We rank vendors based on rigorous testing and research, but also take into account your feedback and our commercial agreements with providers. This page contains affiliate links. Advertising Disclosure

Mochahost Review – A Hidden Gem? [2024]

Caitlin Greyling Caitlin Greyling Web Hosting Expert

Mochahost is a pretty good budget host, and while it does have its flaws, so do its competitors. On the whole, you can’t complain about its VPS and shared hosting packages, which offer abundant resources at a fair price. However, some of the best perks are only available on the most expensive plans. Before you make any final decisions, you should check out Hostinger’s cheap plans.

Overview

Not Bad for a Budget Host

Mochahost landing pag
Mochahost’s coffee-inspired branding isn’t the only thing for which the host stands out

Based in San Jose, California, right in the heart of Silicon Valley, MochaHost specializes in providing professional website hosting and web development. It aims to be on the cheaper end of the market while still providing best-in-class services.

Coffee-inspired “dad” puns aside, Mochahost offers a lot of features and extras that many others don’t – like unlimited site creation, NVMe SSD storage (select plans), and bandwidth quotas.

Performance-wise, I also can’t fault this host for speed or reliability. Our Mochahost test website returned fast global loading speeds and steady uptimes. Take note if you happen to be looking for an eco-friendly option, as well. As a carbon-neutral host, Mochahost is committed to reducing its footprint by utilizing renewable energy and sustainable initiatives.

Overall, there are plenty of pros and cons with MochaHost (free tools and unlimited websites, but not on the cheapest package). But it’s inexpensive and has a decent range of features that make it worth considering.

MochaHost maintains over a million domains, but is it the right choice for you? Well, that depends. If you’re in the market for a new hosting provider, read on to find out whether MochaHost could work for you.

4.2

Features

Decent Features for a Decent Price

MochaHost has all of the features you’d expect from a website host, as well as a few that were a nice surprise. Its cheapest “Soho” package is missing a lot of the bare essentials, such as a one-click installer, so you’re likely going to need to upgrade to the Business or Mocha package, especially since those packages are still pretty cheap.

MochaHost offers a free domain name on all plans, as well as the two higher-tier Windows ASP.NET and certain shared, cPanel, and Java packages for as long as you stay with the company. It also promises 99.9% uptime, so if you experience any downtime whatsoever above this quota, you could be eligible for a discount or even a month of free hosting.

Freebies Galore

All of MochaHost’s hosting plans come with unlimited bandwidth and free migration assistance. As if that wasn’t enough, you also get dedicated resources (memory and cores) on shared plans, as well as access to Sitebuilder on the Linux-based plans. A free domain name is another perk, but is also only available with select plans – specifically, Business tier and up shared hosting plans.

Unlimited Free SSL Certificates

SSL certificates are increasingly important to modern webmasters, and while most hosts of this size include one free SSL certificate, there aren’t many that give out unlimited certificates. This is good for Google rankings and for your site’s security as a whole, and it’ll also help visitors trust you with their personal information. That said, the SSL certificates are from Let’s Encrypt, an already-free provider that you can sign up with yourself without paying a cent.

Mochahost shared hosting plan features.
There are lots of Mochahost features to enjoy – and this is just the shared hosting plan.

Advanced Data Centers & Global Network

Mochahost is part of the World Host Group, offering truly global hosting via a vast network of international partners. Elite Tier III+ facilities house its operations, offering the best performance, security, and speed. Mochahost used to advertise that its servers have 24/7 real-time monitoring, but this is no longer advertised on its webside. I tried to verify this with support but was unable to get an answer.

Mochahost shared hosting data center location/server choices.
Mochahost plans offer a choice of up to nine global data centers depending on your chosen hosting type.

