Our recommendation for most people is NameCheap because it’s an affordable, fast, and reliable web hosting service. Sign up with NameCheap for as low as $1.99 per month.
Go with the wrong web host and you’ll end up paying for more than bad service. You have to get this right because a reputable web host keeps your site online and helps you avoid unnecessary downtime.
This guide explains the best types of web hosting for different situations. Use these reviews to find the best web host without breaking the bank.
Our recommendation for most people is NameCheap because it’s an affordable, fast, and reliable web hosting service. Sign up with NameCheap for as low as $1.99 per month.
Go with the wrong web host and you’ll end up paying for more than bad service. You have to get this right because a reputable web host keeps your site online and helps you avoid unnecessary downtime.
This guide explains the best types of web hosting for different situations. Use these reviews to find the best web host without breaking the bank.
NameCheap
Namecheap’s hosting services are easy to use, reliable, and extremely fast. The managed WordPress plans do come with some strict limitations, so check carefully and make sure that they can fully answer your needs.
Fast and Easy to Use, Perfect for Beginners and Basic Websites
Namecheap is widely known for its discounted domain names, but like many other registrars, it has also branched out into hosting. Are the hosting solutions on par with the best of the best the internet has to offer? I signed up to find out.
Namecheap has been in the business since 2000 and has over 10 million active domains registered. It’s website hosting plans cover most hosting types and includes shared, managed WordPress, VPS (virtual private server) machines, dedicated servers, and even private email hosting. All services are available in English.
Now, while it’s extremely tempting to purchase your domain name and hosting plan from the same provider, you should be wary of doing so. An all-in-one solution simplifies everything – from management to support and billing – but a jack of all trades is (usually) a master of none.
Laughing in the face of danger, I took the risk upon myself and signed up for managed WordPress hosting. To my surprise, I found a managed WordPress platform like few others, seamlessly designed and providing a fantastic user experience.
Still, does that ease of use come at the cost of features? Can the service really answer advanced needs, or will you find yourself limited and unable to grow? Well, read on and see for yourself!
Great Basic Features, but also Serious Limitations
Namecheap provides powerhouse VPS and dedicated servers, but we’ll focus on the shared hosting side of things. Shared hosting is the simplest, cheapest form of hosting, and in my opinion, there’s no better place to start.
With Namecheap, shared hosting includes two subcategories: Regular shared hosting and managed WordPress hosting.
I signed up for WordPress hosting, which is provided through Namecheap’s proprietary platform – EasyWP. EasyWP is a WordPress-only cloud-based plan and can’t be used with any other CMS (content management system). Regular shared hosting, on the other hand, lets you install any CMS through the use of Softaculous.
In terms of storage space and bandwidth, the basic EasyWP plan, Starter, has 10 GB SSD storage and allows for 50,000 monthly visitors. The mid-level plan, Turbo, comes with 50 GB of SSD space and about 200,000 monthly visitors. The most advanced plan, Supersonic, has 100 GB of space and about 500,000 monthly visitors.
This “monthly visitors” metric is confusing, as bandwidth is usually measured in GBs. I tried to get an answer from support, but they kept claiming that there was really a “visitor counter” working in the background. Either way, your site will have a lot of room to grow.
On to regular shared hosting. The basic Stellar plan has 20 GB of SSD space, the second plan has unlimited space, and the last one is capped at 50 GB. Bandwidth is unmetered for all three.
You must be thinking – how come the mid-tier plan comes with more space than the most advanced one? According to Namecheap, it has something to do with “premium support” and “extra caching.” I think it’s just cheap.
Do all of Namecheap’s plans include a free domain name?
Which is the cheapest hosting service?
Hostinger
Hostinger is becoming a well-known name in the WordPress hosting industry. They offer affordable hosting, 24/7 live chat support, and a robust platform to host your website. Hosting comes with automatic 1-click WordPress install, managed automatic updates, enhanced security, free CDN, WordPress speed acceleration, and free site migration.
They also offer geolocation specific hosting with a choice of 7 data centers in the USA, Europe, Asia, and South America. Hostinger serves over 29 million users in 178 countries. On top of all this, they have a special 80% discount for WPBeginner readers combined with free SSL and a free domain name.
