Finding a reliable web hosting service for your website may be time-consuming and costly.
There are numerous types of web hosting available, with prices ranging from $0.99/mo to $999/mo.
But how can you know which is the best hosting service for your company?
In this research, we compared popular shared hosting providers and ranked the top ten web hosting companies.
All of the hosting services listed are reasonably priced and ideally suited for small and medium-sized websites, as well as new websites. If your website already receives more than 50,000 visitors per month, you should look into dedicated or VPS hosting services.
When selecting a web hosting service, the most crucial element to evaluate is their performance – speed and uptime.
The better for your website, the faster the hosting provider. Web performance will become increasingly crucial in 2021 and certainly beyond.
The following is a list of the ten finest website hosting services that we have discovered to have a fast page load time (speed), a high uptime, and excellent customer service.
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1. Hostinger – Best Pricing ($0.99)
According to our most recent data, Hostinger has an average uptime of 99.74 percent, which is certainly nothing to brag about. They make up for it, however, with an extremely fast average loading time of 345 ms, making it the best affordable web hosting you can discover.
Hostinger (which also owns Hosting24) provides exceptionally low-cost hosting options without sacrificing service quality or performance. While the price is low, the features included with Hostinger’s plans will appeal to many new website owners.
The firm provides a choice of hosting plans with varying features, and all plans include an easy website builder, a free SSL certificate, a 99.9% uptime guarantee, and 24/7/365 support.
Hostinger’s cheapest package starts at $0.99/mo (with a 48-month payment plan), and renewals begin at $2.15/mo. Unless you select the “Single Web Hosting” package, bandwidth and databases are limitless. You’ll be limited to 10GB of disk space, 100GB of bandwidth, one MySQL database, and one email address with the latter. The cheapest plan, in particular, does not include a free domain and has limited processing power and memory.
Cloud, Email, WordPress, and Windows VPS hosting plans are among the other services offered by Hostinger.
All plans include a 30-day money-back guarantee.
2. A2 Hosting – Fastest Shared Hosting
A2 Hosting (established in 2002 and hosting over 500,000 websites) is the quickest shared web hosting provider we have evaluated to far. Over a 12-month period, they achieved an amazing 279 ms average load time.
A2 Hosting’s servers are optimized for WordPress websites, and they employ the LiteSpeed cache. We have examined over 30+ shared web hosting companies, and none of them are as quick as A2.
A2 Hosting is also trustworthy. Their average uptime has been around 99.97 percent, with just over two hours of downtime.
The A2 hosting company is well-known for seamlessly integrating with all major content management systems, such as WordPress, Joomla, Drupal, OpenCart, and Magento, making it an excellent choice for web developers. The company provides a number of hosting options, all of which include a free LetsEncrypt SSL certificate, unlimited SSD storage, and free site migration.
The cheapest plan, “Lite,” starts at $2.96/month (renews at $7.99/month) and includes 1 website, 25 email addresses, a domain name for one year, free Cloudflare CDN, and unlimited bandwidth/disk space.
A2 Hosting features a dependable customer service staff known as “Guru Crew Support.” Customers can contact them via live chat, phone, email, and tickets 24 hours a day, seven days a week. In addition to standard shared hosting, they also provide dedicated, reseller, and VPS hosting services.
All plans are backed by a 30-day money-back guarantee.
3. Bluehost – Best for New Websites
Bluehost has been in business since 2007, and they now host over 3,000,000 websites. They are the most popular and least expensive hosting option for new websites.
They are one of our top-rated web hosting provider because their latest 12-month uptime and speed are excellent – 99.96 percent and 641 milliseconds, respectively.
Their 3-year introductory price is $2.75/mo (renews $8.99), and it includes features such as a free domain name, website builder, and one-click setup for WordPress, Joomla, and Drupal via their control panel. So, for a beginner (someone without a website), this is most likely the greatest solution. The basic package includes unmetered bandwidth and 50GB of storage.
It’s an excellent choice for WordPress websites because it’s officially recommended by WordPress.org.
Bluehost also provides free email accounts, live customer service 24 hours a day, seven days a week, and SSL (security layer) on all plans. It is really simple to use and is most likely the best entry-level web hosting company that is both trustworthy and secure. In addition to typical shared hosting, the company provides dedicated, VPS, and managed WordPress hosting services for websites with increased traffic.
