OVERVIEW
Is FastComet Really the Premium Hosting Service It Claims to Be?
It piqued my interest when they requested me to write a review of FastComet. You know, I used to work as a web developer, but FastComet was one of the very few hosts that I was never truly given the opportunity to check out and experiment with.
When everything falls into place in such a perfect way, it’s hard to say no to an opportunity like this one. It’s possible that I might have led a happy life without ever discovering how great FastComet actually is. I then went ahead and registered as a new user so that I could evaluate each and every facet of the services that FastComet offers.
By the way, these options comprise the traditional trifecta of shared, VPS (virtual private servers), and dedicated hosting. FastComet promises that their performance will “beyond your expectations,” and they are housed in data centres located all over the globe. It also indicates that you are soon to develop a romantic attachment to the characteristics, but this interpretation most likely reveals more about your romantic relationship than it does about the features themselves.
In any case, my standards are not very high and are difficult to surpass. I have not yet found a strong service that is trustworthy, dependable, quick, and reasonably priced in its offerings. I can tell you right now that there are aspects of FastComet’s service that did impress me, which is how the host was able to land a position on my list of the finest hosting companies that are now accessible. I can tell you this right now because I want to impress you.
Continue reading to get the whole scoop on FastComet and find out whether it’s the appropriate host for you.
FEATURES
Useful Tools and an Excellent Global Presence
Although I wouldn’t say that FastComet’s shared hosting plans are “jam-packed with features,” we are looking at some quite substantial choices here. There is not a single mission-critical function that is hidden behind a barrier, and the basic plan is more than enough for a single website.
This fundamental FastCloud plan was the one I chose when I joined up for the service. Because cloud-based hosting is not something you will really get from FastComet, I must criticise the company for giving the impression that you will receive it. We’re not talking about the adaptable cloud environments of the future when we speak about infrastructure for regular shared servers.
However, this is not a problem at all, particularly when taking into account the contents of the proposals. The base plan includes 15 GB of solid-state drive (SSD) storage space and 30 GB of bandwidth, which is far more than what the majority of other hosts presently provide.
Every plan is built on the time-tested cPanel control panel, which gives you the ability to swiftly and effectively manage both your website and your hosting account. The one-click installation tool known as Softaculous auto-installer makes it simple to set up content management systems such as WordPress and Joomla, along with hundreds of others.
Free migrations from other servers to FastComet are also included in the package, as is a clever connection with Cloudflare CDN, which is a worldwide delivery network that facilitates in the delivery of material to your visitors as quickly as possible.
Are you curious about the purpose of the two advanced plans? When a person becomes infected with hosting-mania, they have an unquenchable need to host more than one website. While the two advanced plans each allow for an infinite number of websites and come with sufficient resources, the basic plan is only good for one.
Do you consider yourself an ardent user of email? I am pleased to inform you that each of the three options includes an unlimited number of email inboxes. This implies that anybody, even your mother-in-law, your mother, your mother-in-mother, law’s and your significant other, may sign up for an account.
What about that wonderful, anxiety-relieving padlock that everyone loves to see in the URL bar of their browser? That is a Secure Sockets Layer (SSL) certificate, and you will also get one with each FastComet package you purchase. It is simple to install and will accomplish a myriad of wonderful things for you, like as improving your search engine optimization position relative to rivals who do not use SSL and enabling you to engage in e-commerce transactions.
Additionally, FastComet promotes the availability of a website builder known as the FastComet SiteBuilder, which may be used by customers. It wasn’t really invented by FastComet, and you can get it on other sites, but it is a fairly helpful tool for having a simple website up and running in a matter of seconds at the most.
Before we get into the really intriguing things, allow me to just vent for a little while. Everything that we have discussed up to this point is excellent; however, the area of web servers is where FastComet falls short. FastComet is unable to provide the sophisticated caching facilities that enable hosts like Hostinger to be such performance monsters because it relies on the older technology known as Apache rather than the more modern technologies known as Nginx and LiteSpeed.
Excellent Global Presence
Have you ever heard the old hosting nursery tale that goes, “All the king’s bandwidth and all the king’s CDN couldn’t reach Humpty Dumpty and make him come back again”? There is some validity to it. You are free to tinker with your server as much as you want, but if you want to provide your customers satisfactory service, you will need to be in close proximity to them. Attempting to provide service to a user in Australia from a data centre located in Los Angeles would almost certainly result in painfully sluggish rates, assuming it does not cause the service to time out entirely.
