Introduction
Nowadays, it looks like everyone owns a website, from private consumers to small and medium-sized enterprises and multi-billion dollar corporations. This is even truer than lots of brick-and-mortar businesses are having an online presence in the wake of the Covid-19 lockdowns.
Although website design deals with the aspect of your website that your customers see, the unrecognized engine of all web activity is the web hosting services. This is why it’s important that you know about the best web hosting companies.
Web hosting companies offer you a place where you can house your beautiful website so that people all over the world can access it. The best web hosting companies provide amazing features such as uptime guarantees, fast load time, and free stuff like storage space and e-commerce solutions.
Do you need help in choosing a service among the best web hosting companies? Continue reading our review of the top ten best web hosting companies in the industry.
1. Bluehost
Comprehensive hosting plans with perks included
Bluehost is one of the best web hosting services in the industry having over two million websites internationally. And it’s easy to see what’s being offered: 24/7 expert support from trained professionals, 1-click WordPress installation, and a 30-day money-back guarantee. These are only some of the reasons Bluehost is my number one option.
You can choose from its shared hosting, VPS, or dedicated hosting plans all at affordable rates. Also, Bluehost offers dedicated WordPress hosting plans. And if you have an online business, the WooCommerce website hosting plan would be a great option for you. All the plans have all the essential tools from traffic management to site analytics to security, and backups built-in.
Pros
- Outstanding customer support
- Lots of added web tools
- Unlimited bandwidth and storage
Cons
- Have to pay for site transfer
- A lot of upselling
Pricing
- Starting at $2.95 per month.
2. HostGator
Web and cloud hosting with all the perks
If you’re into websites, then you can’t fail to recognize the familiar friendly gator, the mascot of HostGator. HostGator is one of the most common in the country, and it has the perks to keep its customers interested. This company starts off with a 24/7 live chat customer support, a 45-day money-back guarantee, and a solid 99.9% uptime guarantee.
It also offers a wide variety of options when it comes to hosting packages. From web hosting to cloud, application, reseller, VPS, and more, this service covers all the bases. HostGator also offers a special WordPress hosting plan for people who have WordPress websites.
Finally, it also makes it easier for you to get your site up and running with its built-in website builder. This option allows you to be a web designer even without having any experience in web design or coding. These are the reasons why HostGator is one of the best web hosting companies.
Pros
- Free domain for a year
- 99.9% uptime guarantee
- Lots of tools and plans to choose from
Cons
- VPS is only Linux-based
- So many options can be overwhelming
Pricing
- Starting at $2.75
3. Hostinger
Feature-rich website hosting for less
Hostinger is one of the best web hosting companies. It’s a professional website hosting service that provides all the right features. Its basic plan is limited, and that’s excellent for those small or single-employee businesses that are in search of quality service for less.
Also, it has a warm and friendly customer support that is available at all hours to help you when there any problem. With its basic plan at just a dollar, you really can’t go wrong. And if you want more features, you should go for the more advanced plans as they provide lots of value for your money.
Hostinger also offers unlimited bandwidth (although it’s only available for the higher tier plans), websites, and MySQL databases. You’ll equally receive free domain registration and an SSL certificate if you register for a premium plan.
Finally, it has an easy and free website builder known as Zyro. This software allows you to create a website in just a few minutes. Hostinger also provides an access manager, weekly backups, and PHP configuration for more customized options.
Pros
- Top-quality shared hosting
- Optimized for WordPress
- Unlimited websites and MySQL databases
Cons
- The basic plan has limited bandwidth
- Renewal price is a big jump for some plans
Pricing
- Starting at $0.99
4. A2 Hosting
Green web hosting that’s developer-friendly
This is one of the best web hosting companies that provides high-powered services to its customers. Whether you’re looking at shared or dedicated hosting, reseller, or VPS, A2 Hosting is the company to turn to for speed. It provides some of the fastest hosting plans in the industry.
It can actually be up to 20x faster! It also offers free SSH access, as well as free SSDs. These two services give your website a bigger speed boost.
