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Choosing the best web hosting is not something you do every day. You do it once, and if you do it right, it can save you a lot of trouble. The web hosting providers ensure minimum or no downtime and work for people on a tight budget.
A simple Google search will reveal an overwhelming list of hosting services. Some are not reliable, while others might lack some significant features. You also do not want limitations on features, like file transfer, resource usage, number of domains, and so on.
Scalability is another thing that you should ensure. Can your hosting handle your website when it has grown larger and has more traffic? Downtime and slow loading can hurt your online business like nothing else.
The Best Web Hosting Sites We Have Reviewed
#1. Bluehost: Best web Hosting Overall
This brand has been quick to rise ever since its launch. The solid uptime, ease-of-use, and scalability have pushed its name among the best web hosting brands. It was started in 2003 and has quickly built a global customer base.
Its tailored solutions for e-commerce businesses and WordPress users add an element of convenience for beginners. But it’s unmetered bandwidth and generous storage feel adequate for more advanced users or larger businesses as well. In fact, even WordPress itself recommends this hosting company.
Bluehost is very secure
It implements one of the most advanced security measures to protect your resources. For beginners, they have the CodeGuard Backup plan so you don’t accidentally lose your data. It helps you with daily backups and also monitors changes.
Amazing customer support
Bluehost is very keen on providing impeccable customer support to every user. It is available 24/7, and you can reach out to them on the phone or through email. Their in-depth articles and videos are useful when you are stuck trying to understand a new feature.
Server locations
Bluehost has a majority of its servers inside the US. This is both an advantage and a drawback. If most of your website traffic is from the US or nearby regions, the users will have a better experience with your website.
Features
- It offers really affordable shared hosting plans
- It also provides WordPress hosting services for easy setup
- Cloudflare is pre-integrated with Bluehost
- VPS hosting is available if you need special server configurations
- They provide dedicated server hosting to handle massive website traffic
Pros
- Easy to set up for the beginners
- 24/7 customer support is available
- Single-click WordPress install function is provided
- No restrictions on emails and storage with their plus plan
Cons
- Your site can only be hosted on the US servers
- Their upsell pitches might annoy some users
- Some features are limited to their premium plans
=> Click here to visit the official website of Bluehost
#2. GreenGeeks: Best Reseller Web Hosting
With GreenGeeks we have a leading hosting provider with all the modern functionalities. But there is a unique upside to it. It functions in an environment-friendly way. So, while you get all the benefits of high-performance web hosting, you are also protecting the environment. The company aims at reducing its carbon footprint.
But that’s not entirely why it makes it to our list. Its test results reveal a low latency rate and a low HTTP failure rate, which means it’s actually quite reliable and efficient. However, for those who are shy of trying a new brand, they also offer a 30-day money-back guarantee.
Tons of free features
Launched in 2004, it has turned out to be an extremely stable and feature-packed platform. You get several additional benefits for free with their basic plan. So, even with their starter plan, you can enjoy unlimited storage and bandwidth, SSD storage, free domain, and one-click installation for WordPress, Drupal, Joomla, and other apps.
Besides saving the environment, they are also saving you a lot of additional costs. You get access to powerful and stable servers with GreenGeeks that are suitable for larger businesses as well.
Is it scalable?
As your website grows, you need advanced features and specs to accommodate the increasing traffic on your website. GreenGeeks offers scalable VPS hosting plans that are best suited for those who are looking to scale their business in the near future.
Features
- They offer WordPress hosting, shared hosting, VPS, and dedicated hosting plans
- You get SSD storage with nightly backups
- They use Intel Xeon Processors on their VPS platform
- Their infrastructure operates on renewable energy
- A number of services, like WordPress migration, SSL, CDN, and backup are free
- Reseller hosting plans are also available
Pros
- Both phone and live chat support is available 24/7
- A wide array of features are available with their most basic plan
- They offer free cPanel migration
- Multiple data center locations ensure a seamless experience for your global users
- Highly secure servers
- Very affordable for all kinds of users
Cons
- There is a setup fee for monthly billing
- You will find some limitations in their Lite plan
=> Click here to visit the official website of GreenGeeks
#3. Nexcess: Best Managed Web Hosting
Earlier known as the Liquid Web, it is a fully managed hosting that offers both; ready-made solutions for various customer needs and futuristic, scalable products for fast-growing businesses. Nexcess is among the best web hosting brands offering application-optimized solutions.
