The Top 10 Web Hosting Services
Web hosting, or website hosting, is a type of service that houses, serves, and maintains files for your website to function efficiently. Web hosting is the means through which users can access your website content. Web hosts will essentially allow you to rent space on a physical server outside your premises where you can store your website data and files.
There are many web hosting services you'll find today that ensure your website server remains secure and is up and running 24/7. Your clients want to connect with a website that is fast, user-friendly, and easy to access. If your clients can't seem to access your website, they won't think twice before moving on to your competitor's websites instead. Any downtime for your website can result in lost sales, so it is essential to connect with a web hosting service that helps avoid this scenario at all costs.
Some of the most popular web hosting services you'll find today are as follows:
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Hostinger (Best Overall Web Hosting Service)
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Bluehost (Best for Beginners)
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SiteGround (The Fastest and Most Secure WordPress Certified Host)
Here we will be discussing these and other top web hosting services in detail so you can choose the service that best suits your business needs.
1. Hostinger (Best Overall Web Hosting Service)
Hostinger is one of the most popular web hosting services you'll find today, offering both affordable pricing and high-quality hosting. We find it one of the best overall web hosting services since it caters just as well to large websites as it does to beginners alike.
They offer plenty of attractive features, even for their beginner package. Some of these features include 50 GB of storage, 100 GB of bandwidth, 2 databases, a free SSL certificate, guaranteed 99.9% uptime, 24/7 customer support, email support, DNS management, and up to 2 subdomains. You can get all of these features for just $1.99/month. The premium plans and higher also offer free domain registration, up to 100 GB of storage, and unlimited bandwidth.
One of the advantages of Hostinger is its fast load time; they offer speeds of up to 308 ms, making it one of the few high-speed web hosting providers. Hostinger is also affordable, and its user interface is simplified, making it great for beginners.
The only drawback some individuals point out is their lack of phone support. Instead, they only offer support via live chat. What's more, Hostinger is a shared web hosting service. While they are fast, their uptime is a whole different conversation. Due to their shared hosting, you may notice spotty uptime here and there.
2. Bluehost (Best for Beginners)
Bluehost is a web hosting company that offers a variety of hosting services to its users. If you're a beginner who is looking to launch your first website, then Bluehost is your best bet. Note that they have been officially recommended by WordPress itself.
Bluehost offers a range of features that every beginner needs to launch their website. They offer up to 10GB of storage, custom themes, 1 free domain (for 1 year), free CDN, free SSL certificate (for 1 year), and 1-click WordPress install.
As for their plans, you can sign up for Shared hosting (starting at $2.95/month), VPS hosting (starting from $18.99/month), or Dedicated hosting (starting at $79.99/month).
Bluehost stands out for its affordability, ease of use, up to 99/98% uptime, up to 416 ms page loading speeds, great security options, and 24/7 customer support (via live chat, phone, and email).
On the downside, however, they offer much higher renewal rates. Even if you opt for the basic shared hosting plan, which starts at $2.95/month, you'll have to pay $14.99/month on your renewal (nearly 5x as costly!).
3. SiteGround (The Fastest and Most Secure WordPress Certified Host)
Siteground is a web hosting provider known for its fast speeds, user-friendly interface, and secure hosting services. They offer shared hosting, WordPress hosting, cloud hosting, and dedicated hosting to their users.
They offer several useful features, including unmetered bandwidth, 10GB storage, free email hosting, free SSL, CDN, automated daily backup, anti-hack systems, spam protection, and a website builder to go with it all. They further offer 24/7 customer support, excellent uptime and site speeds, one-click WordPress install, and free website transfers.
As for their pricing, their web hosting plans include the StartUp plan ($14.99/month), GrowBig plan ($24.99/month), and the GoGeek plan ($39.99/month).
Like Bluehost, they are also recommended by WordPress as a reliable hosting provider. This is proven true when you take a look at their uptime (averaged at 99.9%), and load time (nearly 364 ms). They further offer quick customer support services and a variety of security features.
