In the current day and age, doesn’t matter if you are a local brick-and-mortar business or an online business, big or small, a website is a necessity. The web has a far wider reach than any other form of advertising, thus, it should be a crucial part of your marketing strategies to help your business grow.
The first step in building your online presence is finding a web host, which is essentially a place to store your website’s files and make it accessible via the World Wide Web. But picking a good hosting company can sometimes be a headache, as many companies offer varying amounts of monthly data transfers, storage, email, and many other features. Just a quick search on Google you will find that there are dozens if not hundreds of different website hosting services out there. I’ve gone through the process myself, and I understand what you’re going through right now.
The main criteria I look at when evaluating a good web hosting are uptime, load time, customer support, SSL certificate included, and last but not least, price. Why are these criteria important you might ask?
- Uptime: If your site is down, clients or customers will be unable to find you or access your products or services. Thus, you want to choose a host with a reliable uptime that will be live almost 100% of the time.
- Loading time: After keeping your site live, the next important thing is its speed. Why? Slow page speeds mean less visitors, less revenue, and fewer conversions across the board. A research conducted by Akamai found that 47% of people expect a web page to load in less than two seconds, and 40% of people will abandon a web page if it takes more than three seconds to load.
- Customer support: Good customer service will always come in handy when there are problems with your web server or other related technical issues. And if you’re like me, who isn’t a professional website programmer, then you will surely need to contact the customer support team quite often.
- SSL certificate: Google made it clear that the web of the future should all be encrypted. Websites are penalized by being shamed with a “Not secure” badge if they do not have a SSL certificate. Therefore, it is definitely a bonus to have SSL certificate included in your hosting plan.
- Price: I don’t think I will need to say much about this. Who wouldn’t want the best deal possible for their website hosting?
Of course, there are many other criteria to consider, but those points are the most important in my opinion. And just those alone can make you feel overwhelmed already when doing your comparison between top hosting providers. To save you time and help you make a more informed final decision, I have put together a list of pros & cons of each of the companies I have encountered. You won’t go wrong with any of the companies I recommend below, as they have passed all the criteria I’ve just mentioned. However, each might fit certain needs better than the others.
Disclosure: my posts may contain affiliate links. If you buy something through one of those links, you won’t pay a penny more, but I’ll get a small commission, which helps keep the lights on. Thank you!
Table of Contents
Blue Host (most reliable host)
Pros:
- Probably the most popular hosting service with more than 2 million websites all over the world
- Official WordPress recommended host
- Reliable uptime
- Pretty good loading time
- Low introductory pricing
- Easy to use
- Free domain
- Free automated daily backups and SSL certificate
- Live chat support available 24/7
- 30-day money-back guarantee
Cons:
- Site migrations cost $149.99 (I know, that’s expensive!)
- Don’t have the best reputation for customer service.
Bottom line:
The biggest drawback for me was the site migration cost if you are already with another host. Even though you can Google on how to do it yourself for free, but not everyone is a tech savvy. Plus, most other web hostings out there would do it for you for free. Another thing I found is that their customer service is not as helpful as other sites. However, if you know what you are doing already then Bluehost is the most reliable web hosting service out there. With more than 2 million websites using their service, you know you are safe with the service. The company offers you all there is you need, plus a whole bunch of other features (although many aren’t free).
Here are the current Bluehost’s discounts and an overview of their hosting plans
SiteGround (best customer support)
Pros:
- Official WordPress recommended host
- Reliable uptime
- Highly knowledgeable & responsive live chat support 24/7
- Low introductory pricing
- Free security add-ons
- Free transfers for existing websites
- Free automated daily backups and SSL certificate
- 30-day money-back guarantee
Cons:
- Storage space is limited
Bottom line:
SiteGround offers excellent uptime, customer service and strong security. If you don’t need a lot of storage but rather a lot of customer support then this is the best hosting option for you.
Here are the current SiteGround’s discounts and an overview of their hosting plans
A2 Hosting (fastest loading time)
Pros:
- Reliable uptime
- Fast loading time (one of the fastest!)
- Low introductory pricing
- Free SSL certificate
- FREE HackScan with restore options
- Highly knowledgeable & responsive live chat support 24/7
- 30-day money-back guarantee
- Free transfers for existing websites
- 30-day money-back guarantee
- Environmental friendly web hosting
Cons:
- Slightly more expensive than average web host for the cheapest plan
- Not as well-known compared to bigger brands
Bottom line:
A2 Hosting is the most well rounded hosting service in my opinion. If you have multiples sites and need a reliable and fast hosting company then this would be my recommendation.
Here are the current A2 Hosting’s discounts and an overview of their hosting plans
Hostinger (the cheapest hosting)
Pros:
- Reliable uptime
- Fast loading time
- Live 24/7 customer support
- Low introductory pricing
- Free website builder
- Free domain name for Premium & Business web hosting plans
- 1-Click WordPress install
- Easy to use
- 30-day money-back guarantee
Cons:
- Live chat is only available to customers
- No Free SSL certificate included for the Single and Premium plans
Bottom line:
This is probably the best budget option available in the market right now. Starting at $0.80 a month (yes, that’s right) you can have your website up and running in no time! It’s easy to use, and perfect for someone who is trying to build a website for the first time.
Here are the current Hostinger’s discounts and an overview of their hosting plans
Those are the top web hosting providers that I have personally experienced with. Leave a comment below about your experience with these hosts or if there are any other hosting services that you would like to see a review of.🙂
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Nice review! Heard a lot about Bluehost as one of the best, would be interesting to try it out. And for the best support, I would nominee Hostinger as their support cool guys are fast, really helpful and with the best humour!