Mochahost Features at a Glance

Free domain name?
Free SSL?
Money-back guarantee 30 days (or 45 days on Premium Unlimited Reseller)
Uptime guarantee 99.9%
Data centers 2 in the US, 1 in Canada, 1 in the UK, 1 in Europe, 2 in Asia, 1 in LATAM, and 1 in Australia
4.4

Ease of use

MochaHost is one of the easier website hosts to navigate, in spite of its overly busy design. However, I’ll admit that I was confused for a while when I was trying to find the admin panel (access is through a link in the welcome email).

Creating an Account

Signing up with MochaHost is easy, though you’ll want to consider skipping the base Soho account and going for the Business plan if you want unlimited websites, a free domain, and one-click WordPress installers. The interface itself is text-heavy and looks overwhelming, but it’s easy enough to sign up and get started in five minutes or so. You can read more about the process here.

Connecting a Domain and Installing WordPress

I found it pretty easy to connect a domain and install WordPress. You’ll need to go to your welcome email and log into your cPanel account with the details provided, then you can use the one-click installer to configure the software. MochaHost did a pretty good job of providing me with all of the information I needed.

Read more about connecting a domain name and installing WordPress with Mochahost.

Free Tool Library

MochaHost gives its users access to more than 450 free tools and a one-click installer, but it doesn’t come by default with its cheapest offering. Upgrading will give you access to more resources and other benefits, and the cost is not much higher, so it’s worth considering.

Mochahost’s free website builder
Mochahost’s free website builder is just one of the perks.

30-Day Money-Back Guarantee

Mochahost offers a 30-day money-back guarantee with its shared, dedicated, and reseller hosting plans. Premium Unlimited Reseller plans attract a 45-day money-back guarantee. If you cancel during this time, you’re entitled to a full refund.

4.8

Performance

Fast in Europe and the U.S.

A few reviewers have experienced slow loading speeds and downtime with MochaHost, but there’s nothing unusual there. For the most part, reviewers focused on customer service. All in all, though, MochaHost’s performance is better than most.

mochahost-performance1
Our testing site had the best speeds in Canada and the US

As usual, I decided to put MochaHost to the test by running a Sucuri page load time test. The servers based in the United States performed quite well in terms of loading speeds across the United States and Canada.

However, things took a different turn when we looked at other locations, as two of the test locations were unable to access the website for some reason. Overall, the loading speeds weren’t the best I’ve ever seen, but they were surprisingly fast across the U.S. and most of Europe.

4.7

Support

MochaHost Has You Covered

If support is a major concern, then MochaHost is definitely a good choice. Along with the support portal, they provide a knowledge base, a variety of online video tutorials, a ticketing system, and a simple tool to check the status of servers and the network. You won’t be disappointed with the support options they offer.

I decided to experience MochaHost’s support team firsthand, so I conducted tests. On two separate occasions, the live chat promptly connected with me and furnished comprehensive answers to the questions I posed. Additionally, I opted for an account upgrade and obtained a confirmation email within a matter of minutes. However, the processing of the upgrade itself took around 12 hours.

mochahost-support
Mochahost’s support agent was helpful and polite.

All in all, I was pretty happy with the customer service experience, and I got the feeling that I’d be able to trust them in an emergency.

4.7

Pricing

MochaHost’s cost plans are quite reasonable, particularly for beginners. However, to fully benefit from them, you might need to shell out a bit more for some additional features. The firm takes various payment methods, such as all the main credit cards, PayPal, Skrill, and MoneyGram.

Canceling an account with MochaHost is simple, and there’s a generous 30-day money-back guarantee. You’ll just need to log into your dashboard and fill out the cancellation form. It can be completed entirely online, and the refund will be processed automatically within seven business days. It was one of the smoothest cancellation processes I’ve ever seen.

Find out more about my experience cancelling my Mochahost plan.

Comparison

How does MochaHost match up to the competition?

KamateraCompare4.8Compare
Liquid WebCompare4.8Compare
MochaHostCompare4.7Compare
Tailor Made ServersCompare2.9Compare

MochaHost REVIEW: BOTTOM LINE

Overall, Mochahost surprised me with its impressive performance, value-packed plans, and helpful customer support. It’s a good alternative to some popular budget hosts on the market.

