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Every web hosting company claims to be the best, but our test reveals otherwise. In this web hosting review and guide, we rank the best types of website hosting for different use circumstances.
Popular hosting providers
Cloudways
Best for clod web hosting
A2 Hosting
Best value for your money
DreamHost
Best for small business
To make your decision easier and select the best hosting provider, we researched leading web hosts to identify the best web hosting services. Use our web hosting comparisons and ratings to find the best web host for you faster.
Our Top Best Web Hosting Services for 2023 Rating
Best website hosting provider
If you’re looking for a fast web hosting provider to give your core web vital score a boost and make your site load faster, this is it. Cloudways offers solid performance for your business critical or large website, fine-tuned to make your website load faster.
Hosted websites pass Google core web vitals test.
Cloud web hosting for the price of shared webhost.
5 world class cloud providers option to choose from.
Best webhost with great customer support
High-powered web hosting with turbo servers to boost your website’s loading speed.
Websites hosted on A2 load faster than most.
Anytime money-back guarantee.
Exceptional and very helpful customer service support: 24/7 phone, chat, call.
Free SSL certificate, business email and website migration.
Great value with month-to-month hosting plans for small businesses.
Website and WordPress hosting starting at $1.99 per month.
Website builder and hosting, with free domain name and SSL.
Guaranteed 99.9% uptime, with 24/7 support.
Extremely easy and reliable hosting with plenty of advanced security add-ons for beginners.
Recommended by WordPress for hosting WP sites.
Easy website setup, 1-Click WordPress installation with plenty of security addons.
Free domain, SSL, and website builder for beginners.
Reliable web hosting company.
Most robust shared hosting plans.
Easy-to-use control panel.
Free domain and SSL certificate.
Powerful VPS and Dedicated server hosting solutions.
Solid dedicated hosting servers.
Cheapest VPS and dedicated server hosting services.
Generous money back guarantee.
Premium malware and hack protection.
Complete server solutions.
Each service featured here has been selected based on our test’s website speed, web hosting price, security, performance, user reviews and essential website hosting packages extras, such as a free SSL certificate, website migration and business email.
The Best Web Hosting Services in 2023
- Best overall: Cloudways (fastest servers).
- Best for speed: A2 Hosting.
- Best web host for beginners: Bluehost.
- Best for small and growing businesses: Dreamhost.
- Best for cheap website hosting services: HostGator.
- Best for WordPress hosting: SiteGround.
- Best for VPS and dedicated server hosting: InMotion Hosting.
Our test report, and hosted website’s performance results
Expert Advice based on performance analysis report:
Every web hosting company offers WordPress hosting as a service; however, some have better performance results than others.
If you are looking for a webhost you can truly trust for exceptional performance across your websites and apps, we recommend Cloudways. It’s simply the fastest hosting provider on the market, and offers affordable managed and scalable hosting services from world class providers such as Google cloud web hosting, Amazon AWS, Linode, Vultr, and Digital Ocean.
We like that the hosting packages covers everything from WordPress hosting to PHP, Magento, Ecommerce, Laravel and Reseller hosting.
In our tests, our websites hosted on Cloudways easily passed the core web vital test and had an overall great user and good page experience score in Google search console, which is important today, if you want to rank high in search engines and retain your website visitors.
You can try Cloudways for free (no card required), and explore all of its features (it’s easy to use, really), to find out if it’s the best option for you. Alternatively, you can get started with A2 hosting if you are on a budget.
Skip To: Top rated hosting providers (NEW) | Web hosting comparison | In-depth web hosting service reviews and analysis | How to choose the best web hosting.
Know this: Any web host with access to servers connected to the internet can host your website files (really), but the best web hosting services give you a reliable, fast, secure and easy way to keep your websites and apps online without any trouble.
Web Hosting Comparison: Compare website hosting services side by side
Web hosting comparison chart.
| Web host | Overall customer rating | Real Price (Mo.) | Traffic | Disk Space |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Cloudways | 5.0 | $12 | 2TB bandwidth | 2GB |
| Bluehost | 4.5 | $2.95 | 15K | 10GB |
| A2 Hosting | 5.0 | $6.99 | Unlimited | 100GB |
| DreamHost | 4.5 | $2.59 | Unlimited | N/A |
| HostGator | 5.0 | $2.75 | Unlimited | N/A |
Comparing Prices
Every web host has an introductory price (usually with a massive discount) for both short- and long-term commitment. With website hosting companies, the rules are all the same – the longer the plan you choose, the less you pay.
