Starting a website is easier than ever. All you need is a domain name and web hosting. Though there are thousands of website hosts in the market, most of them aren’t worth your time. Before you decide which one to go with, let’s compare the best web hosts ⇣ on the market right now.
But that doesn’t mean all website hosts are the same. There are some that are the best on the internet. Not only do they offer amazing support, but they are also good cheap web hosting services that make it easy for you to launch and manage your website.
Best Web Hosting: Our Shortlist
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From $2.99 per month
SiteGround stands out in the web hosting industry - they're not just about hosting your website but about enhancing your site's performance, security, and management. SiteGround's hosting package blends advanced technology and user-friendly features, ensuring your website operates at its best. Get premium website performance with Ultrafast PHP, optimized db setup, built-in caching & more! The ultimate hosting package with free email, SSL, CDN, backups, WP auto-updates, and much more.
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From $1.99 per month
Powering over 2 million sites on the Internet, Bluehost offers the ultimate web hosting for WordPress sites. Tuned for WordPress, you get WordPress-centric dashboards and tools along with 1-click installation, a FREE domain name, email, AI website builder + lots more. Whether you're starting a blog, running a business website, or setting up an online store, Bluehost's WordPress-focused hosting provides the tools and resources you need to succeed online.
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Hostinger is highly regarded for its user-friendly and responsive custom hPanel, offering an intuitive and well-organized interface for managing web hosting features. The platform's shared hosting plans are lauded for their affordability and comprehensive features, including free SSL certificates, 1-click app installations, and tools for seamless website import and migration. Plans come with perks like free domain names and automatic daily backups. Performance-wise, Hostinger boasts impressive load times and a recent uptrend in reliability, positioning it as a competitive choice for those seeking feature-rich, yet budget-friendly web hosting solutions.
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From $11 per month
Cloudways managed WordPress hosting is renowned for its high performance, offering a user-friendly platform with extensive control over hosting elements like server selection, data center location, and cloud provider. It simplifies WordPress installations and boosts site speed with features like multisite installs, WooCommerce setups, CloudwaysCDN, and the Breeze plugin. Speed and security are robust, including Cloudflare Enterprise caching, SSL certificates, 'Bot Protection,' and SafeUpdates for safely testing WordPress changes.
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From $2.95 per month
GreenGeeks web hosting is recognized for its commitment to eco-friendly hosting, delivering high-speed, secure, and WordPress-optimized services. Their plans include a free domain name, website migrations, SSD storage, and LiteSpeed technology. Users benefit from GreenGeeks' 24/7 expert support and AI-powered performance optimizations, ensuring a smooth and responsive web experience. The platform is known for its environmentally responsible approach, offsetting three times its energy consumption with wind energy credits, and partnering with organizations to plant trees for each new hosting account.
Top Web Hosting Companies: Full List
Here I break down the best website hosting services in terms of features and price so that you have all the information you need to find the best web host to launch your website or online store.
At the end of this list, I also highlight three of the worst website hosts in 2024 that I strongly recommend you stay well clear of.
1. SiteGround (Best speed and security features)
![siteground](https://media.websiterating.com/siteground-new-homepage-1.png)
Price: From $2.99 per month
Hosting Types: Shared, WordPress, WooCommerce, Cloud, Reseller
Performance: Ultrafast PHP, HTTP/2 and NGINX + SuperCacher caching. SiteGround CDN 2.0. Free SSH and SFTP Access
WordPress Hosting: Managed WordPress hosting. Easy WordPress 1-click installation. Officially recommended by WordPress.org
Servers: Google Cloud Platform (GCP)
Extras: On-demand backups. Staging + Git. White-labelling. WooCommerce integration
Current Deal: Get up to 83% OFF SiteGround's plans
Website: www.siteground.com
Siteground is one of the most popular hosts on the internet. They are trusted by thousands of businesses around the world.
- Friendly customer support team available 24/7.
- Trusted by thousands of businesses around the world.
- Free WordPress website migration on all plans.
- Powerful speed tools and performance features
- Hosted on Google Cloud infrastructure
- 30-day money-back guarantee
The best part about hosting your site with Siteground is that their friendly support team is available around the clock to answer your questions. It takes less than 2 minutes to get in touch with them through Live Chat. They will help you out if you get stuck anywhere in the process of starting your site.
If you already have your website hosted on some other web host, you don’t have to worry about spending hours migrating your site to Siteground. They offer a free site migration service for WordPress sites.
For non-WordPress sites and for those who want expert help transferring sites. SiteGround’s professional site migration service is done by experts and costs $30 per website.
StartUp | GrowBig | GoGeek | |
---|---|---|---|
Websites | 1 | Unlimited | Unlimited |
Monthly Visits | 10,000 Visits | 100,000 Visits | 400,000 Visits |
Storage | 10 GB | 20 GB | 40 GB |
Bandwidth | Unmetered | Unmetered | Unmetered |
Free Automated Backups | Daily | Daily | Daily |
Free CDN | Included | Included | Included |
Price | $2.99/month | $4.99/month | $7.99/month |
Pros
- Affordable prices for beginners and small businesses.
- Unlimited email on all plans.
- Free daily automated backups on all plans.
- Free website migration service.
- Live chat support & telephone support from industry experts.
- Google Cloud shared VPS infrastructure.
Cons
- Renewal prices are much higher than first-time prices.
- No unlimited storage.
