Your tech and marketing stack is highly reliant on solid, fast, reliable, scalable web hosting. Whether you're managing bare-server hosting with your IT team, or going with a fully done-for-you solution like Webflow, the classic practice of hosting files in the cloud to serve to customers is just as relevant in 2023 as it was 20 years ago, albeit with lots of progress and changes.
But how do you decide on such a technical decision?
Choosing the best hosting is super tough – for beginners and pros alike. There are hundreds of options, and every web host claims to be the best one out there. And there's no one best host for every person or company – all situations are different. You have to determine what's best for your business and wade through too many options and too much marketing speak.
Our ever-updated review site attempts to turn jargon into clear, plain English in a causal yet helpful way.
How should you compare web hosts?
If you're choosing a host for the first time, it can be overwhelming to try to figure out what you should be comparing web hosts on
Do you compare only by price?
By customer support?
By largest disk space?
It's really tough, since the features, wants, needs are different for everyone. Let's highlight a few.
1) Compare web hosts on value not price
You shouldn't compare web hosts just purely on the price.
If you've literally got $2 a month you can afford for hosting, well, maybe you'll just have to go with that. But if you can swing a few more dollars, there's a world of other things to compare that go into value beyond just price.
Price = the raw $ amount that the hosting will cost you
Value = what you actually get for that price
Let's use a hypothetical situation, you have two options:
- Web host A costs $30 a month, but you can only host one website, are only allowed 100 visitors a month, and you don't get email hosting
- Web host B costs $100 a month, but you can host unlimited websites, can have unlimited traffic, and it comes with email hosting
What's a better value? Clearly it's web host B.
2) Customer service for hosting is king
If you're not an experienced developer or techie, you're going to need premium customer service support at a hosting company.
In fact, if you look at all the bad web hosting reviews, the #1 thing that comes up is customer service.
People get royally pissed off if the customer service takes 45 minutes to get on chat.
In fact, good customer service from a hosting company can more than make up for lower quality features, speed, and uptime.
If this is huge for you, check out our ranking of hosts with the best customer service.
3) Check the uptime percentages
It's one of the most basic things you want in a host: that the website is actually live.
Ideally your web host would have 100% uptime. But that's statistically impossible (I think).
So it's really, really important to check uptime percentages with a hosting company. The good ones will release these stats for you. The bad ones will try to hide it.
In reality, 99% uptime is not that good. It means your website will be down for 87.6 hours a year. That's not good enough for me.
Look for hosts with 99.999999% uptime.
Other hosting features to compare
There are so many things to compare, it's bewildering, here's just a few of them:
- Bandwith
- Storage space
- Site speed
- WordPress support
- SSL certificates
- Caching tools
The list goes on. What you need to do is create a list of your business needs and thoroughly research what's best for you!