But you’ll want to avoid the cheapest package if you want access to some of the more premium features. And the good news is that with a whopping 180-day money-back guarantee, you can try it with no need to worry.

FAQ

Does Mochahost offer reseller hosting?

Yes, Mochahost offers reseller hosting via three pre-configured packages: Affogato I, II, and III. Unlike other Mochahost plans, all three tiers include a free domain name. However, storage space is limited on all reseller plans despite the standard unlimited Mochahost bandwidth allowances applying. 15-100 cPanel account licenses are also included on top of dedicated RAM quotas.

Where are Mochahost’s data centers located?

As part of the World Host Group, Mochahost has data centers all over the world, including in Canada, the US, Europe, Australia, Singapore, India, the UK, and Latin America. You can choose from up to 9 of them when purchasing hosting from Mochahost, depending on your chosen hosting type. ASP.NET and website builder (US & Europe), as well as VPS (US, UK, India, and Canada) hosting plans offer limited selections.

Does Mochahost offer a lifetime domain and discount?

Mochahost used to offer a lifetime domain, a lifetime discount, and a 180-day refund. However, the company was acquired and has since changed its terms of service. Mochahost now offers a free domain name with select plans and a 30-day (45-day for Premium Unlimited Reseller) money-back guarantee. Plan renewal rates are subject to Mochahost’s discretion and applicable discounts, contracts, and terms and conditions.

Does Mochahost support cPanel?

Yes, Mochahost hosting supports – and often operates on – the cPanel control panel. Reseller hosting plans include 15-100 cPanel account licenses, and it also sells cPanel-specific hosting. All shared, and Linux VPS Mochahost hosting plans also include a cPanel license. However, ASP.NET and Windows VPS plans include the Plesk control panel.
Caitlin Greyling Caitlin Greyling
A freelance author, graphic designer, and photographer, Caitlin Greyling writes about web hosting, web builder software, graphic design, tech, and electronics, and has published hundreds of product reviews and comparisons for Website Planet, The Daily Mail, and Durability Matters. Her creative and technical knowledge has been showcased at PictureCorrect, Photutorial, and others. She is currently studying for an NCTJ diploma in journalism. When Caitlin’s not working, she’s exploring nature with her son and dog or relaxing at home with her cat.
1.0
User reviews
Based on 7 reviews in 1 languages
User reviews are not verified
Write a Review
Language
  • English (7)
Sort by
Newest
  • Newest
  • Oldest
  • Best
  • Worst
Reply to review
Reply
Visit MochaHost
reply
en
Error
onclick="trackClickout('event', 'clickout', 'Visit User Reviews', 'mochahost', this, true, ReturnPopup );"
View 1 reply
View %d replies
MochaHost is no longer a hidden gem. Their pricing and features have completely changed.

MochaHost is no longer a hidden gem. They used to showcase, lifetime pricing, affordable renewal price, unlimited sites, storage, bandwidth, databases, email, etc. That has all changed. All of their plans have changed, and they have more than doubled the price while removing more than half of the features, per plan. On the windows side, all plans have caps and are no longer unlimited. The only plan the resembles the "old" unlimited MochaHost is the most expensive Linux shared hosting plan.

avatar
T Lewis, USA
March 17, 2024
1
Andrei S. Full-stack developer

In short: Avoid Mochahost's unprofessional service at all costs. As a full-stack developer with over 10 years of experience, I've worked with dozens of hosting providers throughout my career. However, I've never encountered the issues I faced with Mochahost. I purchased their $56/month Java VPS hosting service for my client. After struggling with their support for four months, our website still did not operate properly. Frustrated, I decided to migrate to a new hosting provider where our website began functioning normally without any additional effort. It's evident that their support team lacks professionalism and the ability to set up servers correctly. In total, I lost approximately $284 (paid for a non-operational website) and double that amount in the form of lost time. When I requested a refund for the prepaid month, they refused. It appears their business strategy revolves around taking your money and wasting your time.

