Starting a business is hard, but it’s also bloody expensive. Figuring out affordable web hosting for startups and small businesses can be daunting. After all, you don’t want to overspend on something that won’t make a difference in the long run. That’s where customer research comes in—it can help you figure out what type of hosting is best for your audience and budget. Here are some tips on how to get started:
What is Affordable Web Hosting.
There are a number of affordable web hosting options available to startups and small businesses. These services vary in terms of the features and services they offer, but all have one common goal: to make it easy for you to create and manage your website.
Affordable web hosting can help you get started with your website quickly and easily. You can choose from a variety of plans that come with various features and benefits, including free hosting, unlimited storage space, drag-and-drop page creation, and more. If you’re looking for a service that supports your startup or small business goals, affordable web hostings are a great way to go.
How Does Affordable Web Hosting Work
Affordable web hosts work by allowing you to select the features and services that suited your needs at the time you signed up for the service. This means that there is always something available to suit your needs – no need to worry about finding an affordable host without any features! Your site will be hosted on an affordable provider who will also provide support in case something goes wrong.
How Affordable Web Hosting Can Help You Start a Small Business
Affordable web hosting can help you start a small business by providing access to many of the same features as full-time businesses, but at a fraction of the cost. You can use these resources to build an online presence for your business without any prior experience or design expertise – just sign up and start building!
Many providers also offer discounts or freebies when you join their team, so there’s never any need to feel left out – even if starting your own company is something you’ve been dreaming of doing since childhood!
Affordable Web Hosting for Small Business
HostGator: Best for tech-heavy businesses
If you need more from your site than just a place for customers to find you online, you might be looking at dedicated server hosting as your preferred method of managing and storing your website data. Should this sound like your situation, HostGator might be the best website hosting company for your small business.
For those who don’t know, dedicated server hosting means getting your own server within a company’s existing network. Instead of sharing server space with other websites, you’ll get your own dedicated server, as well as the software and customer service tools required to keep things running smoothly.
HostGator also offers more introductory-level hosting options as well, which are on par with other providers in terms of pricing and services.
Here’s what HostGator offers:
- Dedicated server plans: There are three tiers, each using Intel Xeon-D CPU servers. Plans also come with eight, 16 and 30 GB RAM options. All dedicated servers also include three dedicated IPv4 IPs, DDOS protection, unlimited databases, fully redundant network and 24/7/365 live support. Prices start at $118.99 per month.
- Shared web hosting business plan: Less intense and expensive than HostGator’s dedicated servers, which makes it a better fit for businesses with lighter needs for their websites. This plan includes unlimited domains, unmetered bandwidth, free SSL certificates, SEO tools and even a free business domain name. Prices start at $5.95 per month.
Cloudways: Best for cloud-based web hosting
Cloud web hosting may be easy to come by these days, but few providers offer the same level of flexibility and customization that Cloudways provides for their clients. This host gives you the option to choose between five different cloud platforms, including Amazon Web Services and Google Cloud Platform, which are considered among the most popular options around.
Better still, Cloudways doesn’t require users to sign up for a long-term contract either. You can set up a pay-as-you-go account or even go with a free trial — all without putting a credit card on file.
Prices vary depending on the cloud platform selected and support tier, all plans, however, include 24/7/365 support, free SSL, free migration, unlimited application installation, 24/7 real-time monitoring, free migration, team management, automated backups and more.
Namecheap: Best for technical support
If you’re a newcomer to managing your website, the best web hosting for your small business might be the one that provides you with round-the-clock technical support, and is willing to go the extra mile to make sure your site is up and running just the way you want it.
Namecheap goes above and beyond in this department, offering 24/7 support through chat — no question is too big or too small for Namecheap’s team of technical support specialists, who are even willing to step in and make changes for their customers if they don’t have the technical savvy to do it themselves. And as the name implies, their web hosting prices are pretty competitive as well.
There are several Namecheap hosting tiers:
- Stellar Business: Provides unmetered bandwidth so your site never slows down during high-traffic periods. Comes with free automatic backups as well, and is PCI compliant and e-commerce friendly. Costs $4.44 per month for the first year, then goes up to $8.88 per month.
- EasyWP Turbo: Inexpensive hosting for WordPress sites with up to 250,000 visitors per month and 50 gigabytes of storage included. Costs $7.88 per month, with the first month for $2.
