From keywords to building backlinks and analyzing your competitors, there are many things you can work on to increase your website ranking. However, there might be one area you’re overlooking. Any idea what I’m talking about yet?
It’s the influence your web hosting has on SEO.
Whether you realize it or not, the web host you choose can make all the difference between getting your website ranking higher or being pretty much invisible online.
When you think about it, it’s obvious why.
The web host you go with impacts several areas of your website, including uptime and loading speeds.
If you are researching how to host a website, here are 7 things to look out for to help meet your SEO needs.
Why Web Hosting Is So Important For SEO
Your chosen web host plays a significant role in putting your website on the map and keeping it visible, and therefore, you need to pick your web host carefully.
Before I go too much further, let’s just see what Google says about how search works. It considers five factors:
Relevance
Meaning
Quality
Usability
Context
As we’re talking about SEO and web hosting, I’ll focus on usability. For ranking, Google looks at:
Loading times
Mobile friendliness
Country and location (so Google can serve location-based content)
Basically, the more accessible your content is, the more likely it is to rank better.
Your webhost influences all of the above, which is why you need to choose carefully.
What To Look For When It Comes To Web Hosting And SEO
When it comes to web hosting and SEO, you should expect a few things from your provider as standard, such as uptime reliability and efficient loading times. However, as detailed in the next section, there are other features to look out for:
1. Uptime Reliability
For businesses, a few minutes of downtime can cost thousands of dollars in lost productivity. For your visitors, it’s frustrating if they can’t access your website or if it keeps crashing. However, downtime is equally damaging to your reputation among search engines.
The likes of Google regularly visit websites, and if your website is down a lot, your site gains a reputation for unreliability.
While no web host can guarantee to keep your site online 100 percent of the time, most hosts now provide 99.9 percent uptime. According to Search Engine Journal, 99 percent uptime equals approximately 1.44 minutes of downtime daily, or 8.8 hours a year. Pretty good, huh?
2. Speed
Ever heard the saying ‘speed is of the essence’? Your visitors agree with this, which is why you don’t want to keep them hanging around.
A slow website causes users to leave, increasing your bounce rate significantly, as the stat from Google’s research shows.
However, despite the importance of fast loading times, too many websites fail to make the grade.
According to research by Littledata, the average time it takes for a mobile page fully loads is 4.6 seconds. On the face of it, that sound pretty swift, but it won’t put you among the best-performing sites.
What should you be aiming for?
Littledata says if you want your site among the top twenty percent, then your loading time should be within 3.2 seconds. To appear in the top ten percent, your site should reach a full mobile page load within 2.6 seconds.
Not sure about your current speed? Here are some tools to check:
Pagespeed Insights
Uptrends
Pingdom
GTMetrix
That’s your speed covered, now let’s move on to the importance of customer service.
3. Customer Service
When choosing web hosting for SEO, there are some key areas of customer service to think about:
The size of the company. Although it’s not always the case, a larger company is more likely to have better resources and staff available to help with customer service issues. They also have more money to invest in training their representatives.
The company’s overall reputation. These days, you don’t need to look too far to view other people’s opinions. Find out what others say by looking at web hosting service reviews and use that as guidance for narrowing down your choices.
Availability: is the company available 24 hours a day and seven days a week? Problems with hosting can occur at any time. You need to know that someone is available to take your call.
Contact options: The easier it is to get in touch with a company, the better. Email and contact forms are great, but it can take time to get responses. Look for companies with a customer service contact number, social media accounts, and Live Chat for quicker responses.
4. Security
Would you buy from a site you don’t trust? I doubt it. It’s also unlikely that you’d share your sensitive information if the site didn’t have an HTTPS certificate, but It’s not just about consumer trust.
Back in 2014, Google first named HTTPS as a ranking factor. As Google’s Search Advocate, John Mu, explains on Twitter, it’s only a lightweight ranking factor, and the lack of an HTTPS won’t stop your site from getting indexed.
However, as Mu explains, HTTPS is great for users, and Google’s research shows a considerable rise in web users relying on HTTPS. Here are some of the key stats:
Desktop users load over half of the pages they view via HTTPS and spend two-thirds of their time on secure pages
98 percent of Chrome users load pages via HTTP
While HTTPS is less common among mobile users, figures among these visitors are growing too
While you can install an SSL certificate yourself, the easiest way is to find a web host that provides a free or affordable certificate.
Some of the sites offering free SSL certificates include
Hostinger
Hostgator
Siteground
A2 Hosting
That’s HTTPS covered. What about server location and its impact on your SEO and web hosting?
5. Server Location
Does server location affect loading times? Absolutely.
In a YouTube clip, former Google Search Quality expert Matt Cutts said: ‘We try to return the most relevant results to each user in each country. And server location in terms of IP address is a factor in that’.
For example, if your server is in the United States, but most of your customers are in the United Kingdom, data transfer times are likely to be considerably delayed. However, changing the server location to the UK is likely to reduce response times and improve website loading speed.
The reason for this? Well, it comes down to two things: network latency or ‘ping’ (the time it takes for information to travel from one point in a network to another) and time to the first byte (the interval between the request being sent to the server and the browser receiving the first byte).
The server location also affects your bounce rate and legal compliance (you need to store any data per local laws)
To help find the best server locations for your site, follow these three tips:
Go to Google Analytics and sign in. Next, choose ‘audience’, then ‘geo’, and ‘location’ to determine where your audience is based.
If you notice delays, it may be worth looking around for the best cheap web hosting and transferring your website to another provider.
6. Shared Hosting
Shared hosting is a popular option for small businesses, as it offers an affordable way to start a website, but it has some downsides.
The biggest issue for users can be website performance. As shared hosts typically have many users sharing the same server, performance can suffer compared to dedicated servers. This can result in slower page load times and decreased Site Speed Index scores (a page loading score metric).
Further, if you need to make any major changes or updates to your website, like adding new features or redesigning your entire site, then the customization options may be limited.
You may also find that your performance dips the more your traffic grows.
That said, shared hosting has plenty of positives, such as its ease of use and scalability,
7. CMS Quality
A content management system (CMS) is a software application or set of related programs used to create and manage digital content efficiently.
The sheer number of available systems can make it difficult to choose, so look for the following three features to narrow down your options:
1. Ease of use: A CMS should be easy to use, even for beginners, and have a user-friendly interface and simple, straightforward controls.
2. Flexibility: Find a flexible CMS to accommodate your website’s specific needs. It should allow you to add or remove content easily, change layouts, and more.
3. Compatibility: Ensure the CMS is compatible with popular web browsers and devices. It should also work well with other software and plugins you may want to use
FAQs
Does Web Hosting Include SEO?
It depends on which host you’re using. If SEO isn’t already built-in, you can often add plug-ins to your CMS for optimization
Is Free Hosting Good for SEO?
It depends on the host. Some are better than others but remember, you get what you pay for, and web hosting costs shouldn’t be your only consideration. Free hosting sites may lack quality, advanced features, and built-in SEO.
Does Server Location Affect SEO?
Yes. The closer the server location is to your visitors, the quicker the speed.
Is Wix Good for SEO?
Wix has some great SEO features, including a Google Search and Google Analytics integration, as well as a single template for SEO on multiple pages. Additionally, Wix has an SEO Wiz. This is a step-by-step checklist that you’ll find on your site’s dashboard under ‘marketing home’. The checklist helps you to connect and verify your site with Google, enables efficient site indexing, and gives you SEO tips for improved visibility.
What are Examples of Web Hosting With Effective SEO Web Hosting Tools?
Hostinger, Bluehost, and SiteGround all score well among reviewers for SEO web hosting, but it all depends on what features you’re looking for.
Conclusion
You will most likely have a long-term relationship with the hosting service you choose, so you want to pick the right one.
With so many web hosts to choose from, finding the perfect host is often time consuming, and you might not always get it right the first time.
To simplify things, when looking for a provider for your SEO web hosting, ensure it offers uptime reliability, speed, and security.
Also, don’t overlook server location and the impact it can have on your SEO, and test customer service first by making a few queries.
In today affordable service globe, you require to make use of every source that you can locate to maintain your service afloat. Company webhosting solution is a really essential component for on-line deal business.
One of the most crucial choice you will certainly produce your organization is that you choose for your company host solution with many to select from.
Organization webhosting website designers frequently organize the Web web pages for business usually on a computer system in their workplace.
Organization host is a suitable option for those that currently have a website however optimum uptime, dependability as well as efficiency is crucial to their organization or e business internet site.
Company webhosting is generally far more pricey, nonetheless those that sign up for organization webhosting have actually mentioned that they want to pay the added price since the solution is unrivaled.