Pros:
- Lowest price hosting in the market
- Performance Optimized
- Great customer support
- 1-click WordPress install
- Free Domain and Free SSL
- Multiple Datacenters
Cons:
- No Daily Backups
Hostinger is a popular web hosting provider with a robust platform to launch websites. They offer a variety of shared hosting plans for everyone from beginners to large companies. Their prices are affordable, and their plans include plenty of useful features. See our expert Hostinger review to decide if it’s the right choice for you.
All web hosting companies offer similar web hosting plans with the same promises. In this complete Hostinger review, we’ll put their promises to test in the following areas:
- Speed & Performance: How fast will your website load on Hostinger?
- Reliability: Can you rely on them to ensure that your website is accessible all the time?
- Customer Support: Will you be able to get quick support when you need it?
- Features: What’s included in the Hostinger hosting plans?
- Pricing: How much does Hostinger cost, and can you get a good deal to save money?
This is an in-depth Hostinger review with a detailed analysis of Hostinger’s platform. If you don’t want to read the full review, then here is a quick summary of our Hostinger review score.
Breakdown of Hostinger’s Shared Hosting Plans
Hostinger’s shared hosting plans come in three different levels. All plans differ in disk space, bandwidth, and the number of websites you can install.
Single: The single shared hosting plan includes 1 website, 1 email account, 30 GB SSD storage, and is good for up to ~10000 monthly visits. This plan does not include a free domain name or unlimited bandwidth.
Premium: This plan allows you to add up to 100 websites, 100 email accounts, 100 GB SSD storage, and ~25000 monthly visits. It includes a free domain name for the first year, free SSL, Email, and other features.
Business: Suitable for small business websites, this plan includes 100 websites, 200 GB SSD storage, and ~100000 monthly visits. It includes free domain name, SSL, email, and all other common features.
The single plan is a bit limited as it only gives you 1 website, email account, 2 MySQL databases, and no unlimited bandwidth.
Aside from shared plans, they also offer Hostinger cloud which is a cloud hosting plan for larger sites as well as VPS hosting which includes dedicated resources such as CPU cores, RAM, and SSD storage.
Hostinger Hosting Plan Features
You would also want to compare features that you’ll get with each hosting plan. Apart from the limitations of each plan, here is what’s included in each hosting plan offered by Hostinger.
- 1-Click WordPress auto installer
- WordPress website accelaration
- Free SSL certificate
- Git access
- Cloudflare CDN
- 24/7 Live chat support
Plus, each plan also gets you access to their custom hosting control panel. This cPanel alternative is called hpanel and has all the common features you’ll find with cPanel hosting providers.
Hostinger offers 99.9% uptime guarantee and a 30-day money-back guarantee. This means that within the first 30 days after signing up, you can cancel your account for any reason and get a full refund of your hosting fees. The refund doesn’t include domain registration fees, and you get to keep your domain.
Hostinger Support and Customer Service
Hostinger provides 24/7 customer support via live chat. Currently, they don’t offer phone support. Their technical support team is well trained and are available to help when needed.
Their customer success team offers support in English to global customers. However, if you purchased your hosting via one of their local websites, then you have the option to get customer support in that local language as well.
We found their customer support team to be very responsive with almost immediate response times. Other user reviews have also reported a good customer experience when interacting with the support team.
Apart from the live chat, Hostinger has an extensive knowledge base that contains detailed step-by-step tutorials to answer the most commonly asked customer questions.
Pros and Cons of Hostinger
Hostinger is a popular web hosting company, but it may not be the right choice for everyone. Consider these pros and cons before choosing a plan.
Pros of choosing Hostinger hosting
- Lower Price Plans: They offer very low cost hosting plans for users who may just want to test out an idea.
- Excellent Performance: Considering the Hostinger pricing, their performance and speed is great for this price point in the hosting industry.
- Good Customer Support: They offer excellent customer support for all plans which is a huge help for beginners
Cons of choosing Hostinger hosting
- Plan Limitations: In order to keep their low-cost hosting viable, Hostinger places limits on entry level and low-level hosting plans. However, as your website grows you can always upgrade to cloud or VPS plans to get rid of those limitations.
- No Daily Backups: Their single and premium plans offer weekly backups instead of daily backups. However, we recommend users always set up their own backup solution regardless of their hosting provider’s daily backup claim.
Conclusion: Is Hostinger Right for You?