From Magento and WordPress to Drupal and CraftCMS, its fully managed hosting plans are ideal for all the major leading platforms. If you intend to use a CMS, Nexcess will quickly get you started with the best server configurations for your requirements.
Nexcess is built for those who want to go online faster with the assurance of a dependable and competent server. Nexcess isn’t about the cheapest hosting on the planet. It’s rather one of the fastest and most secure servers on the planet.
Performance of Nexcess servers
Nexcess has done exceptionally well in consistently offering high-performing servers. It has managed to provide both; optimal speeds and high uptime. Going with Nexcess means you are not compromising the security and stability of your servers.
Their auto-scaling is a really impressive function for those dealing with rising traffic. Each of their plans includes auto-scaling for free to handle everyday traffic fluctuations. If there are expected spikes, you can use their advanced auto-scaling.
Super easy working with popular CMS applications
This hosting is not just for advanced users. If you or your clients are using a CMS application, like WordPress, Magento, Drupal, Craft cms, and so on, Nexcess can save you a lot of time setting it up. Its managed servers would also help enhance the performance of your hosted website.
Features
- Free auto-scaling is available
- You can choose from its wide range of fully managed CMSes
- It offers flexible cloud hosting plans with a 30-day money-back guarantee
- It’s WPQuickStart tool helps you easily set up membership sites or build an online store
- 24/7 monitoring alerts are also available
- Their asset caching is almost instantaneous
Pros
- Setting up an online store is quick and easy with Nexcess
- You can expect almost 100% server uptime
- Auto-scaling feature is very helpful
- Their product range is extensive
- You will receive free premium SSL certificates and proactive patching and upgrades
- You are protected by 24/7 monitoring and alarm response
- It uses PCI-compliant infrastructure
Cons
- The dashboard doesn’t have an in-browser file manager
- Email hosting is only available with the basic tier plan
=> Click here to visit the official website of Nexcess
#4. Hostinger:Best Cloud Web Hosting
Those looking for well-balanced and customer-friendly hosting are often led to Hostinger. Its low-cost plan, simple user interface, and consistent service appeal to a great many users. In today’s cut-throat competition among the web hosting brands, Hostinger has emerged as a reputable name.
The average page load time for Hostinger is just about 345 milliseconds. So, even with their low-cost plans, you get a powerful hosting solution. With servers in the US, the UK, and Asia, websites all over the world can operate at high speeds. There is very low latency when you use Hostinger.
Affordable web hosting with Hostinger
If you are on a tight budget but don’t want to compromise with server performance, Hostinger is probably the best answer for you. It offers a number of free features, like free SSL, free domain, unlimited databases, WordPress acceleration, etc.
You can host as many as 100 websites with their premium shared hosting. Their frequent discount offers are another thing to appease new customers.
A vast range of hosting options
Its low pricing should not give the impression of a limited hosting provider. On the contrary, it offers several options for large businesses and enterprises. Hostinger offers robust servers for VPS and cloud hosting services.
WordPress optimized hosting is also available with Hostinger. If you are a developer of a website agency, they also have unique plans for agencies. Their special hosting for Minecraft gamers is also getting a lot of interest.