The majority of hosting providers give you a choice between two and three different locations, the majority of which are situated on the east coast of the United States and in the Netherlands. Some also maintain a presence in the city-state of Singapore. Step forward FastComet, which manages an incredible 11 data centres located in various parts of the globe.
That breaks down to three in the United States and one in each of the following countries and regions: Canada, the United Kingdom, the Netherlands, Germany, Japan, India, Singapore, and Australia. You will, in essence, have a location that is geographically near to your target audience, and this will ensure that they are able to access your website at all times.
The ModSecurity Firewall
A firewall is a software programme that, without getting into too much technical detail, keeps the bad guys out of your website while still allowing your valued visitors to freely explore your website. With the ever-popular ModSecurity, FastComet has your back, and all of the essential setups have already been completed for you.
Don’t forget to check your cPanel and make sure it’s turned on for all of your domains!
Managed VPS Service
If you are just getting started with a small blog or a basic company website, a virtual private server is just more than you need at this point. These virtualized machines provide you access to specialised resources, which enables you to conduct sophisticated and complicated procedures, such as an online shop that caters to a large number of customers at the same time.
That’s fantastic, but it often entails a tremendous deal of responsibility on your side. You are going to be responsible for managing this child, taking care of it, and keeping it regularly patched and updated. Oh, and it only communicates through the Linux command line.
The managed Virtual Private Server (VPS) service that FastComet offers is, without a doubt, one of the most professional and hands-on managed services that are currently on the market. You actually won’t have to worry about anything; all you have to do is state what it is that you want, and the move to a VPS will be as simple as pie for you.
EASE OF USE
The Designer Was Excellent, the UX Guy Got a Bit Lost
In order to have a simple and stress-free experience as a host, a design that is not only modern and appealing to the eye but also logically sound is essential. When it comes to the user experience, or UX, everything should act in a manner that aids rather than hinders your intuition. This is the hallmark of a good user experience. Although FastComet established its very own bespoke account area and hosting site, the user experience (UX) that it provides is inconsistent.
Creating an Account with FastComet
Let’s get started by going through the registration procedure. You won’t waste more than a minute of your time trying to figure out which plan is best for you since the benefits of each plan are presented in a way that is easy to understand. You could be confused by the many different kinds of hosting that are offered (Web, WordPress, WooCommerce, Magento, and so on), but let me simplify things for you by saying that they are all the same plan. Simply choose one or the other.
It irritates me to no end when businesses give the impression that they provide individualised solutions.
It seemed as if I was able to activate my hosting after selecting the plan that I wanted to use and completing the standard registration procedure. However, this is not the case at all. Despite the fact that my bill had not been paid, I was able to enter the customer account section.
What steps did I need to do to ensure that my account was properly activated? Since it didn’t specify, I called customer support. My payment had been refused for some unknown reason, but once I explained this to the representative, they were able to accept it and activate my account. After that, he expressed interest in speaking with me over the phone and requested that I send an email with a screenshot of the charge made to my credit card.
The fact that I have to go through all of this just to prove that I am a genuine person means that I can’t really complain about it. Me only gripe with this whole operation is that it was entirely dependent on my being aware of what was taking on and making an effort to rectify the situation myself. A good platform should direct you in some manner at the very least.
Connecting a Domain and Installing WordPress
It was time to link my domain once I had successfully been validated and formally enabled. My domain was registered with Namecheap, which is a fantastic domain registrar that offers low prices, and it was time to do so. In order to do that, I needed to be familiar with FastComet’s nameservers. The task of looking for them turned out to be considerably more difficult than I had anticipated.
They are often shown in your primary account area, and as a result, it just takes approximately four seconds to copy and paste them into the domain administration panel after you do so. However, this is not the case with FastComet. I went through all the pages and looked at all the information that was provided, but I was unable to discover any reference to nameservers despite clicking the Products tab, reviewing the specifics of my hosting package, and looking through all the pages.
I’m sure that a more average person would have already called assistance at this point, but I was determined to work it out on my own. I didn’t find them for over an hour, but when I did, I couldn’t believe it.