On the downside, however, they also offer much higher renewal rates. For instance, for their StartUp plan, you'll have to pay $19.99/month for renewal. Moreover, users regard their startup plan as being too limited. With 10GB of storage, your website can only support so many users before it hits its limit. While this may work for beginners or smaller websites, it won't do if your website starts growing.
4. Hostgator
Hostgator defines itself as a provider of secure and affordable web hosting services. They also offer plenty of useful features that help them stand out.
For one, they have great uptime guaranteed (up to 99.9%) and have an average response time of up to 243 ms. They further offer a free domain name, a free SSL certificate, a free business email address, SiteLock monitoring (at an extra cost of $5.99/month), free 30-day site migration, and a 45-day-money-back guarantee, and reliable customer support.
As for their pricing models, their shared website hosting plan includes a beginner plan starting at $2.75/month, a $3.50/month plan, and a $5.25/month business plan.
Hostgator has plenty of advantages. Aside from great uptime and speeds, they also offer an easy-to-use website builder. It comes with plenty of tutorials and walkthroughs, and plenty of features to design your website with ease, even for beginners. They are also confident in their services since they offer a 45-day-money-back guarantee, as opposed to the standard 30-day refund we see from web hosts.
The only cons we can point out are that they also offer high renewal rates (their starting package renews at $11.95/month), and some of the services, such as backups, SEO tools, and SiteLock security, demand extra fees.
5. InMotion
InMotion is not as popular as other web hosting services, but it is plenty useful. They are an independently owned American web hosting provider, offering reliable, high-performance hosting environments to their users.
There are plenty of features that make InMotion stand out among its competitors. For one, they offer a stunning 90-day money-back guarantee, as opposed to the standard 30-day guarantee. They further offer free website transfer, a free SSL certificate, unlimited bandwidth, 24/7 customer support, a free website builder, up to 100GB of storage, and spam experts to keep your website secure.
However, if we talk about their pricing, we also find a major drawback to their services. They lack monthly billing. Their starter plans can only be bought for a 1-year, 2 years, or 3-year period. As such, their 1-year plan starts at $3.49/month annually. Also note that their Pro plan is the only one available for monthly billing, starting at $19/99/month.
While they do offer plenty of useful features, good server speeds, and average uptime (nearly 99/7%), many users find them to be much pricier than other web hosting services on the market.
6. Dreamhost
Dreamhost is another leading web hosting provider, now overseeing nearly 1.5 million websites through shared hosting, VPS hosting, and dedicated hosting worldwide.
They offer several features for their users, including unlimited bandwidth and storage, free SSL, free website domain (up to 1 year), automated backup, one-click WordPress install, website builder, free WordPress site transfer, and 24/7 customer support.
Moving on to pricing, their Shared hosting package comes in at $1.99/month, followed by their WordPress hosting package ($12/month) and VPS hosting package ($15/month).
One of the biggest advantages of using Dreamhost is its pricing model. Unlike most web hosting providers, they offer month-to-month hosting plans, all backed by a 97-day money-back guarantee. What's more, they are one of the rare environmentally friendly web hosting companies that offer green, carbon-neutral data centers.
On the downside, however, they have a much slower loading time (1730 ms) than other hosting providers you'll come across. They also have a pretty average up time (99.7%), and only offer servers inside the US, which may not be ideal for users overseas. Moreover, while they claim to offer 24/7 customer support, you'll only get live chat from 3 AM to 9:30 PM Pacific Time, outside these hours, you'll get automated responses. They also lack phone support, being limited only to live chat or help via their forum.
7. WPEngine
WPEngine is a WordPress-specific web host, meaning it only offers WordPress hosting services for WordPress websites. It offers managed WordPress hosting, meaning that you only have to handle your website content and leave all the server-related management to them.
WPEngine features 24/6 live customer support, daily backups, proactive threat detection, threat blocking, one-click staging, free SSL protection, customizable themes, workflow tools, and a 60-day money-back guarantee.
Most of these features are available in the starter plan, which comes at $24/month. This also comes with 10GB of storage and 50 GB of bandwidth. This follows the professional plan ($47/month), the growth plan ($92/month), and so on.
