Cheap Hosting, I’ve managed a lot of websites over my career. So naturally, therefore, the hosting provider you choose matters. Using the first-hand experience as a starting point, I waded through all the dependable hosting options and narrowed it down to the best web hosting providers.
But how cheap is too cheap? There are a lot of attractive options out there. Separating the good deals from the scams is essential.
If you are looking for the lowest price on hosting, there are only one or two dozen reputable vendors to consider. Unfortunately, that list gets even smaller for cheap web hosting plans that deliver good service.
The web hosting industry has made huge improvements over the years, and the prices of quality hosting setups have dropped significantly.
Still, not all hosting companies are created equal, and you still have to be very careful about which specific company and which hosting plans you choose.
Ready to get your site online for as little as possible? These are my top picks, followed by a brief guide to help you assess your options.
-
DreamHost- Most Affordable Month-to-Month Hosting Plan
Not everyone wants to sign a long contract for hosting, but you usually have to get the lowest price. Typically, you have to pay the whole amount upfront, which can get expensive even when looking at cheap plans.
DreamHost offers similar discounts if you want to sign a contract, but if you don’t, DreamHost’s month-to-month pricing is the lowest out there. Their month-to-month plans start at $4.95/month. This plan includes one website with unlimited traffic, along with a free SSL Certificate—a great deal. They also offer one-year and three-year contracts that start at $2.59/month, allowing you to save even more money. So even though it’s not the lowest on this list, it’s still a good deal.
TThere’sreally no way to get a lower price without a commitment. This can be important for cash-strapped startups betting on growth. Instead of a big upfront spend, they can budget a predictable monthly hosting cost into the equation.
Now you might think that no contract would mean a money-back guarantee. The truth is DreamHost has a zero-risk 97-day money-back guarantee. TThat’sthe longest time to try a web host that I know of.
Along with great prices, DreamHost also stands out for the way they manage their web hosts. They ddon’tuse the standard cPanel that most hosts use. Instead, DreamHost offers an ultimately custom control panel to manage your website. This is great for developers who want more control over their websites.
-
Hostinger- Most Affordable Hosting Plans Overall
Is it the best choice if you are relooking to save money? They offer four years of hosting for $1.39/month if you pay for the four years upfront—TThat’san a fantastic deal. Four years of Single Shared will cost less than a single year of hosting through most other providers.
From the marketing to the UI for managing your site, it’s the premium host with a deep roster of features on every plan. Hostinger also offers a separate program just for email hosting. That starts at just $0.99/month. The uptime, site speed, and support are all pretty good too.
Okay, great. But I know you rethinking the low rate must mean annoying domain limits and few free tools to build your business.
Hostinger is loaded to the brim with features and functions. Hostinger’s Single Shared Hosting plan supports one site and includes:
100 GB bandwidth
30 GB storage
One email account
Free SSL certificate
99.9% uptime guarantee
24/7/365 customer support
Optimized for WordPress with one-click installation
User-friendly control panel
Cloudflare protected nameservers
There’s no free domain name included, which isn’t a big deal if you already have one. However, if you need a free domain name, more storage, or unlimited bandwidth, Hostinger lets you upgrade your plan while keeping costs low:
Hostinger does a lot to ensure that the service is easy to use. Set up takes minutes and zero technical skill.
If you ever have issues, Hostinger’s customer service is always available and has a phenomenal reputation. The company gets you in the door with budget-friendly prices and keeps you around with quality support.
-
Bluehost- Best web hosting for beginners
There’s probably no easier way to get your new website off the ground than with Bluehost. And it won’t cost you much at all, as the company offers incredibly feature-rich shared Hosting starting at $2.95/month.
They offer great shared web hosting solutions at incredibly affordable prices. They’re also tailor-made for folks who are new to website building.
If you are building a WordPress site, I recommend checking out your options at Bluehost. The company is one of only three hosting providers that is officially recommended by WordPress. In addition, the integration is fantastic, and the installation is automatic.