For this test, I wanted to find out the real prices for the first 12 Months, and not the advertised almost zero prices most web hosts claim for 2 – 3yrs plans.
The result (Cheapest web hosting services)
When it comes to pricing and how cheap a web hosting service is, HostGator tops the list as the cheapest web hosting provider. Their hosting plans and packages start at just $2.75 per month for the first 12 months and includes a free website domain.
Our Web Hosting Reviews and In-Depth Analysis
After countless hours of careful review, testing and comparison of a wide range of hosting sites and services, the best web hosting provider in 2023 is Cloudways (for high performance), or Bluehost webhosting, if you are a beginner. We recommend Cloudways because it has the fastest hosting servers we’ve used to date, and Bluehost for beginners because it is suitable for most web hosting service types and includes everything your website needs at a great price.
Best overall web hosting platform
Cloudways
Try it for FREE
Use Code: “ITTVIS” to get 10% OFF your first 3months
At the very top of our list of the best website hosting is Cloudways. Cloudways is our top-rated best web hosting company because it has solid performance and really fast servers guaranteed to supercharge your website’s performance.
Who should use it:
Cloudways is the best web host if you need truly reliable hosting for your business-critical websites and apps. It is not the cheapest hosting provider we tested, but thousands of users and website owners agree it’s worth every penny.
“In 2023, it will be crucial for websites to load incredibly quickly. A quick loading website significantly enhances the client experience, which results in more money in your wallet. I think this is what business owners like us really want, a reliable web host with the fastest servers so our websites can perform better, rank higher, and improve our customers’ experience. So far, Cloudways is the fastest web hosting I have used till date for great results.” Says Craig Macaulay, Business technology analyst, ITT Visual Information Solutions.
Pros:
- Faster page loads with 99% uptime for high performance.
- Easy to use and navigate for instant website set up.
- Scalable web hosting for agencies and “never fail” businesses.
- Enterprise-grade security and performance integrated with Cloudflare.
Cons:
- It is not the cheapest web hosting.
- Although it’s easy to use and set up, you would need a little bit of walkthroughs if you are a novice user. Which is why there is a free plan to get started for free.
Why we picked it, and our experience.
Out of the 20+ web hosts we tested and reviewed, our websites hosted on Cloudways performed better, loads faster and scored excellent on the Google webmaster search console.
To test the raw strength of the Cloudways hosting platform, we created our test website (with heavy images, texts and video) and let it sit for a 30-day observation period.
Without any special setup or technical configuration, our test websites easily passed the whole core web vital and had an overall good user experience score from Google.
What sets it apart from other web hosts:
Unlike most web hosts we tried, the hosting environment of Cloudways is entirely different. It’s like being the web host of other high performance cloud web hosting providers. You can take a look for yourself here.
On the Cloudways hosting platform, you have the option to choose from any of the high-performance cloud web hosting servers including Google cloud web hosting, Amazon AWS, Linode, Vultr and Digital Ocean.
Bottom line and our expert’s opinion.
Overall, Cloudways is an excellent web host for businesses in need of high-performance hosting to supercharge websites performance, always stay online and improve user experience. It is a great choice for you if you run a serious “no-fail” business or need an instant boost to your website’s performance.
Whether you own a small or high trafficked website, the auto scaling feature lets you scale at will, so you can be rest assured of solid performance even as your business grows.
- We liked that the platform takes website security seriously with its implementation of enterprise grade security and Cloudflare integration.
- There is also automated daily website or apps backup, so you can be rest assured to recover your site fully if there are cases of hack attempts.
Best for website speed and customer support
A2 Hosting
A2 Hosting should be your first choice if you’re looking for the most reliable and affordable web hosting for fast loading websites speed that will pass the latest core web vital signals.
A2 Hosting has the fastest web hosting services we’ve tested so far in 2023 (on the entry level shared hosting category). The reason this webhost is fast is majorly because the company features its own turbo technology and servers that boost site performance and increase overall website loading speed.
| Best for | Fast website hosting, Website speed boost |
| Pricing | Basic plan starts at $2.99/mo. (Only when you buy the longest plan) |
| Storage | Unmetered bandwidth with unlimited storage |
| Uptime | 99.99% |
| Website hosting services | Shared hosting, Managed WordPress hosting, Cloud, VPS and dedicated server hosting. |
Who is A2 Hosting best for?