Huge Top 25 Hosting Comparison Table (Our Research)
Host | WP Engine | A2 Hosting | Siteground | Bluehost | Dreamhost | Go Daddy | Hostgator | Inmotion Hosting | Media Temple | Ipage | Hostpapa | Green Geeks | Ix Web Hosting | Justhost | Lunarpages | Fat Cow Com | Myhosting Com | Network Solutions | One Com | Eukhost | Web Com | Web Hosting Hub | Web Hosting Pad Com | Arvixe | 1And1 |
---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
Overall Score | High | High | High | High | High | High | High | Medium | Medium | Medium | Low | Low | Low | Low | Low | Low | Low | Low | Low | Low | Low | Low | Low | Low | Low |
Home URL | wpengine.com | a2hosting.com | siteground.com | bluehost.com | dreamhost.com | godaddy.com | hostgator.com | inmotionhosting.com | mediatemple.net | ipage.com | hostpapa.com | greengeeks.com | ixwebhosting.com (Now Bluehost) | justhost.com | lunarpages.com ( Now Hostpapa) | fatcow.com | myhosting.com | networksolutions.com | one.com | eukhost.com | web.com | webhostinghub.com | webhostingpad.com | arvixe.com | 1and1.com |
Pricing Page | https://wpengine.com/plans/#plan-finder-container | https://www.a2hosting.com/web-hosting | https://www.siteground.com/web-hosting.htm | https://www.bluehost.com/shared | https://www.dreamhost.com/hosting/shared/ | https://www.godaddy.com/hosting/web-hosting | http://www.hostgator.com/shared | http://www.inmotionhosting.com/business-hosting | https://mediatemple.net/webhosting/ | https://www.ipage.com/web-hosting | http://www.hostpapa.com/web-hosting-plan/ | https://www.greengeeks.com/web-hosting/ | http://www.ixwebhosting.com/hosting-plans | https://www.justhost.com/hosting-features | http://www.lunarpages.com/hosting/web/compare | http://www.fatcow.com/fatcow/hosting.bml | https://myhosting.com/web-hosting/ | http://www.networksolutions.com/web-hosting/hosting-package-comparison.jsp | https://www.one.com/en/ | https://www.eukhost.com/web-hosting/ | http://www.web.com/hosting/unix.aspx | http://www.webhostinghub.com/hosting-plans | http://www.webhostingpad.com/web-hosting.html | https://www.arvixe.com/linux_web_hosting | https://www.1and1.com/web-hosting |
Cheapest Plan Name | Personal | Lite | StartUp | Basic | shared website hosting plan | Economy | Hatchling Plan | Launch | Shared Hosting - Personal Plan | The iPage Essential Plan | Starter | ONE WEB HOSTING PLAN | Expert Plan | web hosting features | Starter Hosting | The Original FatCow Plan | Personal Website | Essential Hosting | Starter | Starter Plan | Essential Hosting | Spark | Power Plan | PersonalClass | Unlimited |
Cheapest Plan Cost Sale Price | $29/mo (20% off with current coupon) | 3.92 per mo | $3.95/mo | $3.95/mo | $7.95/mo | $3.99/month | $3.95/mo | $4.89/mo. | $20 per month | $1.99/mo | $2.95/month | $3.96PER MONTH | $3.95 per month | $3.95 per month | 3.95 per month | $49/yr | $4.95/month | $9.96/mo | 1 year free | £3.99 per month | $5.95/mo | $4.99/mo | $ 1.99 /mo | $4.00/mo | $0.99/month |
Cheapest Plan Cost Regular Price | $29/mo | 7.99 | $9.95/mo | $7.99/month | $7.95/month | $7.99/month | $9.20/mo | $6.99/month | $20 per month | $11.95/mo | $2.95/month | $9.95/mo | $7.95 per month | $7.99 per month | 3.95 per month | $12.95/month | $9.94/mo | $9.96/mo | $2.45/mo | $5.20/mo | $9.95/mo | $8.99/mo | $ 1.99 /mo | $7/month | $6.99/month |
Number of websites allowed | 1 | 1 | 1 | 1 | Unlimited | 1 | 1 | 2 | 100 sites | 1 | 2 | Unlimited | Unlimited | Unlimited | 1 | Unlimited | Unlimited | 100 | 1 | Multiple | 100 | 2 | Unlimited | 6 | 1 |
Space | 10GB | Unlimited | 10GB | 50 GB | Unlimited | 100GB | Unmetered | UNLIMITED | 20 GB | Unlimited | 100GB | Unlimited | Unlimited | Unlimited | 5 GB | Unlimited | Unlimited | 300 GB | 15 GB storage | 5 GB | Unlimited | Unlimited | Unlimited | Unlimited | Unlimited |