First off, Bluehost has some of the cheapest hosting rates around. And even the most basic plans are loaded with features and values.
You get a free domain name for the first year. Not only do you get to skip that expense, but the convenience of registering your domain through Bluehost cuts down on time it takes to go live.
If this is your first site ever, you will be grateful for how simple the process is. But, on the other hand, if you’ve built sites before, you will appreciate everything that’s done for you.
For example, you get a free SSL certificate for your site, and enabling it takes one click on the dashboard. This is critical for keeping all of the information on your site secure and letting visitors know that the place is safe to visit.
You can get free SSL certificates from other places, but they will not be this easy to install, trust me. And you will have to renew them every couple of months.
With Bluehost, it’s completely hands-off, and you are always protected.
You also get a free content delivery network (CDN) through Bluehost’s partnership with Cloudflare. Again, this is going to improve site speed and performance with near-zero work on your part.
Okay, so on top of the free domain name, SSL certificate, and CDN, Bluehost gives you:
50 GB storage
Unmetered bandwidth
24/7 customer support via phone and live chat
$100 Google Ads credits
Automatic WordPress installations and updates
Custom WordPress themes
30-day full refund if you aren’t satisfied
These features are included with the Bluehost Basic shared Hosting, which starts at $2.95 per month. If you have to upgrade, prices stay affordable at the higher tiers.
You can even go for the second-most powerful package, Choice Plus, for the same price as the Plus package. The bot offers unlimited websites and storage, but Choice Plus has domain privacy included and one year of free automated backups.
Be aware that Bluehost renewal rates are about two to three times higher than the introductory rate. This is why I recommend signing up for an extended plan to max out the discount period.
Even at total price, though, Bluehost is competitively priced compared to the field. This is especially true when you consider the long list of features you get and the ease of getting set up.
It’s as hands-free of a hosting experience as you could ask for, and when you want to develop your site, all the tools are right there.
With Bluehost shared hosting, you can use another content management system (CMS) besides WordPress if you want.
If you have a new site in mind, make Bluehost your one-stop shop for getting online. Get everything set up in a single place instead of having to go through a domain registrar. Best of all, you’ll get a great deal in the process.
-
A2 Hosting- Fast & Reliable Shared Hosting
The cheapest web hosting options won’t work if you grow your eCommerce site past a certain point. But, if you are just getting your online store up and running, there is no better budget-friendly option than A2 Hosting.
You can get everything you need to launch for $2.99/month with the A2 Startup plan. Of course, you’ll have to sign a contract to get the lowest rate, but you’ll be ready to go within minutes.
Along with PayPal integration, the cheapest A2 hosting plan comes with one-click installs for five of the top eCommerce platforms, including WooCommerce, OpenCart, and Magneto. As a result, there’s hardly any backend IT work to start selling.
A2 Hosting offers some of the best site speed and security for the price, which is essential for online stores.
Shoppers won’t stay in your content is slow to load. A2 takes care of all the technical legwork that goes into maintaining high-performance servers. In addition, it’s compatible with Cloudflare’s free content delivery network, which can boost your speed as well.
Most shoppers won’t even come if Google says your site’s not safe. That’s going to happen if you don’t have an SSL certificate. A2 includes one for free, and it’s always enabled.
This is a huge perk because you can get free SSL certificates elsewhere, but it’s on you to configure and renew them, which can be frustrating.
Most of the other security benefits are similarly hands-off. For example, the virus scanner, firewall, and brute force defense are on autopilot—you’ll receive notification if there’s something you need to do, but A2 handles a lot on its own.
And if you have an issue you can’t solve, A2 will help. Read reviews. The company has some of the happiest web hosting customers on the planet. If you need to move your old site to A2’s servers, they have a team that will do it for free.
The A2 Startup plan is aptly named—it won’t be enough once your site matures. But by the time you’ve hit that milestone, your site will be bringing in more than enough money to justify the cost of upgrading.
