Excellent support, incredible load time and uptime are crucial when choosing a host. Unique features are important too. But, how do you really decide which host will be the best yet cost-effective?
You’re in luck today! We’ve been tracking a total of 15 of the most popular hosting providers for the last one year. For example, we looked at iPage, GreenGeeks, Hostinger, and Bluehost.
Not only did we look at the features, but we also kept the prices in mind. So, we analyzed the renewal prices, the cost of one year, and the special price for the long period. After factoring in everything, we chose the 7 best.
Let’s look at 7 of the best cheap web hosting sites a little in detail. Apart from the key features, we’ll also go through the pros & cons of each. Once you know more about a certain web hosting, you can choose if it is the right choice for you.
The first cheap web host on our list is Hostinger. It focuses on three primary aspects: customer support, fast performance, and server stability. The best thing is, all of these are available at a great budget price.
The cheapest plan starts from $0.80/month and includes 10GB storage and 100GB bandwidth. Hostinger’s web hosting plans are WordPress optimized. In addition, the powerful SSD storage is capable of boosting the website’s speeds. Moreover, the yearly plans feature daily/weekly backups.
So, you can keep your data safe at all times. Cloud hosting makes use of multiple servers for improved stability. This prevents downtimes in case one of the servers fail. Resources can be scaled as well.
Bluehost provides excellent hosting services at an inexpensive price. At this price point, it is a pretty good choice and is in fact, one of the cheapest. The company uses in-house built servers for lighting fast speeds. At the same time, it maintains good uptime. The best thing is that even low tier package feature advanced functionalities.
Their cheapest plan is the basic plan priced at $2.95/month. With this package, you get one website, unlimited bandwidth, and 50GB of storage. Additionally, you get 5 email accounts with 100MB of storage each, free domain name and SSL certificate.
Bluehost mirrors your data across three different devices automatically. This helps to protect your information. In fact, the two mirrored copies are designed to rebuild the records in case of hardware failure. The provider is recommended by WordPress itself for WordPress-powered websites. This is because of its efficient data management and easy installation. Go to Full Review
This is an eco-friendly web host that caters to customers in more than 150 countries. GreenGeeks offers various hosting solutions including shared, dedicated, cloud, and VPS hosting. It also guarantees an uptime of 99.9%.
The cheapest plan starts at $2.95 and you have to pay 3 years in advance to enjoy this price. The plan includes unlimited data transfer, web space, and email accounts. Plus, it supports unlimited domain names and SSL certificate. Free nightly backups and domain names are also included.
Another great thing about GreenGeeks is that it makes launching the site easy. It also comes with a variety of features. These include a drag-and-drop website builder, free domain name, and free website migration. The web host provider also works to protect data and ensure optimal site operations. This is possible with tools like proactive server monitoring, spam protecting, etc. Go to Full Review
iPage helps to drive business success and enhance online presence. This is possible with various hosting tools and solutions. It caters to the needs of both beginners and professionals. So, it offers an intuitive drag-and-drop website builder for beginners. At the same time, it offers advanced options for professionals as well.
Their cheapest plan starts from $1.99/month and includes free domain name registration, email address, SSL certificate, marketing tools, and domain transfer.
iPage uses a VDeck cPanel which gives users access to tools that help to manage the business. These tools include eCommerce management and content management. They also include one-click app installs and built-in email solutions. The website host also ensures that websites are protected from malicious attacks. Features like round-the-clock network monitoring and the security suite make this possible.
Another affordable web hosting service is DreamHost. It is known to provide high-quality hosting. In fact, it is also known for its efficient cloud computing. What makes DreamHost great is its managed services, reliable support, and powerful infrastructure.
Their cheapest plan starts at $2.59/month and comes with fast SSD storage, SSL certificate, one website, and unlimited traffic.
Its hosting plans include cloud, VPS, dedicated, and shared hosting. With these plans, it is easy to scale websites and applications. Meanwhile, the managed services that the provider offers are also plenty. They include DDoS protection, infrastructure management, malware scans, and automatic backups.
HostGator truly allows budget web hosting. In fact, even its basic plan is unrestricted in various aspects. For instance, there is no limit on disk space or bandwidth. Similarly, email accounts, subdomains, and MySQL databases are also unrestricted. HostGator also offers cPanel-based management of your site. In addition, it also offers a 99.9% uptime guarantee.
Their cheapest plan starts at $2.75/month. It includes unmetered bandwidth and free SSL certificate.
Other features also include $200 worth of Bing Ads and Google credits and 24/7 customer support. The service provider also includes a 45-day money-back guarantee. New accounts also get free transfers for the first month after sign up.
Another option for inexpensive web hosting is Hostwinds. Its different hosting plans cater to small as well as big businesses. Apart from shared hosting, it also offers cloud, dedicated, VPS, and reseller hosting. Their cheapest plan starts from $3.29/month and includes unlimited bandwidth, disk space, free domain name, and SSL certificate.
Hostwinds offers good web hosting solutions but at an affordable price. Moreover, it offers various operating systems and server configurations. Due to all the tools and help, users get all that is needed for building an influential online presence. Plus, since the hosting plans are for different niches, this web host caters to a larger group of people.