A2 Hosting has lots of amazing features such as free site migration, a 99.9% uptime guarantee, and free automatic backups. Also, it offers you an anytime money-back guarantee. That’s a wonderful promise.
Finally, A2 Hosting offers speed-optimized WordPress sites for maximum results. You will also enjoy a free SSL certificate when you register and friendly customer support staff that is around always—24/7, 365 days a year
Pros
- Anytime money-back guarantee
- Up to 20x faster than the competition
- Developer-friendly features and tools
Cons
- Lackluster basic plan
- High renewal rates
Pricing
- Starting at $2.49
5. GoDaddy
A comprehensive selection of hosting plans
You’re definitely familiar with GoDaddy, one of the best web hosting companies in the whole world. It offers perks such as 99.99% uptime, affordable pricing, and a free SSL certificate with most of its plans.
GoDaddy offers all types of hosting packages with GoDaddy. Therefore, whether you need VPS hosting, web, business, or reseller hosting, dedicated servers, and more, this company is the best option for you.
It also has hosting servers all over the world. This means that you’ll have faster load times, and this is crucial to the success of your website. Finally, GoDaddy provides a free domain with an annual plan, unlimited and unmetered bandwidth, and free Microsoft Office 365 business email for the first year.
Pros
- One-click install for Drupal, WordPress, Joomla
- Global data centers
- Loads of hosting plans to choose
Cons
- Content isn’t transferred over themes
- Pricing disclosure is not transparent
Pricing
- Starting at $1.00
6. HostPapa
Comprehensive hosting and web design for less
This company is one of the best web hosting companies because of its customer-centric policy. It offers web hosting and design service that helps you to get your own professional website.
With HostPapa, you can design your own beautiful website quickly with its unique drag-and-drop website builder. And with a basic plan starting at about $3.95 a month, almost anyone can afford to be hosted by a professional company.
HostPapa provides services such as WordPress hosting, web hosting, VPS hosting, and reseller hosting. It also has a plan for hosting your e-commerce website, which is an excellent choice if you have an online store (or plan to open one). It equally offers more than 400 business apps to improve the potential of your business. You’ll also get plenty of storage, free domain registration, and unlimited bandwidth with all packages.
Pros
- Lots of features even with the basic plan
- Provides more than 400 free apps
- One-on-one training
Cons
- Money-back guarantee isn’t 100%
- Some hidden fees
Pricing
- Starting at $3.95
7. Network Solutions
Everything needed to launch and host your site
Network Solutions is taken to be the world’s first domain provider and one of the best web hosting companies in the industry. It has a track record of being reliable providing secure servers and a wide range of developer tools to tickle your fancy and get your website up and running. Network Solutions is an excellent choice for small, medium-sized, and even enterprise-level businesses.
When you sign up for a hosting plan with Network Solutions, you’ll get a complete malware scanning and removal which ensures that your site is safe on a daily basis. It also provides a couple of useful add-ons such as Code Guard, SiteLock, and MyTimeSupport.
Network Solutions also offers a DIY and professional website design, professional email services, and e-commerce site support. When you consider all these features, Network Solutions is really an excellent option.
Pros
- Live tech support
- Strong security features
- Lots of promotional offers frequently
Cons
- No live chat support
- Not a lot of hosting variants
Pricing
- Starting at $3.79
8. InMotion Hosting
Resilient, secure, and feature-rich hosting
InMotion Hosting offers fast, powerful, and professional website hosting. You can select from a wide range of plans, such as dedicated servers, VPS hosting, shared hosting, and WordPress Hosting. Also, InMotion Hosting can create and launch a stunning WordPress website for you in two days, if you don’t have one yet.
InMotion Hosting helps you to easily scale your business, which means that it grows with you as you expand. Also, it has unbeatable reliability with smart routing technology, a 99.999% uptime guarantee, and advanced DDoS protection that’s all PCI compliant.
Finally, InMotion Hosting also provides quick and easy setup and excellent service with a 17-year CNET certification.
