Domain.com

Web hosting is the foundation upon which you will build your online presence if you run a blog or a business. But how do you decide which provider to use?  Domain.com, a contender in the crowded website hosting space that offers a useful suite of tools to help you turn your website dreams into reality. The service lacks the advanced hosting options and flexible plan offerings that the top competition provides, but it is still a capable and dependable web host, especially for beginners.

Plans and Pricing

Shared Hosting Plans

There are three different plans available. You can choose between one, two, or three years plans, with the Linux Basic plan starting at $3.75 per month.

WordPress Hosting

WP Starter and WP Essential are the two WordPress hosting plans offered by Domain.com. WP Starter (starting at $3.75 per month with an annual contract) includes unlimited storage, monthly data transfers, email, and a carefully curated collection of WordPress themes and plug-ins. WP Essential ($6.95 per month with an annual contract) includes expert WordPress support, automatic malware removal, and enhanced site security. These WordPress plans, like Domain.com’s shared plans, do not offer a discount for signing up for a year in advance.

Features

Even the cheapest Domain.com plans include great features like unlimited disk space and bandwidth, while the more expensive tiered packages include more features like unlimited FTP accounts and email accounts. There aren’t many features to choose from here because Domain.com focuses on the basics.

Even though CPanel is mentioned, it is unclear which plan this falls under or whether it is a hidden cost. They have their own custom control panel that you will need to get used to.

There are some extra perks, such as marketing coupons that you can use on Google or Bing advertising platforms, which you usually get when signing up for a hosting platform. You can also register a domain and install content management systems (CMS) such as WordPress into your site.

Customer Support

Domain.com offers both phone support and online web chat, which we tested. On a weekday morning, we called Domain.com’s phone tech support to inquire about the differences between shared hosting and wordpress hosting. There is an automated computer system to navigate, but we were speaking with a representative in under three minutes who provided us with helpful information.

On a weekday afternoon, we used the web chat to ask a representative how to import my WordPress.com setup into Domain.com. We had to wait less than two minutes before a technician answered our call. He walked us through the process of quickly importing an existing blog. We asked how to purchase hosting if we owned a domain from a different registrar in a subsequent web chat, and we were given detailed answers. Overall, the customer service representatives were friendly and helpful, with the only caveat being that web chat requires you to enter your name and email address before you can ask questions. Other providers have web chat services that are eager to answer your questions right away, whether you’re an anonymous browser or a long-time customer.

Domain.com allows you to cancel a hosting package at any time and receive a refund for the remaining term of your current payment. Domain.com will refund your hosting fees in full if you cancel the service within the first 30 days of signing up.

Conclusion

Domain.com has a lot to offer, particularly its convenient shared and WordPress hosting plans. Domain.com, on the other hand, lacks options for VPS, dedicated, and cloud servers, as well as reseller options. There are also no options for Windows-based servers. Consider DreamHost, HostGator, and Hostwinds for more robust web hosting services that include most (if not all) of these tiers.