Now that you have read through our entire Hostinger web hosting review, you might be wondering whether Hostinger is the right web host for you.
We recommend Hostinger for all beginners who want to start a website without spending too much money. Hostinger’s low price shared hosting options offer good value for money with great performance and an extremely easy-to-use control panel.
Now as a low cost shared hosting service, they do need to put certain limits on accounts to ensure a sustainable business model. Once your site reaches the traffic limits, you will be asked to upgrade to the next plan.
You also get easy 1-click WordPress installation, free website migration, LiteSpeed caching, Cloudflare CDN support, and some other nifty features. You can also install any WordPress plugins, templates, drag and drop page builders, and more.
Ready to get started with Hostinger? Click here to select your Hostinger plan.
HostGator
It may be one of the biggest hosting companies around, but HostGator’s services just aren’t as good as they should be. I was disappointed with the support I received, and unless you sign up for many years, the plans aren’t that affordable either. To get the most bang for your buck, take a look at Hostinger, Hostwinds, or Liquid Web instead. Before you make any final decisions, you should check out Hostinger’s cheap plans.
HostGator Must Be Doing Something Right. But Is It Right for You?
HostGator’s endless advertisement campaigns are definitely impressive, but marketers won’t give you an honest answer to the most important questions: Is this true quality hosting? Fast and reliable? And can it fit your specific needs?
I personally had a great experience with HostGator in the early 2010s, but things change. Some corporate meddling and “business optimizations” are all it takes for a great company to take a turn for the worse.
I decided to see for myself how the company fares today and signed up for the basic shared web hosting plan. Other than shared hosting, HostGator also provides managed WordPress, VPS solutions, and dedicated servers. Everything is available in English.
Long story short – you can do better. HostGator isn’t really cheap, support has been outsourced to who knows where, and the features aren’t good enough.
A Little Something for Everyone
Of course, HostGator offers all the basic features. You probably won’t be surprised (or particularly excited) to know there’s support for SSL certificates, automatic backups, SpamAssassin to keep your email protected, website backup and restore, and so on.
One nice thing is that all the plans come with the free HostGator Website Builder, with more than 100 mobile-responsive designs and a media library.
Also, there are free website migrations and domain transfers thrown in to sweeten the deal.
HostGator Makes Hosting Easy
HostGator’s features are designed to make your life easier. From account creation to account cancellation, the processes are uber beginner-friendly. Take advantage of the one-click installers, the managed WordPress hosting, and the website building tool, which can all help you get set up without any coding experience or technical background.
Creating an Account
Creating an account with HostGator is ridiculously easy, although the pages are also surprisingly slow to load.
There are only a few steps on the online signup form and your dashboard is set up for you. It’s all done entirely from the browser and you don’t even need to confirm your account via email to finish the process.
Connecting a Domain and Installing WordPress
Largely due to cPanel, the process to connect a domain and install WordPress is easy as pie. It only took me a few minutes and I didn’t need any help from customer service.
However, if you’re a beginner or you just want to ask live chat for support while you’re doing it, be prepared to wait on hold for a long time.
Automatic Backups
The plans come with automatic weekly off-site backups. Okay, so it’s not the best backup policy I’ve ever seen (other hosts often include daily backup and restore). However, at checkout, you can upgrade to CodeGuard backup and restore for an additional monthly fee.
Application Hosting
HostGator plans are compatible with all the usual applications, such as WordPress, Joomla!, Magento, and Wiki. If that’s not enough for you, you can install more than 75 open-source scripts with the one-click installer.
It’s not the most premium one-click installer out there (some include 300 – 400 apps), but all the popular programs are included.
Pricing Breaks at 3-Year Commitment
HostGator displays its prices for three-year terms on the main product pages, so at first glance, the prices seem very cheap. However, if you’re looking for a month-to-month plan or any term less than one year, you’ll pay a much higher price.
There’s a generous 45-day money back guarantee, but you’ve got to watch out for the pricey (and optional) add-ons which are added to your cart by default.
When you’re ready to make a purchase, you can use any major credit card.
Cancellations & Refunds
Canceling your HostGator account is as easy as filling out an online contact form. The only issue is the multiple attempts to get you to speak to an agent. Depending on my mood, I’d say this is to get your feedback or to shamelessly convince you to stay. Either way, you can easily override it