Web Host | Cost | Uptime | Load time | Rating |
---|---|---|---|---|
1. Hostinger | $0.80/mo | 99.97% | 384 MS | 4.7/5 |
2. Bluehost | $2.95/mo | 99.99% | 425 MS | 4.5/5 |
3. GreenGeeks | $2.95/mo | 99.97% | 347 MS | 4.4/5 |
4. iPage | $1.99/mo | 99.97% | 571 MS | 4.0/5 |
5. DreamHost | $2.59/mo | 99.98% | 539 MS | 4.0/5 |
6. HostGator | $2.75/mo | 99.98% | 715 MS | 3.8/5 |
7. Hostwinds | $3.29/mo | 99.95% | 810 MS | 3.3/5 |
When choosing a cheap hosting plan, there are a few factors to look out for. Firstly, look for a web hosting provider that offers unlimited bandwidth and storage. Ensure that your web server hardware is SSD-based so that you can enjoy fast I/O processing speed. You should also check if your chosen service supports pre-installed website scripts like Joomla. Doing so will allow you to customize your website easily.
Many cheap hosting plans also include a website builder for free as a component of a bigger offer. You can also get free website transfer, backups, domain name registration, and free SSL certificate. Similarly, you can get Google AdSense credits too.
Load time and uptime have a significant effect on traffic. Both factors essentially affect total revenue. These metrics are proof of your website’s performance quality.
Uptime is the total time for which your website is functioning without any problems. Meanwhile, downtime is the time for which your website stays offline or unavailable. The problem is, the time period for which your website isn’t up and running, you lose money.
Similarly, with slower load time, you will eventually lose clients. Remember, people won’t wait for over 3 seconds for the website to load. Thus, you must ensure that the metric of both uptime and load time is high.
Many services do have a low starting point. However, you need to pay for at least two to three years of service beforehand if you want that price. Plus, once the promotional period is over, the renewal price can be up to four times the initial prices.
The initial deal surely sounds incredible. However, you should consider the cost of transferring your website. It is common practice for hosting vendors to jack up the prices after the initial period ends. So, make sure you stay aware.
You need to be careful about the provider you choose. The truth is that anyone can portray themselves as real web hosts. However, they might just be selling someone else’s products. So, you must ensure your chosen provider is trustworthy.
Do a background check to see the time for which the provider has been around. See if they have a contact address and who owns the provider. Also, make sure that the promises they are making on their website are realistic.
Good technical support is also crucial for a web hosting service. One important factor is whether support is available around the clock. However, more important is how helpful and responsive customer representatives are.
It is true that both trouble tickets and chat are great. However, in some cases, you will want to talk with customer support on the phone.
While shopping for best cheap web hosting services, some offer unique features. Even so, there are potential benefits and drawbacks.
Most cheap hosting providers offer plans that range from an average of $3 per month to $20 per month. Plus, if you decide to pay for one year upfront, then you might even get a significant discount. When you sign up, you might also get free domain registration. Ultimately, you get to save more money.
Setting up a server and hosting your own website requires extensive experience. Plus, you will also need technical knowledge. In contrast, a web hosting provider takes care of all the technical work. This way, you can get the website working for you even if you’ve never built one before. In some cases, your hosting provider will install the website for you. So, you can enjoy a complete plug-and-play experience.
Management tools such as cPanel and Plesk make it easy to use web hosting services. You also don’t need any PHP commands while installing ZenCart and WordPress. You simply need to click on some buttons on the dashboard, and you are good to go.
The provider handles all the maintenance needs. If you get a server installed yourself, you also have to bear the hassle of maintenance. You’ve got to take care of factors like installing updates and hardware failures. However, a hosting provider will take care of all this for you.
With affordable web host, you can install various applications with Plesk and cPanel. However, you won’t be able to install all the applications available. So, if you want an application that isn’t supported, then that might be a problem.
There will be hundreds of other websites stored on the server you have chosen. So, there’s always a chance that the website will slow down performance. So, if both reliability and speed are vital for your site, then you might want to go for a more high-end package.
An affordable web host refers to a well-functioning web host that gets the website up without costing too much. The question is, how cheap are we talking about?
Low-cost web hosting can range anywhere from $2 to $10 per month. When you choose a high-end web host, there are other potential costs as well. These include design, managed services, domain name registration, and eCommerce tools.
However, a cheap web host combines these services into a low-cost but high-value bundle. So, such web hosts offer the highest value to the shopper.
Cheap web hosting doesn’t have the power and price point that VPS and dedicated hosting options have. Instead, it basically involves a cheap shared plan. With this plan, multiple websites will run on the server along with your website. So while you enjoy cheap prices, no one can touch your files. However, the websites may crash at times. Plus, neighboring sites consuming excess resources might also affect the site’s performance.
Free hosting plans are limited to only subdomains. Plus, they include sponsored advertisements from platform developers. Free plans also do not allow the full development of independent web scripts when using SQL or PHP. Moreover, such plans are ideal for single user blogs. However, they don’t support e-commerce stores that have SSL certificates.
Meanwhile, many cheap hosting plans feature Softaculous and cPanel tools. These are ideal for small businesses. Plus, unlimited hosting plans support many domain names at a single rate per month. You can also use a free SSL certificate such as Let’s Encrypt.
The foremost step to create a new website and sign up with a web host is to select a unique domain name. So, what makes a cheap web host great is that most of them offer a free domain name with their basic shared plan.
As someone who is just getting started, a cheap web host will be suitable. However, you need to be careful when choosing any web host. Remember that your chosen service will be hosting your site for a while. Ultimately, this means that your chosen web service will influence the money you make.
The seven cheapest web hosting services have been mentioned above. Their main features, and benefits and drawbacks have also been listed. You now need to think of what you want from a web host then choose one accordingly.