With ever before expanding need of webhosting solutions, lots of people think of beginning a host company.
Company webhosting is the most effective option for getting to a more comprehensive team of consumers, connecting with them efficiently and also enhancing your very own income by performing company interactions and also purchases online, over networks and also with computer systems.
Service webhosting is something like Internet realty. It is consists of a listing of all organization feeding on the web server.
Company Web holding is a course in addition to remainder of the organizing bargains since their solutions much go beyond a normal webhosting business, it can be given simply by a certificated firm.
Company host is provided by a variety of webhosting companies that typically supply complete to service website consisting of website creating (with the languages like PHP, ASP and also others), programs, along with others like e Commerce centers.
You have to take into consideration a variety of elements prior to dedicating to a company webhosting solution.
One aspect is a company webhosting solution has to use a refund, no doubt ensure. One more is an uptime warranty. You must likewise take into consideration the kinds of back-ups they use.
Service internet organizing have to be dependable. Exactly how long have they been in service?
Service Web Hosting Disk room is the storage area allocated to site which can be utilized to save images, HTML documents, folders, video clips as well as anything else utilized by a Website.
Every effective local business owner will certainly vouch for the reality that in today’s company globe, an amazing web site is what mesmerizes the consumer as well as maintains them surfing your website.
Company webhosting customers have special requirements from a procedures stand factor that needs to be dealt with within their IT acquisitions in order to discover the very best and also leading organization webhosting.
Organization host and also inexpensive webhosting is not the exact same point. Organization internet site holding enhances your capacity to get to the ideal clients via individualized accounts, on the internet brochures and also e mail listings of consumers that want to be maintained notified concerning brand-new supply.
Picking the best company webhosting solution is necessary for your company to expand. Your webhosting solution might suggest the distinction in between success and also failing in your service.
One aspect is an organization internet organizing solution needs to use a cash back, no inquiries assure. Service internet organizing need to be reputable. The last point you require to stress around is that the company’s solution comes to be inaccessible for lengthy stretches of time. What kind of uptime warranty do they give you with? Just how long have they been in service?
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Here’s some good news–you can get a website up and running without spending a dime.
Yes. Free web hosting exists, and I’ll show you how to get it.
You’ll be able to launch a website with a few clicks, but don’t expect anything fancy.
Some of the trade-offs with free web hosting include: ads on your site (that don’t make you money), a cap on how much traffic you can get, sudden downtimes, and little to no customer support.
There’s some really great cheap web hosting options that will help you build a site without tradeoffs for a few bucks a month.
But if you really need a 100% free web hosting solution, check out my recommendations below.
#1 – WixReview — Best Free Web Hosting With Website Builder
When it comes to building a simple blog or an online portfolio that highlights your work, Wix is the best intuitive website builder you can count on.
With the help of its simple drag-and-drop interface, you can create a simple website in minutes. Wix takes care of your website through free hosting so long as you don’t mind having Wix brand ads displayed on your pages.
And if you don’t want to build your own site, all you need to do is answer a few questions. The platform’s Artificial Design Intelligence (ADI) will then automatically generate a website with a design based on the answers you give.
You’ll get a great looking page in a few minutes, and from there you can fine-tune it the way you want. Editing within Wix is easy, and you’ll be surprised at how many options you have.
Although free accounts can only use the Wix subdomain, there are enough templates and apps you can choose from to add a little bit of personal touch to your website.
Should you decide to create a website with Wix, you will get a storage space of 500 MB and a bandwidth of 500 MB, enough for a low-traffic site like an online portfolio.
If you want more flexibility, you can upgrade to premium plans anytime to access custom domain, email, and ecommerce features.
Premium plans also eliminate ads so your website will look more professional and less cookie-cutter.
But even with ads, Wix has plenty to offer that will put the spotlight on your content. Whether you’re a writer, designer, or photographer, Wix remains the best website builder to help you establish an online presence without touching any code. Sign up now.
#2 – Square OnlineReview— Best Free Ecommerce Hosting Platform
Square Online is a free ecommerce platform for aspiring entrepreneurs who are still getting their feet wet with online selling. Unlike big names in the industry, Square Online lets you sell unlimited products without paying recurring fees.
It’s free to set up your online store hosted by Square Online. You’ll pay a fee for transactions on the site, but it’s only a small percentage of your total sale.
Your still making money on your free Square Online site, which is pretty great considering you still pay transaction fees on paid hosting platforms as well.
The drag-and-drop editor only offers four customizable themes, but you get an assurance that every design follows your industry’s best practice. Without touching any code, you can create your online store with a responsive design that fits in any device.
Square Online also offers the following to help you get started with your business:
Square POS integration so you can automatically import your product catalog and let it sync with your online store for a seamless inventory management
Payment processing system that accepts all major credit cards, Google Pay, and Apple Pay
In-house and on-demand delivery
Instagram integration
Free SSL security
SEO tools
In exchange for hosting your online store for free, Square Online requires a small commission fee of 2.9% + 30¢ for each product sold. Should you decide to scale your business, you can leave the free plan and move to the premium plans starting at $12 per month.
Through a new feature called Square Online Checkout, sellers also have the option to sell their products and receive payment using only a link instead of a website.
Whether you’re an established brick-and-mortar store owner or just starting from scratch, Square Online has all the basics to help you navigate the unfamiliar world of ecommerce with ease. Start now.
#3 – DreamHostReview— Best Free Web Hosting for Nonprofits
DreamHost believes in every nonprofit organization’s advocacy so much that they’re giving them a shared hosting plan at no cost.
Aside from free web hosting, DreamHost also provides US-based charitable organizations with the following:
Free domain
Free backups
Free shopping cart installation so you can accept donations with ease
Unmetered transfer and unlimited monthly visitors
Free SSL certificate to keep online transactions secure
To create a free hosting account, DreamHost does not require any credit card details and needs just your billing address for verification purposes.
You also need to attach a 501(c)(3) determination letter, a document from the United States IRS proving your tax-exempt non-profit status under the applicable sections of the tax code.
Since it’s a free account, you won’t have access to reliable 24/7 customer support. However, DreamHost’s dedicated help center and ticketing system offset this, which more than meets the need for straightforward troubleshooting solutions.
Should you want more control over your account, nonprofit organizations can also avail themselves of a 35% discount off DreamHost’s managed WordPress hosting plans. This means you can host your site under a paid plan for as low as $11 per month.
#4 – WordPress.comReview— Best Free WordPress Hosting Service
Often confused with the open-source software WordPress.org, WordPress.com is the free platform where non-technical users can create websites.
Since it is powered by the same robust and world-class infrastructure behind nearly half of the world’s websites, WordPress.com is the best place to learn how to manage a website while you’re still not ready or able to pay for a hosting service.
Setting up a website is easy. You can select a WordPress subdomain and choose from any of the available themes.
Just like Wix, WordPress.com also displays ads to sustain its free platform. While the ads may sometimes be annoying, this is a small price to pay for all the other features that WordPress.com has to offer:
3 GB storage space so you can publish both text and beautiful images
Unlimited bandwidth
Free SSL certificate for an additional layer of security
Optional backups so you can save your files on your hard drive
While it has excellent performance for a free hosting platform, WordPress.com can’t beat the paid version in terms of flexibility. The WordPress CMS installed on websites in paid hosting plans gives you direct server access and freedom to install plugins and themes of your choice.
Still, WordPress.com is good for starters, especially if you only want a simple, stripped-down website to showcase your writing portfolio or personal diary.
#5 – GitHub Pages Review — The Best Free Static Web Hosting for Developers
Anyone with basic coding skills is already familiar with GitHub, an open-source platform where developers store their coding projects. GitHub Pages is where you can take these codes from the repository, have them go through a build process, and turn them into a simple static website.
A static website is ideal for those who prefer a small website that doesn’t need to be updated regularly. It’s also perfect for students who want a test site to play around with or present for their school projects.
GitHub Pages is completely free, yet it comes with a range of outstanding features:
One site per GitHub account
Unlimited project websites
1 GB of storage plus 100 GB bandwidth every month
Standard github.io subdomain or custom domain name you own
Free HTTPS to prevent others from tampering with your traffic
Built-in integration with Jekyll, a popular static site generator, for more customization options
To build your static website, all you need to do is sign in to your account and create a new repository. You can then use the Jekyll Theme Chooser to pick from one of the pre-made themes.
If you don’t like your theme or your static website’s content, no need to worry as changes are a simple edit and push away. You can make these changes either via the web or locally on your computer.
Whether you’re a developer or a non-techy looking for easy-to-follow instructions, GitHub Pages has all the tools you need to create a free static site.