Bandwidth/data transfer/Visits Limit | 25k visits | Unlimited | Unlimited | Unmetered | Unlimited | Unlimited | Unmetered | Unlimited | 1TB | Unlimited | Unlimited | Unlimited | Unlimited | Unlimited | 50 GB per month | no set limit | No limit | Unlimited | Unlimited | Unlimited | Unlimited | Unlimited | Unlimited | Unlimited | Unlimited |
Best for | Growing WordPress sites | Multi-site owners | Everybody | Bloggers | Bloggers | Small businesses | Tech-saavy Bloggers | Business from the early 2000s | Designers | Old-school geeks | Old businesses | Environmental bloggers | Nobody | Nobody | Nobody | Nobody | Bloggers | Old folk | Nobody | Nobody | Nobody | Randos | Nobody | Nobody | Old folk |
Database Limit | 10GB, Scales beyond that with pricing | 5 | Unlimited MySQL DB | There is limit for database tables it is 1000 tables. | Unlimited | Unlimited | UNLIMITED | 2 | 100 | Unlimited | 25 | no limit | 1 gb | Unlimited | 1 | Unlimited | ? | 25 (300MB) | Single | 400 MB per DB | 25 (300MB) | 10 | Unlimited | Unlimited | 20 |
Staging Area | Yes, included. | Included | No | Not included | Included | Not included | Not included | Yes, Included | Yes, Included | Yes, Included | Yes, Included | Yes, Included | Yes, Included | Yes, Included | Yes, Included | N/A | N/A | Not included | Not included | N/A | No | No | No | Included | Included |
Free Domain? | No | No | Yes | Yes | Yes | Yes | Yes | Yes | Yes | Yes | Yes | Yes | Yes | Yes | Yes | Yes | Yes | Yes | Discount | Yes | Yes | Yes | Yes | Yes | Yes |
Website Transfer? | Automated with plugin | Yes, free | Yes, free | 150 | FTP only | Yes, free | Yes, free | Yes, free | 150 | Yes, Free | Yes | Yes, free | Yes | 149 | No | 150 | Free for small sites | Yes, free | Yes, not free | Yes, Paid | Yes, free | Free for small sites | Yes, free | Yes, Free | Yes, free |
Email Hosting? | No | 25 | Yes, free | 5 email account | Yes, free | Yes, free | Yes, free | Yes, free | Yes | Yes | Yes | Yes, free | Unlimited | Yes, free | 5 email account | Yes, free | Yes, free | 1000 | Email is free and size of your we space will rule the limits. Example with 15 GB Starter package and one email | 25 | 100 | Yes, free | Unlimited | Yes, free | 100 |
Support Type? | Email 24/7 and chat during business hours. | 24/7/365 US-Based Guru Crew Support | 24/7 Support | 24/7 Support | 24/7/365 via live chat, email, and Twitter | 24/7 Technical Support | 24/7/365 Support | 24 x 7 x 365 US-Based Support | 24/7 Technical Support | 24/7 phone, chat and email support | 24/7 Multilingual Support (Chat & Email) | 24/7/365 US-Based Support | 24/7/365 support | 24/7 Technical Support | 24/7/365 Support | 24x7 Support | 24/7 In-House Email, Chat and Phone Support | 24x7 Technical Support | 24/7 Support | 24/7/365 U.S. Based Tech Support | 24/7 U.S. Based Support | 24/7 Phone & E-mail Support | |||
Email/Ticket Support? | Yes, 24/7. | Yes | Yes | Yes | Yes | Yes | Yes | Yes | Yes | Yes | Yes | Yes | Yes | Yes | Yes | Yes | Yes | Yes | Yes | Yes | Yes | Yes | Yes | Yes | No |
Chat Support? | 6AM-8PM CST | Yes | Yes | Yes | Yes | Limited | Yes | Yes | Yes | Yes | Yes | Yes | Yes | Yes | No | Yes | Yes | Yes | Yes | Yes | Yes | Yes | Yes | No | |
Phone Support? | No | Yes | Yes | Yes | Yes, callback | Yes | Yes | Yes | Yes | Yes | Yes | Yes | Yes | Yes | Yes | Yes | Yes | Yes | Yes | Yes | Yes | Yes | Yes | No | Yes |