I like A2 Hosting for online stores because of the speed, security, and generous limits on storage. For example, 100 GB is twice as much as you get with Bluehost.
And if you aren’t happy with your service, A2 Hosting will refund your account within 30 days of purchase. It’s an authentic, hassle-free money-back guarantee.
Your online reputation matters, so it’s tremendous peace of mind to know that customer service is always there. In addition, A2 Hosting representatives are incredibly knowledgeable. They will help you resolve issues quickly before your online store takes a hit.
-
HostGator – Best for Lean/Minimal Needs
HostGator is one of the most affordable hosts on this list, at least when you sign up for the promos. It’s also known for its fast speeds and simple WordPress integrations.
HostGator is best for any business that’s looking for simple websites.
If you don’t need a boatload of extra features from your web hosting provider, go with HostGator.
With Hostgator, you can lock in a meager rate and get excellent uptime for less than you paid before. In addition, after the zero-stress migration, you get high-quality customer support available any time of day by phone and live chat.
The HostGator sign-up process takes no more than a few minutes. After that, you receive several one-click installs like the one for WordPress. The website builder has a drag and drop interface for rapid designing, and the eCommerce tools and free SSL should help you secure an online store.
It’s cheaper web hosting, better service, and very few limits on what you can do. Some of the highlights include:
Unlimited storage
Unlimited bandwidth
Free SSL certificate
Free email
Free domain (or registration transfer)
One-click WordPress install
Free website builder
Free Google Ads and Bing Ads credits
The good news is that Hostgator provides tons of tools to help you optimize the content on your site and keep things running at top speed. In addition, the interface is straightforward to use, which gives you complete control over your site and databases.
Hostgator offers a 45-day money-back guarantee. If you don’t like what you see, you have more than a month to jump ship without paying a cent.
-
iPage
iPage lets you create unlimited websites for under $2/month. Every other plan on my list requires you to purchase an upgraded plan to support more than one site.
With iPage, its unlimited sites, domains, and storage. Like similar “unlimited” offerings, your service has no hard and fast limits, but there are restrictions on how much your site can demand from the shared server.
So, when iPage says they offer scalable bandwidth, it means they aren’t metering the traffic to your site. Of course, you could still hit restrictions, but there is no set cap for the number of site visitors.
Most people looking for cheap Hosting for their websites won’t have to worry too much about these limits. iPage can support 99.5% of customers without any issues at all. The company will work with you to make sure you’ve optimized your site if you start to approach restricted usage limits.
In addition to providing the cheapest multi-site hosting option, iPage gives customers access to a ton of free tools to build and nurture their site.
You get a free domain name for the first year, along with a free SSL certificate. On top of that, you get a free email with autoresponders. You can use the email provided or manage your website accounts with Microsoft Outlook and other third-party apps.
iPage Hosting includes a free website builder, which can help you customize the look and feel of all your sites. WordPress is a one-click installation, as are other popular content management systems like Joomla and Drupal.
For less than $2 per month, all of this is yours. Other benefits include:
24/7 customer service
Unlimited databases
One-click installs for OpenCart, Magneto, and PrestaShop
PayPal integration
Integration with popular email marketing software services
Site traffic reporting
30-day money-back guarantee
There is no month-to-month pricing for iPage Go. You can sign up for one, two, or three years. The longer the contract you sign, the lower the introductory pricing and renewal rate you get:
I’m not aware of another hosting provider who gives you a discount on your renewal rate for signing an extended contract, so that is a unique perk.
As I mentioned, you’ll never have to upgrade to a different shared hosting plan. You get everything they offer with iPage Go. There are hardly any limits on your resources. If your site gets too popular to be supported by shared Hosting, iPage has some more powerful hosting solutions at competitive prices.
-
GreenGeeks – Best Eco-Friendly Hosting
GreenGeeks is an eco-friendly alternative to other web hosting providers.