What I Looked at to Find the Best Free Web Hosting
Before we proceed, you have to remember that there’s no such thing as a free lunch.
In the case of a free web host, it has limitations that don’t appeal to everyone.
Free web hosting is designed to meet the needs of a niche market like a new hobby blogger who doesn’t intend to earn from his website or a student looking for a free platform where she can test her web development projects.
With that being said, you can’t use the same criteria in selecting a paid hosting plan when zeroing on the best free web hosting to suit your needs.
Remember, you get what you pay for. And in the case of a free web host, you shouldn’t expect to receive round-the-clock support, daily or on-demand backups, and 100% uptime guarantee, among others.
However, some free options are a cut above the rest. Use the following parameters to figure out whether a free web hosting service is worth a try.
Custom Domain
Most companies are willing to host your website for free so long as you’re also willing to use a subdomain.
For instance, Wix is a popular website builder that requires its free users to use a subdomain (e.g., neilpatel.wix.com).
A subdomain doesn’t look professional nor is it good for branding. So, unless you only want a stripped down website you can play around with, it would be better to opt for a company that can host your custom domain for free.
A custom domain is one that you own (e.g., neilpatel.com). You can purchase it from a domain registrar or from any hosting provider that also offers domain registration on the side. Domains are inexpensive, and you’ll need to renew them annually.
If branding is your top priority, make sure to find a free web host that gives you the option to stand out in a sea of other freely hosted websites.
Security
While advanced security features don’t exist in free web hosting platforms, they should at least offer a free SSL certificate.
SSL (secure sockets layer) is a technology that encrypts the information that passes through your website. It protects your site visitor’s sensitive data like passwords and credit card data from outside intruders.
If you’re launching a basic ecommerce site on a free hosting platform, a free SSL certificate is non-negotiable. However, some free web hosting services only offer a self-signed SSL, which misleads users into thinking that it’s the same as the industry-standard SSL certificate.
A self-signed SSL is issued by servers and not by trusted authorities like Comodo, Digicert, and Let’s Encrypt. Since it’s not a standard version, websites with self-signed SSL will still show security warnings to visitors.
Hence, a self-signed SSL defeats the purpose of an SSL certificate even though it offers the same level of encryption. Especially if you’re planning to sell a product through your website, having a self-signed SSL is no better than not having an SSL certificate at all.
Storage and Bandwidth
As a rule of thumb, never go with free web hosting unless you’ll use it for a basic website with little to no traffic.
A free web host isn’t designed to handle huge traffic volume. This is why it’s important to read the fine print of the hosting provider’s terms and conditions before signing up.
Unfortunately, a lot of free hosting providers tend to mislead clueless users by including “unlimited storage” and “unlimited bandwidth” in their list of features.
Disk space or storage space is the amount of server space allocated to your website files, while bandwidth is the amount of data allowed to transfer from the server to your visitors in a given amount of time. If your website is hosted in a free platform, your disk space and bandwidth are best described as low and never “unlimited.”
“Unlimited bandwidth” is a promotional tactic by free hosting providers based on the assumption that sites on a shared server will not use up the available resources, which is rarely the case.
Instead of being swayed by these superficial features, pay more attention specifically to file size limit and CPU limit.
A file size limit is the maximum file size your website can upload, while the CPU limit refers to how much of the server’s central processing unit (CPU) your website is allowed to use.
Free web hosting providers can temporarily shut down your site without warning, so make sure you know exactly what and how much your limitations are.
Ads
The only reason why free web hosting continues to exist is because of the business behind it. And a business requires a source of revenue.
Some of the more popular free web hosts sustain their platform through ad space. This monetization method may be effective, but it comes at the expense of your visitors.
You have no control over what appears on the advertisements or where they’re placed. Not to mention ads, in general, tend to be obtrusive and take the joy out of consuming your content.
If you want free hosting but care about your site’s aesthetics and user-friendliness, you can opt for a company that supports their free platform through other means, such as the sales of premium hosting plans.
Customer support
Support for websites hosted in a free web host is limited at best. Unless you already have both the budget and need to upgrade to premium plans, there’s nothing else you can do.
When looking for the best free web host to entrust your website, choose one with an active community forum.
Check the latest posts and see how fast the response time is. The more active users the service has, the quicker you’ll get a resolution to any problem you might face in the future.
In addition to a community forum, some free web hosts also have a self-service knowledge base where users can quickly get answers to their most basic questions.
Conclusion
Nothing beats a paid hosting plan for all the extra support, features, and functionality. Still, if you need free web hosting or if you want to try out different web hosts before committing to an investment, there are some good free options available.
These are my top choices if you are looking to get online without spending a dime:
Disclosure: This content is reader-supported, which means if you click on some of our links that we may earn a commission. Do you want to skip the read and get right to my top picks? The best cheap web hosting service for most people is Hostinger or DreamHost. There’s no need to pay a fortune … Continue reading Best Cheap Web Hosting
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Do you want to skip the read and get right to my top picks? The best cheap web hosting service for most people is Hostinger or DreamHost.
There’s no need to pay a fortune for web hosting if you’re launching a new website. A cheap web hosting solutions will work just fine.
But how cheap is too cheap? There are a lot of attractive options out there. Separating the good deals from the scams is important.
Fortunately, you won’t actually have to search through all of them. There are really only one or two dozen reputable web hosts to consider.
That list gets even smaller if you’re looking for a cheap web hosting plan that actually delivers good service.
If you want to get your site online for as little as possible, these are my top picks:
#1 – Hostinger Review — The Best Web Hosting Plan Under $1.50
Hostinger has the absolute cheapest price for hosting at $1.39 per month for the Single Shared Hosting plan. So what’s the catch?
You have to sign up for a 48-month contract, which sounds a little heavy. But, bear with me.
Four years of Single Shared is going to cost less than a single year of hosting through other providers.
Seriously, other low-budget hosting plans are still twice to four times as expensive. Plus, the introductory rates you get with competitors might skyrocket when you have to renew. Once the honeymoon period is over, you might be looking at $10 or more each month.
With Hostinger on the other hand, your rate for shared hosting goes from $1.39 cents to $2.99/month upon renewal. That’s still a great price.
In other words, the Hostinger full rate is still less than introductory rates from other good cheap hosting options.
Okay, great. But I know you’re thinking the low rate must mean that there are annoying domain limits and few free tools to build your business.
Untrue. Hostinger is loaded to the brim with features and function.
Hostinger’s Single Shared Hosting plan supports one site, and includes:
100 GB bandwidth
30 GB storage
1 email account
Free SSL certificate
99.9% uptime guarantee
24/7/365 customer support
Optimized for WordPress with one-click installation
User-friendly control panel
Cloudflare protected nameservers
There’s no free domain name included, which isn’t a big deal if you already have one. Bluehost and DreamHost come with a free domain name for the first year, but higher per-month rates.
If you need a free domain name, more storage, or unlimited bandwidth, Hostinger lets you upgrade your plan while keeping costs low:
Say you need to move to Premium Shared Hosting to support another site. That will cost $2.59/month to start and $5.99/month when you renew. That’s not going to break the bank, and you can host up to 100 websites.
Hostinger does a lot to ensure that the service is easy to use. Set up takes minutes and absolutely zero technical skill.
If you ever have issues, Hostinger’s customer service is always available and has a phenomenal reputation. The company gets you in the door with budget-friendly prices, and keeps you around with quality support.
Choose Hostinger for the lowest per-month plan on the market. Try it today risk-free, as Hostinger will refund your purchase if you aren’t happy within the first 30 days.
#2 – DreamHost Review — The Lowest Spend on Day One
Not everyone wants to sign a long contract for hosting, but you usually have to in order to get the lowest price. Typically, you have to pay the whole amount upfront, which can get expensive even when you are looking at cheap plans.
DreamHost offers similar discounts if you want to sign a contract, but if you don’t, DreamHost’s month-to-month pricing is the lowest out there.
DreamHost Shared Starter is $4.95/month for one site. No contract necessary.
There’s really no way to get a lower price without a commitment. This can be really important for cash-strapped startups betting on growth. Instead of a big upfront spend, they can budget a predictable monthly hosting cost into the equation.
Freedom isn’t free, they say, and it’s especially true with hosting. Many young companies have found themselves locked into a long contract with no way out. Now they’re spending money on a service they don’t like at a time when every dollar counts.
With DreamHost, you can still get cheap hosting, but you don’t have any of the long-term risk that comes with a multi-year contract.
When you look at the month-to-month pricing for other plans on this list, there is no competition. A2 Hosting is $10.99/month, Hostgator is $10.95/month, and Hostinger is $9.99 with a $4.99 set up fee.