- Qasar: Full VPS hosting with Linux-based servers, allowing companies that need a total command of their networks the flexibility to run their digital presence as they see fit. Costs $24.88 per month, with a new signup promotion of $19.88 per month.
- Xeon E3-1240 v3: A physical server solution for businesses that need to go the extra mile for their websites and digital environments. Costs $74.88 per month, with the first month for $36.88.
iPage: Best for businesses on a budget
Having a super-robust web host might be the only viable option for some business owners. But for others, a straightforward, simple and inexpensive option may be all that’s needed.
If you fall into the latter category, then iPage could be a great option for you. With iPage, you can opt for shared, VPS, dedicated or cloud hosting for your website needs. You’ll also get one-click installs of popular apps and CMS platforms and excellent customer service. Best of all, you won’t spend a fortune in the process.
Here are iPage’s product options:
- Web hosting: The leanest of iPage’s options, as well as the least expensive. Includes unlimited disk space and domain names, a free online store builder, email support, one-click installers and more for $7.99 per month.
- Business VPS hosting: Less intense and expensive than HostGator’s dedicated servers, which makes this plan a better fit for businesses with lighter needs for their websites. This plan includes unlimited domains, unmetered bandwidth, free SSL certificates, SEO tools and even a free domain for $59.49 per month.
Bluehost: Best for beginners
Bluehost is a perennial favorite for personal and business web hosting because of how easy it is to set up and use the company’s services. Like Namecheap, Bluehost offers very affordable web hosting solutions for small businesses that need simple sites and complex e-commerce outfits alike. You can even get a free domain when signing up for some of their one-year plans.
Bluehost offers the following hosting packages:
- Shared: The most commonly used option by individuals and small-business owners alike. Includes e-commerce compatibility, WordPress integration and dedicated customer service for $7.99 per month.
- VPS: Upgrades from the Shared tier to provide a virtual private server, which adds a level of security and access for businesses that need more flexibility with how they use their server space. Costs $29.99 per month.
- Dedicated: Provides the utmost level of security and support for high-traffic websites. This is one of the best web hosting options for small businesses with robust e-commerce websites that need as much bandwidth and security as possible. Costs $119.99 per month.
InMotion: Best for unlimited bandwidth on a budget
Few web hosting companies provide unlimited bandwidth as part of their low-cost hosting options — this isn’t the case with InMotion, however.
InMotion’s hosting options include free SSL certificates too, which is a boon for businesses that want to explore e-commerce options while giving their customers a sense of security. This is a great suite of services at a reasonable price, which makes InMotion a strong contender as the best web hosting site for most small-business owners.
InMotion offers the following business-oriented products:
- Launch: Comes with a free domain, two free websites, 50 gigabytes of disk space and unlimited bandwidth, as well as 10 email accounts for $10.99 per month.
- Power: One free domain; 50 websites; 100 gigabytes of disk space, unlimited bandwidth and 50 email accounts; as well as other marketing and security tools, all for $14.99 per month.
- Pro: Free domain; 100 websites, 200 gigabytes disk space, unlimited bandwidth and email accounts; faster performance; pro-level support; and more for $23.99 per month.
Free Website Hosting For Small Business
1. Wix
Wix is a drag-and-drop website builder – similar to tools like Weebly or Squarespace; and yup, you don’t need the knowledge of PHP like you do with solutions like Joomla.
However, we’re featuring Wix on this list because it’s kind of an all-in-one solution for both a website platform and server space to host that website. Since Wix does come with a free plan, this makes it a free website hosting service as well. This free website builder is a unique way to enjoy awesome site-building features backed by enterprise-grade reliability. On that free plan, you get:
- Wix.com subdomain
- Beautiful templates
- 500 MB disk space
- 500 MB bandwidth
- Global content delivery network
- Free SSL and security monitoring
- Knowledge base and customer support
- Decent load time
Unfortunately, if you’re expecting no ads, you will be disappointed. Just like most of the free web hosting providers, Wix places their own ads on free plan sites. You can only connect a Wix subdomain and would have to move to a paid plan for connecting a custom domain.
2. Bluehost
Bluehost is one of the largest hosting companies in the world. They are an officially recommended WordPress hosting provider.
