StableHost Review

StableHost is a web hosting service that pushes stability as the core of its service. It is privately owned and started its business in 2009. Right now they have roughly 15 team members, unlike some other hosting companies that have thousands of employees.

They offer several levels of hosting, all with unlimited bandwidth and storage. On top of that, it has one of the lowest starting prices we’ve seen among other web hosts.

But, how does StableHost measure up to the top web hosting services we’ve reviewed?

We put StableHost through a number of tests to gauge its overall effectiveness. In this comprehensive look, we’ll give you the pros and cons, look into pricing, and let you know if this is a hosting service we recommend.

Let’s dig in.

General Info & Hosting Overview

Pros of Using StableHost Hosting

StableHost comes with a lot of handy features. Let’s cover them one-by-one.

1. Clustered Hosting

StableHost uses clustered hosting instead of the common shared hosting that you see with a lot of the services that we have reviewed.

With clustered hosting, the health of all SSD drives is monitored every 60 seconds. This means that whenever you change or add information to your website, it is moved to the best available server at that particular moment.

If an issue is detected on a server, the clustered system moves you automatically onto another drive to ensure that you’re always getting the best possible performance for your site.

In short, by using clustered hosting instead of traditional shared servers, StableHost can avoid downtime more efficiently than most other hosting providers.

2. Unlimited Storage and Bandwidth

StableHost hosting is an unlimited service. That means no caps on storage or bandwidth.

Of course, unlimited plans are not unheard of in the hosting world. A lot of providers will include some kind of unlimited option, usually on an upper-tier plan.

However, StableHost has unlimited storage and bandwidth on all three of their shared plans.

This means that they do not narrow your site’s size or scale based on what you’re paying. This is a fantastic value, especially considering their low startup pricing.

3. Low Startup Price

StableHost offers a low startup pricing, which bears a mention outside of the cost, plans, and payment options section because it is one of the most affordable services we’ve seen and reviewed.

The Starter Plan will cost you only $1.75 if you sign up with them for 36 months. However, after that, it goes up to $3.50 per month. Nevertheless, it’s still very cheap compared to many other hosts on the market.

4. Uptime of 99.95%

Hosting on StableHost comes with a 99.9% uptime guarantee, which is not very uncommon in the hosting industry.

It’s not just bluster or bragging when they assign the word “guarantee” to it. We checked the StableHost terms of service to find out how exactly this guarantee works. They guarantee a 99.9% uptime, and you will receive a month of credit if the uptime drops below that threshold.

Needless to say, we wanted to test StableHost’s uptime ourselves, so we created a test website and have been monitoring their performance for several months.

StableHost has delivered an average uptime of 99.95% with 2 hours of downtime for the last 6 months. This is a quite mediocre result in the hosting industry, but they’ve still managed to hold on to their uptime guarantee and have been showing improved results for the past months.

Here’s the last 6-months average uptime:

• May 2020: 100%
• April 2020: 100%
• March 2020: 99.80%
• February 2020: 100%
• January 2020: 99.99%
• December 2020: 99.92%

We will keep monitoring them and update this review once we have gathered more data.

5. Average Speed – 775ms

One of the main features that StableHost boasts about is speed.

The host uses a customized version of PHP, Litespeed, and MySQL to ensure that their customers are getting the best speeds possible. They claim that your site will be fast, no matter how many visitors you receive.

Of course, we’re not just going to take them at their word and tested their speed for several months.

StableHost’s average 6-month load time is 775ms. It’s definitely not the fastest speed we’ve seen, but it’s not the worst too.

However, it’s important to note that 40% of people abandon a website that takes more than 3 seconds to load – so StableHost has some growing room and we hope to see better results in the coming months.

Once we have gathered further data, we will update this review accordingly.

6. Unlimited Email Accounts and Daily Backups Included

Email services are free with all of StableHost’s shared plans.

That’s a pretty big deal. You can create unlimited email accounts at no cost. A lot of hosts will charge you for this, or limit the number that you can have based on your subscription level.

Branded email accounts are a necessity for modern businesses. Custom email accounts that connect to your domain will help your business build legitimacy and improve your overall branding.

Moreover, all shared and reseller web hosting servers are backed up every night and stored for 14 days.

This is done through the R1Soft Backup Service and it ensures that you’ll be able to recover your entire account from any time in the previous two weeks. If you need to recover your data, click on the R1Soft icon in cPanel and select the files you want to recover. And that’s all.

7. Site Migration is Free

When you’re starting with a new hosting service, you might need to transfer your existing site over from the previous host.