There are plenty of upsides to choosing WPEngine as your web hosting provider. They offer 24/7 specialized support services, oversee all technical details of your server, and offer automated 30-day backup cycles. They also have incredible uptime (nearly 99.95% guaranteed), and page loading speeds, feature plenty of security features, and their platform is easy to use for many once you get past the learning curve.
The most immediate drawback, however, is its limitation to WordPress websites only. Moreover, they don't offer email hosting services. They also limit the number of website visitors per month, and some features such as site monitoring, and automated plugin updates will have to be paid for separately.
8. A2 Hosting
A2 hosting is another fast and reliable web hosting service that claims to provide up to 20x the speed of its competitors. Reviews from users seem to keep up with this claim, proving that A2 Hosting is indeed quite fast.
Besides its speed, A2 hosting offers some useful features. They offer up to 100GB SSD storage, free site migration, 24/7 customer support (via phone, live chat, and email), an easy-to-use cPanel, up to 99.9% uptime, and a free SSL certificate, free website users, and a choice of data center location. It Is important to note, however, that the Turbo servers, which offer up to 20x faster speed, are only available on the Turbo Boost and Turbo Max plans.
As for the pricing models, they offer their startup plan at $2.99/month, their drive plan at $5.99/month, their turbo boost plan at $6.99/month, and their turbo max plan at $12.99/month.
There are plenty of benefits A2 hosting has to offer: high-speed Turbo servers, quick loading time, incredible uptime guaranteed, free site migrations, an anytime money-back guarantee, and many features that you otherwise would have to pay for separately.
On the downside, users have reported their support to be a little slow, albeit useful. Users may find the long queue time frustrating. Furthermore, they also don't offer free domain names, you'll have to pay to register for a domain or transfer an existing one. They also feature much higher renewal rates on their plans.
9. GreenGeeks
GreenGeeks is another reliable website hosting provider. However, they have a unique focus on eco-friendly operations. You'll find them to be the best green web hosting service available today. They feature eco-friendly data centers and servers, and they claim to match 3x the energy they consume from the grid in the form of renewable energy credits.
Their notable features include: up to 50 GB of starter web space, free SSL certificates, free domain (for up to 1 year), CDN, free nightly backups, managed WordPress, built-in cashing, unlimited databases, 30-day money-back guarantee, and to top it off, they'll also plant one tree for every new website they host!
As for their pricing models, their Lite plan comes in at $2.95/month, followed by the Pro plan ($4.95/month) and the Premium plan ($8.95/month).
They are green, fast, offer reliable up time (99.9%), have an easy-to-use cPanel for both beginners and experts alike, and tons of resources, but they also have their drawbacks to follow. In this case, they don't offer 24/7 phone support, so you'll have to rely on live chat instead, and some developers may find them lacking advanced features.
10. Nexcess
Finally, Nexcess is another popular web hosting company that now hosts over 500,000 websites through 8 data centers around the globe. They specialize in managed WordPress hosting, Woocommerce hosting, Magento hosting, cloud hosting, and enterprise hosting.
They offer many notable features for their users. These include 10 base PHP workers, 99.9% uptime claim, free subdomain, customized control panel dashboard, free CDN, free SSL, 14-day free trial, 30-day money-back guarantee, and 24/7 customer support.
As for pricing, their WordPress hosting starts at $9.50/month, their Magento hosting starts at $29/50 per month, their Woocommerce pricing starts at $13.30/month, and their cloud hosting starts at $49/month.
There are plenty of upsides to Nexcess. They offer 24/7 support, managed hosting solutions, a 14-day trial period we don't see often, and plenty of useful features. On the downside, however, they do not offer free domain registration, they further lack dedicated IP addresses on the lower tier plans, and users review their phone support as being slow at times.
What is Web Hosting?
We can define web hosting as "a service that provides technology and technological support that allows organizations to post a website/webpage on the internet".
Typically, users who surf the internet will type out your web address in their search bar to be directed to your website, but how do they get connected to your website and interact with your website content? The user device will form a connection with the web hosting server and the webpages will be displayed to the user on the browser. The server that runs your website is maintained and runs continuously, so your website is visible all the time.