Visit SiteGround.com
… or read my detailed SiteGround review
2. Bluehost (Best beginner-friendly hosting in 2024)
![bluehost](https://media.websiterating.com/bluehost-8.png)
Price: From $1.99 per month
Hosting Types: Shared, WordPress, VPS, Dedicated
Performance: HTTP/2, NGINX+ Caching. Free CDN. Free backups
WordPress Hosting: Managed WordPress hosting. Easy WordPress 1-click installation. Online store builder. Officially recommended by WordPress.org
Servers: Fast SSD drives on all hosting plans
Extras: Free domain name for 1 year. $150 Google Ads credits. Custom WP themes
Current Deal: Get up to 75% off on hosting
Website: www.bluehost.com
Bluehost is one of the most popular hosts on the Internet. They are one of the only few officially recommended web hosts on the official site for WordPress (the most popular content management system used by millions of websites).
- Free domain name on annual plans.
- 24/7 customer support teams.
- Free Content Delivery Network
- 30-day money-back guarantee
They are not only one of the most popular but also one of the most affordable on the market. They are known for their amazing support team and have won many awards for their 24/7 available customer support. If you ever get stuck in the process of starting your site, you can reach them at any time via email, live chat, or phone.
Basic | Online Store | Choice Plus | Pro | |
---|---|---|---|---|
Websites | 1 | Unlimited | Unlimited | Unlimited |
Storage | 50 GB | Unlimited | Unlimited | Unlimited |
Free CDN | Included | Included | Included | Included |
Free Automated Backups | Not Available | Not Available | Only 1 Year | Included |
Bandwidth | Unmetered | Unmetered | Unmetered | Unmetered |
Price | $1.99/month | $7.45/month | $3.99/month* | $9.99/month |
* The Choice Plus plan renews at $19.99/mo, and the Online Store plan renews at $24.95/mo.
Pros
- Affordable prices for small businesses (#1 best hosting option for a small business site)
- Easily scalable and WordPress for website creation tools.
- Award-Winning Customer Support team available 24/7.
- Best shared hosting company in 2024
Cons
- The renewal prices are higher than the starting prices.
- The domain name is only free for one year.
- Owned by Newfold Digital (expect lots of upselling)
Visit Bluehost.com
… or read my detailed Bluehost review
3. Hostinger (Cheapest web hosting you can get)
![hostinger](https://media.websiterating.com/hostinger-7.png)
Price: From $2.99 per month
Hosting Types: Shared, WordPress, Cloud, VPS, Minecraft hosting
Performance: LiteSpeed, LSCache caching, HTTP/2, PHP8
WordPress Hosting: Managed WordPress hosting. Easy WordPress 1-click installation
Servers: LiteSpeed SSD hosting
Extras: Free domain. Google Ads credit. Free website builder
Current Deal: Get 75% OFF Hostinger's plans
Website: www.hostinger.com
Hostinger has made a name for itself by offering the cheapest web hosting packages in the industry. You can’t possibly find a web host that offers cheaper prices without losing quality.
- Cheapest prices on the market
- Free SSL certificates for all domains
- Free email accounts on all plans
- LiteSpeed powered servers
Their cheapest plans are great for anyone just starting out. The best part is Hostinger makes it very easy to scale your websites with simple plans that you can upgrade at any time.
Even though their pricing starts at From $2.99 per month (when you sign up for 48 months) they offer 24/7 support and are trusted by thousands of businesses around the world.
Premium Plan | Business Plan | Cloud Startup Plan | |
---|---|---|---|
Websites | 100 | 100 | 300 |
Storage | 100 GB SSD | 200 GB NVMe | 200 GB NVMe |
Bandwidth | Unlimited | Unlimited | Unlimited |
Free Domain Name | Included | Included | Unlimited |
Free Daily Backups | Not Included | Included | Unlimited |
Cost | $2.99/month | $3.99/month | $8.99/month |
Pros
- Cheap web hosting is one of the most affordable prices on the market.
- Free SSL certificates on all domain names.
- 24/7 online support.
- Great for beginners who are just starting out.
- Great for other types of hosting like Minecraft servers.
Cons
- Free SSL is not included for addon domains.
- Renewal prices are much higher than starter prices.
Visit Hostinger.com
… or read my detailed Hostinger review
4. DreamHost (Best flexible pricing option)
![dreamhost](https://media.websiterating.com/dreamhost-1.png)
Price: From $2.59 per month
Hosting Types: Shared, WordPress, Cloud, VPS, Dedicated
Performance: HTTP/2, SSD, latest PHP and propriety built-in server caching
WordPress Hosting: Managed WordPress hosting. Easy WordPress comes pre-installed. Free site migration. Officially recommended by WordPress.org
Servers: Fast loading SSD drives
Extras: Free domain name for 1 year, incl. WHOIS privacy
Current Deal: Get started with DreamHost now! Save up to 79%
Website: www.dreamhost.com
DreamHost is one of the most popular choices among professional bloggers and small businesses. They offer affordable web hosting for businesses of all shapes and sizes. Over 1.5 million websites rely on DreamHost.
- 24/7 support via phone, email, and live chat.
- Free domain name with privacy on all plans.
- Flexible and worry-free month-to-month hosting, pay monthly and cancel anytime (no need to sign up for a 12/24/36 months plan).
- Free automated WordPress migrations on all plans.
- 97-day money-back guarantee.
If this is your first time launching a new website, don’t worry. DreamHost offers a 97-day money-back guarantee. You can ask for a refund within the first 97 days of service if you are unhappy with the service for any reason.
DreamHost offers a free domain name on all plans with free domain privacy, which others charge extra for. Domain registration information is publicly available and searchable by anyone. Domain privacy makes this information private.