Pros
- Pro-built WordPress website in 2 days
- Solid security features
- A+ rating and other industry awards
Cons
- Pro website design is pricey
- Some features limited to upper-level plans
Pricing
- Starting at $5.99
9. Domain.com
Reliable hosting from an industry veteran
Domain.com hosts over 1.2 million websites globally, a task that makes it one of the best web hosting companies. It was founded in 1998, and brings over 20 years of experience to small and medium-sized businesses, providing extensive hosting plans and intuitive website design capabilities, and competitive prices.
Domain.com has a wonderful selection of hosting options amongst its three hosting packages. It also gives you lots of room to scale up your business. Each of its hosting plans comes with unlimited bandwidth and 99.9% uptime. The higher-tiered plans also have FTP users, unlimited websites, including premium customer support.
Pros
- In business for more than 20 years
- 99.9% uptime on all plans
- 24/7 customer support
Cons
- Not ideal for large businesses
- Limited website building options
Pricing
- Starting at $3.75
10. DreamHost
Offers above-average speed and uptime
As one of the best web hosting companies in the industry, the 25-year-old DreamHost is home to over 1.5 million websites. And its performance hasn’t gone low during that time, as it has maintained above-average uptime (99.94%) and page speeds (648ms).
Its main shared hosting plan has many popular apps like WordPress, website builder options including their own, and others such as Weebly or Wix. All the plans come with unlimited bandwidth and disk space. Also, you’ll get a full 97-day money-back guarantee for testing the service out.
However, it has a customer support that is a bit limited, and migrations can be difficult, as it doesn’t permit any imports from other cPanel sites and charging you $99/each.
Pros
- Above-average speed and uptime
- 97-day money-back guarantee
- High basic plan limits
- Unlimited disk space and network transfer limits
- It is carbon neutral
- No higher renewal price increase
Cons
- Limited live chat support
- No cPanel
- Only paid migrations offered
Pricing
- Starting at $2.95
Frequently Asked Questions
1. About how much does web hosting cost?
The amount you pay is dependent on the package and type of service you get. Web hosting prices vary anywhere from $1 per month to around $10 per month.
2. How can I learn more about the best web hosting companies?
Websites that deal with reviews are the best option for you if you want to know about the best web hosting companies.
This is because they have done the main work for, condensing and presenting the information you need into short and accurate reviews on each service. You should use these websites to get the right information and save time and effort.
3. What are website hosting services and which is right for you?
Website hosting services are actually the layout of the internet and where your site’s storefront is located. If you have a website, it has to be on the internet, and web hosting companies are much like the landlords that house your website and keep it running so that people can get access and see it when they type in your site’s URL.
There are various types of hosting services that serve different kinds of businesses. While some web hosting services will create your whole website, others will just show you your plot of land and the building materials and let you find your way around.
The hosting company you’ll choose will depend on your business model and size, and also based on the factors I explained below. Once you know what each term means, you can compare features and choose the service that best suits your company’s needs.
4. How to choose the best web hosting company?
If you don’t have the best web hosting, you will have a tough time running a successful website. There are lots of web hosting providers competing for your business. How can you select the best one? You can start by having the following points in mind:
Bandwidth: The primary thing you have to do when looking for a web host is to find out your bandwidth and disk space needs. If your site has a lot of graphics, hundreds of pages, and huge amounts of traffic, then you should go for a service that provides a decent bandwidth and disk space.
Some companies offer unlimited bandwidth plans, and they make things easier for website owners. However, if your site is one that is simple and does not generate a large amount of traffic, you should be able to work with less bandwidth and disk space.
Compatibility: You should also have compatibility in mind. In your need to find the best web hosting company, you might need to remember one important thing: the type of operating systems the service supports. I’m sure that you do not want to switch operating systems, so you should note this factor before choosing a particular hosting company.
Reliability: Reliability and availability are other vital features you should take note of when you’re looking for web hosting. The best web hosting companies provide availability rates of 98–99%. The availability rate is usually known as “uptime.” Although anyone can easily make such claims, you have to be careful to know if the company is true to its word.
Security: Another crucial factor is security. If you choose a web hosting provider without knowing about its security, then you’ll be making a costly mistake. Features such as daily backups, firewalls, SSL certificates, and user authentication must all be included in your plan. It’s also important that you get notified if any changes are made because they can let you know when there’s any suspicious activity.