avatar
Andrei S, Cyprus
February 24, 2024
1
Mocha host is the worste thing that can happen to you

Thier server security is poor, if you care about your business or company, do not try use mocha host, never try use them, all my sites keeps getting hacked and they never even try to check it, they just keep blaming you, everytime there are strange files in my website everytime, strange files. but they do not care. they just keep saying same thing over and ovr over. again, same genric reponse. i have lost almost everything i have takenn years to build just because i choose mocha host, they are terrible. i hate it here

avatar
anonymus, Nigeria
December 18, 2023
1
They Renewed My Domain Name and then Transferred it to another registrar, selling it right out from underneath me.

I started hosting with Mochahost over 10 years ago. They were awesome. No problems. Then they were purchased by another company and my hosting fees doubled. This company's original guarantee was that their fees would stay the same forever, no matter what. Because they doubled their fees, I left a bad review and I think that caused them to "go after me." So that was my first red flag and then they quit sending emails to my requested email address and when a domain name came due and needed to be renewed, I didn't get any renewal emails. And their site wasn't letting me in with my email. I was kind of at a loss trying to get in. Finally, I used my old email and it let me in. They renewed my domain name although it had expired. I was thinking that they were starting to be a standup company and was quite happy with them for a second. The first email they sent said "Congratulations on renewing your domain name until 9/2024." The next email said your domain name was sold at auction. Seriously? I never really thought that they could do this, but they did and it appears enom and Icann either can’t do anything about it or won’t. Yes. They sold my domain name right out from underneath me after they renewed it. BEWARE OF THIS COMPANY. They changed their location headquarters to Delaware. If you know anything about credit cards, most of them are based in Delaware for a reason. I realize they aren't a credit card company, but the state offers some kind of protection. DON'T TRUST THEM. You will get burned at some point.

avatar
Moni, USA
December 13, 2023
1
Don’t get trapped by their false promises!

I purchased a business subscription with a 1 yr free domain name in 2019 at a discounted price and with a promise of a fixed renewal amount for a lifetime. I renewed my plan in 2020 by more than double the purchased amount as per the agreement we had. But suddenly they broke their promise and increased the renewal amount again in 2021, august! The domain was free for 1 year only as per their invoice I got and also got a separate invoice last year when renewed, and now the domain is not active in MochaHost but still, they show my domain in my account and deny deleting it, neither any deduction amount is calculated for not having the domain active, even they increased more! Almost every time I contacted their customer service, but never got proper answers, solutions from them. They got most worst, rude, and unprofessional customer representatives ever! Yesterday I was requested to send an email to a certain email address in detail, and I sent the mail explaining everything with bill numbers and all. Now they say they cannot change the renewal amount as promised. Neither my questions answered that why they promised a fixed renewal amount at the time of purchase and now they just increased it. Even I requested to remove the inactive domain name from my account which is transferred a month ago but they denied removing it whether they charged me last year separately for the domain. And now demanding more money for renewal without even having my domain with them. Please don't even think to use their service because once you got trapped by their low costing, false promises, etc. you cannot get rid of these harassments. I'm really very much upset and worried that how can trust companies like them!

avatar
Msarkar, India
August 27, 2021
1
Affiliate programs

Affiliate programs. I've been waiting for a response from the managers of the bonus program for a month now. In the chat, they answer that they passed the information to the managers, but no one answered my questions and the bonus was not credited to my account. I strongly advise against using the bonus program of this company.