Here’s the deal. Both the Home page and the Products tab in FastComet will show your hosting plan, and the layout of each tab is the same. The kicker is that although clicking View Details in the Products tab takes you to the page for your plan, selecting the exact same button in the Home tab brings up a pop-up window with top-secret information! And last but not least, my nameservers were shown in the pop-up window.
You are now aware of how to circumvent this issue on your own, but it is important to note that this failure to plan ahead is a common theme. If you try to access your cPanel from certain sites, you will be prompted to input your account password, even if you have just entered it a few seconds earlier. This happens even if you are logged into your account. There is no need to ask any questions on how to open it from other pages. This ongoing need to recall what takes place in which location is not only exhausting but also, at the end of the day, costs you time.
Fortunately, in addition to my negative reflections, I also have some positive things to say about the experience. You won’t need to actually enter cPanel in order to utilise the most frequent and helpful functions, such as installing WordPress or activating your SSL certificate. Instead, you’ll be able to use these capabilities immediately from the page that outlines your plan. There is also a nice resource utilisation page, which provides you with eye-catching graphs and charts in addition to letting you know just how you are doing in terms of resource usage.
All in all? The FastComet interface is appealing to the eye, performs well in most situations, yet on occasion will drive you completely insane. It’s funny how that makes it simpler to use than a lot of other services, some of which take a week to activate and others of which are a real hassle to use. But this one’s a breeze.
PERFORMANCE
As Long as Your Visitors Are Close By, It’s Pretty Fast
We don’t want to toot our own horn, but the rigorous performance tests that we do here at Website Planet are perhaps the most comprehensive ones currently being carried out. I’m going to put on my geek gear and describe precisely what I tested, how I did it, and what the findings were, but if you’re in a rush, let me summarise it for you very quickly.
Good-to-medium loading times near to the data centre, which in my instance was located in the United States, clocked in at 1.85 seconds on average. Not the finest nor the worst that I’ve seen, in my experience. Even with a content delivery network (CDN) operational, global loading times are much slower the farther away you are. The monitored uptime for a period of two months came in at 99.882%, which is lower than the specified 99.9%.
This demonstrates that FastComet is not a monster-performer in any way, shape, or form. Neither is it a terrible one. In light of the fact that it is essentially the only low-cost host that has locations in India, Oceania, and East Asia, I would suggest that it is still your best choice when travelling to these regions. You would most likely do better with Hostinger or InterServer if you are hosting your site in the United States or Europe.
You are welcome to go through the whole findings and the methodology of the test, or you can skip right to the support part and hear about how I had conversations with agents and how I was satisfied overall.
I used the data centre in Dallas, Texas located by FastComet to host my test website. It’s a landing page that looks a lot like what your website may look like, complete with HD photos, content, a contact form, and some animations. You may access it at the following URL and conduct any of these experiments on your own; we would appreciate it if you would share any findings that you find particularly intriguing.
Before I began my testing, I, like I usually do, contacted the support team at FastComet and requested for some assistance with optimising the settings. The agent brought my PHP up to date, improved the speed of the database, and set up several performance plugins.
After he completed making adjustments to my website, I checked its performance with three different applications: GTmetrix PRO, the Sucuri Load Time Tester, and the Uptime Robot Pro plan. For the purpose of measuring speed and optimization scores in the United States, I selected the GTmetrix testing server that is geographically nearest to me and is also situated in Dallas, Texas. Sucuri was used in order to get global performance insights, and UptimeRobot was utilised in order to monitor the availability of my website.
GTmetrix
After using GTmetrix for a few months and compiling the findings, I was able to determine three figures: the loading time that was the slowest, the loading time that was the quickest, and the average loading time.
The average amount of time required to load was 1.85 seconds. Although it’s not the quickest average time I observed in my testing (that distinction goes to Kinsta’s 1.2s), I’d still classify it as being “in the green.” Even the slowest time that was observed, 2.8 seconds, is still quick enough that you won’t have to worry about site visitors leaving for another website. The greatest time ever recorded was 1.1 seconds, which is just outstanding.
Take a look at this example of a result from one of these GTmetrix tests, and enjoy the show:
The fact that both Bs are Bs demonstrates that the support person for FastComet did a fantastic job optimising my website. The only option to get better results is to optimise and refresh the photos that I concealed in the backend of the website.