5. Hosting packages and what they mean to you
The larger or more complex a website is, the more extensive the hosting plan it will need. The most important hosting packages are listed below as follows:
Shared: This is the basic package that most of the best web hosting companies offer. Your website will be on the same server along with lots of other websites. Therefore you’ll be sharing the server, and the other resources, like memory or CPU.
Shared hosting plans are excellent for basic website needs like file sharing, email sending, and base-level e-commerce sites. This type of hosting plan is the least expensive, and as such, the best choice for smaller or startup businesses.
VPS: A VPN (virtual private server) is specifically designed for your direct purposes, more than a shared server. Although you may still be sharing an actual server, the service will give you a virtual server of your own.
This means that all the hosting resources are only yours, from processing power to memory storage and beyond. VPN hosting is a much safer and more trustworthy choice that separates your website from the others while still being affordable.
Dedicated: A dedicated hosting is on another plane altogether. Along with having your own server, dedicated hosting allows you to totally control your server. Therefore, you will have full access to the admin panel and can have your server just the way you like it.
This kind of hosting plan comes with a wide range of tools that may not be important for all types of businesses.
WordPress: This is a shared hosting service that serves the needs of more specialized customers. Its servers are optimized differently and provide tools that are really important for WordPress performance, like pre-installation, faster load time, security features that work only with WordPress, and WordPress updates. This type of hosting plan is useful for businesses that have websites that run on WordPress.
6. Web hosting pricing and value
Although some people choose a web hosting companies based on price only, it’s not a good idea. But it doesn’t mean that you shouldn’t be mindful of the pricing system of the hosting company you plan to go for. The best web hosting companies have plans for every kind of budget. And sometimes, if you register for longer subscriptions, you can get extra discounts.
You should also have some room for growth. It’s good to choose a web hosting plan that satisfies your website’s current needs, but if you’re lucky, your website will expand with time, and your hosting needs may have to change. Since it will be a difficult task to switch to a new web hosting company, you should choose one that provides scalable plans.
This means that you should be able to upgrade to a bigger plan easily when it’s necessary. Although low prices are good for startups, if the low price has a limit on bandwidth or space, you have to ensure that the deal is really worth it.
While we’re still on the same topic, you might want to consider the number of email accounts that are provided. It’s great to have the option to create as many email addresses regardless of whether or not you think you’ll require lots of email addresses.
For most of the best web hosting companies, the more expensive plans come with larger numbers of email addresses. Although this feature isn’t that important to some people, it is necessary to others.
7. Some top features when it comes to Top hosting quality
There are several important factors that affect hosting quality, and it’s necessary that you compare companies using these factors during the process of making your decision. Some of the most essential factors include:
Uptime guarantee: You should take uptime very seriously because it’s one of the things that can make or mar your website. On that note, HostGator provides one of the best uptime guarantees at 99.98%.
Load time: This is equally important. Recent studies have proven that people have a shorter attention span in the past few years. This is due to the lots of things on the internet that can capture people’s attention.
This means that if your website takes even a second too long to load a page, people will most likely not return to it. Therefore, you should ensure that your hosting plan has a fast loading time. A2Hosting offers a 360ml load time for pages, which the fastest in the industry.
Customer support: Since having a problem with your website is something you should take seriously, it’s essential to know that customer service is available, knowledgeable, and easy to work with.
Location: The total number of servers of a hosting company and their location is vital to the speed of your website loading and its overall service. It is evident that if the company has lots of servers available, the service will be a lot faster.
But the location of the servers will also affect their quality. You should go for servers in important locations close to you, such as the UK, US, or Israel, depending on your location.
8. Cybersecurity features you should look for in a hosting package
Over 30,000 websites are hacked with various malware each day in the United States alone. A majority of those are small business websites, and they’re targeted since they don’t have the internet security options that are used by large enterprises.
But small businesses can also do a lot of things to ensure the safety of their accounts. You should find out if your hosting provider has any of the following tools, all of which help to protect your account:
Two-Factor Authentication (2FA): This is equally known as multi-factor authentication (MFA), 2-factor authentication gives a second level of security to the login process. For people who use a managed hosting plan, they must know that the cPanel is where your maintenance staff can set up all the different aspects of the hosting plan.