Features
- You can choose from several WordPress optimized hosting plans
- SSD storage is available with Hostinger
- They offer pre-configured VPS for Minecraft
- Cloud hosting for large scale businesses
- Hostinger provides its own user-friendly hPanel as an alternative to cPanel
- You get GIT and SSH access with their basic shared hosting plans
Pros
- Very affordable pricing
- Servers have low latency and high uptime
- Customer support is available 24*7
- They have their own Zyro website builder
- Optional Minecraft servers are available
Cons
- It doesn’t provide dedicated servers
- Call support is not available
- You only get one email account with their basic hosting
=> Click here to visit the official website of Hostinger
#5. Dreamhost: Best Email Hosting Provider
Dreamhost is one of the older names that have consistently been among the list of best web hosting. It has managed to retain its loyal customers by offering impeccable service and prompt support.
Their hosting plans are very affordable, but they also offer scaling options as your business starts to grow in size. Ease of integration is another advantage of using this service. Automated CMS integration can save you a lot of time. Dreamhost offers these services for WordPress, MediaWiki, and Joomla.
Dreamhost has abundant features for hosting a powerful website and handling those unexpected spikes in traffic. Don’t worry if you have big plans for the future. It has all those SSD and cache functionalities for faster database queries.
Is Dreamhost still a competent hosting solution?
It focuses on ease of setup for the users and ensures advanced security and stability of the servers. Their pricing is perfectly fair for the features they offer. In fact, most of their plans are really cheap.
Multiple datacenter locations, redundant cooling, emergency generators, and monitoring are the reasons behind its 100% uptime. So, reliability and performance are where it beats most of its rival brands.
Is it scalable?
In terms of scalability, Dreamhost is second to nothing. It easily holds a position among the market leaders.
You can choose VPS or cloud hosting if you envision a gradual increase in demand on the server. However, they also provide dedicated servers for large enterprises.
Features
- Pre-installed WordPress
- It uses fast SSD storage
- It offers unlimited bandwidth
- It provides a custom-made control panel
- WordPress site migration is free
- VPS, cloud, and dedicated hosting plans are also available
Pros
- A monthly billing option is available
- It offers a 100% uptime guarantee
- You get a 97-day money-back guarantee
- The custom-made control panel offers easy access to important features
- Free SSL and domain are also available with the yearly plan
- Most of the plans are very affordable
Cons
- Limited server locations
- Phone support is not available with Dreamhost
- Automated installs are only available for a few CMSs
=> Click here to visit the official website of Dreamhost
Finding The Best Web Hosting Is Tricky!
Even some of the renowned names have limitations that can hold your website from functioning optimally. This can cause your SEO ranking to suffer. Careful analysis is therefore needed to find the web hosting tailored for your specific needs.
Questions like what kind of website you wish to run, how many websites you need to host, and how much traffic you expect will help determine the ideal hosting for you.
Don’t have time to do extensive research? We have compiled our own list of the top hosting companies with the best plans and reliable service. Let’s look at the top names that have earned the trust of countless users over the years.
Factors To Consider When Choosing a Web Hosting
How reliable is the server?
The first thing you want to know is the uptime of the server. It should be stable, and your website should not become inactive due to server downtime. Most hosting providers commit 99% to 100% uptime, but only a few deliver on that claim.
You can check their uptime scores to find out how stable their hosting servers really are. The low cost of their hosting plans or the excessive range of features becomes pointless if their servers cannot manage to stay online.
The current industry standard is a score of 99% or above. Anything below that is a big ‘No.’ So, before you start to be impressed by the features or the low prices, make sure they meet the industry standard for uptime.
What does your website need?
Now, even if the server is reliable, can it handle the traffic load on your website? Do you want a fully managed hosting provider, or do you need more custom options? Are you going to use a CMS application, like WordPress and Drupal, or do you plan to develop something of your own?
When your requirements are minimum, you can go with a basic hosting setup like shared hosting and look for a reliable but affordable option. Do check out the shared hosting plans when you need a simple website for small or medium businesses.
But if you have plans to scale up and draw heavy traffic on your website, you need a robust server that is configured to your website needs. Not all web hosts are designed to handle such loads. You will need advanced and stable hosting that has all the desired features.
Can you upgrade your server?