Starter Plan | Unlimited Plan | DreamPress | |
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Websites | 1 | Unlimited | 1 |
Storage | 50 GB | Unlimited | 30 GB SSD |
Bandwidth | Unmetered | Unmetered | Unmetered |
Free Automated Daily Backups | Included | Included | Included |
Free SSL Certificate | Available | Pre-Installed | Pre-Installed |
Email Accounts | Paid Add-On | Included | Included |
Price | $2.59/month | $3.95/month | $11.99/mo |
Pros
- Free domain name on all plans.
- Free automated WordPress migration.
- 24/7 customer support.
- Free automated daily backups on all plans.
- 97-day money-back guarantee.
Cons
- No unlimited storage.
- No free email accounts on the Starter plan.
Visit DreamHost.com
… or read my detailed DreamHost review
5. Hostgator (Free website builder included)
![hostgator](https://media.websiterating.com/hostgator-7.png)
Price: From $2.99 per month
Hosting Types: Shared, WordPress, VPS, Dedicated, Reseller
Performance: HTTP/2, NGINX Caching. Cloudflare CDN, Increased performance (3 vCPU's)
WordPress Hosting: Managed WordPress hosting. Easy WordPress 1-click installation
Servers: Fast SSD drives on all hosting plans
Extras: Free 1-year domain. Free website builder. Free website transfer
Current Deal: Get 70% OFF HostGator's plans
Website: www.hostgator.com
HostGator is one of the oldest and most popular web hosting companies on the Internet. They are trusted by thousands of business owners around the world. Hostgator is known for its shared web hosting and WP hosting services, but they also offer VPS and Dedicated Hosting.
- Free email on all plans.
- One of the best web hosting services for anyone just starting out.
- Unmetered disk space and bandwidth data transfers.
- 24/7 customer support you can reach via live chat.
Hostgator’s affordable plans are designed to scale your business. They all offer unmetered bandwidth and disk space. They also offer a 45-day money-back and uptime guarantee on all plans. And unlike a lot of other web hosting providers, they offer free email on all their plans.
Hatchling Plan | Baby Plan | Business Plan | |
---|---|---|---|
Domains | 1 | 5 | Unlimited |
Bandwidth | Unmetered | Unmetered | Unmetered |
Disk Space | 10 GB | 40 GB | Unmetered |
Free Automated Daily Backups | Included | Included | Included |
Free Email | Included | Included | Included |
Cost | $2.99/month | $3.99/month | $5.49/month |
Pros
- 45-day money-back guarantee
- Free email hosting on all plans. Get an email on your own domain name for free
- Free domain name on all plans for the first year
- Free automated daily backups you can restore at any time with a single click
Cons
- Renewal prices are much higher than starter prices.
- Owned by Newfold Digital (expect lots of upselling)
Visit HostGator.com
… or read my detailed HostGator review
6. A2 Hosting (Best value for money option)
![a2hosting](https://media.websiterating.com/A2-Hosting.png)
Price: From $2.99 per month
Hosting Types: Shared, WordPress, VPS, Dedicated, Reseller
Performance:
WordPress Hosting: Managed WordPress hosting. Easy WordPress 1-click installation
Servers: LiteSpeed. NVMe SSD Storage
Extras: Anycast DNS. Dedicated IP address. Free site migration. Built-in staging
Current Deal: Use code webrating51 & get 51% OFF
Website: www.a2hosting.com
A2 Hosting offers affordable web hosting solutions to small businesses around the world. Whether you are in the process of starting your first site or own a business that gets thousands of visitors every day, A2 Hosting has the right solution for you. They offer everything from shared hosting to dedicated hosting.
- 24/7 support.
- 4 different data center locations to choose from.
- Free website migration service provided.
- LiteSpeed powered servers.
A2 Hosting gives you free email accounts on all plans and a free CDN service for all your websites. They also offer a free website migration service in which they migrate your website from any other web host to your A2 Hosting account for free without any downtime.
StartUp | Drive | Turbo Boost | Turbo Max | |
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Websites | 1 | Unlimited | Unlimited | Unlimited |
Storage | 100 GB | Unlimited | Unlimited | Unlimited |
Bandwidth | Unlimited | Unlimited | Unlimited | Unlimited |
Free Email Accounts | Unlimited | Unlimited | Unlimited | Unlimited |
Free Automated Backups | Not Included | Included | Included | Included |
Cost | $2.99/month | $5.99/month | $6.99/month | $14.99/month |
Pros
- Impressive speed and performance features on Turbo plans (powered by LiteSpeed)
- Free email accounts on your domain name on all plans.
- Free CDN on all plans to give your website a speed boost.
- Free website migration service on all plans.
Cons
- Renewal prices are much higher than starter prices.
- Free automated backups are not available on the starter plan.
Visit A2Hosting.com
… or read my detailed A2 Hosting review
7. GreenGeeks (Best LiteSpeed server hosting)
![greengeeks](https://media.websiterating.com/Greengeeks-pricing-1.png)
Price: From $2.95 per month
Hosting Types: Shared, WordPress, VPS, Reseller
Performance: LiteSpeed, LSCache caching, MariaDB, HTTP/2, PHP8
WordPress Hosting: Managed WordPress hosting. Easy WordPress 1-click installation
Servers: Solid state RAID-10 storage (SSD)
Extras: Free domain name for 1 year. Free website migration service
Current Deal: Get 70% OFF on all GreenGeeks plans
Website: www.greengeeks.com
GreenGeeks is popular for its green web hosting services. They were one of the first in the market to introduce green web hosting. Their servers run on green energy to reduce their carbon footprint. Hosting your website with GreenGeeks is the easiest way to reduce your carbon footprint.