What does that mean? It means they’ve used renewable energy to power their web hosting services.
Aside from being good to the planet, their web hosting services are top-notch. They offer fast speeds, solid uptime, and great solutions for:
WordPress Hosting
WooCommerce Hosting
Reseller Web Hosting
Virtual Private Servers
Shared Hosting
Speaking of pricing, GreenGeeks offers three levels of managed WooCommerce Hosting:
Lite: starting at $2.49/month
Pro: starting at $4.95/month
Premium: starting at $8.95/month
The only drawback of that pricing structure is that the starting price is for a three-year commitment.
That could be a bit too much of a commitment for someone just trying GreenGeeks on for size or worried about massive, rapid scaling over that time. But GreenGeeks’ prices don’t jump up wildly for shorter terms, unlike some other providers.
Like other hosts, they provide an automatic 1-Click WordPress Installer and auto-updates to keep your WordPress site up to date.
They also provide daily backups and advanced security features to help you keep your data safe and secure.
All of this comes backed by some of the best customer support in the category. You can browse the GreenGeeks knowledge base or reach out to a rep via live chat, phone call, or email. Their phone center is available Monday through Sunday, 9 a.m. to midnight Eastern, and GreenGeeks has an excellent track record of responding to any email request within 20 minutes.
-
SiteGround
SiteGround is an excellent hosting platform for beginners and companies with smaller sites. The pricing is reasonable, you receive tech support at all times, and the WordPress integration is seamless.
Fast loading times are paramount if you want your website to gain traction. Nine out of ten potential page visitors will bail if a site takes five seconds or longer to load.
SiteGround is built to deliver top-class speed to its customers, as well as rock-solid security. And particularly for WordPress sites.
It starts with the technology their Hosting is built upon. SiteGround utilizes Google Cloud to maintain fast and stable connections, and their SSD persistent data storage ensures low latency.
Not only that, but SiteGround’s innovative developers rolled out their own, better PHP solution in late 2020—Ultrafast PHP. Through it, SiteGround delivers site speeds 30% faster than standard PHP while also reducing time to the first byte by half and memory usage by 15%.
I’ll save you the trouble of doing the math yourself—SiteGround will make your site so fast that you’ll be counting page loading times in fractions of a second rather than whole ones.
Ultrafast PHP also exemplifies SiteGround’s commitment to proactive security. They update firewall rules on this proprietary PHP weekly.
SiteGround isolates accounts on their servers, so even shared hosting customers never have to worry about one compromised account negatively impacting others.
Beyond that, they are ever-vigilant in keeping their customers’ sites secure and stable. For example, SiteGround runs server health checks every 0.5 seconds and its AI-driven anti-bot system blocks between 500,000 and 2 million brute force attacks every hour.
This combination of speed and security can work for most sites. But, as one of WordPress’ recommended web hosts, SiteGround is particularly apt at delivering this performance for WordPress sites.
They add an extra level of security, thereby constantly scanning for emergent platform vulnerabilities and offering auto-updates.
Plus, all SiteGround plans—not just their WordPress hosting options—include one-click WordPress installation, the WP Starter site builder, and auto-updates for the WordPress platform and its plugins.
Keep in mind that each plan will renew at a decently higher rate after one year. SiteGround also gives you options at checkout to pay for a 24-month or 36-month term instead.
However, SiteGround gives excellent discounts on renewals for longer than one year. For example, two-year renewals get a 20% discount on the base renewal rate, and three-year renewals get 30% off.
So, in terms of long-term value, you’re still getting the best deal by capitalizing on their great intro rate for one year upfront.
-
InMotion Hosting – Best VPS Hosting
InMotion offers truly superior technology, a wide assortment of plans, and a legion of longtime customers.
InMotion also gives you a massive self-help knowledge base. So if there’s something wrong, there’s probably a guide out there to help you.