Bluehost and iPage don’t even offer plans without at least a year-long commitment.
All of these other plans are great, don’t get me wrong, but if you are looking for a no-contract option, DreamHost is the clear leader. Especially because you get such a solid range of features and free tools to build your site:
Unlimited traffic
50 GB storage
Free SSL certificate
Free WordPress website builder
Free automated WordPress migrations
Automated WordPress updates
24/7 live chat and ticket support
Like Bluehost, DreamHost is officially recommended by WordPress. The integration is deep and all of the updates are handled automatically. This is good for security purposes and saves you the trouble of doing it yourself.
So you can get all the benefits of tight WordPress integration without the commitment and large down payment required by Bluehost.
Now you might think that no contract would mean no money-back guarantee. The truth is DreamHost has a zero-risk 97-day money-back guarantee. That’s the longest time to try a web host that I know of.
If you need more than one site, and you want to pay month-to-month, iPage can’t help you. DreamHost offers a Shared Unlimited plan for $8.95/month that works for an unlimited number of sites:
If you just have one site, Shared Starter is all you need.
Stop worrying about when the honeymoon period of your introductory pricing is going to end.
Get DreamHost and pay a low, predictable rate each month. No more contracts, no more inflexible commitments. Just reliable hosting at a consistent price.
#3 – Bluehost Review — The Best for New Sites (Especially WordPress)
There’s probably no easier way to get your new website off the ground than with Bluehost. And it won’t cost you much at all, as the company offers incredibly feature-rich shared hosting starting at $2.95/month.
For most people with a new site—especially if it is their first site—Bluehost is what they want.
If you are building a WordPress site, I really recommend checking out your options at Bluehost. The company is one of only three hosting providers that is officially recommended by WordPress. The integration is amazing and installation is automatic.
We’ll talk more about why it’s so good for WordPress in a second, but I want to talk about why it’s good for just about anyone with a new site.
First off, Bluehost has some of the cheapest hosting rates around. And even the most basic plans are loaded with features and value.
You get a free domain name for the first year. Not only do you get to skip that expense, but the convenience of registering your domain through Bluehost cuts down on the time it takes to go live.
If this is your first site ever, you will be grateful at how simple the process is. If you’ve built sites before, you will really appreciate everything that’s done for you.
For example, you get a free SSL certificate for your site,and enabling it takes one click on the dashboard. This is critical for keeping all of the information on your site secure and lets visitors know that the site is safe to visit.
You can get free SSL certificates from other places, but they will not be this easy to install, trust me. And you will have to renew them every couple months.
With Bluehost, it’s completely hands-off and you are always protected.
You also get a free content delivery network (CDN) through Bluehost’s partnership with Cloudflare. This is going to improve site speed and performance with near-zero work on your part.
Okay, so on top of the free domain name, SSL certificate, and CDN, Bluehost gives you:
50 GB storage
Unmetered bandwidth
24/7 customer support via phone and live chat
$100 Google Ads credits
Automatic WordPress installations and updates
Custom WordPress themes
30-day full refund if you aren’t satisfied
All of these features are included with the Bluehost Basic shared hosting, which starts at $2.95/month. If you have to upgrade, prices stay affordable at the higher tiers:
One thing to be aware of is that Bluehost renewal rates are about two to three times higher than the introductory rate. This is why I recommend signing up for a long plan to max out the discount period.
Even at full price, though, Bluehost is really competitively priced compared to the field. This is especially true when you consider the long list of features you get and the ease of getting set up.
It’s as hands-free of a hosting experience as you could ask for and when you want to develop your site, all the tools are right there.
WordPress is automatically installed on Bluehost, for example. This means full integration and automatic WordPress updates.
With Bluehost shared hosting, you can use another content management system (CMS) besides WordPress if you want.
But if you know that you are only going to use WordPress, I highly recommend going with one of Bluehost’s WordPress Shared Hosting plans.
These start at $2.95/month, which is the same price as regular shared hosting. The difference is that the servers that have been optimized exclusively for WordPress. There’s no other type of software on them, so servers can be better configured and more easily protected.
If you have a new site in mind, make Bluehost your one-stop-shop for getting online. Get everything set up in a single place instead of having to go through a domain registrar. Best of all, you’ll get a great deal in the process.
So if you have a new site: Get Bluehost Basic shared hosting.
And if that new site is a WordPress site: Get Bluehost Basic WordPress hosting.
There’s a reason that more than 2 million sites are hosted through Bluehost. Find out why today.
#4 – A2 Hosting Review — The Best Web Hosting Under $3 for Online Stores
If you grow your ecommerce site past a certain point, the cheapest web hosting options won’t work. But, if you are just getting your online store up and running, there is no better budget-friendly option than A2 Hosting.
In fact, you can get everything you need to launch for $2.99/month with the A2 Startup plan. You’ll have to sign a contract to get the lowest rate, but you’ll be ready to go within minutes.
Along with PayPal integration, the cheapest A2 hosting plan comes with one-click installs for five of the top ecommerce platforms, including WooCommerce, OpenCart, and Magneto. There’s hardly any backend IT work to start selling.
A2 Hosting offers some of the best site speed and security for the price, which are really important for online stores.
Shoppers won’t stay if your content is slow to load. A2 takes care of all the technical legwork that goes into maintaining high performance servers. It’s compatible with Cloudflare’s free content delivery network, which can boost your speed as well.
Most shoppers won’t even come if Google says your site’s not safe. That’s going to happen if you don’t have an SSL certificate. A2 includes one for free, and it’s always enabled.
This is a huge perk, because you can get free SSL certificates elsewhere, but it’s on you to configure and renew them, which can be frustrating.
Most of the other security benefits are similarly hands off. The virus scanner, firewall, and brute force defense are on autopilot—you’ll receive notification if there’s something you need to do, but A2 handles a lot on its own.
And if you have an issue you can’t solve, A2 will help. Go read reviews. The company has some of the happiest web hosting customers on the planet. If you need to move your old site to A2’s servers, they have a team that will do it for free.
Some of the other excellent benefits of A2 Startup include:
100 GB storage
Unlimited bandwidth
Unlimited email addresses
24/7/365 customer support via phone, live chat, email, and ticketing
99.9% uptime commitment
Optimized WordPress hosting
DNS management tools
Website staging
Website staging is really useful for online stores. You can test new features and buttons on a page in a development area before pushing it live. This way you can see if anything breaks before it impacts your customers.
The A2 Startup plan is aptly named—it won’t be enough once your site matures. But by the time you’ve hit that milestone, your site will be bringing in more than enough money to justify the cost of upgrading.
A2 is one of the pricier options on my list of cheap web hosting providers. I like it for online stores because of the speed, security, and generous limits on storage. 100 GB is twice as much as you get with Bluehost.
And if you aren’t happy with your service, A2 Hosting will refund your account within 30 days of purchase. It’s a true hassle-free money-back guarantee.
Your online reputation matters, so it’s a huge peace of mind to know that customer service is always there. A2 Hosting representatives are extremely knowledgeable. They will help you resolve issues quickly, before your online store takes a hit.
#5 – HostGator Review — The Best Way to Host Your Existing Site for Cheaper
When your current host jacks up the rates or takes a customer service nose-dive, you need to switch. Whatever the cause, there is no reason to pay for substandard hosting.
Hostgator will help you migrate your old site for free. This includes the cPanel, email accounts, files, databases, scripts, etc. They also include one free domain registration transfer, which saves a few bucks, too.
All you have to do is fill out a transfer form within 30 days of signing up. Hostgator will do the rest.
You get the free migration with any of Hostgator’s shared hosting plans, including Hatchling, which starts at $2.75/month with a contract.
With Hostgator, you can lock in a really low rate and get great uptime for less than you paid before. After the zero-stress migration, you get high quality customer support available any time of day by phone and live chat.
It’s cheaper web hosting, better service, and very few limits on what you can do. Some of the highlights include:
Unlimited storage
Unlimited bandwidth
Free SSL certificate
Free email
Free domain (or registration transfer)
One-click WordPress install
Free website builder
Free Google Ads and Bing Ads credits
The good news is that Hostgator provides tons of tools to help you optimize the content on your site and keep things running at top speed. The interface is very easy to use, which gives you complete control over your site and databases.
It’s comparable to Bluehost in a lot of ways, which I like better if you have a brand new site. But if you already have a website, Bluehost won’t move it over for free. Hostgator will. If you have more than one site to migrate, Hostgator will give you a quote for the cost, but the first one is free.
This makes your transition to cheaper hosting a lot easier. Plus, Hostgator offers a 45-day money-back guarantee. If you don’t like what you see, you have more than a month to jump ship without paying a cent.