- One of the few green website hosts on the internet.
- Private servers that run on green energy to reduce carbon footprint.
- Affordable prices for premium services trusted by businesses around the world.
- 30-day money-back guarantee.
GreenGeeks web hosting services offer free CDN service on all their plans. They also offer a free-of-charge domain name for the first year on all plans. The best part about GreenGeeks’ service is that their tech-savvy support team is available around the clock and will help you out whenever you get stuck with anything at all.
Lite Plan | Pro Plan | Premium Plan | |
---|---|---|---|
Websites | 1 | Unlimited | Unlimited |
Disk Space | Unlimited | Unlimited | Unlimited |
Bandwidth | Unmetered | Unmetered | Unmetered |
Free Backups | Included | Included | Included |
Free Email Accounts | Unlimited | Unlimited | Unlimited |
Free CDN | Included | Included | Included |
Cost | $2.95/month | $4.95/month | $8.95/month |
Pros
- Free email accounts on all plans.
- Eco-friendly “green” web hosting at affordable prices.
- 24/7 online support can reach via live chat, phone, and email.
- Free CDN to give your website a boost.
- Free-of-charge domain name on all plans for the first year.
Cons
- Renewal prices are much higher than starter prices.
Visit GreenGeeks.com
… or read my detailed GreenGeeks review
8. Scala Hosting (Cheapest cloud VPS hosting)
![scalahosting](https://media.websiterating.com/scalahosting-2-1024x543.png)
Price: From $29.95 per month
Hosting Types: Cloud VPS, Shared, WordPress
Performance: LiteSpeed, LSCache caching, HTTP/2, PHP8, NvME
WordPress Hosting: Managed WordPress cloud VPS hosting. WordPress comes preinstalled
Servers: LiteSpeed, SSD NvME. DigitalOcean & AWS data centers
Extras: Free website migration. Free domain name. Dedicated IP address
Current Deal: Save Up To 57% (No Setup Fee)
Website: www.scalahosting.com
Scala Hosting makes it easy for small businesses to build their websites on VPS Hosting. They offer Fully Managed VPS Hosting that removes the pain of maintenance and management from it.
- Fully Managed VPS Hosting at affordable prices.
- Most affordable cloud VPS service on the market.
- Free website migration from any other platform at no cost.
- Free custom control panel called SPanel.
With Scala Hosting, you can give your site a speed boost by hosting it on a VPS without having to learn any technical commands and codes to manage the server.
Although they are known for their Managed VPS Hosting, they also offer other services such as WP Hosting, Shared Hosting, and Unmanaged Hosting (VPS). Their support team is available 24/7 to help you get unstuck and answer any questions you might have.
Start | Advanced | Business | Enterprise | |
---|---|---|---|---|
CPU Cores | 2 | 4 | 8 | 12 |
RAM | 4 GB | 8 GB | 16 GB | 24 GB |
Storage | 50 GB | 100 GB | 150 GB | 200 GB |
Free Daily Backups | Included | Included | Included | Included |
Free Dedicated IP Address | Included | Included | Included | Included |
Cost | $29.95/month | $63.95/month | $121.95/month | $179.95/month |
Pros
- Free automated daily backups.
- Cloud VPS for the price of shared hosting.
- LiteSpeed powered Turbo-fast NVMe SSDs.
- Automated 2 free VPS snapshots of the last two days.
- A custom control panel called SPanel saves you money and makes it easy to manage your VPS.
- Generous amounts of resources for affordable prices.
Cons
- Virtual private server (VPS) isn’t suited for total beginners.
- A little more expensive than similar providers.
Visit ScalaHosting.com
… or read my detailed Scala Hosting review
9. Rocket.net (Fastest Cloudflare hosting right now)
![](https://media.websiterating.com/rocket.net-is-one-of-the-fastest-wordpress-hosting-companies.png)
Price: From $25 per month
Hosting Types: WordPress & WooCommerce hosting
Performance: Optimized & delivered by Cloudflare Enterprise. Built-in CDN, WAF and edge caching. NVMe SSD storage. Unlimited PHP Workers. Free Redis & Object Cache Pro
WordPress Hosting: Managed WordPress cloud hosting
Servers: Apache + Nginx. 32+ CPU Cores with 128GB RAM. Dedicated CPU and RAM resources. NVMe SSD disk storage. Unlimited PHP Workers
Extras: Unlimited free site migrations, free automated backups, free CDN & dedicated IP. One-click staging
Current Deal: Ready for speed? Let Rocket do a FREE test migration for you!
Website: www.rocket.net
Rocket.net is a fully-managed WordPress hosting platform that offers high-performance hosting services, excellent security features, and easy website management. With its intuitive dashboard and 24/7 support team, Rocket.net ensures that users can focus on their website content and leave the technical aspects to the experts.
Key Features:
- Managed WordPress Hosting: Rocket.net is a fully-managed WordPress hosting platform that provides users with the ease and flexibility of managing their WordPress websites without worrying about the technical aspects.
- Fast Load Times: With Rocket.net, websites load faster due to its global content delivery network (CDN), which provides high-performance hosting services and reduces load times.
- Security: Rocket.net provides website security features such as malware scans, firewall protection, and automatic updates to keep websites safe and secure.
- Easy to Use: Rocket.net has an intuitive and user-friendly dashboard that allows users to manage their website easily, and its 24/7 support team provides assistance whenever needed.