Sucuri Load Time Tester
The various global testing servers that Sucuri maintains work together to provide us with a sense of how well a website performs around the globe. In the same manner as GTmetrix, I executed it a number of times and then computed three additional values. At this point, all three are considered to be averages. An average calculated using the results of the test that were supplied for the location that was the quickest (in the United States, near to my data centre) and the place that was the slowest (a significant distance away in Singapore).
When it was all said and done, I had a worldwide average speed of 0.88 seconds, an average quickest speed of 0.339 seconds, and an average slowest speed of 2.259 seconds.
This is very solid stuff. Again, not the quickest, but still above average in my opinion. The absence of a reliable caching mechanism makes the concept of long-distance relationships rather implausible; yet, all that is required of you is to choose the appropriate data centre for the demographic of your intended readers. FastComet provides you with a sufficient number of possibilities; thus, you should choose intelligently.
One of my tests for Sucuri is as follows:
UptimeRobot
It’s great when speeds are fast, but before we can even discuss speeds, we need our website to be up and running. Uptime is measured in percentage form here. I am continuing to monitor the performance of my FastComet website; nevertheless, after more than two months, I am stuck with a rather disheartening 99.882%. It is lower than the 99.9% uptime promise that the host provides, and it is lower than what I anticipate receiving from a leading provider.
Please keep in mind that I have extremely high expectations of you, and this number indicates that the website was down for around one hundred minutes over the course of two months. Approximately five minutes’ worth of unavailable time once per day or two. Do not allow the fact that this is the case prevent you from utilising FastComet if you are able to accept it.
The performance of FastComet did not really impress me, to put it mildly. It worked out all fine. Nevertheless, the various hosting locations continue to make it a highly realistic alternative – especially considering the fact that you’ll receive decent performance in regions where the majority of hosts hardly load in.
SUPPORT
Helpful, Responsive, and Almost Always On-Point
In the next paragraph, we’ll discuss how FastComet is not the most affordable option; nevertheless, for the time being, let’s concentrate on one of the most important things you’ll be paying for: the incredible support service. You may get in touch with it through live chat, support tickets, the phone, or email at any time, day or night, 365 days a year. There is also a sizable knowledge base as well as quite a few step-by-step lessons that even a total novice may follow in order to advance quickly from the beginner level to the expert level.
Curious as to why I used the phrase “for real”? Because even though many providers claim to offer help around the clock, their customers are often in for a rude awakening. It is fairly unusual for users to get a notice immediately upon registration stating something along the lines of “Yeah, we’re always accessible! Just, you know, not at this time.” Your good fortune will determine whether “now” refers to one hour, five hours, or pretty much any period at all.
Every time I’ve used FastComet, I’ve been able to start a conversation with a live agent in under a minute. Always. The crew was ready to answer all of my inquiries even before I signed up for the programme. In addition to this, they did it in an honest and real manner, which was something that I had not anticipated seeing at all:
It is wonderful to know that these individuals are not the typical con artists, but rather well educated professionals who are very knowledgeable about their subject matter. After completing the signup process, I re-established contact with customer care to inquire about the possibility of receiving assistance with connecting a domain that was previously registered elsewhere.
They most certainly are able to. Not only did the representative promptly do all of the required tests in order to comprehend my present circumstance, but he also went ahead and sent me a guide that was tailored precisely to my registrant. Again, I’m accustomed to hearing, “That’s not part of our service and not our issue.” So hearing that was a pleasant surprise for me.
The only time I ran across an issue was when I reached out for assistance with my brand new WordPress installation. I requested that the time-honored “www.” prefix be added to my website, which is an extremely easy thing to accomplish — all you need to do is add it in the settings for WordPress. The representative became disoriented and confused, which resulted in the crash of my website; we were finally able to resolve the issue when we pointed him in the proper route.
It would seem that he had given all he had at that point, since when I requested for his assistance in altering the title of my website, he flatly refused to provide any additional assistance. Even when I stated that the pre-sales agent had informed me they would assist me with setting up my website, he argued that it is outside the purview of FastComet’s service. He said this even after I pointed out that the pre-sales representative had misunderstood what I needed help with.
The thing is, since I want you to know who you can genuinely put your faith in, I ask the most infuriating questions and push these individuals to the very maximum of their capabilities. And the ability of the agents to go the additional mile is essential to building trust. This one was unable to.