#6 – iPage Go Review — The Best If You Have Multiple Sites
iPage Go lets you create unlimited websites for under $2/month. Every other plan on my list requires you to purchase an upgraded plan to support more than one site.
I really like iPage Go because there is one plan. Without tiered pricing, you don’t have to worry about upgrading your plan until you need something more substantial than shared hosting.
In other words, you can build as many websites as you want without having to stress about paying more to do more.
With iPage Go it’s unlimited sites, domains, and storage. Like similar “unlimited” offerings, your service has no hard and fast limits, but there are restrictions on how much your site can demand from the shared server.
So, when iPage says they offer scalable bandwidth, it means they aren’t metering the traffic to your site. You could still hit restrictions, but there is no set cap for the number site visitors.
Most people looking for cheap hosting for their websites won’t have to worry too much about these limits. iPage is able to support 99.5% of customers without any issues at all. In fact, the company will work with you to make sure you’ve optimized your site if you start to approach restricted usage limits.
In addition to providing the cheapest multi-site hosting option, iPage gives customers access to a ton of free tools to build and nurture their site.
You get a free domain name for the first year, along with a free SSL certificate. On top of that, you get free email with autoresponders. You can use the email provided, or manage your website accounts with Microsoft Outlook and other third-party apps.
iPage hosting includes a free website builder, which can help you customize the look and feel of all your sites. WordPress is a one click installation as are other popular content management systems like Joomla and Drupal.
For less than $2 per month, all of this is yours. Other benefits include:
24/7 customer service
Unlimited databases
One-click installs for OpenCart, Magneto, and PrestaShop
There is no month-to-month pricing for iPage Go. You can sign up for one, two, or three years. The longer the contract you sign, the lower the introductory pricing and renewal rate you get:
I’m not aware of another hosting provider who gives you a discount on your renewal rate for signing a long contract, so that is a unique perk.
As I mentioned, you’ll never have to upgrade to a different shared hosting plan. You get everything they offer with iPage Go. There are hardly any limits on your resources, and if your site gets too popular to be supported by shared hosting, iPage has some more powerful hosting solutions at competitive prices.
#7 – GreenGeeks Review — The Best Price for Managed WooCommerce Hosting
If you’re starting with a WordPress site (as many people do) and you’re looking to transform it into a potent online store, you ought to deploy WooCommerce. Sure, the plugin is free, but you’ll still need hosting and to manage your newly WooCommerce-enhanced site.
But, if you go with GreenGeeks, you can take care of all that in one fell swoop.
Much like A2 Hosting, you can get an affordable hosting plan that allows for an easy, one-click install of WooCommerce on your site. But, unlike A2, you get managed features like daily backups and automatic updates even at the lowest pricing tier.
Speaking of pricing, GreenGeeks offers three levels of managed WooCommerce Hosting:
Lite: starting at $2.49/month
Pro: starting at $4.95/month
Premium: starting at $8.95/month
The only drawback of that pricing structure is that the starting price is for a three-year commitment.
That could be a bit too much of a commitment for someone just trying GreenGeeks on for size or worried about massive, rapid scaling over that time. But GreenGeeks’ prices don’t jump up wildly for shorter terms, unlike some other providers.
For example, with the Lite package, a two-year commitment only raises the monthly cost $1.50 to $3.95/month. For a one-year term, it’s $4.95/month. Of course, month-to-month is the most expensive, but that rate of $10.95/month is right on par with A2’s base plan rate.
I mentioned above that even the Lite plan has daily backups and automatic plugin updates, but it also includes a free Wildcard SSL, unmetered data, a free domain name for the first year, and 50 GB of space for one website.
And, if you’re worried about scalability over the long haul, GreenGeeks’ Premium plan can put those fears to bed. With it, you get everything mentioned above, plus LSCache, LiteMage shop accelerator, a free dedicated IP, capacity for unlimited websites, and more.
All of this comes backed by some of the best customer support in the category. You can browse the GreenGeeks knowledge base or reach out to a rep via live chat, phone call, or email. Their phone center is available Monday through Sunday, 9 a.m. to midnight Eastern and GreenGeeks has a great track record of responding to any email request within 20 minutes.
What I Looked at to Find the Best Cheap Web Hosting
You’re looking for the cheapest plan out there, but you still need a dependable host.
There’s no shortage of budget-friendly web hosting options available. Each one promises great uptime, site performance, and customer support.
It seems like anyone can get their site up for less than the cost of a cup of coffee.
What’s the catch?
If you understand your options and pick the right one, there is no catch.
I’m going to guide you through saving every dollar possible without getting scammed or locked into a plan that you’ll regret later.
Use these four criteria to cut through the advertising gimmicks, rule out plans that are “too good to be true,” and hone in on the best deal for lowest price.
Price
When looking for web hosting in general, price is pretty important. But in looking at cheap web hosting, I’ve made pricing the most important criteria by far.
In other words, I asked myself: How can I get dependable hosting at the absolute lowest price?
Since you have to pay for hosting each month, even a few dollars’ difference between plans will add up over time.
I focused on web hosts with a rock solid reputation because their cheap hosting options don’t cut corners. These plans are no-frills hosting, for sure, but I made sure they cover all the essentials.
With some of the less reputable hosts out there, you can get a rock-bottom price and a rock-bottom experience.
The providers I chose have super-affordable plans that won’t cause trouble now, trap you into upgrading, or wind up costing a fortune down the road.
Contract Terms
Lots of web hosts might seem cheap at first glance, but you need to review the contract terms to truly get a sense of the actual cost.
To lock in the lowest possible rate, you’ll likely have to commit to a two, three, or even a four-year plan.
Importantly, these contracts are typically paid up-front and in-full.
That means that web hosting advertised at $3 per month could actually cost you upwards of $100 today.
Along with the length of the contract, you need to check the renewal rates. It’s common practice in the web hosting industry for hosting plans to skyrocket upon renewal.
Promotional pricing might cost $3 per month, but then automatically renew at something like $10 per month.
That would more than triple your rate upon renewal. Suddenly it’s not so cheap anymore.
Domain Limits
How many sites do you want?
If you add a site or two, you could accidentally get forced to upgrade and pay a lot more.
iPage, for example, lets people create as many websites as they want with their cheapest hosting plan.
With Hostinger, on the other hand, you’ll have to upgrade to host more than one site. That said, Hostinger’s next plan up is still less than $3 per month and you can build up to 100 websites.
Another important limit to consider is bandwidth. This is the maximum amount of data your site can transfer to users during a set amount of time.
Now there’s no such thing as unlimited bandwidth, but you are definitely going to see that advertised with a lot of the cheapest web hosting plans out there.
Why can they say this?
Because these are shared hosting plans where your site is on a server with a bunch of other sites. On a typical day, these sites are not going to use all of the server’s resources, so they say it’s unlimited.
The truth is that you will definitely still have limits on how much of the server’s central processing unit (CPU) your site can use.
Getting too many visitors to your site may exceed your CPU limits, and the provider may ask you to upgrade.
Shared hosting plans with unlimited bandwidth are perfect for cheap web hosting, just don’t equate it with unlimited visitors.
Free Tools to Build and Grow Your Site
You’d be surprised, but even some of the least expensive web hosting plans are packed with free tools and capabilities. Getting these freebies as part of a bundle can help you save in other areas.
Some of the features to look out for include:
Ad credits: free Google or Bing advertising credits to target your audience
Domain name: your site’s online address at www.your-domain-name.com
Email account: an address @your-domain-name.com
SSL Certificates: protects online privacy and lets visitors know your site is secure
Visual website builder: an application that lets even total newbies design beautiful pages
Everything that’s included with your hosting plan is something you don’t have to spend more money on.
It’s not hard to register your domain name, but if your hosting plan includes it, that’s going to save you $10-15 in the first year.
Getting a free professional email is another $30 in your pocket. The freebies add up.
Even Hostinger, which can be purchased for less than $1/month, comes with an email account, SSL certificate, and a website builder that requires zero coding knowledge to use.
Conclusion
You don’t have to spend very much to get your site online, but if you aren’t careful, web hosting can wind up costing a lot more than you think.
Choosing a reputable provider is the first step, but you don’t have to worry about that if you stick to my list of best cheap web hosts. These are all really well-known companies with a long history of dependable service.
GreenGeeks — Best price for managed WooCommerce hosting
To get the lowest per-month price, go with Hostinger. At less than a buck fifty per month, there is nothing else even close.
Of course, if you don’t want to lock into a long contract to get low rates with Hostinger, I recommend DreamHost. You can get high-quality hosting for less than $5/month without any commitment.