Most people like to start small and then upgrade their server as the website grows. But the hosting company should have the option to upgrade to the desired server.
Cloud hosting or VPS are some of the common options if you expect your website to grow significantly over time. For very large enterprises, dedicated servers are the best solution. But since most people start with shared hosting, the hosting provider must offer the plan to upgrade to a dedicated server or VPS.
Your website might suddenly start drawing heavy traffic, and a basic plan cannot accommodate all that bandwidth. So, while choosing a web hosting, make sure it supports an easy upgrade of the server. Once your site outgrows the shared web hosting plan, you would need to quickly shift to a dedicated server.
Research the pricing
While you don’t have to look for the cheapest hosting, it should still fit your budget. The hosting fee is something you are going to pay for a very long time. Also, the signup price and the renewal price are different.
If a hosting company offers significant discounts during sign up, then the renewal price could seem quite high. You must be able to afford the renewal price. Some users have to upgrade their hosting plans sometime after launching their online business. So, you should also check their premium plans in case you have to upgrade pretty soon.
It’s a good idea to check their policy on renewal rates. You can find it in the ToS (Terms of Service) section typically located on the home page in the footer.
Refund policy or free trial?
It’s almost impossible to know which hosting will be the best for you. Paying a yearly fee upfront could cause you to be stuck with a hosting plan that you don’t like or find suitable for your needs. To save yourself from this fate, you should check their refund policy so you can test their hosting before you pay for a long-term plan.
Most top hosting providers offer at least a 30-day money-back guarantee. Some might charge a cancellation fee, but it’s better to avoid them. You can easily find the web hosting brand that offers a full refund or offers a free trial plan.
Does the hosting have all the essential features?
Life without some of these crucial features can be very difficult for a developer or site owner. One-click installer, FTP/SFTP access, DNS management, .htaccess are some of the essential features that should be provided even with a basic hosting plan.
Disk space and Data transfer capacity can be ignored if you are just starting out. However, you will find obstacles in building even a basic website for your business without essential features.
Shared hosting usually works for small businesses, but that too could have limitations related to email hosting, the number of domains it can host, and the possibility of administrative changes from .htaccess and file transfer through FTP.
Reliable customer support
Without good customer support, it can be really hard to overcome issues when they arise. Even with good hosting plans, you might need customer support to help you with things, like server up-gradation, understanding complex features, website migration, changing the settings, or when something doesn’t work as intended.
We look for hosting that offers 24*7 customer support because most users cannot afford for their websites to go down or malfunction at any hour of the day. This is especially true if you have global visitors. Some may even suffer losses if they do not resolve the issues quickly enough.
The best web hosting companies offer round-the-clock customer support. This can be through chat, email, or phone. Phone support is rare, but you can expect to find 24/7 chat support with any reputable web hosting brand.
Server speed and responsiveness
Page loading time can be a huge factor in deciding the appeal of a website. For e-commerce businesses, the slow loading time could mean a loss of customers. Your customers are not going to be patient, so using fast servers with low latency is the only thing going to give you a competitive edge.
There are tools that can measure the Time To First Byte (TTFB) for a server. Slow servers could be fatal for your brand reputation. It can also impact your SEO ranking as Google lowers the rank of pages with delayed loading.
How We Compiled The List Of The Best web Hosting
Customer Feedback and Reviews
The major part of our research involved finding legitimate reviews and verified users of major web hosting. While there are other ways to test server speed and performance aspects, only actual users can spot flaws in the service or limitations in the features.
User feedback helped us determine how stable the hosting server was and how efficient their services and customer support were. If we find too many genuine reviews talking about a server crash, it’s a big ‘No’ for us to consider the hosting company.
Ability to upgrade the server
We know that most website owners would need to scale up their server capabilities as the site traffic grows. The need for increased bandwidth would sooner or later arise. So, for this reason, we select hosting companies that allow the user to upgrade the server and have different options like VPS, cloud hosting, and dedicated servers. But it’s also crucial that shared hosting is available for those who need a personal website for small or medium businesses.