After opening a support request and asking for assistance with improving my website, things started going more smoothly. Not only did the representative answer to my inquiry in a timely manner, but he also went above and above my expectations by ensuring that all dependencies were brought up to date and installing essential performance-enhancing plugins for WordPress.
With the exception of that one instance, I ended up being quite satisfied with the help I got from FastComet. As a result, I gave it the support score that was the second highest out of all of the global hosts that I evaluated. In case you were wondering, the most prestigious awards went to GreenGeeks.V
PRICING
Helpful, Responsive, and Almost Always On-Point
Is FastComet a service that justifies the cost of using it? Definitely. And how do the pricing stack up against those of the other available choices on the market? I have to admit that you did rather good.
FastComet is not the most cost-effective choice, but then again, no inexpensive provider offers the kind of quality assistance that is made accessible by this host. You have the option of subscribing for 1, 12, 24, or 36 months, with the price per month decreasing as the length of your commitment increases. If you sign up for the longest term, you’ll be eligible for a great monthly pricing of only $2.49.
Keep in mind that if it is the data centre locations that are of importance to you, FastComet may be the sole host that offers reasonable pricing options. There is a possibility that local hosts in India, East Asia, and Oceania would charge you the same amount, but you may have difficulties communicating with them due to language limitations. The fact that the majority of these providers offer far less features than what FastComet does just serves to strengthen the case for opting for FastComet.
When you join up for the service, you will have the option to buy a number of different add-ons; however, none of them are required in any way, nor are there any sneaky situations of pre-checked extras or hidden upsells. FastComet does not provide a free new domain with its services; however, the company does provide a free transfer of existing domains, in addition to adding a free additional year to the registration of your domain when you move it.
The fact that these folks are so excited about promotions is one of the very wonderful things about the price structure of FastComet. They often provide remarkable price reductions in celebration of whatever event is taking place at the time, whether it be the winter solstice or the coronavirus epidemic. Whenever this occurs, there is a chance that you will be able to strike a bargain that will make you feel like an exceptionally astute businessperson.
The actual transaction may be completed using either a credit card or PayPal, and I was quite pleased to discover that every purchase is protected by a 45-day money-back guarantee, which is 50% longer than the standard one-month period offered by most businesses in this sector.
COMPARISON
How does FastComet match up to the competition?
FASTCOMET REVIEW: BOTTOM LINE
If you’re still unclear about whether or not FastComet is the right host for you, let me to break it down for you in a way that’s easy to understand.
Do not choose a local hosting company if you are not a resident of India, Japan, Australia, or Singapore and if you are not a native speaker of the language, as this will prevent you from being able to sign up for an account with an Australian host. Japanese and Australian hosts will not let you sign up anyway. You may choose between two primary options: FastComet, which provides low-cost hosting, or Kinsta, which is a premium host that costs almost ten times as much.
Determine the maximum amount that you are willing to spend, and then base your selection on that. You won’t go wrong with FastComet because of its excellent customer service, respectable feature set, and generally satisfactory performance.
Before you make any choices that are irreversible, you should go through the items on my list of the finest web hosting providers to ensure that your audience is not located in Asia or Oceania.
FAQ
Is FastComet easy to use?
Although it has a few nagging problems here and there, the interface of FastComet is, for the most part, straightforward and simple to use. However, the quality of the company’s service for customers is outstanding. Because of this, I believe that FastComet is an excellent option for those who are just starting off.
Which is the cheapest hosting service?
FastComet is not the least expensive web host available; nevertheless, they do provide exceptional deals on their services. Hostinger is able to maintain its reputation for high-quality performance and functionality while maintaining a lower price point. Check out our coupon page for the most recent deals if you are interested in lowering the amount of money you spend.
Is shared hosting from FastComet good for e-commerce?
E-commerce websites benefit greatly from the fast loading times provided by FastComet. In spite of this, our testing discovered some concerning instances of downtime. If you’re seeking for other choices, I strongly advise consulting our comprehensive guide to the top web hosting companies in 2022. A good number of them provide excellent uptime in addition to providing wonderful tools for e-commerce.
Can you cancel FastComet and get a refund?
The money-back guarantee offered by FastComet applies to all of the available programmes. If you cancel your hosting plan during the first 45 days of your subscription, you will be entitled for a full refund. Cancellations made beyond this time will not be eligible for a refund.