- Automatic Backups: Rocket.net automatically backs up all website data, which ensures that users can restore their website to a previous version if necessary.
Pros:
- #1 winner as the fastest WordPress hosting company in our testing
- Fast load times due to its global content delivery network
- Excellent security features to keep websites safe from cyber threats
- User-friendly interface and dashboard make it easy to manage websites
- Automatic backups ensure that website data is always secure
- 24/7 support team available to provide assistance when needed
Cons:
- Limited flexibility in terms of customizing the hosting environment
- Higher pricing compared to other hosting providers
- Limited storage and bandwidth options for smaller plans.
Pricing:
Starter plan: $25/month when billed annually
- 1 WordPress site
- 250,000 monthly visitors
- 10 GB storage
- 50 GB bandwidth
Pro plan: $50/month when billed annually
- 3 WordPress sites
- 1,000,000 monthly visitors
- 20 GB storage
- 100 GB bandwidth
Business plan: $83/month when billed annually
- 10 WordPress sites
- 2,500,000 monthly visitors
- 40 GB storage
- 300 GB bandwidth
Expert plan: $166/month when billed annually
- 25 WordPress sites
- 5,000,000 monthly visitors
- 50 GB storage
- 500 GB bandwidth
… or read my detailed Rocket.net review
10. Cloudways (Cheapest cloud hosting)
![cloudways](https://media.websiterating.com/cloudways-7.png)
Price: From $11 per month
Hosting Types: Managed Cloud Hosting
Performance: NVMe SSD, Nginx/Apache servers, Varnish/Memcached caching, PHP8, HTTP/2, Redis support, Cloudflare Enterprise
WordPress Hosting: 1-click unlimited WordPress installations & staging sites, pre-installed WP-CLI and Git integration
Servers: DigitalOcean, Vultr, Linode, Amazon Web Services (AWS), Google Cloud Platform (GCP)
Extras: Free site migration service, free automated backups, SSL certificate, free CDN & dedicated IP
Current Deal: Get 10% OFF for 3 months using code WEBRATING
Website: www.cloudways.com
Cloudways offers fully managed VPS Hosting. They remove the management and maintenance part of Hosting that limits a lot of businesses from using them. The best part about Cloudways is that they let you pick between 5 different cloud hosting platforms including Google, AWS, and Digital Ocean.
- Affordable fully managed VPS hosting plans.
- Dozens of data centers to choose from.
- 5 different cloud hosting platforms to choose from.
- Cloud hosting plans using DigitalOcean servers start from From $11 per month
The choice of cloud platforms also increases your choice of data center locations. You can choose to host your website in any of the dozens of data center locations available.
If you already have your website hosted on some other platform or web host, Cloudways will migrate your website to your Cloudways account for free.
DigitalOcean 1 | DigitalOcean 2 | DigitalOcean 3 | DigitalOcean 4 | |
---|---|---|---|---|
RAM | 1 GB | 2 GB | 4 GB | 8 GB |
Processor | 1 Core | 1 Core | 2 Core | 4 Core |
Storage | 25 GB | 50 GB | 80 GB | 160 GB |
Bandwidth | 1 TB | 2 TB | 4 TB | 5 TB |
Free Automated Backups | Included | Included | Included | Included |
Price | $11/month | $24/month | $46/month | $88/month |
Pros
- Fully managed VPS hosting service that can give your website a speed boost.
- Choose between 5 different cloud hosting platforms that are trusted by some of the biggest tech companies in the world.
- 24/7 support to solve all your problems.
- Free website migration service.
Cons
- No cPanel or a custom control panel such as SPanel is offered by Scala Hosting.
- No free CDN.
Visit Cloudways.com
… or read my detailed Cloudways review
11. Kinsta (Fastest Google Cloud hosting right now)
![kinsta](https://media.websiterating.com/kinsta-7.png)
Price: From $35 per month
Hosting Types: WordPress & WooCommerce Hosting. Application Hosting & Database Hosting
Performance: Nginx, HTTP/2, LXD containers, PHP 8.0, MariaDB. Edge caching. Cloudflare CDN incl. Early Hints
WordPress Hosting: Fully managed and optimized self-healing technology for WordPress
Servers: Google Cloud Platform (GCP)
Extras: Free premium migrations. Self-healing technology, Automatic DB optimization, Hack and malware removal. WP-CLI, SSH, Git, built-in Application Performance Monitoring Tool
Current Deal: Pay yearly & get 2 months of FREE hosting
Website: www.kinsta.com
Kinsta offers premium managed WP hosting services for businesses of all shapes and sizes. Unlike other companies, Kinsta specializes in WP Hosting. If you want your website to perform as fast as it can, you need Kinsta.
- Free CDN service on all plans.
- Free unlimited migrations from other web hosts.
- Google Cloud Platform powered servers.
- 24 global data center locations to choose from.
Their servers are optimized for WordPress performance and they offer free CDN service on every plan.
The best part about hosting your website with Kinsta is the easy scalability you get. Your website can go from 10 visitors a day to a thousand on Kinsta without any hiccups. You can upgrade your website’s plan at any point with just a click.
Kinsta is powered by the Google Cloud Platform which is trusted by millions of businesses large and small around the world. It is the same infrastructure used by tech giants.
Starter | Pro | Business 1 | Business 2 | Business 3 | |
---|---|---|---|---|---|
WordPress Installs | 1 | 2 | 5 | 10 | 20 |
Monthly Visits | 25,000 | 50,000 | 100,000 | 250,000 | 400,000 |
Storage | 10 GB | 20 GB | 30 GB | 40 GB | 50 GB |
Free CDN | 50 GB | 100 GB | 200 GB | 300 GB | 500 GB |
Free Premium Migrations | 1 | 2 | 3 | 3 | 3 |
Cost | $35/month | $70/month | $115/month | $225/month | $340/month |
Pros
- Cloud hosting plans powered by Cloud (Google) Platform.