Customer support is also among the best. Don’t believe it? Try for yourself. InMotion’s 90-day free trial period for shared Hosting is one of the longest around and gives you plenty of time to test out InMotion’s support team.
InMotion’s plans are really straightforward and almost identical. As you upgrade, you’ll get faster servers and different databases, websites, and subdomains. I like a direct approach, especially for small businesses and websites that aren’t overly complex. No pushy upsell or confusing tiers to worry about.
Even the entry-level plans have excellent customer support. It’s 24/7 via five communication channels: phone, chat, email, tutorials, and Q&A, actively answered.
I also appreciate that none of this support is hidden or hard to find. For example, the phone number is broadcast at the top of the page, and the chat support login is easy to find in your admin panel.
There’s nothing more annoying than 24/7 support that requires you first unearth the contact methods on your own. It’s a waste of time and tells me exactly what I need to know about the host.
I also appreciate that the support is available at your level — whether you’re just starting and need someone to walk you through the ultimate basics with a friendly and supportive demeanor, or you want someone who can talk specs and technical nuances like a pro, the InMotion support has you covered.
InMotion also has some of the best VPS hosting options. They even have two types of VPS hosting so you can get the exact amount of support or flexibility that you want:
InMotion regularly runs promo pricing, with deals that start as low as $5/month. Standard pricing for shared Hosting bumps up to $8–$9/month after the initial contract is up.
10 Nexcess – Best for scaling and growth
Nexcess is a web hosting solution from Liquid Web.
Where they shine is managed eCommerce hosting. They offer e-commerce hosting for:
Magento
Woocommerce
WordPress
Drupal
BigCommerce
Sylius
ExpressionEngine
Craft CMS
Eurocom
So if you’re looking to make an online store, they should be a top consideration for you.
Their Nexcess Cloud Accelerator—a feature that adds a layer on the cloud stack that increases the speed of your website’s loading time. That’s a massive boon because speed is everything when keeping your customers on your website and browsing.
They also offer a massive suite of plans for each of their web hosts.
This makes Nexcess perfect for any growing business looking to scale. No matter where you are with your business, there’s likely a plan for you with Nexcess.
On top of that, they have a dedicated support team available 24/7 to help you address any technical issues as they occur. Very important when it comes to web hosting.
If you’re running an eCommerce website or a startup that you know will increase, Nexcess should be in consideration.
Prices vary depending on which CMS platform you want to use. But their WordPress plans start at $15.84/month
11: Namecheap
12: interserver
While times may change, our commitment to our customers never waivers! For the last 22 years, our team has been committed to helping you drive your business and reach your goals. Although technology has changed since we started in 1999, our core principles of quality, service, and support have remained the same. Our company has evolved its product offering to include Shared Hosting, Cloud Hosting, Quick Servers, and Dedicated Servers, along with colocation services to continue to exceed our customers’ expectations and remain BEST IN CLASS.
InterServer can provide its extensive customer base with innovative products and services designed to complement its existing businesses as a leading Webhosting provider. We service customers ranging from individual freelancers to Fortune 500 companies, both domestic and international. InterServer takes tremendous pride in our commitment to ensure security, reliability, and technical expertise for each customer. In addition, we are one of the few service providers that offer around-the-clock customer support with live representatives available 24/7.
What I Looked at to Find the Best Cheap Web Hosting
You’re looking for the cheapest plan out there, but you still need a dependable host.
Some of the features to look out for include:
Ad credits: free Google or Bing advertising credits to target your audience
Domain name: your site’s online address at www.your-domain-name.com
Email account: an address @your-domain-name.com
SSL Certificates: protects online privacy and lets visitors know your site is secure
Visual website builder: an application that allows even total newbies to design beautiful pages
Everything included with your hosting plan is something you don’t have to spend more money on.
It’s not hard to register your domain name, but if your hosting plan includes it, that’s going to save you $10-15 in the first year.
Getting a free professional email is another $30 in your pocket. The freebies add up.
