Home » FastComet Review: Pros, Cons & Pricing Details

FastComet Review: Pros, Cons & Pricing Details

Sezmi

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8.0

Ten out of 10

Last updated: April 1, 2022

What is FastComet?

FastComet, a web hosting company founded in San Francisco, California in 2009, is an independent web hosting company. Their services and team span the globe. They offer cloud and shared hosting services, with an emphasis on predictable pricing and fast customer service.

FastComet has been in hosting for more than 9 years. They started out providing professional services to business and private clients, before launching their own public cloud hosting service. They offer an SSD Cloud Hosting solution, which is “one the most affordable and accessible on the Web Hosting Market”, with a support team that is available 24/7.

Their pricing and rapid growth have caused me a lot of questions from readers about them. So while looking for a budget host for a side-project, I signed up to give them a shot.

Here is my FastComet Hosting review. It’s based on my customer experience.

FastComet Pricing

Hosting plans for shared users

* Prices per month for a 1-month subscription

FastComet

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Get the Best Web Hosting

Here’s how FastComet compares to the top web hosts I have used as a consultant or customer.

FastComet vs. Bluehost

Bluehost, like HostGator is another large competitor. Bluehost is a competitor to HostGator. Read my Bluehost review.

They are one the largest brands in hosting. Pre-2015, they had a similar pricing structure to FastComet. However, their backend is cleaner and support is better. Bluehost has now changed its plans and is “upmarket.” FastComet offers more features and pricing, and is better for raw pricing.

Bluehost is a good option if you want better quality and more options.

FastComet vs. GoDaddy

GoDaddy is the industry’s brand, even though they are not a hosting company but a domain registrar. Although they have made significant improvements in their web hosting services since 2013, their main selling point is the deeply discounted introductory pricing. FastComet is able to compete with them head-on, but GoDaddy offers more features. GoDaddy’s review is available.

FastComet and GoDaddy are my choices, but I’d choose GoDaddy.

FastComet vs. HostGator

There are some key differences between FastComet & HostGator. HostGator, which is larger than FastComet, operates from Newfol Digital’s Houston data centers and Utah data centers. FastComet has a very affordable upfront price, but they raise the renewal cost to make it more affordable. FastComet offers more international data centers.

HostGator is a cheaper option for medium-term pricing, deep introductory pricing, and offers more features than FastComet.

HostGator is preferred by most site owners. HostGator is where I manage most of my personal projects. Ex-US customers would prefer FastComet.

FastComet vs. Siteground

SiteGround is an independent hosting provider that is growing fast. They are based in Bulgaria and have access to similar data centers. FastComet offers similar features for a very low price.

SiteGround is an established company that delivers better results.

FastComet vs. InMotion

InMotion Hosting ranks among the top and fastest growing hosting companies. They offer a full range of hosting services. This website uses InMotion’s VPS server. Although they are more expensive than FastComet’s special pricing, they offer a better product in every way.

InMotion also offers shared hosting plans for entry-level customers under the brand Web Hosting Hub These plans are slightly more expensive than FastComet, but offer a better product and more options.

FastComet’s Pros

There are many FastComet hosting reviews available online. Most of them are user-generated reviews, based on anecdotes or personal experience. This is fine, but I have a different approach. As I have said in my hosting reviews, there is no “best” web host. It all comes down to the right fit for you project based upon your goals, budget, expertise, and experience.

These are the pros and disadvantages of FastComet.

Support channels

As I have said in other reviews of web hosting, it is impossible to say if a company offers exceptional or terrible customer service to all customers. It is difficult to tell as a customer whether you are dealing with one exceptional or one terrible employee, or if the company’s overall culture.

FastComet customer service representatives are not something I am familiar with. However, I do know that they are available 24 hours a day via email, ticket, chat, and phone. All their support channels are easy to find and use.

This support channel range is useful, and a great way to stand out from direct competitors in the budget market like Namecheap Hosting or iPage.

You will also be contacted by them once you begin looking at pricing plans. This is a great bonus feature for those who are new to hosting and want to know more about the best fit.

You can also find all their support staff on their website.

FastComet uses a live support team to deal with requests. This is a big pro. Because they have a large customer base, it is likely that they can provide 24/7 support.

They have data centers all over the world, serving customers from every continent. They are always available and there is always someone to assist.

Relevant Hosting Accessories

FastComet is a young hosting company. You can see this in the way they have planned their hosting extras. Instead of focusing on things like guestbooks, ad credits and dedicated IPs, they offer things like free daily backups and transfers, free CDN and SSL integration, multiple data centers and free self-installation with no upsells/ ads.

Their best “extra” is their plan structure, which has no contract and a 45-day guarantee of money back.

Nothing is worse than being locked into a pre-paid, long-term hosting package only for you to discover that you don’t like the host.

FastComet does not require a commitment of more than one or three years. It is month to month. If you decide to move, you will get your previous 45 days payment back. FastComet’s bold move shows that they are confident in their ability to deliver reliable hosting and great customer service. Predicting customer churn is one of the most difficult parts of hosting. This involves balancing ongoing investment (buying more powerful servers) with customer revenue loss.

FastComet’s extras can be a red flag for websites that are not long-term (see cons), but it is also a great idea in many other ways. Their “extras” are what you should have in 2019, especially in a world of super-cheap storage and cloud computing.

Fixed Pricing

The confusing pricing plans are a major problem in the hosting industry. It’s difficult to compare company plans because they rarely match one another.

While some companies limit the number of websites they allow, others offer a variety of discounts for high-end prices. The middle (or “Best Value!”) is the best value. The middle (aka “Best Value!”) is usually a mixture meant to help you make a decision.