If you have a new site in mind and you want to get it off the ground quickly, Bluehost is the choice for you. It’s a little pricier than Hostinger, but still under $3/month. Plus Bluehost includes a free domain name for the first year (you’re going to need that for a new site), which saves another $10-15 right there.
If you have multiple sites to host, iPage should be your first and last stop. Unlimited websites for less than $2/month. Say no more.
Shortlist A2 Hosting for online stores. It’s well set up to handle the extra security and performance demands of ecommerce. If you’re running a web store on WooCommerce, think about GreenGeeks for a little extra savings for comparable performance.
And if you are tired of your current hosting situation, let Hostgator help. They will migrate your site to their servers for free. Then you can start saving money and enjoying quality customer service again.
Disclosure: This content is reader-supported, which means if you click on some of our links that we may earn a commission.
Do you want to skip the read and get right to my top pick? The best shared hosting provider for most people is Hostinger.
If you are starting a new website from scratch, shared hosting will be the best option 99% of the time.
There are other types of hosting for bigger sites with tons of traffic. But if you are just getting off the ground, shared hosting is going to be the best price with the least amount of maintenance on your end.
I’ve reviewed my top six recommendations for shared hosting. These are dependable options from well-known providers. You’re not going to get scammed or wind up with a super slow site.
After the reviews, I’ve included a short buyers guide to help you select the best option for your specific needs.
#1 – Hostinger Review — The Lowest Price for Shared Hosting
Hostinger strikes the balance between price and performance–it’s the lowest amount you can spend and still get good hosting.
For $1.39 per month, Hostinger will set you up with one site good for up to 10,000 visitors each month. You also get 30 GB of storage, which is a hefty amount for the price.
If you’re starting out on a tight budget, this is more than enough to get your site online.
Of course you have to put the full amount down for a four-year hosting plan to get the best deal. Let’s do the math: 48 months at $1.39 per month is $66.72.
That means you are paying less than $70 for four years of hosting.
There’s simply no way to drive the price lower. You might be able to scratch out a better deal, but it’s probably not going to be with such a reputable host.
Hostinger includes 24/7/365 live chat customer service with every plan. They don’t hang you out to dry. In fact the company offers a 99.99% uptime guarantee.
There’s also a surprising amount of services and features bundled into the most affordable hosting package:
1 free email account
Weekly backups
Free SSL certificate
100+ one-click install apps
WordPress starter kit
A free email account is one less thing to buy, courtesy weekly backups are a comforting, zero-effort insurance plan.
I’m still talking about Hostinger’s entry-level plan. Literally everything I’ve mentioned up to this point is included for $1.39 per month.
If you need to create additional websites, Hostinger jumps to a whopping $2.59 per month for up to 100 sites.
Need more than 100k visitors a month? You can stick with Hostinger, but be ready to pay a tad more, at $3.99 per month, for Business Shared Hosting.
Yes, the price is going to jump upon renewal like any other host. The thing is, Hostinger’s renewal rate stays lower if you sign up for longer. With the 4-year Single Shared Deal, for example, your renewal rate is $2.99. If you only sign up for a year, the rate is $5.99.
So, you either get a really great or an incredible deal.
I recommend Hostinger for folks who know they need hosting and want the cheapest price out there.
You get better than expected performance from a web host that’s charging you less than the price of an oil change to host your site for four years.
Current high school freshmen will have their diploma in hand before you have to pay for hosting again.
#2 – BluehostReview — The Best Way to Launch Your WordPress Site Today
Looking for a one-stop-shop to get your WordPress up and running in no time flat?
Go with Bluehost for a turnkey solution absolutely anyone can use.
Normally you have to get hosting, a domain, and download WordPress. It’s not rocket science, but for a first-timer there are a lot of places to get tripped up.
With Bluehost, you can get everything in a single place for one low price.
The entire step-by-step process, from signing up to publishing your first page, is as easy as possible. There’s guidance at every turn, and should you encounter difficulties of any kind, you can reach out to customer service.
Don’t take my word for it. Bluehost has been officially recommended by WordPress since 2005. When you make contact with a service agent, you’re getting assistance from someone that resolves WordPress issues all the time.
Building a website incredibly straight-forward. There’s no code to write or hours spent Googling answers. This is true if you have never designed a website before in your life.
Choose a template to start your site and then you are off and running.
Find something that aligns with your brand or goals, and customize from there. Bluehost actually gives you custom WordPress themes that you can make your own. Use fonts, colors, and a layout that speaks to your purpose.
In addition to WordPress tools, Bluehost includes a number of features that make your site faster and more secure, with little to no work on your part:
Automatic WordPress updates
Google Business verification
Free CDN
Free SSL certificate
Domain manager
Most people aren’t thinking about getting an SSL certificate when they launch a site. But it’s the only way to make sure that visitors know your site is safe. With Bluehost, you can enable a free SSL certificate across your whole site simply by turning it on.
Same with the CDN, which you can enable with one-click to get a faster site. Both of these features are important, but not things you want to have to mess around with. Bluehost makes it effortless to get the benefits with zero work on your end.
If you need more than just WordPress on your sites, go with standard shared hosting through Bluehost.
It’s a great deal, but if you know you are going to use only WordPress, I recommend going with one of Bluehost’s WordPress hosting plans. They are basically the same as shared hosting price-wise, but there’s better speed and security.
The difference with shared WordPress hosting is that the servers are optimized for just that. No other type of sites run on those servers, so the performance is better and it’s easier to secure.
Bluehost shared WordPress hosting is available in 3 different plans:
The Basic plan is going to work fine if you are just getting your site off the ground. 50 GB storage is more than enough for most small sites. Upgrading to Plus gives you unlimited storage, and Choice Plus comes with free automated backups.
You’ll notice that Bluehost doesn’t offer monthly pricing. You can sign up for one, two, or three-year plans. The longer your plan, the deeper the discount.
That means you are getting three years of hosting at $2.95 per month. There are enough services and resources bundled with your hosting plan to avoid having to pay for much more.
Compared to hosts that only offer discounts during your first year, Bluehost is a great way to save more money over time.
Everything you need to get started is right there. Hosting plus free domain plus WordPress. Step-by-step instructions and 24/7 guidance. If you aren’t happy with the experience, Bluehost offers a 30-day money-back guarantee.
#3 – A2 HostingReview — The Best Way to Escape a Nightmare Host
I have migrated sites from one host to another, and there’s nothing fun about it. Not going to name names, but I have experienced customer service airballs and been price-gouged to the point where I needed a new host that day.
If you find yourself needing to transfer your site away from a nightmare situation, A2 Hosting is your safe haven from further issues.
First things first, A2 will transfer your site for free. This is a big deal because there are a lot of little things that have to be done right in order for the process to go smooth.
A2 has a dedicated team of site migration experts that will help you make sure everything gets moved over safely. A lot of companies will give you some tools to make the process go faster, but it still amounts to a DIY migration. A2 actually does it for you.
And once you are set up, you’ll find that A2’s customer support is definitely a step up from whatever you had before. Even the cheapest plan you can get comes with 24/7 support by phone, email, and live chat.
The customer service team has an excellent reputation for resolving technical questions quickly. No more uncertainty and confusion when something goes wrong.
Your site speed will also likely improve, as A2 is constantly upgrading to the newest technologies. LiteSpeed web servers (available with Turbo plans) deliver 6-11 times faster performance than others.
A2 Hosting has been around for a long time and the platform already works with the popular tools everyone uses. There are one-click installs for WordPress, WooCommerce, Joomla, Drupal, and more.
It’s also got bundled benefits your old host never dreamed of providing for free, like:
100 GB storage
Unlimited email
Unlimited subdomains and parked domains
Site staging
Free SSL certificate
Malware and virus scanning
Unlimited email for free with an entry-level plan is very uncommon. Usually you have to pay extra. Site staging, too, is very rare to get with shared hosting. This allows you to test out new features on your site in a development area before pushing them live.
And 100 GB storage space? That’s two or three times as much as you are going to get for such a low price.
I like A2 for shared hosting because of the great service, generous resources, and useful bundled features.
You’ll notice that the renewal rates are good, not great. Here’s the thing. A2 has 5-star reviews from people who stick with it for years, and they all mention the high quality of the customer service. Some have even reported switching hosts upon renewal, only to run back to A2 because they didn’t know how good they had it.
This is a really good option for people who’s sites are starting to hit resource limits with their current provider. Maybe you’re running out of storage space or maybe your site is just too slow with your other host.
Solve this by moving over to A2 hosting. You’ll get a great price and A2 will move your site over for free.
A2 is the final host you’ll ever need. No more migrations. No more run-arounds from customer service. Just top speed and assistance the moment you need it.
