FastComet Review

Company: FastComet

Background: FastComet is a relatively new hosting company that offers a wide range of hosting services. The official record says that the company started their business as a system administration service provider and expanded into web hosting business in 2013.

Starting Price: $2.49/mo

Currency: USD

Visit Online: https://www.fastcomet.com/

Review Summary & Ratings

4

FastComet is a hidden gem in the hosting world. With a long list of useful features and a reasonable price – the web host is suitable for both newbies and advanced users.

My Experience with FastComet

We started tracking FastComet (basic plan – FastCloud) in October 2017. Unfortunately, despite being a relative newcomer, the company had no hesitation in canceling a price lock guarantee to their customers lately, resulting in hard feelings and burnt wallets all around.

This review is based on data we gathered from our test site hosted at FastComet and public user feedback from the Internet.

Pros

• Solid server uptime results
• Server speed test results meet expectation (TTFB < 700ms)
• Choices of ten server locations
• 45-day money back guarantee
• Free one year renewal on domain name upon transfer
• Free site migration for first time users
• Easy to use dashboard; shared plans support NGINX, HTTP/2, PHP7 ready
• In-house site builder with 40+ ready-made widget and 350+ modern designed themes
• Excellent reputation – tons of positive feedback from users on social media

Cons

• Broke its price lock guarantee
• Does not offer dedicated IP address to shared hosting users (you can't buy one)
• Only 7 days trial for VPS Cloud users

Pros of FastComet Hosting

1. Solid server uptime results

FastComet is reliable – test site uptime above 99.99% for the last six months. Image below shows our test site's 30 days uptime record in February / March 2018.

How FastComet ensures its server stability?

To make sure every user have access to given CPU and RAM, FastComet implement resources quotas on shared hosting plans.

For example, the limitation on FastCloud (previously known as StartSmart) plan:

• Concurrent connection: 20
• Number of processes: 40
• Script executions: 1K/hour, 10K/day, 300K/month
• Average daily CPU utilization: 40%
• Inodes: 350,000
• Minimum Cron job interval: 30mins
• Bandwidth usage per month: 2042MB – 30720MB
• Database size: 350MB
• Database table size: 125MB
• DB queries execution time: Up to 1 second

FastComet Host Monitoring Tool: Observer

The Observer Monitoring System provides complete information on the resources of your hosting account.  For example, you can check your bandwidth and inode as well as script executions per month at “Observer”.

2. Server speed test results meet expectation (TTFB < 700ms)

From what I’ve experienced, the FastComet server our test plan is hosted in is stable in terms of performance and did quite well in various benchmarks.

FastComet Speed Tests at Webpage Test

Despite a slow initial start, the test site performed well overall from various locations. I noticed the first round test showed a slower response, but following that, the site was quite stable and persistently fair in its time-to-first-byte (TTFB). TTFB here is rated as top notch, grade A.

Test site #1 – Test from a Singapore Data Center

Test site #2 – Test from a Chicago Data Center

3. Choices of ten server locations

FastComet has data centers all over the world and allows all users to pick their server locations during order.

In 2019, FastComet added 2 server locations (to existing 8) to make it 10 server locations in total. The 2 newly added locations are Toronto (US) and Mumbai (IN).

4. 45-day money back guarantee

When it comes to money-back guarantee, FastComet stands out as one of the few that offer a longer trial period, similar to hosting companies such as InMotion Hosting and Hostgator.

Their trial period for the money-back guarantee is at 45-days, which is considerably higher than the average 30-days trial period that most hosting companies offer.

You get a 45-day money-back guarantee on shared hosting plans with no cancellation fees involved.

5. Free one year renewal on domain name

One feature that makes FastComet an absolutely a steal is the fact that they offer a free one-year renewal on domain names. This applies to domain names that are transferred to FastComet.

When you sign up with their shared hosting plans, you can choose to transfer your existing domain name to FastComet free of charge. They will handle the renewal process and fees for one year.

6. Free site migration for first-time users

FastComet offers free site migration services when you sign up for any of their plans. Considering that some hosting companies charge their users a fee for transferring a site, it's great that FastComet gives it for free, which makes changing hosting companies a less arduous task.

To request a free site migration, follow the instructions given in the GIF image below.

7. Innovative server technology (NGINX, HTTP/2, PHP7 ready) + Easy to use dashboard

Managing your account on FastComet is surprisingly easy as their dashboard is designed to be intuitive and simple for anyone to use. You can handle all your essential tasks, such as installing apps or managing your bills, with their one-stop user dashboard.

For those who are concern about site speed, FastComet supports server technologies such as NGINX, HTTP/2, and PHP2 to ensure that you have all the tools needed to keep your site fast.