FastComet pricing has its pros and cons. Their fixed pricing model is the most important.

Hosting companies offer standard pricing, which they will discount depending on how long you sign-up. Most hosting companies offer a discount for your first year and then you will be charged a higher price for the second year. If you are satisfied with the service, it will offer you a better deal upfront.

FastComet provides an upfront price and renewals at the same price. It’s easy and straightforward. *

*Now…there is always an asterisk

FastComet offers steeper discounts for longer term signups. However, they keep your renewal rate fixed so you will continue to pay the same rate as when you first signed up.

Although there are some catches, I will mention them in the cons section. However, the pro of deep discounts for long periods of time without worrying about confusing renewal rates is quite solid.

Cons of FastComet

FastComet is like any other web host. You can find many FastComet complaints online. Many of these complaints are valid. Some are just anecdotal. These are some of the cons I encountered while using FastComet to host my website.

Performance is average

A good hosting server will not only host your website files but also deliver them as fast as possible to every visitor who visits your domain name address.

There are many factors that affect how fast your website loads. It is possible to have the fastest server on the planet and still have a slow website because of issues on your side. You want to make sure your server is fast enough that you can focus on your side of things.

TTFB, or Time to First Byte, is a great way to approximate performance. Network engineers can be a bit sloppy, so if you have the exact type of website you run, you can request detailed allocation specs. With my hosting reviews, I aim to give you a summary of the tradeoffs that can be used to make the right decision for your website.

Here’s what their data center did with my website after I set it up using a fresh WordPress install.

TTFB takes 0.612 seconds, which is quite good but not the best I’ve ever seen. FastComet’s tests were also varied. Before pulling this test, I double-checked stats with Pingdom Tools. They had fine default memory allocations. Their SSD drives are great if you plan to serve a lot of images from your website.

FastComet may not be the best, but it isn’t the worst.

FastComet now offers multiple server locations. This allows website owners to select the nearest location to their customers so that their website loads faster.

FastComet is certain to benefit from this. This is a rare host (besides SiteGround) with this many data centers. This setup is especially helpful if you’re in Africa, Asia, Australia.

But, I’m also curious about why so many are so close together. Data centers are only important at the continental scale. They don’t see the benefit in having 3 data centers east of the Rockies. Their headquarters are not even near any of their data centres.

It seems like nothing matters, but in reality, it is a plus. Their performance is excellent, and all other aspects are a bonus. However, I have concerns about their current structure. If you are able to add value, the hosting industry is prone to making difficult tradeoffs.

FastComet is not a good choice if you want a long-term host that will perform well for many years to come. If you’re not from the US and enjoy their features, I would recommend FastComet.

Limitations on Plans

Although web hosting companies all sell the same thing, a physical site for your website that is connected to the Internet, they offer different plans, with different caps and bonuses, as well as different renewal prices.

Most people find it difficult to determine their true value without a breakdown of the various parts.

I have broken down the Core hosting features into Bonus hosting features to make it easier for you to compare hosting companies. We have already discussed how FastComet excels in bonus hosting features.

The “3 D’s” are the core hosting features – domains and databases, as well as disk space. Hosting servers are designed to host website files.

• Domains refer to the number of domain names that you can point at your hosting account. Multiple domains are required if you plan to host multiple websites. It is also important to consider email addresses per domain. Sometimes, these are also capped.
• Databases allow you to run multiple pieces of website software on your hosting server. One database is required for a WordPress install. You will need additional databases if you have apps, Listservs, or other services.
• The amount of files that you can place on your server is called disk space. This includes images, text and PDFs.
• Other features include website builders software, advertising credits, backend software and more.

FastComet’s greatest flaw is its plan limitations, particularly its limits on domains and disk space.

Their Starter Plan limits you to one domain and website, and only 15GB of disk space. This is not a problem if you only have one website. It can be frustrating if you need to scale up.

FastComet also restricts disk space for their higher-tier plans, as well as the mid-tier.

If you are planning to create a smaller website (AKA you won’t have much disk space to store files, images, etc. This is not a problem if you have a small site. If you want to add more functionality to your website, such as eCommerce, or store a lot of images (like a beauty site), you will need to ensure that your hosting plan can handle it.

Pricing Confusion

FastComet pricing looks quite straightforward at first glance. You pay the current price and you will renew at that price. Each package comes with certain features. Simple, right? Actually, I consider that a strong pro for them.

However, when you go to actually purchase a plan, things get more complicated. Take a look at what happened when we tried signing up for the StartSmart plan.

There is a setup fee, and the monthly cost of your plan will be higher if you don’t sign up for a long-term plan. If you go directly to the pricing page, it can be confusing.

And so it goes again. Hosting returns are a hard math problem. FastComet is working to position its pricing in a way that is “No Contract” transparent and transparent. It also looks for tactical ways to reduce churn (committing to a year+) as well as to lower the setup fee.

This is fair, but it also makes their pricing structure less innovative. Many other hosts won’t charge you for cancelling. Many other hosts offer a longer money-back guarantee, such as InMotion or DreamHost. SiteGround, for example, offers a multi-year discount.

It’s not an issue. They still offer excellent pricing. They still have excellent pricing. But, like the performance disadvantage there are many small flags that make it difficult to believe they have figured out their business model, positioning, and future.

Conclusion

FastComet hosting is great for what it is. They’re fine for small websites. They’re also an option for those who live outside the US.

FastComet is an excellent option if pricing is important to you and you don’t mind having a limited plan.

InMotion Hosting is a shared hosting company that offers affordable pricing, long-term pricing and superior products. If you prefer to pay monthly, HostGator is also available.

You don’t need to be confused if you look at my list for the best web hosting services.