All of their hosting plans include a 30-day money-back guarantee and are quickly enabled, allowing you to get started right away.
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4. DreamHost – Best “Monthly” Payment Plan
DreamHost is one of the oldest web hosting companies, having been founded in 1996. In more than 100 countries, the firm hosts over 1.5 million websites, blogs, and applications.
Unfortunately, according to the most recent data, DreamHost has a low uptime (99.62 percent) and a slow speed (1180 ms).
DreamHost differs from many other web hosting companies in that they allow you to pay monthly rather than yearly.
This means that you may join up for $4.95 and begin utilizing your hosting account immediately. Alternatively, you can sign up for a three-year plan that starts at $2.59/month and renews at $4.95/month. The basic package comes with a free domain, one website, unlimited bandwidth, and storage. Customers can also use DreamHost’s drag-and-drop builder and add an email address for a monthly price of $1.67.
The company provides excellent security features (LetsEncrypt SSL), a range of domain control tools, and unlimited monthly data transfer. WordPress is pre-installed, and the company also offers its own simple and user-friendly website builder. They don’t have cPanel, which is well-known in the web development market, but DreamHost has their own admin panel that functions similarly to cPanel or Plesk.
All options include live chat help in the United States 24 hours a day, seven days a week. The company offers a substantial 97-day money-back guarantee.
5. InMotion Hosting
InMotion is one of the largest and oldest hosting providers, having been in operation since 2001 and hosting over 300,000 domains. And they are well-liked for a reason.
Our data shows a good average uptime of 99.93% and a page speed average of 463 ms. These are respectable results given the magnitude of InMotion’s client base.
For only $2.49/month, you can acquire InMotion’s Lite package, which includes fantastic features like unlimited bandwidth, free SSL certificates, and 400+ app integrations (including 1-click WordPress install). Unfortunately, this pricing is only available for a 24-month subscription, after which it renews at a significantly higher $7.49/mo. You will also need to go through a verification process before you can begin working on your website.
Still, InMotion is worth a go because it offers several useful features for building your first website. Beginners can take use of their excellent 24/7/365 live chat assistance, vast knowledge base, and free website builder. When your website begins to grow in size, you can upgrade to a more scalable VPS or dedicated server hosting package.
Overall, despite the expensive renewal pricing, InMotion is a good option. And, because of their unusual 90-day money-back promise, the risks are extremely low.
6. SiteGround – Best Customer Support
SiteGround is a web hosting company based in Sofia, Bulgaria that was formed in 2004. They host over 2 million domains and are one of the three web hosting services that WordPress.org officially recommends.
SiteGround has an excellent uptime (99.99 percent) and sufficient speed (756 ms) according to our most recent 12-month statistics, making it a very strong top 10 web host.
SiteGround is well-known for its excellent customer support, and its user base is rapidly expanding. Free website builder, email account, SSL, Cloudflare CDN, daily backups, and SSH access are included with all SiteGround hosting plans.
The cheapest StartUp package for novices starts at $3.95/mo (when you buy for a 12-month plan), and renewals begin at $11.95/mo. You can host one website that can handle 10,000 monthly visits. The package includes 10GB of web space, unlimited traffic, and live assistance 24 hours a day, seven days a week.
Managed WordPress hosting, WooCommerce hosting, cloud hosting, enterprise hosting, and dedicated server hosting are all available with SiteGround. Instead of having their own servers, they rent them from the Google Cloud.
All programs include a 30-day money-back guarantee, which is industry standard.
7. GoDaddy Hosting
GoDaddy is a leading hosting provider, supporting over 44 million websites. The company operates 14 facilities worldwide and is regarded as one of the largest domain registrars. They also provide web hosting services for both tiny and very large websites. They, like SiteGround, do not own their server park; rather, they have collaborated with Amazon and rent servers from AWS.
In the last year of monitoring GoDaddy shared hosting, we discovered an uptime of 99.95 percent and a page speed of roughly 518 ms, indicating that GoDaddy is a dependable supplier. GoDaddy is a fantastic choice for custom website development because it includes a basic drag-and-drop website builder (GoCentral) targeted for beginners. It also includes developer-friendly technologies such as MySQL, cPanel, CloudLinux, Python, and numerous PHP versions.