Avg. Support Response Time | 30 seconds | 24 hours | 5 minutes | Within 24 hours | 24hrs | Right now our tickets are taking around 72 hours to be resolved | They will respond not later than 4 hours | 10 hours | a minute on average | few hours | 15-30 mins | 2 hours | 24 hours | There is no ETA for this. As it depends on how many tickets are in help desk. How ever we try to get back to you as fast as possible. | 12 to 24 hours | 30 mins for the the 1st response and 1-2hrs for the second response | 24 to 48 hours | We answer to our emails in 24 hours but our English chat is open 24/7 | 30-60 minutes | Within 24 hours | no later than 4 hours | 5 minutes | Depends on the way they are received. and we try our best in resolving and getting in touch with our customers. Few hours. | Up to several days | |
Uptime (last 12 mos) | 99.95% guarantee | 0.999 | 0.99996 | we are not able to say the uptime percentage, since it is a shared hosting. | 1 | 0.999 | 1 | 0.999 | 0.999 | 0.999 | 0.999 | 0.99 | 0.999 | 0.9999 | 1 | 0.9999 | 0.9995 | 0.9999 | 99.9% or better | 0.99 | 0.999 | 0.9999 | |||
Backup? | Daily, free. 60-day archive. | no available | Free, daily backup | Daily backup | Free, daily backups | Free Daily Backup | Instant Backup | Free data backup | snapshot backup | Website Backup Software | Alternatively if you wish you can take the backup of your website manually from cPanel | FREE Nightly Backups | Backups are done 2 times a week | daily, weekly and monthly backups | daily backup but restoring is not free hence we advise to have addon service. | last 7 days Backup | Daily Back-up | 7 day backup | two weeks | Free Backup | Manual backuping or automatically backup every 24 hrs for $1/mo | Free Backups† | Daily R1Soft Backups | daily / Webspace Recovery | |
Website builder? | No | Yes, free | Yes, Free | Yes, Free | Yes, Free | Yes, Free | Yes, Free | Not included | Yes | Yes, Free | Yes | Yes, free | Yes, free | Yes, free | Yes, free | Yes | Yes, free | Yes, free | Yes, free | Yes, Free | Yes, free | Yes, free | Yes, Free | optional | |
cPanel? | No, unique interface. | Yes, included | Yes, included | Yes, included | No, inhouse | Yes, included | Yes, included | Yes, included | Yes, included | not included | Yes, included | Yes, included | Not included | Yes, included | Starter plan can have cPanel for extra $2/month. | Yes, included | Not included | Not included | We do not use cPanel, we have our own control panel. | Yes, included | Yes, included | Yes, included | Yes, included | Yes, included | Yes, included |
SSH Access? | No. "As we are a fully managed host, we do not provide ssh or root access. However, you can access your database via SFTP and phpmyadmin." | Yes | Yes | Yes | Yes | Yes | Yes | Yes | Yes | No | No | Yes | No | Yes | Yes, we do offer SSH for extra $2/month. | No | Business, limited. Full, VPS | No | no | Purchased separately | Yes | No | Yes | Yes | |
Money-Back Guarantee? | 60-Days | anytime | 30-Days | You can get the refund according to what you have paid anytime but according to the terms and conditions. | 97-day | 30 Days | 45 Days | 90 Days | 30 days | 30-days | 30-day | 30-day | 90 day | 30 days | 30 days | 30 days | 30-day | 30 day | 15-day | 30 days | None | 90-day | 30 days | before 60 days | 30 day |
WordPress Friendly? | Yes | Yes | Yes | Yes | Yes | Yes | Yes | Yes | Yes | Yes | Yes | Yes | Yes | Yes | Yes | Yes | Yes | Yes | Yes | Yes | Yes | Yes | Yes | Yes | |
Joomla Friendly? | No | Yes | Yes | Yes | Yes | Yes | Yes | Yes | Yes | Yes | Yes | Yes | Yes | Yes | Yes | Yes | Yes | Yes | Yes | Yes | Yes | Yes | Yes | Yes | |
CDN? | $19.99/mo | Free | Free Cloudflare CDN | Free Cloudflare CDN | Yes, free | Free Cloudflare CDN | Not anymore are we in partnership with cloudflare now we promote the Sitelock CDN | No | No | Free 1GB cloud storage account | Free Cloudflare | Free Cloudflare CDN | No | Free | Unfortunately we do not offer CDN , how ever you are welcome to use it from CDN site. | 1 Gb | Free Cloudflare | No | Yes | https://www.eukhost.com/cloudflare.php ( You'll need to signup with cloudfare and get in touch with our techs) | N/A | No | Free Cloudflare | Free Cloudflare CDN | optional |