Of course, you can always host your website yourself instead of hiring a web hosting service, but it is incredibly technical and time-consuming to set up a web server yourself from scratch and look over its maintenance for the foreseeable future. A web hosting service will help simplify web hosting for you and ensure that your website performs well.
What are the Factors to Consider When Looking For Web Hosting Services?
The web hosting service you choose is essential as it will determine how well your website performs in real-time. There are plenty of factors you should keep in mind while making your selection. The most important things that must be considered for selecting a web hosting company are listed below:
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Uptime: Staying online is important for your website if you want to bring in the maximum number of sales possible. Most web hosting services will offer their uptime scores as a measure to determine how stable the web host is. You should look for an uptime score of at least 99.9%. Anything below this figure won't do.
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Load Time/Server Speed: If your website takes too long to load, you'll end up with users getting frustrated and leaving your website. This further leads to lower conversions. To avoid that, you need to hook your website up with a high-speed web hosting service.
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Subdomain Services: Not all web hosting providers will offer free subdomain services, but it may be useful to start with one for beginners. Some web hosting services will offer a free subdomain in the form of
yourname.webhost.comfor one year. After this period, you may need to pay a fee for the subdomain services. -
Storage and Bandwidth: Disk space will represent the amount of space available on the server for you to store your website content. This includes text, images, videos, code, and databases. Bandwidth will determine the capacity of data that can be transferred to your users at any given time.
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Security: Keeping your web server physically and virtually secure is one of the key services web hosts must provide. They should ensure that your servers are protected through controlled access points at all times.
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Site Backups: Web hosting services should offer you both a physical and a digital backup. A physical backup for your server and a digital backup that will restore your website in case either is compromised.
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Email Services: Email hosting, when linked to your domain, will help store all email messages and files on your server. You can further incorporate your domain name into your email address to give it a more professional feel.
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Pricing: A web host that offers suspiciously low pricing may be a sign of subpar services. On the other hand, you also don't want to sign up for an expensive hosting plan right away. Choose a hosting service that seems reasonably priced and offers you the basic services we've discussed here. Also, keep a lookout for the renewal costs the hosting service has to offer. (Sometimes the cost of renewal is more than the initial sign-up).
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Customer Support: The web hosting service you sign up with should offer you swift, efficient, and helpful customer support. Quality customer support means being able to resolve website problems a lot faster and easier.
What is the Best Web Hosting Service for Small Businesses?
Bluehost is the best web hosting service for small businesses. They offer a wide number of features that beginners need to launch their websites, all at affordable pricing models that won't put a dent in your wallet. Their UI is also incredibly easy to use and set up, making them perfect for users who need simple yet attractive sites.
What is the Best Web Hosting Service for Developers?
Hostinger is hands down, the best web hosting service for developers today. They are incredibly adorable and yet offer performance-driven hosting services. Their services are perfect for both beginners and larger scaling websites alike. Besides being affordable, they are easy to use and offer many features that make them attractive for developers.
Which Web Hosting Service is the Most Secure?
SiteGround is, overall, the most secure web hosting service you'll find today. They feature sophisticated IDS/IPS systems that will effectively block any malicious data packets or bots from doing damage to your website. They also regularly update security rules to keep their servers secure and use virtual patches in the form of WAF (Web Application Firewall) rules to keep your website secure.
Does web hosting include security?
Yes, to keep your website safe from cybersecurity threats, your web hosting service will offer security. Any hacker who gains access to your website can do considerable damage. Some of the basic services you should make sure your web hosting service provides include SSL certificates, regularly updated hardware and software, backup and recovery measures, detection and removal of malware, DDoS attack prevention, and server protection.
Is a Firewall required to protect your hosting?
Yes. If your web hosting provider offers security, it will still be limited. To keep your website secure, you need to have a firewall in place. Firewall is one of the most important security measures that stand between hackers and your website. They are also considered the first line of defense when it comes to security.
A firewall will analyze and filter through incoming and outgoing traffic to help weed out any suspicious data packets. In this way, it acts as a shield, protecting you from any malicious threats that may harm your website and network. Whether you're a web hosting service yourself or a business owner running a website, you must have a firewall in place at all times.