Their most affordable web hosting plan starts at $4.33/mo (renews at $8.99/mo) and includes 100GB of website storage and unmetered bandwidth. Security monitoring and DDoS defense are also offered.
However, GoDaddy has a slew of “upsells” that will almost certainly increase your bill. Site backups, SSL certificates, and email accounts, for example, are not included under their cheapest plan. GoDaddy also provides help 24 hours a day, seven days a week.
All of GoDaddy’s annual and multi-year plans include a 30-day money-back guarantee.
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8. GreenGeeks
GreenGeeks has been in business for over 12 years and hosts over 500,000 websites.
GreenGeeks provides fast and reliable hosting at an affordable pricing of $2.95/month, with 99.95 percent uptime and load speeds of 451 ms. With feature-rich extras, high-quality 24/7 customer care, and ecologically friendly procedures, it’s clear to understand how GreenGeeks is swiftly making a name for themselves in a highly oversaturated field.
All plans include a free one-year domain, a website control panel (cPanel), free Wildcard SSL, PowerCacher, unlimited SSD storage, and unlimited data transfer. Customers also receive an unlimited number of domain names, email accounts, and nightly backups.
You can easily upgrade to their more versatile VPS hosting if your website increases in size. GreenGeeks will also move your site from your current web server for free. Unfortunately, the $10.95/month renewal fee may deter some webmasters from opting for GreenGeeks over other hosting providers.
All plans are backed by a 30-day money-back guarantee.
9. HostPapa
HostPapa has expanded their service since 2006, and they now host over 500,000 websites. They provide exceptional performance, features, and value for money.
Our test site has had a 99.99 percent uptime and an average page speed of 565 ms for the last 12 months.
However, exceptional performance isn’t their sole advantage:
HostPapa provides more support choices than any other host. They offer live chat, email, fax (! ), and mail help around the clock, as well as phone service in over 18 countries and four languages. In addition, their knowledge library contains a plethora of useful videos.
With a 3-year subscription, you can receive HostPapa’s cheapest plan, Starter, for $2.95/mo. This includes excellent Panda Cloud security measures, as well as a free migration, SSL, and CDN, as well as a website builder and 400+ 1-click-install apps. You will also get a free domain, 100 GB of storage, and unmetered bandwidth.
All of this is unquestionably fantastic value for money and a decent fit for novices. The only drawback is that the Starter plan renews at $9.99 per month.
HostPapa provides shared, VPS, and WordPress hosting. They also offer a reasonable 30-day money-back guarantee.
10. IONOS (1&1) Hosting
Last on the list is Ionos by 1&1, which provides shared, VPS, cloud, dedicated, and WordPress hosting. We’ve only been following their service for a little over a year, but we’ve already drawn some conclusions.
According to our test site statistics over the preceding 12 months, Ionos is one of the best services in terms of uptime (99.98 percent ). Their average page speed isn’t quite stellar, but it’s still respectable at 727 ms.
Ionos’ cheapest pricing plan starts at a mind-boggling $1.00 per month. You’ll gain access to several amazing features with this plan, including a website builder, free SSL, a free domain and email, and popular CMSs like WordPress, Drupal, and Joomla.
Unfortunately, Ionos has a high renewal rate. After the initial 12-month period, you’ll be paying $10.00 per month for a hosting service that doesn’t provide live chat support and charges for site migrations. Furthermore, Ionos is not available in many places, including many European countries, China, and Egypt.
So, while Ionos may not be the ideal choice for everyone, they do have good performance and a risk-free 30-day money-back guarantee.
Read Also: Can Multiple Domains Improve Your SEO Strategy?
Other things to think about while selecting a web hosting service
1. Transferring and migrating a website is not always free.
What if you choose a web host only to find out you don’t like it? Site transfer, also known as site migration, enables you to relocate your website to a different host.
Transferring the website’s files and databases, establishing your site with the new server, and forwarding your domain’s DNS to the new host are all part of the process. Once you’ve chosen a new web host, they should be able to assist you with this process. The cost can vary depending on the host you choose, but it might range between $150 and $400.