- People who want an improved website loading speed
- Any website owner who wants to improve their core web vital score
- Those who want very simple, basic and straightforward website hosting setup.
- Beginners and starters.
Things we like
- Free SSL certificates.
- Free website migration.
- outstanding customer support service.
- Turbo servers 20x faster than regular servers to boost website overall performance.
Things we dislike
- The cost of renewal is much higher than what you paid initially.
What sets A2 Hosting apart from the other hosting providers
- A2 Hosting utilizes its own speed technology known as “A2 turbo servers” that boosts your website loading speed.
How A2 compares against other webhosts in same category of performance
A2 Hosting vs SiteGround (Speed test).
A2 uses turbo servers across its web hosting plans to boost site speed, SiteGround uses Google cloud. Although they are both fast, the difference is in their prices. A2 hosting plans start at $2.3/mo. with unlimited access to server resources and storage, while SiteGround starts at $4.99/mo. with limits to server resources and storage.
A2 Hosting vs DreamHost (performance test).
- DreamHost focuses more on helping small business grow with their webhost, but A2 on the other hand is all about scaling and speed.
Expert recommendation
Use A2 Hosting if you are more concerned about your website speed and optimization but do not want to pay much for a managed hosting solution. You can always upgrade later to a VPS or cloud hosting as your website traffic increases.
Best web host for beginners to build WordPress websites
Bluehost
Are you looking for the best web hosting for beginners?
Bluehost is our top-rated web hosting pick for the easiest and best web hosting for beginners because of its beginner friendly hosting packages that gives you everything you need to start and manage your website at an affordable price. From entry level hosting prices to easy website set up process, free domain and a website builder for building WordPress sites quickly.
The onboarding process is very easy, and your website setup can be done in just 4 clicks.
Why we picked it
Bluehost is one of the largest and most popular web hosting companies in the world because of its entry level hosting packages, ease of use and affordable website hosting services to help you get started quickly. It is not the cheapest web hosting provider on our list, but certainly the easiest to help you get started even if you are a novice user.
Currently, there are over 2 million websites hosted on Bluehost, and most of the users agree it’s a great choice if you want to get started quickly and easily.
Bluehost webhosting is popular for a lot of reasons. First off, Bluehost is a reliable low-cost entry level web hosting company offering website hosting services with plans and packages for beginners and starters at a relatively cheap and affordable price.
| Best for | Beginners, WordPress |
| Pricing | Basic plan starts at $2.7/mo. (Only when you pay for the longest term) |
| Storage | Unlimited |
| Uptime | 99.98% |
| website hosting packages | Shared hosting, WordPress hosting, Cloud and VPS hosting |
Here’s what the professional business technology analysts say:
“I think we can all agree that Bluehost low-entry cost and ease of use meet our basic need as beginner website owners.” – says Stephanie Ruhle, Business technology analyst, ITT Visual Information Solutions
The hosting plans and packages offered on Bluehost are affordable and cuts across various web hosting services such as: shared hosting, WordPress hosting, website builder, cloud hosting and dedicated virtual private server hosting.
With different website services available, you can choose the hosting plan and package that meets your website needs and budget.
Who is Bluehost webhosting best suited for:
- Bluehost is great if you need cheap web hosting that still performs well.
- Those who want very simple, basic and straightforward website hosting setup.
- If you are a beginner or starter.
What we like:
- Free domain hosting
- Free SSL certificates
- Free website migration
What we dislike:
- The customer service support was not so great, compared to that of A2 Hosting.
Performance analysis
In our uptime analysis, (where we use a third-party website monitoring service to verify their claim of 99.99% uptime) the company had a third-party-verified 99.98 percent server uptime rating and scored a fast response time in our Siege benchmark tests. For customer service support, they have a 24/7 phone, web, and ticket-based support.
When it came to our ease-of-use test, Bluehost has an easy-to-use cPanel back end with one-click application installation support for major and popular website creation tools, including WordPress, Magento and other content management systems.
There is an upgrade path for users that need to move to a VPS or dedicated server hosting plan and we liked how easy it was for users to switch between website hosting plans and services.