- Free CDN service on all plans.
- Free automatic daily backups you can restore with a single click.
- Free premium migration of your website and unlimited basic migrations.
Cons
- Can be a little expensive for small businesses.
- No email hosting.
Visit Kinsta.com
… or read my detailed Kinsta review
12. WP Engine (Best premium managed WordPress hosting)
![wpengine](https://media.websiterating.com/wpengine-5.png)
Price: From $20 per month
Hosting Types: Managed WordPress & WooCommerce Hosting
Performance: Dual Apache and Nginx, HTTP/2, Varnish & Memcached server and browser caching, EverCache®
WordPress Hosting: WordPress is auto-installed. Automatic WordPress core updates. WordPress staging
Servers: Google Cloud, AWS (Amazon Web Services), Microsoft Azure
Extras: Free Genesis StudioPress themes. Daily and on-demand backups. Free migration service. One-click staging. Smart Plugin Manager
Current Deal: Limited special offer - Get $120 off annual plans
Website: www.wpengine.com
WP Engine is a premium managed WP hosting company trusted by some of the biggest websites on the internet. They are one of the oldest in the industry and have made a name for themselves by providing affordable Managed WordPress solutions.
- Premium managed WP hosting.
- Free global CDN service is included in all plans.
- 24/7 chat support and industry leading customer service.
- Free Genesis Framework and 35+ StudioPress Themes on all plans.
WP Engine can help your business scale on any level, whether you are a hobby blogger or a business that serves thousands of customers every day. Their web hosting solutions are optimized for WordPress websites and as a result, offer a huge boost in speed.
The best part about going with WP Engine WordPress web hosting services is that they offer you the Genesis Theme Framework and 35+ StudioPress themes for free on all plans. Together this bundle would cost well over $2,000 if bought separately.
StartUp | Professional | Growth | Scale | Custom | |
---|---|---|---|---|---|
Sites | 1 | 3 | 10 | 30 | 30+ |
Storage | 10 GB | 15 GB | 20 GB | 50 GB | 100 GB – 1 TB |
Bandwidth | 50 GB | 125 GB | 200 GB | 500 GB | 500 GB+ |
Visits | 25,000 | 75,000 | 100,000 | 400,000 | Millions |
24/7 Online Support | Chat support | Chat support | Chat and Phone Support | Chat and Phone Support | Chat, Ticket, and Phone Support |
Price | $20/month | $39/month | $77/month | $193/month | Custom |
Pros
- Scalable Managed WP hosting at affordable prices.
- Servers that are optimized for WordPress performance and security.
- Genesis Framework and dozens of StudioPress themes are included with every plan.
- Website and database backups.
Cons
- A little expensive for beginners.
- Limits pageviews unlike some of their competitors.
Visit WPEngine.com
… or read my detailed WP Engine review
13. InMotion Hosting (Best small business hosting)
![inmotion](https://media.websiterating.com/inmotion-3.png)
Price: From $2.29 per month
Hosting Types: Shared, WordPress, Cloud, VPS, Dedicated, Reseller
Performance: HTTP/2, PHP8, NGINX & UltraStack caching
WordPress Hosting: Managed WordPress hosting. Easy WordPress 1-click installation
Servers: Ultra fast and reliable NVMe SSD storage
Extras: Free no-downtime website migrations. Free BoldGrid website builder
Current Deal: Get 50% OFF InMotion Hosting plans
Website: www.inmotionhosting.com
InMotion Hosting is home to over 500,000+ WordPress websites. They offer everything from Shared business hosting to dedicated servers. Their customer support team is available around the clock to help you out with anything when you get stuck.
- Free-of-charge domain name on all plans.
- 90-day money-back guarantees.
- Free email accounts on all plans.
They also offer a free website migration service. You can contact the customer support team and they will migrate your website from any other web host to your InMotion account for free without any downtime.
Core | Launch | Power | Pro | |
---|---|---|---|---|
Websites | 2 | Unlimited | Unlimited | Unlimited |
Storage | 100 GB | Unlimited | Unlimited | Unlimited |
Bandwidth | Unlimited | Unlimited | Unlimited | Unlimited |
Email Addresses | 10 | Unlimited | Unlimited | Unlimited |
Cost | $2.29/month | $4.99/month | $4.99/month | $12.99/month |
Pros
- 90-day money-back guarantee.
- Free domain name on all plans.
- Free SSL certificate for all your domain names.
- 24/7 customer support team you can reach any time via Live Chat, Email, or Phone.
Cons
- Doesn’t offer unlimited email addresses on all plans.
- Renewal prices are much higher than the starter prices.
Visit InMotionHosting.com
… or read my detailed In Motion Hosting review
14. Liquid Web (Best WooCommerce hosting)
![liquidweb](https://media.websiterating.com/liquidweb.png)
Price: From $12.67 per month
Hosting Types: WordPress, WooCommerce, Cloud, VPS, Dedicated
Performance: Platform built on PHP8, SSL and Nginx. Nexcess page cache
WordPress Hosting: Managed WordPress hosting
Servers: SSD installed on all servers
Extras: 100% network and power uptime guarantee, site migration service at no extra cost, Heroic Support
Current Deal: Use code WHR40VIP to get 40% OFF
Website: www.liquidweb.com
Liquid Web specializes in fully managed cloud and web hosting services. They let your business harness the power of web hosting services that require a lot of technical knowledge to manage and maintain.