SSL | $49.99/yr | Yes | Yes but not free | Free | not eligible | shared SSL | 1 site free for annual plan | Not Free | Free | Yes | Yes | Yes, we do offer shared SSL for emails/control panels and HTML pages. Please note shared SSL is not supported for PHP/Java pages. | Yes but not free | Vanity SSL Certificate | Yes, not free | Yes | Yes | Purchased separately | Shared SSL | no | Not Free | Yes, included | |||
Security Details | Proactive WordPress security keeps your data and your website safe. | Perpetual Security | Sophisticated security systems. | Domain privacy, spam protection. | Malware Remover, Let's Encrypt, Free Domain Privacy, HTTP/2, mod_security, lua-resty-waf | malware removal extra cost $300/year | Making regular backups of your website | firewalls on servers, no malware scanners | Sitelock | Server Firewall, Monitoring & Intrusion Detection | Real Time Security Scanning | Sitelock | Mod Security website security software and server software firewalls. Our datacenters have hardware firewalls as well. Our senior technical staff monitor our servers using NAGIOS | Malware scan, prevents site blacklisting, and provides sitelock badge $1.94/mo | Web page password protection | Security is extra | Domain privacy | Sitelock purchased separately, with firewalls and malware scans | We make sure that the server itself is protected | Global firewalls, malware scans upon request, and sitelock for purchas extra $30/year | Nightly Security Updates | DDoS protection and geo-redundancy included | |||
Other features | They are 100% focused on WordPress websites. ENTERPRISE-GRADE SECURITY Proactive WordPress security keeps your data and your website safe. | Google Ads credits of $200 | Unlimited storage, database, and websites |
Looking for the best web hosting? Here are our top 10:
You'll inevitably have a set of needs depending on a multitude of factors:
- Small business or large?
- Content site, ecommerce site, lead generation site, or something else?
- Is your company a marketing-led organization? Sales-oriented? Product-led?
- Are you the person managing the site?
- Are you technical? Semi-technical? Non-technical?
- How big will your site be – 10 pages or 100,000 pages?
- How critical is pricing and value?
There are all questions we seek to address on this page and beyond.
For starters, we've narrowed things down to the top 10 web hosts, and indicated which is best for you. But please poke around the site and dig deep to find other reviews and articles that better address your needs.
Why it's the #1 all-around best host:
- Amazing customer support
- Tons of features and WordPress tools
- Starts at just $3.95/mo
If you're a beginner to intermediate site manager, you can't go wrong with SiteGround. It's the overall #1 pick because it simply covers everything you need at a rock-solid price, and their customer support is 2nd to none.
If you don't have time to compare, just go with SiteGround. Read full review
Why it's a solid #2 option:
- Fastest shared hosting – up to 20x faster
- Free hosting migrations
- Starts at just $2.99/mo
Looking for something besides SiteGround? A2 Hosting is a solid option with up to 20x faster shared hosting, 24/7/365 customer support, and loaded with features. The best part? Free migrations from your current host you're trying to ditch.
A2 Hosting is a solid, U.S-based web host. Read full review
Why WP Engine wins WordPress:
- Engineered for WordPress sites
- Super-fast WordPress hosting
- Starting at $20/mo (with discount)
WP Engine started the whole WordPress hosting craze. Yes, they're more expensive than shared hosting, but at $24/mo to start, it's a drop in the bucket for real businesses on WordPress. Business hosting value with premium support? That's WP Engine.