Customer Support
Web hosting can often be complicated. Setting up your website, migrating from an older site, setting up SSL, or tweaking the settings can often be confusing without proper support. There are tons of reasons why users often require the help of hosting support.
We prefer hosting companies that are known for their prompt response to customer queries. This could be either through chat support or by phone. Also, some hosting brands tend to hire expert customer agents while others do not provide trained agents. We prefer the ones with better trained and customer-friendly agents when making our list.
Pricing
Hosting tends to be a major expense when you start a website. This is also where you can save a lot of money if you find the best plan for you. Some hosting providers tend to be cheaper than others. Also, some charge low starting fees but can be very costly when you renew the plan.
We looked for the ones with reasonable pricing, several free features, and stable servers. Cutting the cost should not mean that you compromise with essential features, server uptime, or performance. So, our efforts have been directed at finding a reliable hosting plan that doesn’t break the bank.
Additional Features
Many hosting companies offer additional features to further enhance the experience of the users. Some of the features, like automatic backup, one-click installers, and website builders, are very useful and can save the users from a lot of hard work.
Every top hosting company is trying to draw more users by offering additional features for free. We have gone through the list of such features before compiling our list. Companies often come up with unique features, like a custom control panel, Minecraft servers, e-commerce builders, etc., to improve your experience. These unique offerings from some hosting providers can be beneficial to some users.
Server testing tools
Finally it’s the actual performance metrics that speak about the true worth of a hosting. There are several performance testing tools that measure the speed, scalability, and stability of a server. There are tools to monitor the server uptime.
These tools help us identify the loading time for the resources, TTB (Time to first byte), FMB, response time, and other details. With this information, we can draw more accurate conclusions about the server performance.
Frequently Asked Questions
Which web hosting is best for beginners?
Beginners prefer shared hosting because it is very easy to set up and much more affordable. Hostinger and Dreamhost offer low-cost plans for beginners and have a user-friendly interface. Nexcess is another great hosting provider with multiple plans optimized for CMSs, like WordPress, Magento, Drupal, etc.
Hostinger has its own user interface called hPanel. Those who find the commonly used cPanel confusing will like the simple and easy-to-use hPanel provided by Hostinger. Dreamhost gives you the option to create a custom control panel.
A lot of these hosting companies have a one-click installer. These help you quickly set up your website using CMS applications, like WordPress or Drupal. It not only saves time but is very convenient for beginners as well.
Also, beginners should choose hosting brands that have great customer support. It can be frustrating to wait for the customer support response when you are stuck setting up your website. Hostinger, Bluehost, and other top hosting brands have very reliable customer support.
Which is the best dedicated hosting provider?
When you expect a flood of growth in the future and your current hosting isn’t equipped to handle it, it’s best to move to a hosting that offers dedicated servers. There are several fast and secure dedicated hosting options to choose from.
GreenGeeks and Dreamhost are among the fastest dedicated hosting companies, according to the test reports. Bluehost is also a very stable server with impressive customer support. If you have decided to move to a dedicated server, these are proven to be the best hosting providers so far.
Bluehost also has a very high uptime and is quite affordable. If you are on a tight budget, Bluehost and Dreamhost are some of the cheaper dedicated hostings you can find.
What is cloud hosting?
Cloud hosting is a service that allows you to host a website on multiple servers that are synced with each other. Your website can pool resources using a network of multiple servers. It is different from dedicated hosting or shared hosting because cloud hosting involves multiple servers while other hosting services are based on a single server.
One of the benefits of cloud hosting is very high uptime. If a certain server goes down, the website can use the resources of other servers that are a part of the server network. Cloud servers are more scalable compared to VPS.
If your website has outgrown the limits of shared hosting, VPS or cloud hosting are your next best options. If you have the budget for it, you can even switch to a dedicated server.
What is Web Hosting?
