suggesting a method that would cost you money.
trustpilot.com
Website Set Up and Development
Does Justhost Offer WordPress Hosting Specifically?
Yes, the company offers WordPress hosting along with many other options for hosting plans.
Do You Get a Free Domain Name When You Sign Up? (Some Hosting Providers Offer This)
Customers receive a free domain for one year when signing up with this web hosting provider.
Do They Have Nameservers or Offer DNS Services?
Yes, the service offers DNS services as a standard.
Migrating a Site To Justhost (and Transferable Installs): How Easy Is It?
Customers report it’s quite easy to migrate to Justhost – however, migrating away from the provider could be an issue for some.
Justhost Control Panel (Cpanel): Do They Offer One To Manage Your Hosting?
Yes, Justhost uses a cPanel. This makes it quite intuitive to learn how to use the service, plus makes it easy to learn if you’ve previously used cPanel with any other web hosting service or provider.
FTP & SFTP: How Easy Is It to Connect?
It’s suprt easy to connect FTP and SFTP with Justhost. The company site offers a more detailed user guide on the topic.
Do They Offer Staging Environments and Temporary Urls?
No, Justhost does not appear to offer staging environments and temporary URLs, meaning you’ll have to bild your site by trial and error.
Templates & Blueprints: Do They Offer Site Setup Templates?
Yes, the company advertises thousands of different web templates suitable for a wide array of businesses.
PHP Versions: Do They Support Legacy and The Latest Versions?
Yes, the service supports all versions of PHP. The company site has a more extensive article on the topic for those who wish to learn more.
Do They Support Git or Command Line Tool Integrations?
Yes, Justhost supports Git on VPS and dedicated server hosting plans. For those wishing to learn more, the company site has an excellent definitive guide.
SSH Connection: Do They Support It?
Yes, this web hosting provider supports an SSH connection. They have a full page on their site dedicated to this topic.
Justhost Speed & Load Time
Justhost performs slightly below average in terms of speed – although it does seem to be improving. Nonetheless, if speed is one of your top priorities, it’s unlikely Justhost will be the provider for you.
Services and Goodies Offered With Hosting
Uptime, Outages & Down Time
Justhost boasts an above-average uptime, with some months even standing strong at 100%. It rarely dips below what is seen as average for website uptime.
Do They Offer a CDN With Hosting?
Yes, the company offers the CDN
Does Justhost Offer Shared Hosting Plans and Dedicated Servers?
This web hosting providers offer options for both shared hosting and dedicated hosting, plus cloud options.
Https: Do They Offer SSL Certificates or Letsencrypt?
Yes, the company offers SSL certificates as standard.
How Do Site Backups Work?
Justhost has a feature which allows for weekly site backups – although if you read the fine print, this isn’t a guarantee. If you’re concerned about losing site information (or want to backup more often than on a weekly basis), you’ll have to performs backups manually.
Redirects: Do They Support Server Level Redirects?
Yes, the service supports server level redirects. The company has a full page answering any potential questions on this issue.
Do They Support Multisite & Subdomains?
Yes, Justhost supports both multisite and subdomain options. Only the first domain you get is free, however.
Does Justhost Offer Email Hosting?
Yes, the provider offers email hosting. You also get one free email address as a standard alongside your first free domain.
Security & Past Hacking Incidents
Justhost takes security seriously, and there have been no worrying instances of note. If safety comes first
Justhost Pricing, Pro Plan & Money Back
Pricing, Packages & Plans
There are three plans available with Justhost.
Their cheapest option is Basic. It costs around $4 per month. With this plan you get one website, 50 GB of space, unmetered bandwidth, an SSL certificate, one domain, twenty five sub domains, and five email accounts.
Their middle option is Plus. It costs around $7 per month. With this plan you get ten websites, 150 GB of space, unmetered bandwidth, an SSL certificate, one domain, fifty sub domains, and 100 email accounts.
Their most expensive option is Choice Plus. It costs around $8 per month. With this plan you get unlimited websites, unlimited space, unmetered bandwidth, an SSL certificate, one domain, unlimited sub domains, and an unlimited number of email accounts.
Do They Have a Monthly and Annual Plan Payment Option?
Yes – and in order to get the low prices advertised, you must sign up for an annual payment plan.
Do They Offer Unmetered or Unlimited Bandwidth Plans for Hosted Websites?
Yes, all of the plans come with unmetered bandwidth.
How Does Canceling a Plan Work?
Some report difficult cancelling a plan. If you sign up for payment over a year, it’s difficult to get a refund.
Promo Codes & Discounts: Do They Have Special Offers?
The best way to get a special offer with Justhost is to sign up for a long period and pay a lump sum. Make sure you shop around before purchasing to find any discount codes.
Does Justhost Have a Satisfaction or Money-Back Guarantee?
Yes, there’s a 30 day money back guarantee if you’re unsatisfied with the service.
Customer Service and Technical Support
Justhost Phone Number: Do You Get a Real Person?
When you call the company, you will eventually get through to a real person, but many report they can only deal with very basic problems. If they cannot solve your issue, they escalate the ticket, and you get a call back from an expert, but this can take longer than you’d want.
There is also a 24/7 live web chat support option, but many customers report dissatisfaction with the service. The live chat is reportedly slow and the support workers have been described as unhelpful.
Justhost Alternatives: What We Would Recommend Instead
Create Your Start has tons of excellent reviews for different popular hosting providers. Check out our review series here – we’ve done similar breakdown for companies such as 1&1 IONOS, Pressable, Kinsta and many more.
We also have dedicated comparison articles to help you judge between two popular services. Check out our comparison series here – we’ve run the numbers for competitors like Hostgator and Dreamhost, and Bluehost and Wix.
Sign Up
If you’re tempted by Justhost, you can sign up for their services through their official site.
Have you ever used Jutshost? What were your experiences? Do you have a preferred web host provider? Let us know in the comments below.