avatar
Vladimir, Dominican Republic
April 22, 2021
1
Client

Hello, all. Usually I rarely give negative reviews, but the MocahHost really really deserves it!!! We host our websites on MocahHost more than 2.5 years from 2018 - window shared hosting plan - Business level. First paid for 6 months and then we upgrade to 3 years. We switched to MocahHost because they offer a much cheaper plan and good guarantees. It was normal at the beginning, we had a good review of them. However, NOW, we are totally DISGUSTED with them. We will NEVER recommend them to anyone else though. The worst service provider that I have ever saw during my 15 years experience in hosting. Okay, let me express a few points objectively. 1. Hosting itself not bad, if to host non-business websites. The price is really cheap enough. The speed of network is so-so , neither very good nor very bad. Downtime happened time to time, about 96.5%~99.0% uptime in fact. Therefore, if people host small website or development purposes, it maybe okay. 2.Hell-like support team!!! Cheap prices but really lousy support. It's really a nightmare support! The WORST technical support EVER!! Hey most of the time talk to you rudely instead of understanding the customers problem. They have templates like copy/ paste on how they are answering on your issues. Most of time, the support is a joke. You have to wait and goes through several loops of request and answer to get hold level-2 support. Late responses, sometimes up to 24 hours for urgent tickets, and they don't bother helping you, not even looking at your issues. Maintain a sloppy attitude towards urgent ticket. They have level-1 and level-2 support team. Most of them (not all, just most, especially level-1 team) could not go straight to the key point of the tech problems. If you submit a ticket for problem-A, "first round"(within first 8 hours) we always could not get the helpful reply, sometimes support would paste a standard reply or paste the informations from knowledgebase(even we said that we already read the knowledgebase and what we have tried) that obviously not reading our content carefully. Then we often have to descrpt again. Then "second round", support maybe mislead you that you have to do other things first( please, we hope to solve the problem-A, not B,C,D or other unimportant things ). If lucky, after about "next round" you would get the answer but most of time, they would transfer to another level-1 support and then new staff repeat the "first round" again ( please, why not just read the replys in the ticket?! Even we already offer snapshots when we submit ticket, at this moment the another support would still ask you again for the snapshots ). And Most of time! (not all, but really most), the problem is just a tech problem and could be solved directly in the server-side, but the leve1-1 team just not go straight to the key point. Okay, However, time goes by. It often spent more that 24 hours with level-1 team and then begin transfer to level-2. Then the level-2 team often just use 5 minutes to solve it!! So,tell me, why keep the leve1-1 team ?! Just like other people's review: Ask them about why your site is/was down, they’ll tell you there’s no problem with their network. Ask why emails aren’t being received and they’ll say “check your spam folder” like it wasn’t the first thing a person with a half-decent brain would do. More terrifying is,they don't offer a way for client to upgrade the ticket directly to level-2 team, even we clearly states the problem was urgent and hope to directly transfer to level-2. No,they don't! The f***g level-1 team still "try their best" to "help to solve" our problem via copy/ paste or mislead point. On some urgent issues, communicating with leve1-1 team become just a waste of time. This really frustrated us. We believe that "support" is also a important part of the services that we paid for. 3.Bad support for SSL. In today's Internet environment, HTTPS become standard. In a word: Before work in easy way. But Now, there is no way you can use that "Free SSL certificate" that came with your package! Unless the support team feels good and is up to help you, you will never have the https behind your domain name. [First problem of ssl]: MocahHost offer SolidCP panel for client. In the SolidCP, we can really easy to setup a free cert from let's encrypt. Anything was fine in the first 2 years, easy way to setup new free ssl on new website and automatic update before expiration. But... I still cannot understand what happened ?! In the last passed 6 months, this feature often broken. The SolidCP show that ssl was setuped successfully not in fact broken, if you refresh the page then you can see not successful in fact. At the same time, the automatic renewal of the certificate dose not work. We submit tickets to the tech-team, but this bug happened again and again, not solved really ( just install the cert by their server-side ). and each ticket spent more that 48 hours... The leve1-1 support team just said the server and network is normal. Remember!!! The website was down at that moment ( in order to keep safety we use HTSL, which most browsers will force use https until 1 year passed, therefore if the ssl cert not work, the website cannot be accessed ). However, the leve1-1 team just hastily induced the problem into web.config or other thing but unwilling to provide direct treatment... [Last but not least problem of ssl]: In the myssl.com, we can see that if website use the free cert, which signed from MochaHost, will show the "Use an untrusted certificate, downgrade to T"( T is the lowest level ). This was quite fearsome!!! 