A web host, or web hosting service provider, is a business that provides the technologies and services needed for the website or webpage to be viewed on the Internet. Websites are hosted, or stored, on special computers called servers.
How can I migrate to a new hosting from the older one?
Transferring your website from a previous hosting to a new one might seem tricky for beginners. It will involve changing the DNS settings of your domain to link it with the new hosting. It also requires you to export the database tables from older to the new hosting.
You will also need to take backup of your files from the previous hosting and upload it to the new one. With some hosting providers, migration is very easy, and they also offer free migration support. Some of these also have features for easy migration of sites built on CMS applications, like WordPress.
You should talk to your customer support if they help with website migration. If you haven’t bought a new hosting yet, Bluehost offers free website migration and is a highly reputable hosting brand.
When should I upgrade my web hosting services?
There are a number of signs that tell you to upgrade your hosting. Your website requires server resources to handle the traffic. Once your website starts growing, the demand for server resources will increase.
If your current hosting plan is unable to handle the increased load, the performance will become sluggish, or it may even experience downtime. If the space or the bandwidth is not adequate to handle the spike in traffic, the website will not work optimally. You should start considering upgrading to VPS or a dedicated server in this scenario.
Cloud hosting is another good option when you feel the need to scale. Cloud hosting is much more optimized for specific types of usage. With cloud hosting, you can also expect a greater uptime.
What is a one-click installation?
One-click installation means you just click on the CMS app you want to install without configuring it manually. One-click installation is faster and easier for those unfamiliar with the manual installation process.
Major hosting providers offer this feature for a number of popular open-source apps. If you are not a developer and you are looking to quickly set up your website without going through complex processes, make sure to check if the hosting offers automated installation for important applications.
A lot of these top hosting companies provide access to the Softaculous app for the single-click installation of a wide range of applications. If you are looking for this feature, Nexcess hosting company should definitely be on your checklist.
How can I save money on hosting?
Trying to save money on hosting is not always a good idea. You need a hosting that is stable and does not cause your website to suffer unnecessary downtime. However, there are cheaper hosting plans that also offer discounts from time to time.
Some hosting companies offer low rates for their basic plans. If you are just starting with a small online business and are not expecting a sudden hike in traffic, you can choose shared hosting to save money.
With shared hosting, you are sharing a single server with other users. You do not get complete control of the server, and there are limitations on the resource usage. But for a smaller website, this would not be a problem. The site will work seamlessly, and you will not need to pay a very high price.
What is eco-friendly hosting?
Typically, the servers that host your website are not too kind to the environment. Carbon emission from these servers can be quite high. Some hosting companies are trying to counter the problem by Carbon offsetting, using renewable energy, and planting trees and grass around the data centers.
These brands take every measure to reduce carbon emissions and use energy-saving appliances. GreenGeeks is one such reputable hosting company that not only leads in terms of server performance but also plays a major role in saving the environment by providing eco-friendly hosting.
Only a few good hosting brands have switched to green hosting, so if you are concerned about the environmental impact of web hosting, these should be a good pick for you. GreenGeeks is an excellent hosting service that is fast, reliable, and environment friendly.
Conclusion
Choosing web hosting is an important decision that you make. A great website will not perform optimally without a suitable hosting. These days there are a variety of hosting plans offering economical hosting solutions.
The wide range of options can be overwhelming to people, and this is where our guide will help you choose the ideal web hosting for your business needs. The same hosting is not meant for all kinds of websites. Each kind of website requires a different hosting server for best performance at an economical pricing.
While every hosting company claims to provide the fastest, most stable, and secure servers, only a few are able to deliver upon their promise. It has been our effort to find the hosting brands that have so far been consistent in delivering reliable services.
We hope you now have a better understanding of what to look for when choosing an ideal hosting for your website. Our extensive research on all major hosting brands should be able to save you money and find a server that can handle your website traffic and is easy to manage. All of our chosen companies offer excellent customer service, so you don’t have to wait to resolve any issues.
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