The Best Web Hosting Companies
Web hosting companies are the backbone of any business with an online presence. Running a website would not be possible without them. However, there are many touting their services offering various options, and it can be a bit confusing to choose the best web hosting companies for your business.
Before getting into the list, let’s take a quick look at the different types of hosting available:
Cloud-based hosting is ideal for companies that need a lot of storage space but do not want to deal with the costs of in-house servers and redundancies.
E-commerce hosting is specific to businesses selling products online as they often come with an email server and web hosting features.
In terms of resources, you have shared, virtual private, and dedicated server hosting options.
- Shared hosting is like sharing an apartment with other people. You spend less, but you also have less flexibility.
- Virtual private server hosting is like having a condo where you have more space, but you also share some resources with other users.
- Dedicated server hosting is like having a house all to yourself over which you have total control.
As you can probably expect, dedicated hosting is the most expensive type of web hosting service.
Most web hosting companies will offer most of these options to their subscribers. After all, it is mostly a matter of distributing the right amount of space. The value to you as a website owner is choosing the plan offered by these web hosting companies that will give you the features and flexibility you need.
With that out of the way, let’s get on with the list of the best web hosting companies.
Dreamhost
DreamHost is a web hosting service recommended by WordPress. It has many things going for it that make it an excellent choice for companies of all sizes.
DreamHost does not use the standard cPanel but provides users with a custom control panel, allowing them to manage their own hosting more easily. Some plans include managed WordPress hosting with varying levels of features. DreamHost also uses superfast SSDs for storage, consists of a free SSL certificate for domains, and gives SSH access for tech-savvy users.
However, the real selling point of DreamHost is its no-frills solid hosting coupled with very low starting prices starting at just $2.59 a month (three-year contract) for WordPress hosting with a 97-day money-back guarantee. If you want a Virtual Private Server, crank the monthly up to $10 a month.
Note, however, that the prices on the website are promotional offers available for new accounts. Upon renewal, the costs go up considerably.
For example, the basic WordPress hosting plan at $2.59 a month for a three-year contract goes up to the current rate, which at the time of this publishing is $5.99 a month. Quite a leap, but still very affordable.
For 501(c)(3) nonprofits, DreamHost offers totally free website and email hosting.
For everyone else, the email server comes at an extra cost of $1.67 a month, and it only has chat support during business hours. You can ask for help over email, but if your site is down, you want answers quickly. DreamHost does offer technical support over the phone, but you must pay an added $9.95 a month.
Another problem is while it is easy to migrate to DreamHost using its free plugin, it is much harder to migrate off it. However, with their solid hosting performance, one website, and unlimited traffic they offer for the basic plan, you might not want to leave anyway.
SiteGround
SiteGround is a scalable web hosting service ideal for startups with plans to expand or a small company with complex business needs. The best things about SiteGround are its fast loading speed and solid security, particularly for sites built on WordPress.
The reason for these functionalities is the technology it uses. SiteGround uses Google Cloud and SSD persistent data storage to ensure stable connections and low latency. Its development team has also created the Ultrafast PHP, which further enhances site speeds by 30% compared to standard PHP sites and reduces its memory usage by 15% at the same time.
As a result, sites hosted on SiteGround load pages in a fraction of a second.
In addition, the firewall rules for Ultrafast PHP update weekly, intending to reduce the likelihood of security breaches proactively. In addition, its AI-enabled anti-bot system blocks up to 2 million force attack attempts hourly.
Shared hosting customers also need not worry about other accounts impacting their sites’ performance; SiteGround isolates accounts to prevent a domino effect in case of adverse events to one or more accounts.
SiteGround works very well with WordPress. All plans include a WP Starter site builder, one-click WP installation, and auto-updates for WP and its plugins. Customer service consists of the standard 24/7 live chat and phone support, and they answer tickets at an average of 15 minutes.
Web and WordPress hosting plans both start at $3.99 a month and come with one website, free SSL, free CDN, and free email. All plans include a 30-day money-back guarantee and a 100% renewable energy match.
GreenGeeks
GreenGeeks, as the name implies, is an environment-friendly web hosting provider.
The company uses renewable energy for all its services, which also happen to be excellent. GreenGeeks prides itself in delivering fast loading speed and stable connections, particularly good for WordPress, WooCommerce, Reseller Web, Virtual Private Server, and Shared Hosting.
GreenGeeks offer most of the standard features for WordPress hosting, such as one-click WordPress installation and auto-updates for the WP platform and its plugins. To keep their customers’ data safe, the company schedules daily backups and implements advanced security protocols.
In addition, GreenGeeks keeps up with the latest technologies such as SSD, PHP7, and CDN to ensure the websites they choose are always fast loading and secure. It is one of the most developer-friendly web hosting service providers on this list.
Customer service is responsive via 24/7 support through phone, chat, or ticket system. For companies looking for an environmentally friendly alternative to web hosting companies, GreenGeeks is one of the top choices.
The basic shared hosting plan is $2.49 a month and comes with one website, free SSL, free CDM, and 50 email accounts. GreenGeeks offers a 300% renewable energy match and a 30-day money-back guarantee for all its plans.
Hostinger
Based in Lithuania, Hostinger offers the lowest prices for shared hosting services on this list at just $1.39 a month with a four-year contract.
It sounds incredibly low and a little suspicious, but it is solid in terms of load times, uptime, and support. In fact, Hostinger offers a 99.9% uptime guarantee as well as a 30-day money-back guarantee.
True, the features tend to be on the basic side, and the email hosting will set you back a whopping $0.99 more a month, but most plans have everything you might need to build a new site without much trouble. It has decent marketing tools, and the Hostinger Panel is very user-friendly, suitable for those with little or no experience in website development.
In addition, all Hostinger plans come with an email account, free SSL, managed WordPress, databases, and GIT access. It really does not feel cheap.
Take note that the published rates on the site are promotional, so that they will increase upon renewal. However, the non-promotional rate is still low, starting at $2.99 a month for its single-site plan.
If you plan for more than one website, go for the Premium Shared Hosting at a promotional $2.59 per month (3-year contract). The Premium plan is good for 100 websites and even comes with Google ads credit.
A2 Hosting
A2 Hosting is a web hosting company that prides itself on its “Blazing Fast Hosting.”
While this might be a slight exaggeration, there is no denying that it beats the speeds of most other web hosting service providers, particularly if you get the Turbo plans. A2 Hosting claims it is 20 times faster than other servers.
Aside from high speeds, A2 Hosting offers some great features, including:
- 24/7/365 Guru Crew Support
- 99.9% Uptime Commitment
- Automatic backup
- Site migration
- SSL Certificate
- Unlimited SSD space and transfer
A2 Hosting has a 99.9% uptime commitment for all its plans, which means your site will not go down often. It also offers free site migration from your previous host, saving you hours in rebuilding your site. A2 Hosting also includes one-click installs for several CMS tools such as Magento, Drupal, and WordPress.
Its Guru Crew Support is also a good incentive for anyone who has ever had to deal with lousy customer service to sign up for A2 Hosting. The support team is available 24/7 via email, chat, phone, or ticket.
A2 Hosting also offers an anytime prorated money-back guarantee, meaning subscribers can get back money for unused service at any time.
The promotional rate for A2 Hosting starts at $2.99 a month for a three-year contract on its Startup shared hosting plan. It is suitable for one website that is WordPress, Drupal and Joomla optimized and includes free site migration. If you need more than one site, you are better off getting the Drive for $5.99 a month for hosting unlimited websites and SSD storage.