4.Bad default configuration PHP have not enable the Zend OPcache as default. When we submit a ticket to enable, the support team just completely shows that they don’t understand their server status and configuration at all... I don't want to say more, check the snapshot pls... https://i.imgur.com/lFumtxz.png https://drive.google.com/file/d/1cwHX7GFJ-JMfqSlLPJF1N92CmnKs3RcC/view?usp=sharing ( These 2 links are the same picture. The picture is relatively long, please zoom in and view. ) In the snapshot, you could again see the arrogance and ignorance of the support staff again! Really frustrating!! 5.FALSE ADVERTISING. [Uptime Guarantee] Uptime Guarantee and NEVER Reboot Protection are shiny but in fact it just seems a lie when you really face downtime. [Unlimited Resource] They claim they offer unlimited domains parking, unlimited space and unlimited bandwidth, But they will not. I know that "unlimited" is just a common promotional tool in the industry. But the reality is close to not complying at all. We host 30 websites in MochaHost. But I need to explanation that, we just use total of 120MB disk usage(total! Big files and pictures we already host in other CDN provider ), 2 sql server database with less than 5000 records total. 3 websites for our business and others 27 just as demo-website or development purpose. Some of them just host several static pages... Therefore, in fact, we use quite less resource of the server. But the MochaHost complained many times about why WE host SO MANY websites and the tech-team were unwilling to help solve some problems... [7x24 support and live chat] please... when you really have problems and then use live chat way, you would known what happened... the same as others review. 6.Lack of safety awareness, rudeness, and disrespect for customers. Due to the reason that free cert which signed from MochaHost will show "untrusted" in myssl.com and then in the solidCP panel, we can see that it support upload *.pfx directly, so we buy several paid DV certs in order to instead of the free ssls. As result, do not work... Then we submit a ticket... Finally level-2 tech-team reply that the shared hosting does not support upload cert by ourself ( ?! Okay, we accept this but why not to disable the upload enter of solidCP ?! ) However!!! Before level-2 tech-team reply, it took us much rounds again to communicate with leve1-1 team... And the leve1-1 team require the password of paid DV cert. We explained to them that we cannot offer the password due to safety concerns and hope to get their understanding.The pfx file and password is Paid and just is used for production environment. As result, no... No password, no way to solved problem. To be honest....It is not a reasonable practice to recommend that customers give up the paid certificate and use their untrusted free certificate, or MUST provide a sensitive password. Very Rude and Insecure. Finally, mmm... Many reasons and facts make us feel frustrated. We cannot get the refund due to we not meets the "180 Days Risk Free" and "30 Days Money Back" ( because we use more than 2.5 years ). Even though had 1 year remaining of our plan, we HAVE TO give up and already moved all websites to another hosting provider. The above is all our summary. It is undeniable that it has its GOOD side, however it still cannot hide the fact that it is a very BAD hosting provider. Thanks for your reading patiently.

avatar
Doraemon Y, Hong Kong
September 02, 2020
1
Family sharingMulti User SharingExpert SupportBackupSmart syncPersonal SolutionBusiness SolutionTeams optionsOffline foldersFile history and recovery
MochaHost Alternatives
Hostinger: Best Performance & Low Cost
4.8
Lowest prices on the market for long-term plans
Read Review
IONOS: Premium Features on a Budget
4.7
Dedicated support advisor and instantly scalable performance
Read Review
InterServer: Best Monthly Hosting Plan
4.5
The best choice for hosting on a month-to-month basis
Read Review
Nexcess: Best Managed Hosting
4.8
Best managed hosting for multiple platforms, from WordPress to Magento
Read Review
838904
Best Speed & Uptimeimage

Great Hosting for a Great Price

Plus, get a FREE domain name and email