However, some of the web servers on our list, such as HostGator and GreenGeeks, provide free website transfers.
When it comes to paid transfers, you can sometimes move more than one site at a time. For example, transferring 5 websites and 20 email accounts to Bluehost costs $149.99. Typically, the site transfer takes a few days.
A site transfer will take 5 to 7 days with a host like HostPapa. They recommend updating DNS entries before beginning the transfer to make it go faster. They can also update your DNS entries, but this service will delay your site’s launch by 24 to 72 hours. It will take between 2 and 4 days using A2 Hosting.
2. Limits on bandwidth, storage, and email accounts
There are also constraints in terms of bandwidth and storage.
- GoDaddy’s most basic plan includes unmetered bandwidth and 100 GB of storage, which is sufficient for a single website.
- Hostinger provides 100 GB of bandwidth and 10 GB of storage, but iPage provides expandable bandwidth as well as unlimited MySQL databases.
- Customers looking for unmetered bandwidth and storage should look at HostGator, SiteGround, and GreenGeeks.
Website owners looking for free SSL certificates could select Bluehost, DreamHost, HostGator, SiteGround, or iPage. All of their hosting plans offer a free SSL certificate, which is not typically the case with large hosting companies. GoDaddy, for example, charges exorbitant prices for SSL certificates.
When it comes to email accounts, web hosting companies offer a variety of options.
- All SiteGround, HostGator, A2 Hosting, and Hostinger hosting accounts, for example, feature a free email account.
- GoDaddy’s basic plan includes a free business email for the first year. The Microsoft Office 365 mailbox includes 5GB of dedicated storage space as well as a shared online calendar.
- Users can create an unlimited number of email accounts with iPage and GreenGeeks. They contain email forwarding and autoresponders and are branded for the user domain.
3. Typically, renewal rates are higher.
Most web-hosting providers, according to our data, double or treble their prices when it comes time to renew your contract.
Renewal fees for a basic plan that initially costs $2.99/mo can range from $7 to $10 per month. The plan’s features and performance remain unchanged, but you will have to pay more.
- When it comes time to renew, GoDaddy’s Economy plan, for example, will increase to $8.99/mo.
- Customers must submit a written cancellation request to A2 Hosting 15 days before the start of the renewal period. If you fail to request cancellation, your renewal will begin automatically and the price will be increased.
However, some of the web hosting companies on our list do not use this industry-standard technique. When you sign up for a three-year plan with DreamHost, your plan will automatically renew at the same price.
4. Consider upgrading to a more scalable web hosting package as your site expands.
Different forms of hosting are available from web hosting providers. If you’re just getting started or have a low-traffic website, you should go with shared web hosting. It is more than adequate for the upkeep and operation of your website (s). However, as your site(s) grows in popularity, it is simple to shift from one hosting provider to another or to upgrade to more expensive web hosting.
- Shared web hosting — This is the best option for new websites and blogs. All websites are hosted on a single physical server, which shares server resources such as storage, bandwidth, RAM, and computing power. If your website receives little traffic, this is the greatest place to begin. Return to our top ten list.
- VPS hosting – VPS is an abbreviation for virtual private server. Although VPS hosting is identical to shared hosting in terms of speed and uptime, and it keeps numerous websites on the same server, it offers more customization possibilities and gives you more control. VPS allows you to scale your resources based on your demands.
- Cloud hosting – A type of hosting service that allows several computers to collaborate, run applications, and access shared computing resources. Cloud-hosted websites can access the resources of various web servers, so they are not restricted to a single server location.
- Managed WordPress — This is the best option for high-traffic WordPress sites. WordPress managed hosting meets the same hosting requirements as standard web hosting services, but its primary focus is on optimizing the speed of a WordPress site.
- Dedicated hosting – is ideal for large, enterprise-level websites. A hosting server that provides website owners with the resources of an entire server for the sole purpose of hosting their website. This sort of hosting allows websites to handle high volumes of traffic while also allowing them to tailor it to their own requirements in terms of CPU, RAM, disk space, and software.
Please email us if you would want us to assess, compare, and track a web hosting company that is not included.