- Affordable Managed Web Hosting.
- Free unlimited email accounts.
- 24/7 online Support.
Their managed offerings include everything from Managed WordPress to Dedicated Servers and Server Clusters and everything in between.
All their WordPress plans come with free iThemes Security Pro and iThemes Sync. You also get Beaver Builder Lite and unlimited email accounts. They even offer a 14-day free trial for their WP hosting service.
Spark | Maker | Designer | Builder | Producer | |
---|---|---|---|---|---|
Sites | 1 | 5 | 10 | 25 | 50 |
Storage | 15 GB | 40 GB | 60 GB | 100 GB | 300 GB |
Bandwidth | 2 TB | 3 TB | 4 TB | 5 TB | 5 TB |
Free Daily Backups | Included | Included | Included | Included | Included |
Free Email Accounts | Unlimited | Unlimited | Unlimited | Unlimited | Unlimited |
Pageviews | Unlimited | Unlimited | Unlimited | Unlimited | Unlimited |
Cost | $12.67/month | $79/month | $109/month | $149/month | $299/month |
Pros
- Free unlimited email accounts on all plans.
- Free iThemes Security Pro and iThemes Sync WordPress plugins on all plans.
- Free automatic daily backups on all plans are retained for 30 days.
- Complete access to the server.
- No caps on pageviews/traffic.
- Comes with developer tools such as SSH, Git, and WP-CLI.
Cons
- Can be a little expensive for beginners.
Visit LiquidWeb.com
… or read my detailed Liquid Web review
What is Web Hosting?
Web hosting is a type of internet hosting service that allows individuals and organizations to make their website accessible on the Internet (Source: Wikipedia)
A website is simply a set of code files stored on an external computer. When you open a website, your computer sends a request to another computer on the internet called a server for those files and renders that code into a web page.
To start a website, you need a server. But servers are expensive; they cost thousands of dollars to own and maintain. This is where web hosting companies come in. They let you lease a small space on their servers for an affordable fee. This makes web hosting affordable for businesses of all sizes.
Why Free Web Hosting is Never Worth It
If this is your first time building a website, you might have considered free web hosting platforms. They might sound like a good idea to test the waters. But they are never worth it.
Most free web hosts display adverts on your free website. Not only that, some of them are in the business of collecting your information and selling it to spammers.
The worst part about free web hosts is that they limit your ability to scale. Imagine getting a surge in traffic to your website and finally catching a break. In a scenario like that, your website will probably go down and you will lose hundreds of potential customers.
And that’s not all. Free web hosts don’t much care about security or your data. Don’t believe me? The biggest free web hosting company 000WebHost once got hacked and hackers got access to the information of thousands of users.
Types of Web Hosting
There are many options available, from shared hosting, and VPS hosting to Podcast hosting and Minecraft server hosting, and each caters to different website needs. Don’t rush when choosing, because picking the wrong type of hosting can cause you a lot of problems down the line.
That being said, here is a breakdown of the most used types of web hosting.
- Shared Hosting:
- Features: Multiple websites are hosted on a single server, sharing resources such as memory, disk space, and processing power.
- Advantages: Cost-effective, easy to manage (often comes with a control panel like cPanel), and requires no technical maintenance from the user’s side.
- Use Cases: Ideal for small businesses, bloggers, and personal websites with lower traffic volumes.
- Virtual Private Server (VPS) Hosting:
- Features: A physical server is divided into multiple virtual servers, each with allocated portions of the server’s resources. While sharing a physical server, each VPS functions independently.
- Advantages: Greater control and customization than shared hosting, better performance, and still cost-effective compared to dedicated hosting.
- Use Cases: Suited for medium-sized businesses, e-commerce sites, and websites with moderate traffic that require more resources.
- Dedicated Hosting:
- Features: A single client leases an entire server with all its resources. This offers maximum control, including root access and the choice of operating system.
- Advantages: High performance, security, and stability. No resource sharing with other websites.
- Use Cases: Large businesses, high-traffic websites, and those with specific customization and security requirements.
- Cloud Hosting:
- Features: Hosting services are offered across a network of interconnected virtual servers, allowing for easy scalability and flexibility.
- Advantages: Highly scalable, reliable (no single point of failure), and you generally pay only for the resources you use.
- Use Cases: Businesses with fluctuating traffic, growth-phase startups, and websites requiring high uptime and scalability.
- Managed Hosting:
- Features: The hosting provider takes care of the setup, administration, management, and support of the server and/or application.
- Advantages: Hassle-free hosting with technical aspects handled by experts. Often includes automated backups, updates, and security measures.
- Use Cases: Businesses without a dedicated IT team, those who prefer to focus on their core operations rather than server management.
- Colocation Hosting:
- Features: Instead of housing servers in-house, they are located in a third-party data center. You own the server but share data center facilities.
- Advantages: Access to higher levels of bandwidth than typical office server rooms, along with professional infrastructure and security.
- Use Cases: Companies that own physical hardware but want the benefits of a professional data center.
- App Hosting/Application Hosting:
- Features: Tailored for software applications, offering hosting services that support various web-based and enterprise applications.
- Advantages: Scalable resources, optimized performance, maintenance and updates handled by the provider, accessible from anywhere.
- Use Cases: Ideal for businesses and developers focusing on SaaS products, mobile app backends, e-commerce apps, and enterprise software without managing server complexities.