Because the cPanel is so important, the risks of a hacker getting access to it are far more serious than them having access to an FTP account or a WordPress backend, for example. This is why your hosting company must provide 2FA on logins to cPanel.
Free SSL certificates: Supposing your small business has different domain names, then it’s very necessary for your hosting provider to offer free SSL certificates with its hosting plans.
An SSL certificate is a verification from a Certificate Authority (CA) that all the traffic to and from the website will be encrypted by Transport Layer Security (TLS). You might have come across the “https://” instead of the “http://” before some domain names.
When you use TLS, you’re assuring your customers that the data they send to and from your website will be encrypted and secured over their local networks. Since your customers’ user credentials can potentially be used to launch an attack on your own website, it’s to your advantage too to make sure this is provided.
DKIM, SPF, DMARC: Another major problem for small businesses and startups is email spoofing. To fight this issue, you should go for a hosting company that provides 3 email authentication tools on its hosting plans: the Sender Policy Framework (SPF), Domain Keys Identified Mail (DKIM), and Domain-based Message Authentication, and Reporting & Conformance (DMARC).
These tools are set up as DNS records in your cPanel and this means that the recipients will know that the email was verified by your business and it’s not the trick of a fraudster trying to scam them.
Easy Update Manager: If you have a website that is running on some of the popular web-hosted scripts like the WordPress Content Management System (CMS), then you should be aware that your site is vulnerable to lots of bugs in the codebase. Because of how wide these kinds of systems are deployed, they’re easy targets for hackers.
If your hosting company provides a one-click script installation and manager, it means that you can be sure that such cloud-hosted programs can be automatically updated and on a regular basis without having to request help from your IT staff.
The low down on uptimes: God those who have been into the best web hosting companies, you must have come across the term “uptime” a lot of times. I understand the reason for that. It’s because uptime is one of the most crucial factors to consider when a hosting service.
Uptime, which means is the percentage of time that a hosting provider is up and running, is usually guaranteed by different hosting providers at a certain percentage of time it will be up. This doesn’t mean that the hosting service will be down for the other percentage of the time.
What it means is that it will be up for at least that amount of time is guaranteed. but they can say without fail that they will be up for at least that amount of time.
Knowing your hosting provider’s uptime is necessary because you don’t want to realize that your site is always unavailable or unreachable to your users. If your website will always be unavailable, why have it in the first place?
If your uptime is high, it means that your customers can always access your website. Top companies such as Bluehost or HostGator provide more than 99%uptime guarantee, which is great for your website.
9. Investigate hosting providers’ customer service and support
Even if you’re an expert when it comes to web hosting and how to set it up, it’s great to know that you can always get help if you need it. You should ascertain if your chosen web hosting company provides 24/7 customer support. Also, ensure that it offers various ways you can get in touch with the company.
The best web hosting companies will provide support through phone, email, and online chat, and this gives you the ability to choose the most convenient.
The best customer support also has customer freedom. You should compare the providers’ policies to know if it has a clear, money-back guarantee if you’re not okay with its product. When you’ve selected a few options for a hosting provider, you should go to the internet for reviews about each of them.
In most cases, the reviews will come from real people on review sites and not some computer-generated customer reviews on the company’s website. From what people are saying online about a hosting company, it should be really easy to find out how a web hosting provider treats its customers.
10. What extras are available beyond web hosting?
Although providing the basics of web hosting such as bandwidth and disk space is necessary, a good web hosting plan will also have a few other perks. If you have an online store, you should watch out for companies that offer e-commerce solutions.
If you want to be able to update your website quickly and easily, go for a provider that provides content management systems. Also, ensure sure that you’ll be given direct access to your site’s statistics.
Conclusion
I understand that it might be tempting to just choose a web hosting company quickly and focus on other things in your life, you’ll appreciate it in the long run if you take your time. When you do that, you’ll definitely find a web hosting service that you can work with for a long time to come.