For business owners and digital creators, web hosting isn't a mere option; it’s a necessity. People turn to the internet when searching for products or services, so your business needs a reliable and easily accessible website for potential clients to find you.
In this article we explore everything you need to know about web hosting and thoroughly explain how we test each web hosting provider we’ve reviewed. If you are looking for the best web hosting service for your website, our experts have used and reviewed each web hosting provider, highlighting their respective strengths, weaknesses and features that may be important for your choice. Our rundown also includes information on pricing and why each particular web host may be an ideal fit for your website.
List of Top Web Hosting Companies
1. HostGator
HostGator offers the full range of hosting essentials at a great price with a 45-day money-back guarantee and free domain name for first year. If you don’t need a complex website, go with HostGator.
HostGator offers an extensive list of how-to guides for technical support. If you don’t find the answers you need, you can turn to phone, live chat, and email support.
Unlike some hosts, HostGator does include support in all its plans. If you want a hosting plan that’s cheap and includes support, this is the best host for you.
HostGator does offer Windows hosting in addition to Linux, as well as a variety of options to upgrade, including cloud hosting, VPS hosting, managed WordPress, and a dedicated server.
Price: Shared hosting plans start at $2.64/month with a three-year contract. Our readers can get up to 66% off on new HostGator plans using the link.
If you’re interested in trying HostGator, I recommend taking full advantage of the 45-day money-back guarantee and testing out their support thoroughly before committing.
Overall, this is a great web host for simple deployment and uses like a company website that doesn’t necessarily see a ton of traffic each month. However, with VPS options, it’ll allow you to scale if you need.
2. BlueHost
Bluehost is one of the most popular web hosting companies in the world, especially among people launching their first site.
They offer great rates and a beginner-friendly platform that makes every aspect of running a website easy. Most of the time Bluehost will walk you through a task the first time, like setting up a blog or email account on your site.
If you get stuck or have a problem, they have 24/7 support by phone or live chat. They list their support number and live chat options right on their site, so you can reach out for help within two clicks
Installing WordPress is one click, as are hundreds of other apps available in Bluehost’s deep app marketplace.
Bluehost also offers fantastic analytics and SEO tools to track how well your website is ranking for specific keywords. This gives you a good idea of how you should optimize your site for the best search rankings.
Price: The Basic shared hosting plan is usually $8.99 per month, but there are major discounts if you are a new customer. If you sign up for three years and lock in the price, you can get it at $4.95 per month. With a 12-month commitment, the price drops to $3.45 per month. Like other hosts, renewal pricing is higher than promotional pricing, so I recommend signing up for a longer contract to lock in the low price.
Our readers get even bigger discount on Bluehost. New customers can click here to get a rate of $2.75 per month when you sign up for a new three-year contract.
If your site keeps growing and you want to upgrade, Bluehost gives you lots of options: managed WordPress hosting, VPS hosting, dedicated hosting. When you are ready for more server power and control, you can grow and stick with the same provider.
Check out Bluehost today and test-drive their web hosting with a risk-free, 30-day, money-back guarantee.
3. DreamHost
DreamHost offers stellar month-to-month pricing along with very solid hosting performance.
In fact, their month-to-month plans start at $1.99/month. This plan includes one website with unlimited traffic, unmetered bandwidth, and a free SSL Certificate—a great deal.
Note that this is just the promotional pricing, which will go up after the first month. You’ll then be paying the current monthly rate, which is $7.99 per month. That’s still a lot lower than you’d be paying month-to-month compared to other top web hosting providers.
Of course, DreamHost also offers one-year and three-year contracts that start as low as $2.95 per month which allows you to save more money in the long run. Even though it’s not the lowest on this list (check out Hostinger for the lowest contract hosting plans), it’s still a good deal
If you run a nonprofit, I highly recommend DreamHost. They offer one free unlimited shared hosting plan for 501(c)(3) organizations. That’s a deal you cannot beat.
Customer service is a little less traditional: email support is available 24/7, but live chat is only on during business hours. If you want technical support over the phone, you have to pay an additional $9.95.
However, if you spring for either the DreamPress Plus or Pro-managed WordPress plans, phone support is included along with other premium features.
Sign up with DreamHost today for the lowest price in hosting without a long-term commitment.
4. A2 Hosting
A2 Hosting stands out for their great speeds and low prices.
At every hosting tier (shared, VPS, dedicated), A2 Hosting beats other hosts on speed. If you’re coming from another shared web host, you’re likely going to see an improvement in loading speed once you migrate to A2 Hosting.
Sign up today with A2 Hosting to get discount with this link.
If you plan on hosting multiple websites, you’ll need to get the Drive plan which is an extra $2/month after the promotional period ends.
One trick to save money with A2 Hosting: the promotional prices end on renewal. To lock in the 63% discount for as long as possible, go for the tri-annual billing which will bill for three years at once. You’ll get 2 years of hosting for free.
With their Turbo Boost and Turbo Max plans, you’ll get access to their Turbo Servers. They boast that it’s 20x faster than their other servers and includes:
* 40% faster AMD EPYC CPU performance.
* 2x faster to first byte.
* Manage 9x more traffic.
* 3x faster read/write speeds with NVMe drives.
* A2 Hosting also has a 99.9% uptime commitment on all plans.
5. Hostinger
Hostinger offers dependable web hosting at a great price. Shared hosting plans start at $1.99 per month, which includes free weekly backups and enough bandwidth for 10,000 visitors to your site.
The most popular option is Premium Shared Hosting plan which costs $2.59 per month. This lets you create up to 100 websites and host 25,000 visitors. You’ll also get a free domain for one year and a free Let’s Encrypt SSL certificate to secure your website.
The Premium Shared Hosting plan provides 100 GB SSD storage, which is enough for various website content. Should you need more space, upgrade to one of their VPS or cloud hosting plans.
Hostinger uses its own control panel called hPanel. Thanks to the eye-catching and well-organized navigation icons, it’s user-friendly and easy to navigate. It also comes with an auto installer that lets you set up WordPress or other content management systems using only a few clicks.
You can manage several tasks, such as updating the core WordPress version, activating or deactivating plugins, and enabling maintenance mode from the hPanel. A navigation button lets you access your WordPress dashboard via hPanel with a single click.
Hostinger ensures your maximum online presence with their 99.9% uptime guarantee. Their quick-response 24/7 live chat support will also assist you whenever you need help.
6. InMotion
InMotion offers a great deal on hosting if you need a virtual private server (VPS). The prices are better than average, but it’s really the customer support that makes the difference.
With VPS hosting, you get more control over the server than you do with shared hosting. This is great, but you definitely need to know what you’re doing configuring a server.
Managed hosting, great support, and the latest technology–these are the reasons people choose to go with InMotion.
I highly recommend this option for ecommerce. Online shoppers like a fast experience with no hiccups. With InMotion VPS you can ensure that your site has the resources it needs to handle any traffic spike.
You also won’t have to worry about SSL certificates, which keep your shoppers credit card info private. All InMotion VPS plans include AutoSSL, which lets you enable this crucial protection for every website visitor with a single click.
VPS hosting with InMotion gives you the speed you need along with the peace of mind that your site will always be safe and secure.
Managed VPS hosting starts as low as $17.99 per month. Visit InMotion to find out if you can get an even better deal today.
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