Should you decide to do an upgrade, you get a free site migration fee if moved within 30 days of upgrading. This, however, didn’t really interest us, because we saw other hosting providers such as A2 Hosting, do free website migrations regardless of when you decide to move.
How Bluehost compares against other web hosting sites in same category of performance.
Bluehost vs HostGator (ease of use test).
- When it comes to simplicity, compared to HostGator, Bluehost user interface and website set up process is easier to use and navigate for starters than that of HostGator.
Bluehost vs A2 hosting (performance test).
- While Bluehost has one of the easiest website hosting setup processes we’ve seen, its speed doesn’t match that of A2 Hosting. Our test websites hosted on A2 hosting loaded faster, but Bluehost was easier to use and cost less.
Bottom line and our expert’s opinion based on our use experience.
Overall, Bluehost is an excellent choice for beginners and small business owners since it comes with everything you need to get started with website creation and WordPress. From a free domain name and 1-click WordPress installation to a free drag-and-drop page builder and thorough step-by-step instructions to simplify the whole process.
You can use Bluehost webhosting if you are a small business owner or starter and want to cut costs at the beginning of your website hosting. Bluehost is also very easy to set up, so, you will find it easy enough if it’s your first time hosting a website. But if you have an already established website that’s receiving a reasonable amount of traffic, you will find Cloudways a more suitable option.
Best for cheap shared hosting services
HostGator
HostGator is an excellent web hosting service provider that offers a wide range of hosting packages with powerful tools, including an intuitive website builder, for bloggers and small businesses.
Why we picked it
HostGator takes the top spot as the most reliable cheapest web hosting provider with exceptional website hosting services because it has the most robust hosting packages and tools to help you get started for cheap or build your site quickly.
If you need our expert opinion: HostGator is the best web host for you if you’re looking for cheap web hosting that you can reliably trust to power your websites and apps at an affordable price.
Here’s what the experts have to say about HostGator web hosting:
“Unlike some web hosts, HostGator does include support in all its plans regardless of your skill level. If you want a hosting plan that’s cheap and includes support to always assist you, this is the host for you.” says Lars Lofgren, Digital Marketer at Quick Sprout
“HostGator is an excellent web hosting service that offers an array of powerful tools, including a terrific website builder, for bloggers and small businesses” says Jeffrey L. Wilson, Editor at PCMag
Who should use it:
Small and midsize businesses that want to quickly build a website, start a blog with no technical knowledge required. HostGator is a great choice if you need a simple, reliable or shared web hosting service.
Best for small and growing businesses
DreamHost
If you’re a novice user when it comes to managing your website, the best web hosting for your small business is a webhost that can provide you with all the technical support, and tools to manage your business and make sure your site is up and running just the way you want it.
Dreamhost tops our list as the best web hosting for small business because it offers easy month to month payment plans and cheap website services tailored towards helping small business owners like you build, host and grow your website online.
| Best for | Small business, Cheap cloud hosting |
| Pricing | Basic plan starts at $1.99/mo. (Only when you are buying the longest plan) |
| Storage | Unlimited storage and bandwidth. |
| Uptime score rating | 99.98% |
| Hosting types | Shared web hosting, Managed WordPress hosting, Cloud, VPS hosting and dedicated server hosting. |
Who is Dream Host best suited for?
- People who want a cheap and affordable month-to-month payment hosting plan.
- Small business owners trying to save costs.
- Any webmaster who wants to start small and grow later
- Beginning bloggers and small business owners.
Pros.
- Free website domain hosting (1 year) with SSL certificates.
- Free website migration.
- Officially recommended by WordPress for WordPress users
- WP website builder.
- Affordable month to month hosting plan.
Cons.
- The cost of renewal is higher than what you initially paid to set up your website.
What sets DreamHost apart from the other web hosts:
- First off, DreamHost is an officially recommended webhost by WordPress developers themselves for WordPress users.
- While most web hosting providers nowadays have the option to pay for month-to-month usage, Dreamhost has the most affordable month to month web hosting plans.
- DreamHost doesn’t use the default cPanel hosting dashboard like the rest of the other hosts, instead they utilize their own custom admin panel for easier navigation.
Expert knowledge: What do we recommend?
DreamHost is a great option if you want to easily manage your small business website and get started for cheap. You will also find DreamHost rewarding if in the long run you decide to switch from an annual hosting subscription to a monthly payment plan. While these two are key power points for DreamHost, it’s overall, a great and affordable web hosting service provider.
Best for WordPress website hosting
SiteGround
| Pricing | Basic plan starts at $4.99/mo. (Only when you are buying the longest-term plan) |
| Storage | 10 GB web space |
| Uptime | 99.99% |
| Hosting services | Shared web hosting, Managed WordPress hosting, and WooCommerce (ecommerce) hosting. |
SiteGround is a highly rated web hosting provider for WordPress websites. The company claims to offer the best managed WP hosting services, but our experts disagree.
SiteGround is one of WordPress recommended web hosts built to deliver top-class speed and rock-solid security for WordPress websites. The company utilizes Google Cloud to maintain a fast, reliable and solid performance for WordPress websites.
We currently rank SiteGround as one of the best web hosting providers for WordPress hosting WordPress sites in our web hosting company comparison.
Performance analysis:
What really sets SiteGround apart from the other webhosts is its premium hosting technologies that you get for cheap, and when it comes to hosting WordPress websites, the heavy security features across all of its plans.
WordPress sites see a lot of hack attempts, but with SiteGround, you won’t have to worry about site speed or security.
For example, all plans include enhanced security with an AI anti-bot and a custom WAF (web application firewall). There’s also a free CDN to increase your site speed and enhance your site users experience. As with every other trusted web host, you get a free SSL certificate, automatic daily backups and HTTP/2-enabled servers.
Is SiteGround a suitable webhost for your website?
If you intend to build a WordPress website or host your own online store at an affordable price (while getting top class features found in premium hosting), you will find the services on SiteGroud a complete hosting package for your online business.
However, if you need a truly managed wordpress hosting for your large site, we recommend you opt in for a fully managed WP hosting like Cloudways or Nexcess.
Best for green eco-friendly hosting
GreenGeeks
If you’re looking for a green web hosting that is eco-friendly, GreenGeeks is the best green hosting service provider of all time.
Why we picked it
We picked Green Geeks as the best green web hosting because it is the only hosting provider in our tests that made such an impressive commitment to sustainability.
Eco-friendly servers.
As reported by Forbes hosting experts, “an average website with 10,000 page views per month could be responsible for emitting up to 4,700 lbs. of CO2, equivalent to driving a car for over 5,000 miles.”
GreenGeeks is a recognized EPA Green Power Partner, meaning it works with environmental foundations to purchase three times as many wind energy credits as the amount it consumes through its servers. It not only erases its own carbon footprint, it effectively erases two like-sized companies’ footprint, too.
High uptime.
Just because GreenGeeks prioritizes energy efficiency doesn’t mean it sacrifices reliability and speed.
GreenGeeks has four dedicated servers in North America and boasts an impressive 99.98% server uptime, so you can be confident website crashes will be kept to a minimum. And in the rare event that your site does go down, it even offers free nightly backups on all of its plans.
Relatively inexpensive web hosting services.
Along with Bluehost, GreenGeeks was one of the cheapest web hosting sites we found that met all of our criteria. Its most basic plan costs less than $50 per year, compared to a $60 average for the rest of our top picks.
What you should know and points to consider
The customer support service is somehow Slow
The biggest downside to choosing GreenGeeks is that it doesn’t have the same level of customer support as the rest of our top picks.
Live chat is available 24/7, but we were unable to reach agents several times during our tests.
You’ll also only be able to reach GreenGeeks by phone Monday to Friday 9am – midnight, Eastern Time, and Saturday to Sunday 9am – 8pm. That said, we found the customer service to be knowledgeable and friendly — you just might have to wait a while to get through
Best for reliability/VPS and dedicated server hosting
InMotion Hosting
Best dedicated server hosting
If what you need is high-quality VPS hosting, InMotion Hosting is one of the best hosting providers when it comes to VPS and dedicated server hosting.
InMotion Hosting tops our list as the best hosting provider for VPS and dedicated server hosting because of its exceptional technical support, reliable servers and powerful performance levels that satisfies nearly every web hosting need.
Why we picked it
For our VPS and dedicated server hosting category of performance, InMotion Hosting had more robust features that completely align with modern VPS and dedicated server hosting standard than most other hosting companies.
Performance analysis and report
InMotion Hosting is one of the best web hosts in the industry with numerous robust features that satisfy nearly every web hosting need.
The company offers shared hosting, WordPress hosting, managed hosting, VPS, and dedicated server hosting just like every other webhost. However, it excels greatly at VPS and dedicated server hosting.
Performance report:
In our web hosting comparison and performance test, InMotion Hosting ranks highly for its exceptional technical support, reliable and powerful performance levels across a wide range of hosting plans and packages.
Whether you’re looking for shared, cloud, VPS, or reseller hosting, InMotion has the pricing and tools to make your website goal a reality.
Other website hosting alternatives from our web hosting reviews and test you can consider using
In our web hosting reviews and analysis, we also found other top performing website hosting sites such as WP Engine and WPX hosting to be great hosting solutions for high trafficked and large websites. For small businesses and beginners looking for web hosting on a budget, Hostinger, HostGator, InMotion hosting, HostPapa and GoDaddy are great web hosts that provide website hosting services on a budget.
Web Hosting Deals and Offers This Week*
Our hosting deals are selected and monitored by our commerce team.
- Cloudways cloud web hosting – Get 10% Off your first 3-months (Use code “ITTVIS” during checkout)
- Bluehost webhosting – $2.75 Per month + free domain registration (List price $9.99/month*)
- A2 Hosting – $2.99 Per Month + 60% OFF on all hosting plans (List Price $10 Monthly)
- DreamHost web hosting – $2.95 Per month + Free website domain hosting (Save 63% over monthly)
- HostGator web hosting – $2.75/month* for shared hosting with free domain included
How to choose a good web host for your website in 3 simple steps
Choose a web host based on your website needs
The first right step to choosing the right website hosting solution for your site hosting is to first evaluate what you intend to do with your website.
The reason is because a good web host is one that supports the platforms or tools you need to create the website you want. In addition to that, you will be provided with adequate storage, speed, and reliability for your website.
So, assuming you want to create a website with an online store that processes payment, or you are writing a blog, you would need something that supports those features.
Some web hosts offer tools and infrastructure that specialize in particular types of websites or functionality. One that works for somebody else might not be the right fit for you, so make sure to find a web host that really meets your particular needs.
Google domains
Know your budget
The next step to take after outlining your website needs is to check for prices and choose a web hosting service you can afford and grow with.
Ask yourself, how much are you willing to spend on your website hosting? Will it affect the other financial operations your business needs?
Check and compare prices of different webhosts and the features they offer to find the one best suitable for you.
A webhost is only just the first step to creating your website, and you should only invest what you can afford.
Review and compare key hosting factors
Generally, the most basic things every web hosting service provider should have are: good uptime, security and ease of use.
Other specific things to be on the lookout for in a web host will vary depending on your website needs.
This list will help you figure out figure out what matters most to you.
- Signup and renewal price: In addition to the cost of signup, ensure you check for renewal rates and carefully read pricing details to check for any hidden fees or obligations.
- Technical needs and support: Make sure the web hosting provider or website builder you choose have all the tools your website needs to function right now, and in the future should in any case you decide to expand.
- Check for management settings and ease of use: Who will be managing the website and perform tasks such as updating site content? will it be you or a web professional? If you, does the web host setup make it easy for you to access?
- Cancellation policy: Check the refund or money back policy to know what you stand to gain or lose if eventually the web host didn’t meet your expectation.
- Other things include: Ease of setup, customization and customer service support.
Of a truth, there is not a single hosting provider that beats all other hosting sites to become the absolute best, it is all a matter of preference, budget, hosting service type and additional website services you need from a webhost to power your business.
What makes a web host great and features to look for in a good web hosting provider
A good web hosting provider delivers the reliability and power you need to keep your websites or apps online.
The best web hosting or any good web host should have the following:
- Fast servers optimized for website speed.
- Sufficient storage and disk Space.
- Good customer service to help and support your website.
- Good website uptime records.
- Additional features for your website set-up.
- Fair Pricing.
This is also exactly how we test and analyze the best web hosting in 2023.
Expert Advice:
Which Hosting Service is Right for You?
Not to be confused with a web hosting provider, a web hosting service is a type of Internet hosting service that allows individuals and organizations to make their website accessible via the World Wide Web. The difference between a web hosting service and a web hosting provider is that, a web hosting service is the actual type of hosting service you pay for, while a hosting provider is the company that provides and manages these website hosting services.
There’s no such thing as a one-size-fits-all web hosting, but Shared hosting is a good place to start if you are just starting out and on a budget. If you own an already established website, you are better off with managed VPS hosting.
- Use shared hosting if you need web hosting on a budget or just trying to host your website as a beginner with little money.
- Use a managed VPS hosting service if your business requires more flexibility or if your website is beginning to attract much traffic.
- A Managed WordPress hosting service is a great option for you, if you are building a WordPress website and need it to be as optimized as possible. Managed WordPress hosting also takes out all the stress involved with regular cPanel web hosting.
Included With Every Website Hosting Service
We made sure our top-rated webhosts had the following factors that make a good host:
99.9% uptime guarantee
We ensured each web hosting provider had a rating score of 99.9% 3rd party verified uptime.
30 days money back guarantee
A good web host should have a money return policy of at least 30 days.
Free domain hosting
All web hosting plans come with a 1-year free websites domain.
cPanel hosting access
We checked for web hosting sites with easy access to cPanel.
24/7 customer support
We tested their customer support service to see how knowledgeable they are.
Types of Web Hosting
A web host provides the technology and services that enable you to store your website files on the internet for easy accessibility.
Web hosting services come in different types, shapes and sizes namely; Shared hosting, dedicated hosting, VPS, managed hosting, server cores, cloud hosting and more. Thus, no single web hosting service provider is the best option for every website owner, business or budget.
The various types of web hosting are:
- Shared hosting.
- Cloud web hosting.
- Managed WordPress hosting.
- Business web hosting.
- VPS (Virtual private server) hosting.
- Dedicated server hosting.
1. Shared Hosting
What is shared hosting?
Shared web hosting is a type of website hosting that consists of multiple websites hosted on the same web server owned by the web host. It is often the most popular (and cheapest) method of web hosting.
Is shared hosting right for you?
- If your site has high traffic, you might not want to go with shared hosting. Sometimes, resources aren’t shared equally when it comes to this hosting method.
A server provides resources like hard drive space and RAM for storing files. These resources can slow down if a site you’re sharing the server with is receiving tons of visitors or has incorrect coding.
This can lead to your website going down or experiencing super slow load times. Therefore, only go with shared hosting if you are just starting out, do not have lots of traffic or if your revenue doesn’t depend on your site’s performance. You can always do an upgrade as you grow.
Use shared hosting if:
- Your website is new and you need a low-cost web host to keep it online while trying to grow.
Avoid shared hosting if:
- You have an established website that is already getting lots of web traffic or visitors.
- You want an increase in website loading times and performance.
2. Cloud Hosting
Wha is cloud hosting?
Unlike shared hosting that relies on one server, cloud hosting uses a cluster of servers that work together to store your website’s files and data in the clouds.
Cloud-based hosting is great because it’s more efficient and secure than other hosting methods. These cloud systems protect your site against attacks better than traditional hosting systems because all the resources of multiple servers are in one virtual network.
Do I pay more for hosting my website on the clouds?
Since the servers are virtual, clients only pay for what they need and use. When a physical server connected to the cloud goes offline or malfunctions, the virtual servers won’t be affected.
Think of it as a pay-as-you-go cell phone plan: you’ll never pay for resources you don’t need. And, if you need more to cover a jump in traffic, all you’ve got to do is pay a bit more money for that period of time.
3. VPS (Virtual Private Server) Hosting
VPS (virtual private server) hosting is one step up. It uses a single server, but makes virtual copies of it — even though lots websites live on the same server (just like with shared hosting) each one gets its own personal copy.
You typically have a certain amount of disk space, memory, and computer processing power allotted to you, which can lead to better site performance.
There’s also generally a higher level of security with a VPS, since you don’t share the virtual environment with other users. VPS hosts are still designed to handle low-to-moderate traffic levels, but if you don’t want your site’s performance to be impacted by anyone else’s, it’s worth it.
4. Dedicated Server Hosting
Dedicated hosting is renting a server that’s completely yours.
You have full control over the server and access to all the server resources. Typically, you’ll get great performance with a dedicated server, but it does require technical expertise to set up and run (or you need to pay for someone to manage it for you).
If you’re not sure whether you need a dedicated server, you probably don’t. It’s meant to handle routinely high traffic and offer more server control.
5. WordPress Managed Hosting
Because WordPress is the most popular content management system, many web hosting providers offer WordPress-specific hosting services. For optimization and better site performance, these providers also offer services such as technical support, hack prevention and software updates specific to WordPress.
The main advantage of WordPress specific hosting is scalability, site speed, security and ecommerce by WooCommerce.
Website Hosting FAQ
Methodology
There are tons of web hosting companies providing different types of internet hosting services and they’ve all got the same back-of-the-box specs, with each hosting site claiming to offer the best website services.
To help you find the most suitable hosting for your site faster, we tested and ranked the best web hosts according to their various categories of performance and use circumstances.
Rather than selecting the “best website hosting companies” and ranking the next nine options,’ we highlighted the best hosting providers for a variety of situations and categories of users.
How we researched, tested and ranked the top website hosting companies
We first checked a variety of hosting service options
We required all of our web hosts to offer at least three types of hosting services: shared, dedicated, and VPS (virtual private server) or cloud web hosting. Shared hosting is most likely your first step if you’re just starting to build your website.
Easy-to-compare service tiers
We looked for hosts that made it easy for shoppers to compare services by clearly listing service tiers, the differences between those tiers, and how much we could expect to pay for each. Most companies were found to be misleading.
For example, the incredibly low prices advertised on the front page were sometimes only an option if you signed up for a company’s longest-term contract, and some companies also tacked on a “setup fee” if you signed up for just a month-long contract. Other companies advertised special features that weren’t revealed to cost extra until we’d already signed up.
U.S. based servers and data centers
We focused on U.S.-based servers in this review, requiring companies to have at least one data center in North America. This helps with both search engine optimization (SEO) and the speed of your site.
Excellent uptime
Uptime measures a company’s track record for keeping websites online all of the time. In a perfect world, your website would be available to readers 100 percent of the time. But companies typically only guarantee 99.9 percent uptime, since occasional technical difficulties are inevitable.
User-friendly knowledge bank
We wanted to find environments that would be easy for brand-new customers to navigate while providing a range of technical resources to accommodate more experienced users. We checked each site for: a knowledge base with tutorials, a forum for user-to-user discussions, and a company blog or news section.
Accessible and responsive customer support
Your web host should have 24/7 support service, either via phone or live chat. If the website for your company in Syracuse, New York is running slowly — or down completely — you don’t want to have to wait for business hours in California before being able to resolve the issue.
We also wanted to make sure that the customer support representatives would be amiable, patient, and helpful. To score well, a company had to have fast, personalized, and friendly care. Those with generic, vague responses or cold attitudes didn’t impress us, while knowledgeable, personable reps won our approval.
Appropriate specs for both beginners and experts
Whether you’re a website beginner or an expert, you need the right set of tools to get started. For beginners, we prioritized companies that didn’t charge exorbitant fees for WordPress or daily backups.
WordPress is one of the easiest ways to get a blog up and running without requiring you to design one from scratch. All of our finalists offered a WordPress installation button, but we preferred hosts who didn’t upcharge for it.
Conclusion
As web hosting companies continue to actively improve and introduce new technology, over the years to boost business performance, it is hard to buy a bad hosting service. What separates the best hosting provider in 2023 from other good hosting is how they balance website performance, security, site uptime, speed and price.
While some web hosting service providers constantly use latest technologies to boost website performance and increase your website speed & overall loading time, others excel greatly in providing cheap hosting plans and packages to help small business owners get online for cheap.
Thankfully we have done the research for you by testing and carefully observing each web host performance data to see how well they perform.
Regardless of which web hosting service provider you choose to host your website with, uptime and load time are two of the most important factors to always consider when choosing a web host, followed by the cost and server resources that will be allocated to you.
References and resources we used to research and test website hosting companies
- SiteGround’s annual web hosting satisfaction survey – Hosting data retrieved from SiteGround.
- Factors to consider when choosing a web host – information retrieved from Cuelogic.
- TOOLS WE USED: Pingdom website performance and availability monitoring, Google page speed insights, Lighthouse speed index by GTMetrix – Hosting speed and performance data retrieved from Google, GTMetrix and Pingdom.
- About Bluehost – Hosting site statistics retrieved from Bluehost.
- Top-rated web hosting companies – Web hosting online user ratings retrieved from Trustpilot.