Web Hosting Glossary
- Content Delivery Network (CDN): A system that uses multiple servers located in various places to store static parts of your website. This setup helps in delivering content to users more quickly.
- Content Management System (CMS): A software like WordPress that helps you manage the creation and modification of digital content on your website. It often includes tools for designing web pages and adding content.
- Time to First Byte (TTFB): A measurement used to evaluate the performance of a hosting provider. It indicates the time taken for a user’s browser to receive the first byte of page content, reflecting the efficiency of the network and servers.
- Solid-State Disk (SSD): A storage device used in servers and computers, known for its fast data access speeds because it doesn’t have any moving parts, unlike traditional hard drives.
- Non-Volatile Memory Express (NVMe): A modern, high-performance SSD technology that provides faster data transfer rates and improved efficiency compared to traditional SSDs.
- Virtual Private Server (VPS): A hosting service where a single physical server is divided into multiple virtual servers. Each virtual server operates independently, providing users with private resources and possibly better performance than shared hosting.
- Domain Name System (DNS): This system translates human-readable domain names (like “example.com”) into IP addresses that computers use to identify each other on the network. DNS ensures that when you type a website’s name into your browser, you are directed to the correct server.
- Shared Hosting: A type of web hosting where multiple websites are stored on a single server. It’s an economical option for small websites, as resources and the cost of the server are shared among all users. However, it might have limitations in performance, security, and flexibility compared to other hosting types.
- Dedicated Hosting: In contrast to shared hosting, dedicated hosting provides a server solely for one client. This offers more control, better performance, and higher security but at a higher cost. It’s suitable for large, high-traffic websites and businesses with specific server requirements.
- Bandwidth: This term refers to the amount of data that can be transferred to and from your website within a certain period, usually a month. Higher bandwidth allows more data to be transferred, which is important for sites with a lot of traffic or large files.
- Secure Sockets Layer (SSL) Certificate: An SSL certificate is a digital certificate that provides secure, encrypted communication between a website and a user’s browser. It’s crucial for protecting sensitive data and is often indicated by a padlock icon in the address bar. Websites with SSL are accessed via HTTPS (Hypertext Transfer Protocol Secure) rather than HTTP.
Our Verdict ⭐
If you want to grow your business without any hiccups, you need reliable web hosting that you can trust. However, most web hosts aren’t worth your time or money.
That’s why I made this list. All the companies on this list get my stamp of approval. If you can’t decide between all the options, let me make the choice easy for you:
Highly popular and well-rated in the WordPress community, SiteGround offers unique WordPress speed and security solutions. Known for the best 24/7 support in the industry, it features automatic upgrades, daily backups, built-in WP caching, free CDN, free SSL, one-click staging, and GIT version control. They have data centers in the USA, Europe, Asia, and Australia.
One of the oldest web hosts since 1996, Bluehost is a large brand in WordPress hosting and is officially recommended by WordPress. Known for its ability to handle high traffic, it offers 24/7 expert support by phone, email, or live chat, and is highly rated for small businesses. Features include a free domain, free SSL, and a free site builder with templates.
Gaining strong recognition in the WordPress hosting industry, Hostinger offers affordable hosting with 24/7 live chat support. Features include automatic 1-click WordPress install, managed updates, enhanced security, free CDN, WordPress speed acceleration, free site migration, and geolocation specific hosting with data centers across various continents.
With 18 years in the industry, DreamHost is known for making web hosting easy with a custom dashboard, 1-click WordPress install, automatic updates, unlimited space and bandwidth, and free SSDs. They power over 1.5 million WordPress blogs and websites and are an officially recommended WordPress hosting provider.
Hosting over 10 million domains, HostGator is popular for its 1-click WordPress installation, 99.9% uptime guarantee, and 24/7 support. They are considered one of the best web hosting services for businesses.
Known for ultra-fast and reliable WordPress hosting since 2002, A2 Hosting is developer-friendly and offers flexibility and advanced features. They provide 24/7/365 support and cater to a range of users from bloggers to large businesses.
Known for its fast website performance and 24/7 U.S. based support, GreenGeeks is an environmentally responsible platform. They offer automatic 1-click WordPress install, managed updates, enhanced security, free CDN, free site migration, and various data center location choices.
Cloudways stands out for its managed cloud hosting services, offering flexibility, performance, and ease of use. It provides users with the ability to choose their cloud provider and supports various applications including WordPress. Cloudways is known for its scalable hosting solutions, 24/7 support, and user-friendly platform, making it a popular choice for both beginners and experienced users.
If you are a beginner, go with Siteground or Bluehost. Both offer 24/7 customer support that is friendly and will help you get unstuck at any time of the day.
If you own a growing WordPress site, I recommend going with WP Engine or Kinsta. Both are known for their affordable premium managed WP hosting services. They offer 24/7 support and are trusted by thousands of big brands around the world.
How We Review Web Hosts: Our Methodology
When we review web hosts, our evaluation is based on these criteria:
- Value for Money: What types of web hosting plans are on offer, and are they good value for money?
- User Friendliness: How user-friendly is the signup process, the onboarding, the dashboard? and so on.
- Customer Support: When we need help, how quickly can we get it, and is the support effective and helpful?
- Hosting Features: What unique features does the web host provide, and how do they stack up against competitors?
- Security: Are essential security measures like SSL certificates, DDoS protection, backup services, and malware/virus scans included?
- Speed and Uptime: Is the hosting service fast and reliable? What types of servers do they use, and how do they perform in tests?
For more details on our review process, click here.
List of web hosting services we have tested and reviewed: