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Michael D. about iPage on May 16, 2013:

"I've been using them for a year (switched from godaddy) and have had an excellent experience. Support issues had been resolved within 12 hours (usually within 3-4 hours) and is great on your wallet!"

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David J. about JustHost on May 15, 2013:

"I strongly recommend justhost to first time bloggers."

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Victor K. about iPage on May 12, 2013:

"Their customer support was so helpful. Overall iPage is a great value for your money."

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Sari Holtz
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Home > Web Hosting > Customer Support

Customer Support

Since web hosting is such a technical service, and each provider offers so many features that you need to master, most hosting customers become very reliant on the host's customer support team. We found striking differences in the level of customer support offered by the various hosting services we reviewed. See which ones came out on top.

Support Resources

Web Host Video/Flash tutorials Help articles Forums Knowledgebase Search feature in help center FAQs
ipage v_sign v_sign x_grey_sign v_sign v_sign v_sign
fatcow v_sign v_sign x_grey_sign v_sign v_sign v_sign
JustHost v_sign v_sign x_grey_sign v_sign v_sign Only for pre-sales questions
Bluehost v_sign v_sign v_sign v_sign v_sign x_grey_sign
HostMonster v_sign v_sign v_sign v_sign v_sign x_grey_sign
inmotion hosting v_sign v_sign v_sign v_sign v_sign x_grey_sign
hostgator v_sign v_sign v_sign v_sign v_sign v_sign
godaddy v_sign v_sign x_grey_sign v_sign v_sign v_sign
startlogic v_sign v_sign x_grey_sign v_sign v_sign v_sign
register v_sign v_sign v_sign* x_grey_sign x_grey_sign v_sign

* Forum is for asking the Register.com staff only, not for asking other customers

In addition to providing resources through which you can seek help independently, most web hosting services provide phone, chat and email customer support. When evaluating the support of each web host, it is most important to evaluate the relevance and timeliness of the team's response. We performed several customer support tests to get a full picture of the level of service provided by each web host.

Test: In order to evaluate the customer support of the top hosting services, we called each provider's phone support 8 times, contacted their chat 4 times, and sent one inquiry to their email support. Our goal was to determine the ability of each host to provide timely, helpful and friendly customer support.

Our Findings:

Site Phone Support Chat Support Email Support
  Average Wait Time Longest Wait Time General comments Average Wait Time Longest Wait Time General comments Response Time General comments
ipage 2 minutes 6 minutes Short wait time with excellent customer support 4 minutes 12 minutes Satisfactory chat service with long wait times during off peak hours


Click to view		 4 hours Response was relevant and helpful because it provided direct contact information for the representative who responded


Click to view
fatcow 5 minutes 15 minutes Very professional phone service 4 minutes 8 minutes Excellent chat service


Click to view		 3 hours Response comes via email that directs you to login to your support console. The response was highly relevant.


Click to view
Justhost 1 minutes 2 minutes Extremely short wait time and email support recommended with approximate hold time by phone N/A N/A N/A Within 1 hour Excellent email support


Click to view
Bluehost 1 minutes 2 minutes Extremely short wait time with excellent customer support 1 minute 3 minutes It takes about 1 minute to make initial contact, but responses can be slow during the chat 'conversation'


Click to view		 2 hours Response was sent within 2 hours, but never received. Follow up by phone recovered the lost emails


Click to view
Hostmonster 1 minutes 2 minutes Extremely short wait time with excellent customer support 1 minute 3 minutes It takes about 1 minute to make initial contact, but responses can be slow during the chat 'conversation' 2 hours Email support is only for paying customers only, not general inquiries
inmotion hosting 2 minutes 5 minutes Short wait time with satisfactory customer support 2 minutes 3 minutes Gentle pings tell you when you've received a response, but if you're on hold for too long the chat system automatically disconnects you


Click to view		 4.5 hours Response was relevant and helpful because it provided direct contact information for the representative who responded


Click to view
hostgator 1 minutes 6 minutes Shortest wait time, but inconsistent customer service 1 minutes 3 minutes Informs you exactly how many people are ahead of you and how many chat representatives are working. Information is updated regularly


Click to view		 57 minutes (from verification) Highly relevant and extremely quick response


Click to view
godaddy 6 minutes 14 minutes Helpful service with relatively long wait times N/A N/A No chat services available 3 days Extremely long response time, but GoDaddy gets kudos for post-reply follow-up


Click to view
register 3 minutes 11 minutes Phones are answered by live receptionists instead of virtual assistants, representatives are extremely courteous and helpful 1 minutes 2 minutes Does not offer 24/7 chat support, but does automatically send you a transcript of all chats which is very useful


Click to view		 12 days Extremely long response time, but eventually helpful


Click to view
startlogic Under 2 minutes 2 minutes Short wait time with excellent customer support 2 minutes 5 minutes Mediocre chat service with representatives who didn't always know the answers or speak clear English


Click to view		 3 hours Reasonable response time that provided helpful information


Click to view
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