#4 – DreamHostReview — The Best Way to Avoid an Annual Pricing Plan
If you want a website without the commitment of a long contract, DreamHost is going to give you the best price.
The company does offer very competitive rates if you are willing to sign up long-term, but unlike most competitors, DreamHost will give you a great deal month-to-month.
It works for people who just need dependable hosting, not a long-term relationship with yet another provider.
Shared hosting starts at $4.95 per month. That’s all you have to put down to get started.
There are no hard and fast limits on bandwidth or storage, so you don’t have to worry about overage fees.
Obviously your site can’t take more than its fair share of resources from the shared server, so if you are planning on running a lot of high-caliber website elements or an online store, you might want to spring for a Shared Unlimited plan. That’s only $8.95 per month to start, still no long-term commitment necessary.
You might think that performance or customer service would suffer if you’re not kicking a ton of money in on day one. With DreamHost, though, you get a 100% uptime guarantee. The company will actually refund you if your site goes down.
It’s a win/win scenario. DreamHost rarely if ever has to pay people because the sites never go down.
Another nice perk of DreamHost is that customer service is never outsourced. You can reach out any time of day by email. You can also get in touch with live chat during business hours (5:30AM–9:30PM PT), which more than covers the entire continental U.S.
DreamHost is also an officially recommended WP provider. I’d go with DreamHost for WordPress sites if you don’t want to put a lot of money down today. Bluehost is phenomenal, but you have to sign up for a year or more.
There’s also a lot of bundled services that will save you time and money, including:
One-click installs for Google Workspace (formerly G Suite) and Google Analytics
Automated WP migrations
Automated WP backups
200 WP templates
SSL Certificate
Free domain privacy and protection
I want to call out the free domain privacy and protection, which is free forever with DreamHost. This keeps your personal or business information out of the public record (which I recommend doing), and can cost $10-15 per year with other providers.
DreamHost will include a domain for free, but only if you sign up for a year or more. Alternatively, you can purchase a domain directly through DreamHost at a very reasonable price.
Either way it’s a good deal, but I want to focus on DreamHost’s monthly pricing plans for shared hosting. These are just much better than if you try to go month-to-month with other hosts.
The Shared Starter plan is less than $5 to get started today. No long-term commitment or large upfront cost. After three months, the price jumps up a few bucks to the new current rate, which happens to be $7.99.
This is still not a lot for hosting, considering the unlimited resources and highly available customer service.
One could forgive DreamHost for being less flexible on their refund policy, given that you don’t have to sign anything, but the reverse is in fact true.
DreamHost offers a 97-day refund, which is months longer than most. Cancel whenever you like. There’s no fight to get your money back.
#5 – GreenGeeks Review Review — The Best for Socially-Conscious Companies
GreenGeeks is a solid all-around hosting company with a lot of actually useful bundled benefits. I mean it. You get fast sites and customer service that’s a cut above what you get most other places.
But if you want an eco-friendly hosting solution, this is definitely your number one pick.
Every web host has giant server farms sucking up energy to deliver their service. There’s no way around it–the internet causes pollution. GreenGeeks matches every bit of energy it takes for hosting with three times the amount in renewable energy.
This is what GreenGeeks means by a “300% green hosting platform.” By choosing them as your host, you’re more than offsetting your carbon footprint. You’ll actually be reducing it, putting more power back into the system than you took out.
As noble as all of this is, I wouldn’t be recommending GreenGeeks if the company didn’t deliver the hosting goods.
It does. Big time. Any plan you choose comes with some of the best performance in the shared web hosting space.
The price is extremely competitive and you get a long list of useful services that improve your website speed, save you money, and allow you to spend less time thinking about hosting. For less than $2.50 per month, you get:
Nightly backups
50 email accounts
Unlimited bandwidth
50GB of storage
SSL Certificate
Domain for the first year
CDN
Website builder
With a lot of other hosts, you have to pay extra for a site builder and email. GreenGeeks includes both for free. There’s less stuff to set up, and moving forward, less maintenance on your end with courtesy nightly backups.
You also get a free domain name for the first year, which saves another $10-15 bucks right there.
Customer service is always available. You can reach out by phone, email tickets, or chat. The company has an excellent service reputation. GreenGeeks is also one of the few hosts with dedicated specialists that will help you transfer your old site for free.
I give Bluehost the edge for starting a WordPress site, though GreenGeeks makes the process very easy as well. If you’re not planning on WordPress, GreenGeeks is a good choice for Drupal and Joomla, two other popular content management systems. GreenGeeks gives you one-click installs and automatic updates for those apps and more.
GreenGeeks offers three shared hosting plans.
The Lite plan includes everything that I have mentioned so far. If you are just starting out, this is going to be all you need and more for a single site.
The Pro and Premium plans let you build an unlimited number of sites and offer more resources to help your site handle more traffic as it grows.
Regardless of the plan you choose, virtually everything you need to start running your site is bundled in. You can manage everything from a single dashboard.
The renewal rates are priced about average for the shared hosting space. Nothing great to call out there.
But don’t forget. Every year you host with GreenGeeks is another year where you are putting in more energy than you are taking out.
#6 – WP EngineReview — The Best for High-Traffic WordPress Sites
The person behind the scenes of an amazing WordPress website knows just how much attention and maintenance went into it.
That person doesn’t have to be you.
With WP Engine, you create great content, and your hosting provider takes over the technical side. This is really important if you have a high-traffic WordPress site, especially if you need to support interactive features and lots of media.
You can rest assured that everything will work and your site will be fast. That’s because WP Engine offers managed WordPress hosting plans. You still save money by sharing the server space with other WP Engine tenants, but you get much better performance and customer service because it’s a managed plan.
If you have a basic WordPress site or blog, Bluehost is going to be just fine. But once you reach a certain size, WordPress maintenance starts to become a lot more involved. With WP Engine, you don’t have to worry about the backend legwork–your sites are always blazing fast.
Think about the impression this makes on visitors. You have the latest plugins, video features, and intuitive shopping carts. Everything works in perfect harmony as potential customers make their way around your site.
This creates a positive, professional online identity for your business. And you don’t have to hire a developer to babysit your site or worry about the configuration and tedious maintenance yourself.
Even though WP Engine manages a lot of the technical stuff, there is no loss of control. In fact, you will have more tools to build out your site than any other platform. Some of the highlights of WP Engine hosting include:
30+ premium WordPress themes
Staging site
Daily backups
Threat detection and blocking
CDN
Automated WP migrations
The premium themes alone are worth more than $2,000 if you were to purchase them individually.
But the real value comes from being able to create a site that stands out from the rest. With millions of WordPress sites already using the same free themes, WP Engine gives you more freedom to create something different with the more powerful premium themes.
Stand out from the crowd. Test new ideas with complete freedom as WP Engine provides an easy staging area for you to try new plugins and themes before going live.
Whether you are building sites for yourself or your customers, the staging area streamlines safe development.
And when you run into issues, you get the best WordPress customer service in the business. WP Engine customers rave about how fast and comprehensive the support is. They are more than happy to pay extra for the peace of mind.
The cost of signing up with WP Engine is higher than most other shared hosting plans, but that’s because you get a lot more. Everything from themes to support is truly premium.
And, if you sign up using my promo code, you’ll save an extra 20% off your first payment.
If you are focused on getting the most value from every dollar you spend, WP Engine is worth it. Your site just works, and you don’t have to invest additional time and resources into it.
Bear in mind that WP Engine does not increase upon renewal. You can get two months for free if you sign an annual plan, but the price never changes.
So while WP Engine is significantly more than the introductory rates from other web hosts, over time it’s a lot closer.
WP Engine offers additional managed hosting plans beyond the ones I’ve pictured here. You can get managed hosting plus, which helps with keeping plugins updated, as well as plans for ecommerce hosting.
One thing to be aware of is that WP Engine only does WordPress hosting. If you are trying to host multiple types of sites on the same host, this is not for you. Bluehost can help with whatever type of site you want, and offers managed WordPress plans if you need more than basic shared hosting.
But if you want a top-of-the-line WordPress experience, WP Engine is your best option. You’ll be able to take your sites to the next level with minimal work on your end.Grow your site and your business, not your maintenance schedule.
What I Looked at to Find the Best Shared Hosting Company
If you are looking at shared hosting, it’s because you’re looking for a good price with low maintenance.
Consider it entry-level hosting, a fine option for new and small sites that aren’t expecting a ton of visitors.
Other types of hosting–like VPS, cloud, and dedicated hosting–let you handle hundreds of thousands of visitors each month. The trade off is more upkeep and responsibility on your end. Plus these are going to cost five, ten, twenty times as much each month.