With one-stop user dashboard – you get to control everything from your FastComet user dashboard.

8. In-house site builder with 40+ ready-made widget and 350+ themes

With FastComet website builder, you can create a professional-looking website easily; it’s a powerful drag and drop tool that almost anyone can use even without any technical skills.

There are over 350+ templates and 40+ widget you can choose from to kick-start your creativity.

9. Excellent reputation – tons of positive feedback from users on social media

There's a lot to love about FastComet's services, but a quick search on social media show that we're not the only ones that think highly of the web host provider.

We found tons of positive reviews from social media and Internet forums.

Here are some from FastComet user interviews

Mike Rosales, Designprenuers.com

FastComet has been very supportive of my endeavors right from the very start. From getting my first website operational in just a few hours, questions being answered each and every time to getting quality feedback on social media and in the client area. You have an awesome support team! (source)

Jo Chrobak, IDBS.online

Someone on a Facebook business forum suggested you [FastComet]. We were searching for the best host. Our sites are complicated, and they need to be live 100% of the time without any issues. We moved over from a host that would kill our site every three hours due to spikes on resources from one of our plugins. We even upgraded the payment plan, but it didn’t help. It was infuriating trying to run a teaching site, and we would get complaints that it was constantly down. We now have a reliable host that we can rely on, and that helps us to make money rather than lose it! (source)

Here are some recent ones on Twitter

Our on-site experiment

Jerry did two tests on FastComet live chat support and was very happy with their quality.

The support staffs answer live chat requests instantly and they were able to provide satisfying answers to his questions very quickly.

Cons of FastComet Hosting

1- Broke its price lock guarantee

A cardinal sin for service providers is no keeping its promises to customers. This is especially true when it involves money. FastComet did exactly that – promised a lock on prices and then dropped it after some changes.

Before

After

While sign ups for web hosting plans usually come with discounts, it is important to remember that these are often one-off cuts. At the end of the day, staying with one host will mean you'll end up paying full price someday (likely soon). With the recent changes, FastComet now offers a steep discount during signup but hikes prices by more than 200% when it comes to renewal, a bitter pill to swallow.

For your reference, here's the renewal price for FastComet shared hosting plans.

*Note – To relate to this, here's our market study on web hosting cost if you are interested to know more about web hosting prices. 

2. Does not offer dedicated IP address to shared hosting users

If you're thinking of setting up a dedicated IP address on their shared hosting plan, you're out of luck as FastComet only offers it on their VPS plans, which will cost you a lot more.

What's particularly frustrating is that they don't even allow you pay for the service on their shared hosting plans which means you have no choice but to upgrade if you want a dedicated IP address.

3. Only 7 days trial for VPS Cloud users

Another drawback to their VPS plans is that their period is very short. With only a 7-days trial, users who want to test out their VPS Cloud services won't be able to do much.

Unless you're certain that you're going to need VPS cloud hosting, it's hard to justify trying out their VPS hosting plans without committing to it.

FastComet Hosting Plans & Pricing

Shared and VPS Hosting Options at FastComet

When we first sign up for FastComet, we were impressed with the hosting options.

Normally, a lot of web hosts have two or three standard plans. Those with more comprehensive offerings are usually able to scale up massively if necessary. Let’s take a look at what FastComet offers.

Shared Hosting

Shared hosting starts out as low as $2.49/mo. Traffic is unlimited on all plans, and you are allowed a high number of visitors each month.

You get free domain transfer, custom optimized server setup, and much more. You can transfer websites, and the level of security for every plan is very high. You get everything from a network firewall to daily backups.

Fully Managed SSD Cloud VPS Hosting

Fully managed SSD cloud VPS hosting comes in 4 plans. You get more SSD space, bandwidth, and monthly visitors than with shared hosting. SSD cloud VPS hosting works well for those who are more experienced and need more computing power.

All prices are accurate during March 2022 updates. For best accuracy, please check the official price list at https://www.fastcomet.com/

Final Thought: FastComet – Worth Paying?

FastComet is a force to be reckoned within the world of hosting, offering cheap and affordable hosting plans with formidable features and resources.

It also has extensive plan types that cater to almost any requirement. Whether you want to build a small website or one that will receive millions of visitors a month, you have options that will give you the computing power you need. Best of all, pricing is very forward and above-board. The application support and availability are just icing already on a very sweet cake.

But I say that ultimately, the best way to experience a service is to test it and FastComet offers a 45-day money-back guarantee for you to decide if it’s the right partner you need. No harm giving them a try.

FastComet is recommended for…

Websites owners who want a reliable web host that offers a ton of useful features.