HoboHost Review: Are the $1 Hosting Plans Worth It?
When you see web hosting advertised as “Starting at $1,” alarm bells should ring—too good to be true is often partially true. HoboHost makes that promise, with its entry Floor plan advertised around $1.30/month before extras. Let’s dig into what’s real and what’s hidden.
What You Get (And What You Don’t)
Included in the Floor plan
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~5 GB NVMe SSD storage
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Free SSL
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MySQL databases, email, FTP
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Addon domains
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cPanel access (a small license fee may apply)
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3-day money-back guarantee
The fine print
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The headline $1 is before cPanel licensing, domain, taxes, etc.
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The refund window is very short—3 days is tight.
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You’ll likely run into resource limits if your site gains traction.
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Support is limited to tickets/email (no guaranteed live chat or phone).
What Real Users Say
What works well, according to users
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Many appreciate the value: “cheap but with help when needed.” Trustpilot
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Support is praised by some: “the technical support team is awesome … they solved the problem and more.” Trustpilot
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Some report good performance: “servers don’t feel oversold … lightning fast impression.” Trustpilot+1
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Hosting reviewers note that HoboHost carved a niche by keeping costs low while offering standard tooling (cPanel) in a market where many providers raised prices. HostingAdvice.com
What tends to get criticized
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Longevity is questioned: “while it is extremely cheap I don’t see it as a good service for the long term.” Reddit
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Some trust issues: domain owner hidden, shared server with low-trust sites flagged by ScamAdviser. ScamAdviser
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The absence of immediate support channels (phone/live chat) is a recurring drawback in reviews. Web Hosting Compare+2Trustpilot+2
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Many positive reviews focus on early impressions (setup, support), which might not reflect months or years of uptime and performance.
Pros and Cons Revisited
| Strengths | Risks / Trade-offs |
|---|---|
| Extremely low cost for entry | Headline cost hides extra fees (cPanel, domain, etc.) |
| Decent support (from what users report) | No live chat / phone support in many cases |
| Functionality (cPanel, SSD, email) | Likely to hit resource ceilings |
| Transparent pricing philosophy | Owner identity hidden, shared server flags |
Where It Makes Sense
HoboHost’s $1 plan might just pull through for:
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Hobby sites, personal blogs, portfolios
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Test or staging environments
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Projects with modest traffic and no heavy resource demands
But if you expect growth, or want reliability long term, you’ll probably want something more robust from the start.