They have agreed to offer WPBeginner users a free domain name, free SSL certificate, and 63% discount on web hosting. Basically, you can get started for $2.75 per month.
Their hosting plans include free branded email addresses, unlimited disk space, free SSL certificate, one-click WordPress install, and more.
From their control panel, you can enable additional add-ons like site builder, Cloudflare CDN, SEO tools, and other powerful website features.
Bluehost is perfect for building personal websites, small business websites, and blogs.
To learn more about Bluehost, see our complete Bluehost review where we evaluated their hosting performance, features, and services.
3. InfinityFree
InfinityFree is a free hosting initiative powered by iFastNet. It offers users:
- An autoinstaller with more than 400 different apps, including WordPress
- Free subdomains
- Unlimited storage
- Unlimited bandwidth
- 400 MySQL databases
- Knowledge base support
You’ll have access to the Softaculous Script Installer to install WordPress. This hosting service provider doesn’t offer domain registration, but you can use one you’ve acquired from another registrar.
Once your website is published, your visitors won’t see ads. However, there will be ads in cPanel on the back end. Your site is also limited to 50,000 hits per day.
4. SiteGround
Siteground is another great alternative to free website hosting. They are known for their awesome support and blazingly fast performance. SiteGround is also an officially recommended WordPress hosting provider.
They are offering WPBeginner users up to 73% discount on hosting. Basically, you’ll be able to get started for $3.99 per month.
SiteGround’s hosting plans come with a website builder, 1-click installer for WordPress and Joomla, SSD storage, unlimited email accounts, superior customer support, and more.
They have also built advanced website performance features such as Ultra-fast PHP and MySQL databases, site optimization, and security plugins.
SiteGround has data centers all across the world (4 continents), and they offer a 99.99% uptime guarantee.
SiteGround is perfect for creating your own website for your small business or store. As your website grows, you can switch to their VPS web hosting plan to get faster speed and scalability.
For more details, see our thorough SiteGround review where we ran actual tests to measure their performance and uptime.
5. 000WebHost
000WebHost is a free hosting option from Hostinger. Some of its features include:
- One website
- No subdomains
- 300 MB disk space
- 3 GB of bandwidth
- One MySQL database
- Community forum, no live support
000WebHost comes with the Zyro website builder, which should make designing your site less intimidating. Like InfinityFree, visitors to your website won’t see ads, but there will be ads in your WordPress dashboard.
Free hosting from 000WebHost doesn’t even require a credit card to set up, and you can use it as long as you like. Also, if you outgrow your free plan, you can easily upgrade to a cheap plan from Hostinger. Hostinger plans start at $1.99 / month for your first billing cycle.
Affordable Web Hosting for Startups and Small Businesses.
When it comes to affordable web hosting, don’t be afraid to invest in a long-term plan. By diversifying your investments, you can protect yourself from unforeseen fluctuations in the market. Additionally, stay up-to-date on financial news so you can understand potential changes that could impact your business. If volatility is something you are concerned about, consider using an online financial services provider like Fidelity Investments or Bank of America Merrill Lynch.
Diversify Your Investments
When it comes to choosing affordable web hosting providers, it’s important to mix and match different services to find the best fit for your business needs. You can also consider investing in different types of cryptocurrencies and digital assets so you have options if prices fall or growth rates change unexpectedly. In order to remain competitive, keep an open mind and not simply rely on one provider for all your web hosting needs.
Stay Up-to-Date on Financial News
In order to stay informed about recent changes in the economy and technology, it’s important to keep up with financial news sources like Bloomberg or CNBC. This way, you can make informed decisions when it comes time to sign up for a new host or renew an existing contract with a provider. Additionally, be prepared for volatility by reading articles and watching videos related to digital currencies and web hosting before making any decisions.
Be Prepared for Volatility
One of the biggest challenges small businesses face when it comes to affordable web hosting is that prices can change rapidly. Be prepared for volatility by researching providers, planning your budget, and taking measures to protect yourself from unexpected surges in costs. By following these tips, you’ll be able to enjoy your business goals while minimizing financial stress.
Conclusion
Affordable Web Hosting can be a great way to start a small business. However, it’s important to have a long-term investment strategy and diversify your investments. Additionally, stay up-to-date on financial news and prepare for volatility. By starting your own small business with affordable web hosting, you can reach new heights and grow your company into something larger than just a website.