This is another one of those services that a lot of hosting platforms charge for. With StableHost, unlimited site migration is free if your previous provider also used cPanel.

This migration includes all domains that have content, along with MySQL databases, FTP, and email accounts.

If your previous provider was not using cPanel, StableHost will still transfer over one domain for free, including all website contents and the database.

However, if you’re transferring from a host that did not use cPanel, the migration will not feature email accounts and FTP accounts.

8. 45-Day Money-Back Guarantee

StableHost doesn’t offer a free trial but they do have a 45-day money-back guarantee available on all shared web hosting plans.

Most hosts have some kind of money-back guarantee, but most of them max out at 30 days. While some other services that we’ve used have a 60-day guarantee, it’s still good to see that StableHost is willing to give you a full month and a half to make up your mind.

Of course, this guarantee does not apply to domain registration fees or any add-ons.

The money-back-guarantee is also valid for first-time accounts only.

9. SSL Certificates are Included

It’s crucial in today’s world that you have SSL certificates in place through your website hosting company. Some companies will want to charge you extra for this layer of essential security, but many offer at least one option for free.

There are three SSL Certificates offered by StableHost. Two of them are free with your shared hosting plan.

1. Comodo Auto SSL comes for free by default with all hosting plans.
2. Let’s Encrypt certificates have to be activated by Technical support. They are also free.
3. Alpha SSL comes at an additional cost.

10. Easy-to-Use Control Panel

StableHost’s backend is easy to navigate around.

From the dashboard, you have access to information on your data usage and bandwidth. Below, are a number of shortcuts that you can use to perform some simple tasks. On the left, you’ll see links that let you log into your Webmail account and cPanel.

cPanel is a pretty common platform that a lot of hosting services use. Using this, you can effectively manage your website from one central location. While the main interface might look cluttered, it’s really easy to zero in on the feature you need by typing it into the search bar at the top of the page.

Cons of Using StableHost Hosting

Now let’s take a look at the downsides of StableHost hosting.

1. Free Domain Not Included

One thing that we found disappointing with StableHost is that there is no included domain in any shared hosting plan.

All domains must be purchased separately, with .com pricing starting at $12.99 for the first year and renewing at $14.99. Many hosts provide a free domain, and it’s a shame that StableHost left this vital piece of the website puzzle out.

2. Slow Customer Service

StableHost has a 24/7 live chat option that you can connect with by clicking on the green chat icon in the lower right corner.

The site estimates a 5-minute response time when you’re submitting a question to live chat. In reality, it took over 10 minutes to get a response, which is way longer than most of the other live chat support features we’ve used.

That’s also double the amount of time that they initially quoted, but it must be noted that the test was undertaken during the COVID-19 pandemic.

In general, the customer rep’s answers were helpful, but we wish they could have been a bit faster.

StableHost also has email support, phone support, and an impressive knowledge base that features a variety of very helpful articles. Moreover, if you sign up with their higher tier Platinum Plan, you’ll get a VIP support option.

StableHost Cost, Plans, Payment Methods & Quick Facts

StableHost is one of the most affordable hosting services that we’ve seen. Here is the overview of their shared hosting plans:

Quick Facts

• Domain: No. Prices starting from $12.99 for the first year and renewing at $14.99.
• Ease of Signup: Easy and straightforward.
• Money-Back: 45-day money-back guarantee. No free trial.
• Payment Methods: All major credit and debit cards, PayPal, bank transfer.
• Hidden Fees and Clauses: Renewal rates are higher than introductory rates. Money-back guarantee is valid for first-time accounts only.
• Upsells: No.
• Account Activation: Instant account activation.
• Control Panel and Dashboard: cPanel.
• Installation of Apps and CMSs (WordPress, Joomla, etc.): 1-click installations for the most popular apps.

Do We Recommend StableHost?

Yes, we do.

StableHost is a great hosting provider at a good price. The Platinum Plan is expensive, but the Starter and Pro Plans are in line with many of the other top services out there.

And you get a lot of bang for your buck. For starters, there’s the free SSL security, unlimited storage, bandwidth, daily backups, and unlimited email accounts.

Moreover, StableHost has delivered decent uptime and speed results during our testing period so far.

It would be nice if they would have faster customer service and if they’d include free domains with their service.

Overall, StableHost gets a lot right — more than enough to earn our recommendation.

Visit www.StableHost

P.S. Have you used StableHost before? Please consider leaving a review below — good or bad — doesn’t really matter as long it’s helpful to our visitors. Thanks for your support.