Still you want a fast site that’s always up and secure. You’re sharing space on a server, but you don’t want to compromise on the fundamentals.
Done.
All of my picks are dependable web hosts with a long track record of excellence with regards to site performance and security. This is as good as shared hosting gets.
That said, the way that each web host parcels out their services is different.
Let’s get into the fine print and nitty-gritty to make sure that you are finding the best deal on what you really need.
Today’s Price vs Renewal Rate
Shared hosting is definitely the best way to get a low price on hosting, but you want to get something that works within your budget today, tomorrow, and next year.
Typically, to get the cheapest price on most hosting plans, you have to sign on to a multi-year contract. If you have to pay everything up front, it may wind up being several hundred dollars, even if it’s only a few bucks a month.
Is that going to work? You don’t want to get to the end of the registration process only to discover that the “cheap” plan is way more than you want to put down today.
DreamHost is a great option for people that want a low monthly rate, as some hosts won’t let you sign up for less than a year.
The other major price factor to watch out for is the renewal rate. All web hosts offer introductory deals to get you to sign up, but that honeymoon pricing only lasts for so long.
Be smart about this. Signing up for a four-year Hostinger deal locks in the lowest rate for that entire period. Yes, it’s a chunk of change upfront, but over time it’s definitely the cheapest option out there.
Resource Limits Don’t Box You In
As I mentioned, I only picked shared web hosts who offered best-in-class performance for their clients’ websites.
That said, each provider allocates server resources differently–if you start to max out these limits, performance is going to suffer even if you’re with a solid host.
You don’t want to get stuck choosing your content or site design based on resource limits.
Start with how much storage you need. A wedding photographer with thousands of high-res pictures and video is going to blow through storage quicker than a blogger who includes an image with each post.
A2 Hosting offers exceptionally generous storage with their entry-level plan: 100 GB for less than $3 per month. All of A2’s other plans come with unlimited storage.
You’ll see unlimited storage for a lot of upgraded shared hosting plans, and just know that it only counts toward what you use for your site. In other words, you can’t store seasons of your favorite show.
The other major resource to think about is bandwidth, which is basically the amount of data that can pass between your site and visitors. The amount you have is going to impact how fast your site is and how much lag there is between visitors arriving and page elements loading.
Everyone likes fast sites and they rank higher, but how much bandwidth do you need?
Some providers, like WP Engine, make it easy to figure out what to expect, because they list bandwidth along with an approximate number of monthly visitors on the pricing page:
New website owners especially will find this helpful. 25,000 visits a month is an easy number to wrap your head around. Some web hosts only give the bandwidth, which leaves you trying to pencil out how many visitors you can support.
When you see web hosts advertising “unlimited bandwidth,” what they mean is that there are no hard limits on what you can use. Bear in mind that it’s a shared server with finite resources, so if your site (or other people’s on that server) are using more than their fair share, it’s going to impact site performance.
For people with a basic site or blog, site resources aren’t a huge concern. You probably won’t have thousands of visitors each day, and each one will be consuming relatively little bandwidth.
But if you start adding interactive features, WordPress plugins, and other resource-intensive features on your site, I’d pay very close attention to what you get, and how much it’s going to cost if you need more.
Bundled Services You Actually Need
A lot of providers throw in more than just hosting when you sign up. These package deals that include a lot of other services that may save you time and money.
Or you wind up paying for a bunch of stuff that you don’t need.
Here’s a short list of bundled services that are actual plusses for most users:
Domain name: To get a site online, you have to have a domain name, which is your web address (mine’s neilpatel.com).
Site Backups: This is what it sounds like and means you don’t have to download a third-party app or manage site backups yourself.
SSL certificates: A secure sockets layer (SSL) certificate encrypts traffic when people fill out forms or enter payment info. This is important because Chrome, Safari, and other browsers will tell visitors your site is unsafe if you don’t have an SSL certificate.
Website builder: With a good website builder, you won’t have to write a line of code to get your site looking the way you want it. Simply drag, drop, and edit page elements visually.
CDN: A content delivery network (CDN) stores your sites on a network of servers across the country or world. This makes your sites load faster for visitors.
Domain privacy: When you register your domain name, your company’s information becomes public unless you have domain privacy enabled. Some hosts charge for this, others include it for free. I recommend getting it to avoid spam.
Email: You want an email address associated with your domain (info@exampledomain.com), so it’s convenient if hosts include this for free.
If this is your first site, all of this is going to be helpful.
A free domain name saves $10-15 and the time it takes you to signup with a domain registrar and point to your new host. Bluehost includes a domain name free for the first year, and you can get set up in a few steps without having to hunt down a domain registrar.
And even experienced folks will appreciate stuff like automated site backups. WP Engine takes care of that completely, which saves you from having to pay for and set up a system on your own.
Something like a website builder may be important if you want to customize the look of your site. Hostinger has an affordable site builder, but it’s an extra cost. GreenGeeks, which is a little more expensive per month, includes a site builder for free.
If you are going to run a WordPress site on Bluehost, you don’t need a separate website builder. You get templates and custom themes as part of the hosting package, so you are all set to build a sharp WordPress site immediately.
Alternatively, it may be the case that you already have a business email and use Cloudflare for free CDN. In that case, some of these services are just going to be distractions.
Support You Can Count On
Customer service is very important when it comes to hosting. What happens when your site goes down? What happens when you can’t figure out what’s wrong?
Every minute your site is down or broken sends potential visitors to your competitor’s sites.
Customer service is a big factor in my decision to recommend this specific lineup of shared hosting providers. You can get in touch with any of them at any time day or night. I consider 24/7 support essential.
Some offer a greater range of support channels than others. A2 and GreenGeeks include phone, live chat, and email ticket support with every single plan they offer. Others only include phone service with premium tier plans.
But the number of support channels doesn’t tell the whole story. WP Engine only offers live chat with their lowest tier plan, but the company has incredible customer service reviews. People are very happy with the live chat support, because they are always talking with someone with expertise in WordPress.
Reading reviews only gets you so far, though. To get real evidence, take advantage of the free trial period. Every host I chose offers some risk-free period to try them out.
During that time, submit a bunch of customer service requests: calls, tickets, chats. Try out every avenue. It should be easy to get answers in a timely fashion. If it’s not, I’d consider that a red flag.
For people who already have a website, try to find a web host that will help you transfer your old site. That can get messy real quick. A2 and GreenGeeks will migrate your site for free, so I’d recommend looking at those two if you have a site already.
Conclusion
If you’re starting a new site from scratch or currently running a small website, shared hosting will be the best option for you. As your site grows, you can upgrade your hosting if need be, but it’s going to be more than good enough for now.
Let’s review my recommendations for the best shared hosting:
Hostinger — Lowest possible price for shared hosting
Bluehost — Best way to launch your WordPress site today
Hostinger is my top pick because it has the lowest price and comes with everything a new site needs to flourish.
For getting a new WordPress site off the ground, go with Bluehost. There’s no easier way to get started.
The other options are good, too, and may work even better than Hostinger or Bluehost, depending on what you are trying to do.
Say you need to leave your old host now. A2 is my top pick for you because they offer a free site transfer. This guarantees that the transition will be smooth and you won’t have to migrate everything over yourself.
Those of you looking to spend the smallest amount on day one will like DreamHost. Without signing a contract, you can get top-tier shared hosting at an affordable price.
Choose GreenGeeks if you want your hosting plan to improve the environment. Rest assured that every dollar you spend on hosting goes toward renewable energy.
If you are planning on a high-traffic WordPress site, for example, it might behoove you to go with WP Engine. While it’s overkill for small sites, it’s going to work much better for complex sites with a lot of visitors.
Disclosure: This content is reader-supported, which means if you click on some of our links that we may earn a commission. Do you want to skip the read and get right to my top pick? The best shared hosting provider for most people is Hostinger. For those of you starting a new website from scratch, …
Disclosure: This content is reader-supported, which means if you click on some of our links that we may earn a commission. For reliable hosting that focuses on speed, A2 Hosting provides plenty of options to get your site up and running. If you’re familiar with SEO and the ranking factors Google uses to decide where …
Disclosure: This content is reader-supported, which means if you click on some of our links that we may earn a commission. For reliable hosting that focuses on speed, A2 Hosting provides plenty of options to get your site up and running. If you’re familiar with SEO and the ranking factors Google uses to decide where …
Disclosure: This content is reader-supported, which means if you click on some of our links that we may earn a commission. For reliable hosting that focuses on speed, A2 Hosting provides plenty of options to get your site up and running. If you’re familiar with SEO and the ranking factors Google uses to decide where …
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