WP Engine comes free with Studio Press themes. Read full review
Why insiders love Kinsta:
- Free website migrations
- Tier-1 customer support
- Starting at $30/mo
Kinsta is taking off like a rocket. Those in the WordPress development and digital marketing space prefer Kinsta. You get top of the line developers handling customer support, super fast page load speeds, and features built for WordPress sites.
Is Kinsta the best WordPress host? Read Kinsta review
Where Bluehost shines:
- Free domain name
- 99.9% uptime
- Starting at #2.95/mo
You've likely heard of Bluehost before – a super popular brand with extensive podcast ads. Are they good? With an easy interface, free domain, and solid features, they're great for beginners to start with.
Is Bluehost right for you? Read full review
Why HostGator is worth it:
- Free website migrations
- 45-day money-back guarantee
- Starting at #2.95/mo
HostGator is another cheap shared hosting option for beginners. In addition, they have VPS, cloud, and other hosting options. We love the free migrations and 45-day money back – that's putting your money where your mouth is.
Want more HostGator hosting facts? Read full review
What sets Liquid Web apart:
- Quality 24/7 support
- Focused on your WooCommerce store
- Starting at $39/mo
Liquid Web offers every type of business hosting, but what sets them apart is their managed WooCommerce hosting. With 2-10x faster performance, 24/7 support, and free migrations there's a lot to like.
Looking for robust WooCommerce hosting? Read full review
Why creatives like Flywheel:
- Real customer support
- Free migrations
- Starting at $14/mo
Flywheel has the managed WordPress hosting support and features of other premium hosts, but at a lower price tag that freelancers love. Plus they just rolled out their cloud platform build on Google Cloud. With 70,000+ creative customers, they're doing something right.
Are you the creative Flywheel was built for? Read full review
Where GoDaddy wins:
- U.S.-based phone support
- Cheap hosting options
- Starting at $2.99/mo
GoDaddy is the #1 host by market share. They offer every host under the sun, so you can find something that works. We love that they have the cheapest WordPress hosting, U.S.-based phone support, and easy to use if all your domains are there.
But what are the drawbacks to GoDaddy? Read full review
Why Namecheap stands out:
- Unlimited bandwidth
- Works for small, simple sites
- Starting at $1.29/mo
There's no such thing as “real” free hosting, but Namecheap gets pretty close at a jaw-dropping $15.44 a year. If you have a ton of sites and are already using Namecheap for domains, their hosting is worth checking out.
With hosting this cheap, is it any good? Read full review
Top Features of the best Web Hosts
SPEED AND UP-TIME RELIABILITY

FRIENDLY & 24/7 SUPPORT

EASY & FUNCTIONAL CONTROL PANEL

REASONABLE PRICE

SECURITY BACKUP FACILITIES

GUARANTEES

What is a Web Host?

How Does Web Hosting Work?

Your website files have to be stored somewhere because anytime someone wants to visit your site, they’re requesting to look at your files. It’s similar to how if your boss wants to read that monthly report, he’s requesting to look at the PDF document, so you send it to him via email. A website is just like that except a bit more efficient. Instead of everyone emailing you every time they want to see your documents, you just put it public online so they can see the documents at any time.So all of your website files are stored on a server. While you technically can build your own server and have it sitting in your basement, it’s not the most practical thing to do.
One, if you’re not an IT person, it’ll take quite a bit of work to learn and set up.
Two, it’s not very secure to host your website in your basement because any flood, fire, or power outage would take down your site.
Third, it takes work and maintenance to keep servers running and up to date.
Web hosting companies handle all of this for you. They range anywhere from a few dollars a month to hundreds of thousands (if you're a corporation).
The hard work is deciding which option is the best for you. That's what we do.